A friend in a Couchsurfing forum observed that when he first moved to Malta he would try jokes, wry observations, and other kinds of humor I was used to back in New Hampshire and Boston. I’d usually receive blank stares, nasty looks, and be ignored. I stopped the jokes, quickly. Maltese culture has been affected […]

Why have I spent the last three visits in the States during the winter, I ask myself. Well, spending time with at least two of my off-spring during Christmas has a lot to do with it. But perhaps it is my need and not theirs. After a few weeks in Salem Oregon with my middle […]

I was invited to a wonderful Thanksgiving potluck…turkey, trimmings and all. Far more than any of us could eat in a week of course. Most of these young people were volunteers for En Via…a local micro-finance project. Some were former couchsurfers who had stayed with me. And some I met through the others. Great bunch […]

Meltdown: The Men Who Crashed The World This is a 4 part documentary of the worldwide financial crisis and the inside story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. After watching part 1 click under Meltdown: (part 2) A Global Financial Tsunami, (part 3) Paying The Price and (part 4) After The Fall. The […]

This comunique will not make much sense without the back story but it will give you a taste of the flavor of the struggle in the indigenous pueblos for autonomy that was promised by the Mexican government in 1945 and the indigenous resistance against the effort of the PRI Party, in control for over 75 […]

The above photos are just a few of the 40 couchsurfers I have hosted over the last couple of years. I retired in 2002 and spent the next 5 years on the road…then chose Oaxaca as a home base. Since I live alone with extensive travel only every year and a half or so, when […]

JULY 4th Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; Another had two sons captured. Nine of […]

Comparing being in any country that is not your birth country for 2 weeks and being in a country for an extended period of time is apples and oranges. Take a look here: It’s not easy. I have been in Mexico for 5 years and still am not fully culturally adapted. Honeymoon, denial, resistance, humor, anger, […]

Monday April 11 one of my American friends…a long time expat…went missing in Oaxaca sometime between 7:30am and noon. On thursday his body finally rose in the well outside his kitchen door. The motive appears to be theft but some also suspect vengeance because Tonee was beaten to death before he was shot in the […]

This Sunday morning there is the usual weekend Tai Chi group trying to generate some peace in the park across from my apartment while a birthday party on the edge of the park 50 yards away a very loud hard rock band blares so loud I can hear it in my back bedroom like it was […]

In 2006-7 I lived in an apartment on Calle Fiallo about 6 blocks south of the Zocalo in which I got to know the maid, Adelina, and her lively bright daughter Fernanda. Adelina is a great single mom and I am helping finance Fernanda’s schooling. A couple Sunday’s ago we went on Adelina’s only day off, […]

Well, I haven’t posted for quite awhile. Been on twitter and computer livestreams ever since the uprising in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) trying to make sense of it. Suffice it to say I am supporting the rebels and the humanitarian aspect of the intervention to the consternation of many on leftist internet forums who […]

Friends Mica and Bardo live in Huayapan, about 30 minutes from Oaxaca City on a good day. Mica’s mom is raising two nephews whose parents are living and working in the States. So it came time for the baptism and of course the accompanying fiesta with DJ music for dancing. Few people actually attended the baptism […]

I have been glued to Aljazeera on my computer for a week. I am bleary-eyed. This youtube video posted today was a bit uplifting. Notice all the women.