food hedonist

I've discovered that I like taking photographs of food. It's so beautiful sometimes - an art-form. And I think it's part of taking a moment to pause and be grateful. Grateful to the artisans that prepared it. Grateful to the plants and animals that gave a part of themselves to further our life.

And then the sheer pleasure of eating. Anticipation is part of it... letting the salivary glands get flowing, the digestive juices prepared, but mostly just enjoying food consciously - slowly - gladly. Mmmmm

toasted reuben

Had to try the potato-bun peanut-butter burger at a local restaurant.
Interesting. 

chile IV of IV

Okay, so here's the last photos from Chile. I try to be brief and only include the best photos, but when you take so many, it's hard not to show at least some of them. And it's like showing off a great country, or a great relative or friend - you just can't say enough about how wonderful they are.

Being half Chilean, I feel a sense of pride and belonging, I was interested to still discover. I was surprised that after 15 years of absence it is still strong. If outsiders spoke disparagingly about Chile, I found myself feeling personally miffed. Sheesh, I thought, and who are you?  So many things, the imperfect and the chaotic too, felt perfect just as they were.

cactus fruit - tunas - prickly pears

eating a yummy cake I used to have as a kid 

so it wasn't only my Abuelita who saved everything in the soups :)

Tia Martita 

The two guests didn't decide fast enough between our two favorite cakes,
so the next time we turned around there were two cakes!

Tio Lucho discusses the higher points of life with Casey

the famous soups - of all varieties 

a door like many others

another neighborhood street early in the morning

with Mom

tried Sangria for the first time with these great folks in Valpo
- it's pretty darn good 

chile III of IV

We visited the Pablo Neruda Beach House - Isla Negra - not really a Black Island. Prominent black stones jutted out of the beach-line. The writer's sea-side home felt very personal, eclectic, creative, and like living art.

The red-doors portion of the house appears to be on wheels!  

Casey enjoying the sun as we step outside viewing the ocean .

Our well-informed and personable tour-guide -
who didn't hesitate to spice things up with fun details. 

After the tour - sitting towards the sea. Dang we're blessed. I don't forget it. 

Santiago night-scape from Providencia. 

Casey humoring me as I reminisce in the grocery store. 

I am most interested in seeing people in their every-day lives. I want to travel how they do, shop at their food stores, see their schools, hear street musicians, and sit at mainstream locales. 

When I see pictures of other countries, I'm only briefly interested in their postcards. I'd rather see pictures of how they get along, how women and men interact, what barriers still exist to human potential, how the wealth seems distributed, do people look happy, how is their time allotted? Candid snapshots or time observing can often reveal more than books of text.

Went back to my high school where I graduated and looked at the library yearbook.  A time to be grateful. 1. Grateful I'm not a high-schooler again. 2. Yet grateful for everything that was good and beautiful too. 

long-standing walk-ways

    

Pueblito Los Dominicos artisan marketplace

Golly I love man! 

A pleased pedestrian buys a CD from a street musician. 

chile II

stray dog at plaza

the car that we rented for a week to get around beautiful central Chile

street musicians in Vina del Mar

Vina has lots of street graffiti art - more impressive than what I saw in Buenos Aires

overlooking the port harbor between Vina del Mar and Valparaiso 

two-color-eyed dog, who chased me after I took its picture

gorgeous city walks

with Carabineros - the national police force - in front of the famed garden clock 

at a winery - taking a tour of how its made 

part of our group, from Brazil, Africa, Chile, and Canada

casa del bosque

repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"

I have been curious about the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in the U.S. military. Nothing in the press. So it was my good fortune to meet recently a mid-level-management military man and ask him. He looked at me and said it was a non-issue. "It doesn't even matter," he said.

I asked him to explain. He said that before the passing of the law he and several mid and upper-level management were trained how to give trainings for the repeal of this homophobic law. As a gay man himself, he thought the training to be "very well done." He then went on to train hundred of others in his branch of the military. I asked him what the reaction was. He said that usually at the end they applauded and stood up. OMG, I wanted to cry. I still do. 

John saw my reaction. He continued. The military has often been on the front edge of social change. Who was among the first to integrate Black citizens into mainstream service? Way before the rest of the country? He said that in the military to most men and women it doesn't matter where you came from, what your race is, whether you have parental support or not, or what your sexual practices are. What matters is that you do a good job. You are admired for your work. Period. The military has been advancing people of all backgrounds for a long time. And sexuality is no different he said.

John also said that now that the institutionalized culture of homophobia is outlawed, a lot of the older leadership's true colors are showing. Before it was a part of the culture to talk disparagingly about certain people. Now they are are speaking up and defending their "boys" who do a "damn good job." Amazing. I'm impressed, the middle and older generations speaking up. So it's not just the young recruits who "don't give a damn," as he put it. 

A couple of years ago people on the religious right were talking about how the U.S. was going to "suffer God's wrath" for allowing gay people to serve openly in the military. They counted this as a high sign of moral decay and demise. Whole empires and societies have crumbled, they said, starting with things like this. This was the beginning of the end... of marriage, of family values, of honesty and respect and decency. 

But the laws passed, and gay people no longer have to lie to keep their job. And the news has been mysteriously silent on this issue. (Or not so mysteriously.) No sudden decay of troop morale. No episodes of violence or mutiny. Divorce statistics in this country haven't shot up. The U.S. didn't fall apart. The mighty U.S. military moves forward, with this not even an issue. Not a peep - that I've heard. 

As it should be. And still it amazes me.