The Green Sea of the Amazon

The Green Sea of the Amazon [Chapter One: The Canopy]

Advance: Most of my stories or books have been mixed with characters and sunken into the imaginary (non-fiction that is into historical fiction). This one hasn’t. This writer has attempted to write absolutely a true story to see if it can match, or present, or compete with the work of the imagination. 1

The Canopy

We were standing 119-feet high up on a canopy that scientist had built of rope and boards, tied to towering jungle trees, and then I heard my guide below, talking to two visitors. It was too far away, I could not tell what was being said. Then the talking stopped, and I told my wife Rosa, ‘I hope he doesn’t’ leave without us, it gets dark here early…’ The canopy moved, swayed a bit to the right and left as we scaled its thin walkway here and there, up and down, it was at this time the longest one built in the world. I then motioned down to our guide, who had lived in this part of the jungle all his life, so he told us, and so it seemed. He was perhaps in his early forties, I, perhaps was ten years older than he. He was build broad, robust, and a likeable kind of fella; assured, or self-confident in himself, and his knowledge of the jungle.

“Anytime!” he said, Avelino yelled up to us, he meant that it was up to me when we went back to our lodge in the thick of the Amazon jungle. It was to be an hour and a half walk back, the same it took to get there. And I knew a good portion of that walk would most likely end up being at dusk, or in the twilight of the evening. And much more, should we not get moving. I liked Avelino; he had spent forty-years and then some, in this part of the Amazon, about 125-miles from Iquitos, Peru. I got only an hour or so to spend in Iquitos, not much time, i hoped to get more on the way ack; stopped in an old bar, from the days of the booming rubber plantations, when money was plentiful, and had a coke, talked to the barkeeper. Then we visited the Iron House, architecture by Mr. Eiffel himself, who created on paper the famous Eiffel Tower, in Paris, for he Worlds Fair, back in the 1880s.

“Wait a minute,” I told Rosa, I wanted to make sure I walked the whole canopy (she smiled, as usual, and followed me); every inch of it, ever corner and by every tree that it was tied to, I walked to it, by it, around it, not sure why, perhaps to say I did it, like a mountain climber: I wanted to say, I climbed to the top; and now we had to go down—and so I rushed that process up (but without a doubt, I had climbed to the top of the Jungle, looked over its roof, and say its sea of green, which was more like a dream).

It was now conceivably, an hour or so, before that last of light would be put out, when it would shrink into twilight, and then dusk: our light would be gone. Frankly I made a last look over the top of the jungle: Avelino, simply waited down in the opening of the area below, and Rosa and I now were headed toward the rope ladder that lead down to the first platform, there were three platforms we had to descend to.

On the first platform, we stopped a bit to get our balance, and breath, or I did anyways, Rosa really didn’t need to, she seems to adjust in the jungle as well as she does in the high mountains of the Andes, quite well, in comparison to me. We had gone up once, or I suppose you could say several times, to heights in them mountains to exceed 16,000-feet, and she never groaned a bit, as thin as the air gets, she was like she was at sea level, while I’m gasping for air, and trying to rid myself of the headache coming.

“Lets go,” Is aid to Rosa, meaning to the second level, yet I wanted to make sure she knew I was about to descend, and that was the best way to inform her, so neither of us, got in the others way as we climbed down.

“Yes,” she agreed, in her broken English, a native to the Spanish language, and about three years into speaking English as a second language. “It’s going to get dark soon,” she added.

“Yaw, I hope he knows the way back in the dark, but he does have that flashlight.” I said.

“I’m glad you pushed the fact we should take the flashlight along, he really didn’t want to, said he didn’t need it, but it makes me feel safer, even if he doesn’t need it. But I think he’ll need it.” Rosa said, and I just glanced up, as I put my foot down into the next loop of the rope, as if to say: ‘let’s see if he does or don’t, I bet he will.’ (But of course I didn’t say that, I thought that, lest he hear me, and I disrespect his knowledge he so aspires to have of the jungle.) The last several steps were wooded ones, and then the end platform, and out into the open area.

As I caught my breath (for the second time) I waited for Rosa to adjust herself, Avelino, approached us, the flashlight in his back pants pocket. I took a last look at the trees holding the canopy up, the ropes tightly wrapped around them: the ladder that went up, as well as down—and saw the path ahead of us, the same one we had come through, that would lead us back out into the deep of the jungle—it was dark in there, already; the rays of the sun were not piercing the openings of the foliage as it was doing a few hours ago.

There had been rain a few days ago, but not enough to make the ground soggy, or difficult to walk on or through, yet it was not completely dry either, and it would make for a slower walk than what harder gravel would allow. I kind of was thinking of trying to walk at a faster pace back, and Avelino was thinking the same, and it would turn out we were thinking alike, and Rosa with her little legs, and me with my warn out lungs, ended up far behind him, with that flash light still in the back of his pants pocks. As we walked through the jungle, there was no way to keep up with him, he was like a wild cat, and perhaps, perchance showing off a ting. But he slowed down then, allowed us to catch up, and I gave him a smile attached to a smirk.

There were opening in the jungle where you could get a good look at the sky, but it was a quick look if you were walking at a pace Avelino was leading. A wild cat, black had run by, in the distance, I called to Avelino, and point it out, “Just a cat, in its natural habitat, no more, dhats all…” he said as if it was an ant trying to get back to his ant hole. Matter of fact, it was a while back when I saw those ant hills, and they were two feet high, and four feet around, and a stream of ants were going to and fro, and I was going to kick it for the hell of it, to wake them up, and I got the smirk I gave him today, back then. Not sure what would have happened, but I suppose, if they were hungry I’d not be alive to write this story.

The cat was gone, now, perhaps it was 300-feet from us, too far to get a perfect picture of it with my old and aging eyes, but I suppose I needed had gotten a better glance, it was good enough, so I told myself.

There were a lot of dry leaves, and roots extending out of the ground, not as bad as when I was in the Gran Sabana, a year earlier: ‘Thank God for little favors,’ I told myself… those roots killed me, kind of. Broke some toenails, and a friend of mine, a little older than I, fell and broke his nose, and a few others got cuts, and so forth and so on, it was a three hour hike in the jungle, always going upward, upward, until you were 200-feet on a ledge looking over at Angel Falls, 1500-feet high, and 1500-feet below you, and the water of the falls, slapping you in the face, It was the place Rosa wanted to go to for our Honeymoon.

The roots, the wild cat, the ants, the canopy was not much compared to some of the things we had to put up with else where. I shouldn’t say, put up with, it was all an adventure, one we begged for I suppose, and got. As I then looked up into the sky, I though I figured it would be dusk soon, and I was already getting tired, and we were perhaps one forth of the ways into the jungle. Avelino had one speed it seemed, high gear, the only way for him to slow down was to stop. To be quite honest, I think he wanted to make it back to the lodge before he’d have to show us he needed the flashlight.

Many things seemed to move in the threes, in the plant life, undergrowth in the distance, nearby; sounds everywhere, movements, a few eyes I saw, they didn’t look dangerous, up in the tree-branches so I just kept moving.

2

The Jungle Path

So now going along the green path in the rainforest, I started to notice large toads, and a frog, small one, with a glowing yellowish shade on its back, I was told to leave them be, they were poisonous. You get, or I got anyways, the profoundest urge to grab that cute little frog and give him a life; but I dared not, and Rosa informed me of its deadliness, and of course we both knew of this already: my little angel. Again we say what Rosa called the big lazy birds on branches, a few more eyes here and there, and we all were getting hungry, and we knew the cook at the lodge was cooking Rosa’s and my piranhas we caught yesterday. I was determined to eat them, not sure why, I suppose because they like eating human flesh, but then they like really eating anything that is meat. I had used a pound of steak meat to catch three little big mouth piranhas. We caught them in the dark-waters, in a tributary that connected into the Amazon River (the trees give off this chemical that makes the water darken, and the piranhas seem to like this sort of water, akin to vampire fish). Around our lodge there were many tributaries and streams, and ponds, enmeshed into this basin area that was a little distance from the main Amazon River.

Rosa had brought some water along, she had insisted somewhat, I was thinking I would not need it, but a fresh drink of water was just what was needed, and I drank my share in on setting I do believe. The coolness was invigorating, and I needed to rest, and our guide was getting farther in the distance and we called out to him, and the night was creeping in, smelling the good smells for the Amazon. I was very happy, I had thought about going into the Amazon for ten-years, ten long years; and here I was. People had told me: how can you afford it. I told them, stop drinking or smoking, and put our money together, and don’t buy that new car for another year or so. It was easy to save when you rally want to save. It was like going on a diet.

We had now come to a village…

To be continued








The Green Sea of the Amazon [Chapter One, Part Two: the Village]

We had not stopped for a half hour straight walking, and we seemed to have taken a little side trip, yet still in somewhat of the same direction of the campsite, or lodge; Avelino wanted to introduce us to the chief of a village, who seemed also to be a seer, unless I got it wrong, nonetheless, he greeted us and Rosa talked to him in Spanish. He gave us a tour of the village, then I asked Rosa, “Tell him I want to take his picture,” and she asked the chief.

“But make sure, “he said, “to take my whole body, the spirits, the evil spirits are out for me, and want the chance to invade me, that would open a window for them,” and I assured him the picture would be whole, I had a pilloried camera and so he could see it immediately, and he was happy about that.

“Do you think he will let me blow that six-foot blow gun?” I asked Avelino.

“Sure,” he said, and walked over a foot or two, to where the chief was, and said something to him, and brought the blowgun back to me. I steadied it with my two hands, and blew the dart out with all my might and breath, it went about three feet, that was it. Then the chief looked at me, trying to hold his laugh in, blew it and it went I bet twenty-feet. I smiled at the older man; I was too embarrassed to try it again. I had stopped smoking fifteen-years prior to this event, but it didn’t do much good for air capacity in my lungs, so I found out.

Then we sat in a big open enclosure, and he talked to us, saying something in Spanish to my wife: it was an invitation to stay in the village the night if we so wished, but I declined the offer, then Rosa asked him something about my illness, Multiple Sclerosis, and he asked questions about it, the symptoms: “In the morning,” he said, “you come back here in the morning, I have some sap from a tree I will drain tonight, it will heal your illness.”

Rosa translated this to me (what she had said): she had told the chief it was a neurological problem, that I was dropping things and got tired quickly, and my eyesight was half-hazard half the time, and I got tired often, and I needed to sleep for long periods, so forth and so on, etc., and it was making me unstable: all true I suppose. And he added it would cost ten-soles, or about 3.5 dollars. I assured him I would try it and return in the morning for the bottle, and Rosa smiled at him, and we said our goodbyes, but drank some coconut juice before we started our journey in the dark, and now our guide, pulling out the flashlight he said he did need was saying, “I guess I am glad we brought it along,” he didn’t look at me when he said it, just pulled it out of his back pocket, like John Wayne would in the cowboy movies pull out a gun, around his hip it went and flashed it straight ahead.

We would return in the morning for the—whatever it was—substance the chief had for us, and I did use it for several months, and it did seem to stop the progression of the MS, not cure it, but slow it down, and stabilize me for the moment, I will perhaps have to go back there for more, I thought, after my return home. And after it was gone, it did get worse.





The Green Sea of the Amazon [Chapter Two: Tarantulas]

We were out and under the light of the moon, a good distance from our lodge, in the thick of this jungle, the Amazon. This time there was no path to guide us somewhat, but Avelino assured me he didn’t need one, it was his backyard he said, matter-of-fact, he said that too many times, it made me suspicious. Now we were in the dense jungle, a flashlight in his hands, and mine likewise, the moon over our heads we could hardly see, looking for—none other than the big spider, the Tarantulas. We were lucky in that we got our own guide, and the other group three or four couples, had one guide for them all. It was as I wanted it, if possible.

As we walked in the deep, we past many large trees, larger and thicker than the thickest pillars of any cathedral I had been in, and I’ve been in them from Istanbul to Rome, and throughout South America, and North America—; and all along our sides was entangled shrubbery, a wealth of green. Rosa and I walked shoulder to shoulder, and as far as I knew Avelino was walking was walking everywhichway. But some how we got him to slow down for me, and thus, I got to rest when needed. We had stopped earlier in the day at his home village, perhaps 200- natives, several houses on sticks, or I should say, wooded beams; and a large school house, a square box type building, with a tin roof, and thin wooded sides for walls, not much but it served it purpose. It now comes to mind as we walked through this thick foliage of a jungle at night the story he told us: his village was along side the river, “We got to keep a good eye out on the children, they run off, and get into the thick of the high grass, and the big cats come and pull them by the necks, or the snakes come and swallow them, but mothers can’t be everywhere all the time, can they…” he said, rhetorically. And then he introduced us to his sister-in-law.

All of a sudden we stopped by a big tree, its trunk was perhaps thirty feet round, and its roots extended a half foot out of the ground, and a big hole was under one root, the largest root it seemed, of the tree, or what I could see of the tree.

“It’ll all work out,” he said looking at Rosa, and putting his stick into the hole, thinking perchance, Rosa might freak out or something. Rosa was behind me, I was about four feet from the hole, and of course our guide was almost on top of it, possibly two feet, with his stick inside of it.

Then I saw, and I’m sure Rosa saw legs coming out of the hole: extending out of the hole, not rat legs, but legs…”That’ll be ok,” he said, not sure if he was talking to us or the creature inside the hole; the legs turned out to be hairy, reddish-brown, huge spider legs, called a Tarantula: larger than my whole hand, legs longer than my fingers, as thick as my fingers. Rosa moved just a ting, “Where’d he come from,” she said.

“It’s his home,” said Avelino “I woke him up.”

Now Rosa was stone still and I was amazed, the eyes of the creature were staring at me, or so it seemed, and Avelino waved his long magic wand (or stick) around its legs, as if it tranquilized it; or had him trained to stand down. Then another long legged tarantula came out, as if to either protect its mate, or join in on the festivities. But the second one never came out all the way, like the first one, it kept its guard, and remained halfway in the whole.

“Be calm Rosa,” I said, I could hear her heart beating, and her breathing heavy, but she is a good sidekick when it comes to traveling, she wants to be part of everything, I can only recall once when she panicked and I had to retreat from my forward advance: it was in Glastonbury, England, on the Tor, the Great Mound, known in ancient times as Avalon, when a heard of cows, huge cows came up, and she is a small woman, and they came blocking the walkway to the top, from the bottom upwards as we were coming down, and I grabbed her as not to panic and started walking through the herd, and she pulled away and ran to the side of the mound, and I joined her, and we had to climb down the mound sideways. Oh well, one out of a hundred is not bad.

So here we were with two monstrous huge spiders, with beady eyes, staring at us, and I guess it was to me the funniest thing to see this stick tranquilize them to the point of shortening out the danger, to where there seemed not to be any.

It had been a full day, and therefore after this escapade, we went back to the lodge....


The Green Sea of the Amazon [Chapter Three: The Big Snake]

So when we got back to the lodge that night, we ate our fish our piranha, and it was delicious; we also played the guitar, I did, that is--play the guitar, in the main hall, and painted a picture on a plaque, which was really a piece of plain wood, that they hung up on the wall to let others know who you were, and when you had come to the lodge, they had plaques all around the lodge. There was only gas lights throughout the lodge, inside and outside on the walk way. We had well water, and a tank, and we had big giant toad’s guarding our outhouse as you’d go into it to take a dump. So to summarize the evening, we ate, played the guitar in the dark of the evening, with crickets and wings flapping here and there, and noises you’d never hear any other place except the Amazon, painted a picture and said goodnight to the toads, and went to sleep.

The following night we started ahead of everyone else, to go find snakes, the great anaconda nonetheless. And at night is the best time I was told: it needs sun to regenerate, it is a cold blooded creature, and thus, at night rests, and is at its weakest; we humans need rest, day or night, because our body needs protean, and sleep and food regenerates heat, which our body needs.

And so here we are, all regenerated from a previously nights sleep, and a nice dinner, having our protean, and looking for Mr. or Mrs. Anaconda; or even baby one would do. We took a large boat, so they said it was large, it looked normal to me, the right size for three people, and we rowed with ores down one of the tributaries of the Amazon looking for this snake of snakes half the night. For one, small or big, and every time we got near the banks of the river, the snakes would hightail it out of the vicinity. Our guide had told us then, that more people were coming down onto the Amazon recently, to where they know [the snakes know] when a boat is near, especially these bigger boats, and leave quickly. That there were not many around here anymore that we’d have to go to another location, but it would take a couple of days, not an evening. Plan B, was to get a smaller boat, and sneak in on the snakes, should we find one, and he assured me, we would, providing we went along with his Plan B.

It was a hot evening, it was only 11:00 PM, but very dark, as we got close to the bank again, for the umpteenth time. And again we heard the sounds of the high grass with movements: it was a big snake for sure, our guide assured us, but as he said before, he repeated again, “We go back and get the dugout.” It was a canoe of sorts, a tree I do believe just chipped out by hand and chisel—I saw one a few days ago it looked rough to me; and should you rock the boat, Rosa felt we’d end up swallowed, especially her being 4’11”, she was a half meal for the big snake, me perhaps a meal and a half.

By the time we got back to the lodge, ready to take the dugout boat, I looked at Rosa, the boat, Rosa, the Boat, and said, “I can’t do it, it is just too thin and small, and it was made for the natives not for me.” I am not a big person, but the dugout couldn’t shelter me even for a coffin I do believe.

“Hell with it,” I said, “let's go in, call it a night,” disappointed I was, but there is always reasons for things, and so I do not tempt fate, I just thank God, for the moment.





The Green Sea of the Amazon (Chapter #4, The Wine of the Amazon)

In the following days I saw dozens of small animals, such as monkeys (small they where), birds, butterflies—, butterflies with eyes on their wings, most peculiar I thought, and interesting; ant hills, and macho ants, marching to and fro, carrying twigs like Hercules would carry a pillar from a Greek acropolis. Lazy-birds high up in the branches of trees sleeping away, big bodied birds they were. Then somewhere along the Amazon we stopped at a winery, built in the 1830s.

I walked around this old plant, made of thick old wood: the owner showed us where they crushed the grapes, and the old timbers they interlocked for the apparatus to run the winery. Again, it was most interesting. And I purchased two bottles of wine, gave it to my guide. I think it was more interesting to me on its historical basis than its wine making capacity. I don’t drink anymore, so it was ridiculous to buy wine, other than to show appreciation for the tour.

When we arrived back to the lodge, there were two Amazonian women sitting in one of those dug out canoes, docked at the wooden pier that extended out into the somewhat, Laguna that trailed off of the arm from the Amazon? I asked her (and my wife translated, although I think she understood my Spanish a ting, it is rough), I asked her if she had been here all day (several hours had passed since I've seen her last sitting here), it was no about 5:00 PM.

“Yes,” she said with a big smile.

“But why?” I replied; since we were the only ones at the lodge until after 7:00 PM, when a new group would come. I really didn’t expect an answer, but she said nonetheless, politely, “Wait for you!” This somehow seemed to obligate me to buy something from her (as she had several items displayed on a board of some sort tucked between her legs so the items would not fall off, to steady the showing, and it was a coconut, small in size, with its top cut off I purchased, to use it for –god knows what, I suppose to put change in, or my wife could put pins in it (in the long run it would be tucked away for five years until we moved it to our home in Lima, thus it went from the Amazon, to Lima, to Minnesota, and back to Lima, it is a world traveler I do believe). In any case, she was happy as the lazy bird sleeping in those lofty branches, we saw a while earlier: she gave me a big smile, and her and her female companion drifted out of the Laguna, to the tributary and on home—I expect.

It was a most charming day to say the least.

“Another day,” I said to my wife, “another day and we’ll be going home,” and we walked up the wooden walkway to the lodge, and into the kitchen area for some coffee.




The Green Sea of the Amazon (Chapter Five: Leaving the Amazon)

I sat in the cafeteria area having coffee, it was 10:00 AM, the day we were to leave the lodge and go back to Iquitos, spend a few hours there, and then catch a flight back to Lima, where we had our second home, our other home was in Minnesota, we were on a thirty-day vacation, sort of. We used our home often in Lima as a stepping-stone to travel throughout South and Central America.

So here I sat, had breakfast, and now my coffee and I was bored, bored to death. Next I asked the manager of the place if we could catch an early boat back to Iquitos, it would be a four hour ride in the boat. My boat was coming at 2:00 PM, and I’d miss roaming around Iquitos, and I wanted to see the Iron House again, last time it was a quick, too quick of a visit, and Garcia was running for president of Peru, and was campaigning in Iquitos, staying at the main hotel, I wanted to go and see if I could catch a glimpse of him.

“It cost $200, to take boat early,” said the manager.

“What?” I said in disbelief, “let me talk to the owner in Iquitos?” and he did, via, by way of an old two-way radio; I’ve used them in the Army twenty-five years ago. Anyhow, they agreed to let us take a boat at 1:00 PM, thus, we’d get there an hour earlier than the 2:00 PM ride, and I’d still have a few extra hours to roam the city, just not as much as I wanted, plus it would not cost me an arm and leg for a ride a few hours earlier. Although I understood, I was asking for something that was obviously not on the schedule, and perhaps they had cargo to bring back and forth, and that had to be taken into account.

Anyhow, on our ride back to Iquitos, in a roofed boat, sides open, kind of square like, a big motor on the back, and it chopped though all the waves in front of us, waves other boats were making, so we made good time, and got to Iquitos about 30-minutes earlier than we had expected. The Amazon can get wide, up to 40-miles wide, but the widest I saw during our ride, was perhaps four-miles wide, which is extremely wide I thought, a lot of water to say the least.

When we got into the city, we went to the Iron House, and to an old colonial bar around the corner, and had a coke, then to the new hotel, and I made it just in time, to see the ex president, and now running for office again: Garcia was coming down the stairs with two bodyguards by his sides, we got into the hotel lobby [we: being my wife and I], as the natives were outside waiting for him, I think the hotel people thought we were guests from the hotel, and I grabbed a quick picture of him as he almost stepped on my toes.

And so the trip was mild, but grand. We caught our flight back to Lima on time and went back home to a nice soft bed, and I must had slept twelve-hours.




8.

The Green Sea of the Amazon [Part one of two Parts]

Afterward:

Enthrallment of the Amazon

Every well-traveled person knows such trips (such as the Amazon) are a fix, a mixture of many things, besides a high, it is fatigue and novelty mixed with apprehension. There is such also a thing called enthrallment involved, and the Amazon has this in buckets.

Not all adventures have a full dose of charm, or enthrallment, in degrees I suppose, but not in buckets; and some of the reasoning is because of the timetable does not allow one to inhale this. An example might be, is when I went to Guatemala, to Tikal, the folks in the tour company, the guides in particular, rushed me and my wife to be through the trip so fast, it became dull, fast; overheated. They wanted to get the job done, not caring about enthrallment for its customers, and so like a herd of cows they pushed us through from one point to another with little regard for our capturing anything, we’d have to deal with looking at pictures in the future, and say: “Look at this,” and try to remember the moment if we could.

This trip to the Amazon was not like that, not so: in the unlikely event something like this could happen again, I simply told myself: I’d leave the tour and go on my own. And In Cuba, Santiago, and Easter Island, I did just that, and salvaged the trip before they could spoil it, and they can spoil it. Believe me, there is a skill, art, or craft, if not philosophy in traveling, and you must have a plan B, at all times and hope you can have the edge, and live up to your philosophy, which is what you want out of the trip, lest you end up in a melodrama you will regret.

The Amazon

The Amazon I suppose you could say I was smitten by, utter happiness; I know my nostrils loved it, fresh oxygen all the time. One recognizes himself, or can when taking in the full elements of the Amazon, the: smells, sounds, fresh air, the hidden animals, the sights. A little bit of everything for the senses all pushed together into a ball you might say.

I had my doubts of how I’d like, or respond to the Amazon, that why its been five years in the waiting for me to write about it. I did not think I should write about something of this nature unless it was extraordinary, then I thought: no, that isn’t a good enough reason for me not to write about it, so here it is. Nothing extraordinary, except it is the Amazon, and that in itself is unique.

At any rate, it captured me, and the source of my first attraction was simply resided in its mystic appeal, its legends and lore, its impressiveness to have the capacity to hold more water than the largest seven rivers in the world; to be forty miles wide at one angle; to have one forth the worlds medicines. To be the home of so many species, animals, birds, cats, etc. Whatever ichthyic it was, it was a good one, and it broke he ice for me, and got to me to step into her wild wilderness. While Iceland is a unique place to be, and it has it many wonders likewise, it did not absorb me, as did the Amazon.

You might say, the Amazon took liberties with me, a violation if you will. It seeped into my being, off-balanced my oxygen intake, by me smelling harder, more. In essence, it demands more from you, and takes it, and you have little choice but to give it. It sharpened my sense you could say. I seen total freedom in many cases, perhaps one of the few places left in the world, where the inhabitants don’t know there are wars going on here and there around the world.

It all felt—arriving in the Amazon—unknown, alien time, a world away form the normal world, I was at its mercy, I did not for once in my life, did not have the edge, or for that matter, an edge to create. Perhaps it [it being: the Amazon] knew this, but I for once didn’t care.

As I first arrived going down the Amazon, perhaps the second day, going from one lodge to the other, the sky was full of beautiful clouds, liken to neon lights, except with shades: blurred into to sun beams shooting across the sky, and into and around a seemingly bouquet of puffy white clouds. One gets the feeling I do believe, he or she could get lost at any given moment, and that eyes are looking at you from all directions, ones you cannot see, sometimes ice-glazed eyes.




The Green Sea of the Amazon (Part Two of Two: Afterward: Enthrallment of the Amazon#8)


So yes, the Amazon was oblivious to my being charmed by it, as perhaps I was living in those passing moments, and didn’t know it myself, but it was fabulous. But fabulous is of course just a word, it does not describe its meaning. When we had first went down the Amazon, we stopped at what I’d call a luxury lodge, with TV and all the amenities one may wish to have in the Amazon; we simply used the facilities for prepping for our adventure into the thicker part of the Amazon, perhaps we stayed three hours; the we came to our lodge, which had none of the refinements the previous one had. And had we gone to the third one, which was deeper into the Amazon, we’d have been sleeping on a dirt floor, and ours might have looked like the Hilton, in comparison.

There were familiar flashes of darkness while going down the Amazon, which were simply shifts in the weather, from sunny, to sunny-pale with rain. I tried to enjoy the moment, grab the sky, and I suppose impolite a times in doing so, but I was busy writing down thoughts also. That is perhaps why it took five years to write a simple story as this one. The subconscious has its own knee-deep pitch-black waters, where it hides its treasures until its time to pull them up, and write them out. The good thing I’m trying to say here, is the Amazon is made for everybody to visit, and has degrees one can subject themselves to. As I previous mentioned, for those wanting to visit, and not rough it at all you got the first lodge, just got to endure the boat ride. And the third one is for those madmen who what to live like apes, you can go to that hole in the ground and live; for myself, I prefer the in-between, and got it. It is so true; you get what you pay for.

The overall feeling was mythological; the Amazon gives you no time to think of anything else, besides God and her. The passengers around me, on my way down the Amazon to the lodges were immobile, subdued by her.

Fastidiousness, is not necessary a quality in the Amazon, and if you’ve read about my yellow-bird in one of the previous chapters he was the point of fact to this, but it fit well in creating this story, and even he had a charm that belonged to the Amazon, I hold him no grudges, he was as he was: he wanted attention, like my wife, like our God wants, and like I like. So it is all in the gamut of things, is it not?

Chachapoya Countryside [Peru]

As one rides by in a car, visits a house or two on foot, a few shops in the villages and towns of the Amazonas, whole families walk by with mules and cows, along the roads to these locations: farmers on battered dusty carts, wagons with wooden wheels; no clocks in the city squares, some houses have no glass windows, nor screens: everything’s bare; some horses with no saddles, just a blanket; ploughs-gear old as the houses, a century or two. You can tell by their faces: their ancestors lived here for a thousand years, perhaps still walk the ground far and near. At the end of the road, or the road leading in (at the other end) of each town it seems to have chickens and dogs running around, laying down in the dust for coolness; mules stray.

Here in the Amazonas you wear long rubber boots for mud is unavoidable; women wear derby hats; landslides are like muck pies, thick and troublesome: everywhere, gangs of workmen cut through them: shovel-by-shovel: it’s another world.


Note: #1328 [4/23/06], Lima, Peru, Written at the Author’s home in the evening.

The Recuay Culture of Peru: [400 BC-800 AD—Ancash, Region]

The Recuay Culture of Peru: [400 BC-800 AD—Ancash, Region]



The Recuay Culture is one of several fairly advanced pre-Inca societies of the first millennium AD in Peru, such as the Moche and Nazca. Best known for advanced ceramic art and stone cutting, the Recuay people were farmers and herders, whom lived in the Callejón de Huaylas Valley of the northern highlands of Peru, they were contemporaneous with the Moche culture, of the neighboring northern coast. They are known for their pottery, and the basic three colors they used.
The first civilizations in Peru, date back some 13,000-years, about 1250 BC, several advanced cultures, such as the Chavín (North part of Peru), Chimú (South part of Peru), Nazca, and Tiwanaku [Bolivia], developed in several sections, or regions of Peru, and what now is Bolivia. The Inca empire united what is now known as the better part of South America, within perhaps a 50-year period, with its base in Cuzco; a totalitarian state for the most part. The Recuay civilization was an Andean society of the Classic Period.
The art of the Moche and Nazca, are quite well known throughout the world, the Recuay cultural art [pottery in particular] are perhaps equal, but less known simply because of their location, and the instability in the highlands. I have been in the highlands, and it is rough, many flood areas, much of it has to be traveled bay horse. The Wari expansion came about 750 AD, and it seems the Recuay culture dyed out some.
So little is written about this Culture of Peru, it is a shame. Some of their figurines, like the llama, and the devils are quite impressive, among their other ceramics. Very little is known of the social organization and settlements of this culture.
Ancash, a region, and part of the highlands of Northern Peru, are many sites available for the armature archeologist to enjoy himself (and mountain climbing, which I care not for). Agriculture and herding are among its better-known exchange. You will see fruits, potatoes in this high altitude society for sale also.

Recuay Heartland: communities were based around hilltop fortifications: settlements, here one had a defensive edge, and could have their ceremonial activates in some small way, in peace.
They have a distinctive artisan art style compared to their neighbors, I’ve have seen the work from almost every culture in Peru, and they have what I call a dark side to some of their work, as well as light side. Some monolith stone work, mummy and devil style; and for their period, very sophisticated. Some of the potteries are of thin oxidized past. Whitish clay is often used, I’ve seen this and handled the objects, and they are fine sculptures indeed, the white clay is known as kaolinite; they made animals, supernatural figures, again I’ve handled them, and they are unique, and one would be a prize to own.
From what I’ve seen, and I have not seen all of their stonework, or ceramics, or textiles, but much of it is I do believe, of mortuary ritual, ancestor worship, the public leaders.
The period I find most interesting in their artwork is 200 BC to 800 AD that could be considered almost their whole life existence as a culture of antiquity. But they as, many cultures have, had a transformation. There was kind of a cultural exchange shift, or pattern in northern Peru, in the North Highlands, following the Chavin’s collapse in 100 BC, and the interactions between them and Recuay. Perhaps a second one between 200-700 AD, with the Moche and in 750 AD, the Wari; thus, we can see a complexity in their societal ancient character, if we follow them from one stage to another.

—Ancash is a region located in Northern Peru, its capitol city is Huaraz, and its largest city is Chimbote. The name of the region originates from Quechua “anqash,’ meaning ‘blue.”

The Sleepy Galapagos

By Dennis L. Siluk
May 14, 2004

The Sleepy Galapagos: I recently went to the Galapagos, not far from my 2nd home base in Lima, Peru, yet 1/3 away around the world from my first home in St. Paul, Minnesota. My son Cody, had inspired me, harped on me, convinced me to go, saying: "...go, go dad to see the great Galapagos." He likes animals, as you might conclude with all them "goes" I provided above for you to read. Me, I don't love them, nor hate them, for I find it more pleasing for me to be at an ancient archeological site vs. nature; that is to say, I'd rather go to Chan Chan than to the Boundary Waters, or some other archeological site than hunting; the zoo can wait. Anyways, when I arrived on the first island in the Galapagos, on my recent vacation [4/24/04]: no cars, no smog, no busy people or traffic, just animals sleepily, lazily being unoccupied, un-sweating, laying around: that's the Galapagos in a nutshell; now for the bowel of soup.

If you've ever visited the Galapagos Islands, there is much to say on the subject: such as, they are peaceful, they are mystic, if not down right haunting; they are also an outside zoo, filled with strange sea lions roasting in the sun, looking at you eye to eye, a foot from your scalp. And we must not forget the Blue-footed Booby' yes indeed, the flying creature had [has] blue feet; the giant 500-pound tortoise, of which was some 150-years old. Where else on God's earth can you find Iguanas that swim? Every single one of these creatures I've mentioned seem to be in a daze, a trance: as if they were made of stone, tranquilized, unmoving [except for a few occasions when they wanted to move to get out of the sun].

Yes, oh yes, there is magic entwined with spells within the fabric of these islands, where everyone seems to be in a half sleep mode, in first gear if you will. And I thought about this a lot when I was there. And the more I thought about it, the more I missed the smog, the horns of the cars, the bickering of the neighbors, yes, O yes, I'm a city boy. As perfect as this Garden of Eden was or is: it was too much for me. I think heaven has more activity than the Galapagos, no disrespect intended.

Now you may be asking: "Would he [He being: me] go there again" The answer would be "no" but, I'm glad I went and experienced it: and to add ice cream to the top of that, I'm sure I'll be writing about it in my future books.

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Journey To Peru And Honduras

By Dennis L. Siluk
May 12, 2005

It was a wondrous trip as always. We caught our plane as usual, and landed in Lima, Peru…no change in time, thus, no jet leg. There we mulled about a few days, and I got bus tickets to head on to Huancayo, beyond the 15,000-foot Andes and the Mantaro Valley, all quite breathe taking. The people in Huancayo are a warm blooded, smiling people, with a touch of grace and magic. We arrived on Sunday, and so a kind of market fair was in place. I ate until my heart was over content. The next day I went to and visited the milk factory, my brother-in-law’s a big shot I think up there, got me in and I got to taste the cheese, and all the dairy products.

In the following days, in this city by the Andes, of some 260,000-inhabidents, and its lovely plaza area, with its grand church, I did a lot of shopping and found a great place for coffee; everything very cheep. In addition, I went out into the countryside and found a few archeological sites, dating to about 700 AD, not hard to find in Peru. One evening my wife and I, along with some family members went out to the Laguna de Paca, a lake with a legend, which I wrote a poem about in a poem later. And the next day I went to an old adobe church, dating back to 1534 AD, with a sage involving Catalina Wanka, and again did a poem on her thereafter, now published in the newspaper.

In the mean time, I met Marissa Cardenas, a lovely columnist for the Huancayo, Correo paper. Who did an article on my presence, publishing one of my poems, “The Treasure of Catalina Wanka.” For those interested, it was in the April 23, Issue of the Correo, and can be found on the internet. It was published in English and Spanish in the paper. In addition, I was on TV, as being a visiting writer, and gave a quick lecture at the nearby College for language, called “Los Andes University.” The students and staff were great, but I was thinking I’d talk on poetry, but they were more interested in my travels, and Vietnam. So be it, I was their guest, and so we had a wonderful question and answer session.

Back in Lima, I was getting ready to go to Copan, Honduras, and so I did; which I had to shift my mind from the Inca culture to the Maya. There in Honduras, I found the people not to smiley. Talking to the folks in a coffee shop, one man said, “It is because we are afraid to make mistakes, with visiting guests, so we look serious all the time.” Oh well, that was in San Pedro de Sula. Copan was a bit friendlier and the archeological site was beyond my expectations.

Upon my arrival back, we went to, that is my wife Rosa, and her sister Nancy, went to Ricarado Palma’s house [liken to our Mark Twain] he is a well know writer from Peru, who wrote on the Peruvian Traditions. There I met the director, who gave us a tour, and asked if I’d except an inventation to have a presentation of my next book there, and of course I agreed with unexpectantly joy, which will be, “The Treasure of Catalina Wanka,” and other selected poems. So as you can see, it was a busy 33-day; yet I am not through.

Thereafter, my wife and her sister, and my father-in-law, a man of much wisdom, and an old prize fighter from the 40’s, went to the horse races; there someone recognized me, and asked me to sit with the owners of the horses, and so we all did. And believe it or not, won a triple horse race, guessing the first three horses to come in on the 5th race, which was 6, 7, and horse number 8; then I got to meet the jockey, and have a picture taken with him, which will be in a forth coming magazine. What more can a person ask for, action everyday.

I even met a psychologist named Poggi, a person I went out of the way to meet. He had killed his patient some twenty years ago, whom was the Butcher of Lima, a man who had killed a number of people, and was captured, and Mr. Poggi wanting to do society a favor; thus, he did him in with his belt around his neck. Oh well, we talked, and I did a poem on that subject, again it will be in the forth coming book.

So all is well, and I’m back in St. Paul, what a dull life I have now.

My Top 10-List of Archeological Places [NOW! Spanish and English]

My Top 10-List of Archeological Places [sites] I’ve been to around the World [*indicates dates I was there] By Dennis L. Siluk

1—The Taj Mahal [in Agra, India]. The beauty of the Taj Mahal is beyond description, especially on a sunny morning with a little dew from the nearby river. A mausoleum, on the banks of the Yamuna River; it took 22-years to build, and 20,000 laborers. The riverfront is most inspiring. And the Town of Agra is worth a visit. There of course is a love story behind this monument, and you will have to seek it out if it interests you. If all I had seen was the Taj Mahal, on my trip to India, it would have been worth the long voyage. [*l997]

2—Giza, or more important, the pyramids of Egypt. We often only see three, but there are four worth ones noticing; the pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of the four pyramids, a stepped pyramid; in the sense of, one layer built over the other. This is northwest, and in the Saqqara site; I personally liked the tomb or pyramid of Cheops, north of Memphis on the plateau of Giza; among the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Sphinx gives the pyramids their mysticism, and even magic I do believe. One could not claim its famous status without the other. [*l998]

3—Borobudur (Largest Buddhist temple in the world ((built 760 AD): of Central Java; made of dark volcanic stone, on a natural mound.This site has square and circular terraces, and a top Stupa. It is almost magical. It stands almost 150-feet high, and its square base is 373 feet each side. Designed by Gunadharma; it does have a calming atmosphere, even more so than the Tor of Glastonbury [or Avalon]. Very few places in the world have this calm effect I do believe; Mary’s house on the hill of Ephesus has, along with a few other locations throughout the world. [*1999]

4—Easter Island [land of the Moai]; the whole island is an outdoor museum. Many things happened when I arrived on this little island in the Pacific. A spirit filled Island if I had ever seen one. Much more than Maui, or even Malta; it is considered the most isolated island in the world. Some of the statues on the island go from 9-tons to 90-tons. And you have a few craters on the island to venture to; but Rapa Nui, the original name for Easter Island, has some 600-statues to look over so rent a jeep. Some of the statues are up to 33-feet tall. They are all about the island. The dogs run free and the horses run free and so do the spirits; and so did I, on this island, annexed by Chile. [*2002]

5—The Great Wall of China. The wall is some 4000-miles long over mountains, deserts and plains. I walked up and along its great walls outside of Beijing, feeling its ancient touch of empire. It was built to keep the barbarians out, some sections date back to 221 BC. Even Genghis Khan crossed over these walls, in 1211 AD. The Ming emperors rebuilt the wall on a larger scale in the 1400s. I loved seeing the Great Walls of Troy, but these took my breath away, they go and go and seem never to stop. Matter-of-fact, it can be seen from outer space. [1996]

6—The Acropolis of Athens; in particular the Parthenon; if I go back to Greece, I would like to see Crete, and Knossos, I’ve left so many places out, I’ll never get to them; but I’ve seen the best of the best; and the Acropolis is the best. After reading Mary Renault’s entire book on Greece—for she was my inspiration to go, I went. And each morning I’d walk down by the Acropolis, eat in a local café, and gaze at the beauty of the Acropolis on the hill. This site dates back 5000-years as far as being inhabited; with its many temples, and a fine museum right on location. [*1995]

7—Macchu Picchu [the Lost City] there is so much to say about this site, one does not know where to start. This is perhaps the last ancient remains of the Inca civilization of the Andes. There are many dates put on this site, and if one looks it over, you have stones from three different periods I believe, dating back to 2500 BC, to 1250 BC, to the 1400s [AD]; the town of Cuzco remains above it, and a beautiful city it is. Macchu Picchu is 70-miles north of Cuzco, at a height of 9,000 feet; most people do not know, Cuzco, the town is higher, 12,000-feet, so bring something to help you adjusting to its height. I suggest oxygen; or see if a hotel has it there. [*l999]

8—The gladiator’s famous home: The Colosseum of Rome. Where gladiatorial played the death game with wild animal hunts; this is the biggest of the Roman amphitheaters. Quite the complex system, with underground passages; you got to go across the street up to a small park, look through the fence to get a good, full picture of it. Or I suppose you could just walk down the street and get all the traffic and other buildings in the picture to. I got to go back and see Pompeii now, a site I’ve longed to see, but I had to see this first. And you can’t help just gazing at it as you walk here and there, it is Rome to me. [*l997]

9—Stonehenge—a few miles from Salisbury, megalith stone giants you could call these earthworks here, or heel stones. This stone circle dates to about 2500—3000 BC. It reminds me of Mystery Hill, in New Hampshire, also called, the Stonehenge of America; but of course, has a more powerful appearance. I get the same haunting feelings from here, as I got from Gaza. As if they were fraternal twins. They are said to come from the same time period. Something tells me both the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge, and even and Mystery Hill, all belong to a later time. If only you could touch it [the stones at Stonehenge], it was fenced off when I was there, but I've heard lately, they were taking the fence down; about time; it takes 90% of its magic away. Everyone suffers because of the destructive habits of a few. I went nonetheless, and have to live with 10% of its magic, good enough. [*l998]

10—Angkor Vat [Palaces of the Gods]. Another giant complex: you have within this area, Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Thom [the great city of the Jayavaman VII, inspired by a great Hindu myth], Bayon, Ta Prohm [where trees grow around the ruins, as if they are hugging them]; Ta Som, etcetera. It is a masterpiece of Khmer art and brilliance in building. Surrounded by a huge trench; Angkor Vat, is also spelled Angkor Wat. The food in Cambodia is great, and the people kind. Stick with a guide though. While in Cambodia, I got to go on/in the Mekong River, which was a delight to see, and its fishermen with their nets, and so forth. [2000]

In Spanish Translated by Nancy Penaloza

Top 10-List of Archeological Places [sites]

Mi lista TOP de los 10 lugares (sitios) Arqueológicos. En el mundo entero en los que he estado [*Indica las fechas que yo estuve allí]

By Dennis Siluk

1-El TAJ Mahal [en Agra, India]. La belleza del TAJ Mahal está fuera de cualquier descripción, especialmente durante una mañana soleada con un pequeño rocío del río cercano. Un mausoleo, sobre los bancos del Río Yamuna; que tomó 22 años y 20,000 trabajadores para construirlo. La orilla es la más inspiradora. Y la Ciudad de Agra vale una visita. Allí desde luego hay una historia de amor detrás de este monumento, y usted tendrá que buscarlo si esto le interesa. Si todo lo que yo hubiera visto fuera el TAJ Mahal, en mi viaje a la India, habría sido valioso el viaje largo. [*l997]

2-Giza, o más importante, las pirámides de Egipto. Nosotros a menudo sólo vemos tres, pero hay cuatro de valor que notamos; la pirámide de Djoser, la más vieja de las cuatro pirámides, una pirámide pasada; en el sentido de, una capa construida sobre la otra. Esto es de noroeste, y en el sitio de Saqqara; personalmente me gustó la tumba o pirámide de Cheops, al norte de Memphis sobre la meseta de Giza; entre las siete maravillas del mundo. La Esfinge da su misticismo a las pirámides, y aún la magia, creo. Uno no podía aclamar su estado famoso sin el otro. [*l998]

3-Borobudur (el templo budista Más grande en el mundo) (construido 760 años antes de Cristo)]: de Java Central. Este sitio tiene terrazas cuadradas y circulares, y una cima estepa. Es casi mágico. Esto permanece a casi 150 pies de alto, y su base cuadrada es 373 pies cada lado. Diseñado por Gunadharma; realmente tiene una atmósfera calmada, entonces, aún más que el Peñasco de Glastonbury [o Avalon]. Muy pocos sitios en el mundo tienen este efecto tranquilo que realmente creo; la casa de María sobre la colina de Efeso lo tiene, (junto a otras pocas localidades en todo el mundo); hecho de piedra oscura volcánica, sobre un montón natural. [*1999]

4-Isla de Pascua [tierra del Moai]; La isla entera es un museo exterior. Muchas cosas pasaron cuando llegué a esta pequeña isla en el Océano Pacífico. Un espíritu llenó la Isla como si yo alguna vez lo hubiera visto. Mucho más que Maui, o aún Malta; es considerado la isla más aislada en el mundo. Algunas estatuas en las islas van de 9 toneladas a 90 toneladas. Y usted tiene unos cráteres en la isla para aventurarse; pero Rapa Nui, el nombre original para Isla de Pascua, tiene algunas 600 estatuas para revisar, alquilando entonces un jeep. Algunas estatuas están sobre 33 pies de altura. Y ensucian la ciudad los perros y los caballos que corren libres y lo mismo hacen los espíritus; y yo también . La isla esta anexada a Chile. [*2002]

5- La Gran Muralla China. La pared es de aproximadamente 4000 millas de largo sobre las montañas, desierto y llano. Me acerqué y a lo largo de sus grandes paredes fuera de Beijing, sintiendo su antiguo toque de Imperio. Fue construido para mantener a los Bárbaros fuera, algunas secciones remontan a 221 AC. Incluso Genghis khan atravesó sobre estas paredes, en 1211 antes de cristo. Los emperadores de Ming reconstruyeron la pared en una escala más grande en los años 1400. Me gustó ver las Grandes Paredes de Troya, pero estos se llevaron mi aliento, ellos van y van y parecen nunca no pararse. Normal, puede ser visto del espacio exterior. [1996]

6 - la Acrópolis de Atenas; en particular el Partenón; si vuelvo a Grecia, tendré el gusto de ver Creta, y Knossos, he dejado fuera tantos sitios, nunca los conseguiré; pero he visto lo mejor de lo mejor; y la Acrópolis es lo mejor. Después de leer a Mary Renault todo el libro sobre Grecia - Ya que ella fue mi inspiración para ir, yo fui. Y cada mañana yo tuve que caminar abajo por la Acrópolis, comer en un café local, y dar una mirada fija a la belleza de la Acrópolis sobre la colina. Este sitio remonta de 5000 años tan lejos como siendo habitado; con sus muchos templos, y un excelente museo directamente sobre ubicación. [*1995]

7-Macchu Picchu [la Ciudad Perdida] Hay tanto para decir sobre este sitio, uno no sabe donde comenzar. Estos son los restos de quizás el último poder, de la civilización inca de los Andes. Hay muchas fechas puestas en este sitio, y si uno lo mira, usted tiene piedras de tres períodos diferentes, creo, remontando a 2500 AC, a 1250 AC, a los años 1400 [antes de cristo]; la ciudad de Cuzco permanece encima de ello, y es una ciudad hermosa. Macchu Picchu esta a 70 millas al norte de Cuzco, en una altura de 9,000 pies; la mayoría de la gente no conoce, Cuzco, la ciudad es más alta, 12,000 pies, por los tanto traiga algo para ayudarse a adaptarse a su altura. Sugiero el oxígeno; o ver si un hotel lo tiene. [*l999]

8 - La Casa Famosa Del Gladiador: El Coliseo de Roma. Donde los gladiadores jugaban el juego de muerte con animales salvajes cazados; este es el más grande de los anfiteatros romanos. Casi el sistema complejo, con pasajes subterráneos; usted tiene que ir a través de la calle hasta un pequeño parque, mirar por las rejas para conseguir una imagen buena de ello. O lo supongo solo podría caminar abajo la calle y conseguir todo el tráfico y otros edificios para la imagen. Conseguí volver y ver Pompeya ahora, un sitio que he tenido muchas ganas de ver, pero tuve que ver esto primero. Y usted no puede ayudar solamente mirando fijamente en ello mientras usted anda aquí y allí, esto es Roma para mí. [*l997]

9-Stonehenge-a pocas millas de Salisbury, megalito piedras gigantes que usted podría llamar estos trabajos de tierra aquí, o piedras de talón. Este círculo de piedra remonta aproximadamente 2500-3000 AC. Esto me recuerda de Colina de Misterio, en New Hampshire, también llamado, el Stonehenge de América; pero desde luego, tiene un aspecto más poderoso. Conseguí los mismos sentimientos atormentados desde aquí, que los que conseguí en la Gaza. Como si ellos fueran gemelos fraternales. Ellos, como se dice, vienen del mismo período de tiempo. Algo me dice que ambas pirámides de Egipto y Stonehenge, y aún la Colina de Misterio, todos pertenecen a un tiempo posterior. Si sólo usted pudiera tocarlo [las piedras en Stonehenge], fueron separados con una cerca, cuando yo estaba allí, pero me enteré últimamente, ellos bajaban la valla; algunas veces; esto llevaba al 90 % de su magia. Cada uno sufre debido a los hábitos destructivos de unos cuantos. Fui sin embargo, y tengo que vivir con el 10 % de su magia, bastante bien. [*l998]

10-Angkor Vat [Palacios de los Dioses]. Otro complejo gigantesco: usted tiene dentro de este área, Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Thom [la gran ciudad de Jayavaman VII, inspirado por un gran mito hindú], Bayon, Ta Prohm [donde los árboles crecen alrededor de las ruinas, como si ellos los abrazaran]; Ta Som, etcétera. Esto es una obra maestra de arte Khmer y esplendor en el edificio rodeado por enormes zanjas; Angkor Vat, también es deletreado Angkor Wat. La comida en Camboya es buena, y la amabilidad de la gente. Pegado como una guía pienso. Mientras en Camboya, conseguí continuar / en el Río Mekong, el cual era un placer ver, y sus pescadores con sus redes, etcétera, etcétera. [*2000]

Huancayo, Peru [a Nice Place to See, or Even Retire] NOW in English and Spanish

Everyone is going to say: “Now where is this place?” It is the best hidden secret in Peru. But first let me state, of all the places I’ve been to in the world, there are about six or seven places I could live: Paris being one [just overlook the French people, wish they were English]; Lisbon, being two; Kyoto being three [my wife is jealous of the Japanese women though]; Seville, Spain [home to Hercules] being four; St. Paul, Minnesota [home to the poet Longfellow, and the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald] being five; and Peru [home to Ricardo Palma, the Mark Twain of Peru].

In Peru there are three places I can live: Lima, Cuzco, and Huancayo. But the best place of them all is Huancayo, which has a beautiful twilight; the sunsets, like a canopy over the Mantaro Valley and like a shooting flame, it lights up everything; and the Laguna de Paca, the beautiful lake nearby, with its full moon, is enchanting; and its Sunday market, and all the vendors with their assortment of foods. If a retired American cannot live here on his little Social Security, he can’t live anywhere else in the world cheaper, with such culture, climate and scenery; not to mention, but I will, its great food variety, and hospital people; and a nearby hospital for those whom are elderly. They are not like most of the world: take the American dollar, and spit at them as they walk out their door. Yes, I’m afraid that is what you will see if you travel the world; Europe being top dog in this department. Go where you like, but live where you’re respected. And Peru is one place, and surely Huancayo. In Peru, police protect Americans, and for some odd reason trust them. My advice to them is not to be so trusting of us, we are not all as you would have us be. There is an old breed still like that, but few of us left. They got this idea, that what we say is written in stone, and it used to be; but nowadays it seems the stones are made out of mud, not granite like they used to be. I repeat myself, there still is a string of this cultural fiber left, but it is thin. But in Huancayo the people are gracious people, and the Andes are spectacular. And Huancayo has its nose right in it.

If you’re looking for McDonalds, stay in Lima, I like Lima, it is the New York of South America, and every time I go to have lunch at El Parquetito in Miraflores, I have to take a taxi, it only cost two dollars or so, but it is too difficult to drive there—unless you’re the Road Runner. In St. Paul, everyone drives like old ladies, they should go to Lima, but don’t drive, forget driving; you’ll kill yourself, get a taxi or take a bus. Cuzco is beautiful, and Machu Picchu is number seven on my top ten list, and it has the Sacred Valley, but it cannot compare in beauty and serenity to the surroundings of Huancayo, and San Jeronimo with its Mantaro Valley, and little adobe church, San Sebastian, where legend has it, Catalina Wanka hid her treasure of gold, she was bringing down through the Andes for the release of the Inca King, Atahualpa, whom the Spaniard killed, and lost the gold—indeed they did, they liked blood better I guess.

Spanish Version Translated by Rosa Peñaloza

Huancayo, Perú (un Lugar Bonito para Visitar, o incluso para Radicar)

Todos estarán diciendo: ¿”Ahora dónde está este lugar?” Este es el mejor lugar ocultado en Perú. Pero primero déjame decir, que de todos los sitios en los que he estado en el mundo, hay aproximadamente seis o siete sitios donde yo podría vivir: París, siendo uno [solamente pasa por alto a los franceses—desearía que ellos fueran ingleses]; Lisboa, siendo el segundo; Kyoto, siendo el tercero [aunque mi esposa es celosa de las mujeres japonesas]; Sevilla, España [la casa de Hércules] siendo el cuarto; San Pablo, Minnesota [la casa del poeta Longfellow y el novelista F. Scott Fitzgerald] siendo el quinto; y, Perú [la casa de Ricardo Palma, el Mark Twain de Perú].

En Perú hay tres sitios donde puedo vivir: Lima, Cuzco y Huancayo. Pero el mejor lugar de todos ellos es Huancayo, que tiene un crepúsculo hermoso, las puestas del sol, como un pabellón sobre el Valle del Mantaro, y como una llama punzante este ilumina todo; y la Laguna de Paca, un cercano lago hermoso, con su luna llena, es encantador; y su Feria Dominical, y todos los vendedores con sus surtidos de productos de alimentación. Si un americano jubilado no puede vivir aquí con su pequeña pensión, él no puede vivir en ninguna parte en el mundo más barato, con tal cultura, clima y paisaje; sin mencionar, pero lo voy a hacer, su gran variedad de alimentos, y la gente muy hospitalaria; y un hospital cercano para los que son ancianos. Ellos no son como la mayoría del mundo: que toman el dólar americano, y los escupen mientras ellos salen de sus puertas. Sí, me temo pero esto es lo que verás si viajas alrededor del mundo; Europa siendo el peor de todos en esta área. Anda a donde te guste, pero vive donde eres respetado. Y Perú es uno de los lugares, e indudablemente Huancayo.

En Perú, la policía protege a los americanos y por alguna rara razón confían en ellos. Mi consejo a ellos es de no ser tan confiados de nosotros, todos no somos lo que ustedes creen que somos. Hay una vieja clase todavía de esa forma; pero somos pocos los que quedamos. Ellos tienen la idea, de que todo lo que decimos está escrito en piedra, y esto solía ser; pero hoy día parece que las piedras son hechas de fango, no de granito como frecuentaban ser. Me repito, hay todavía una cuerda de esta fibra cultural, pero muy delgada. Pero en Huancayo la gente es generosa, y Los Andes son espectaculares. Y Huancayo tiene su nariz directamente en este.

Si estás buscando Mc Donalds, quédate en Lima, me gusta Lima, ésta es la Nueva York de Sudamérica, y siempre que voy a almorzar en El Parquetito en Miraflores, tengo que tomar un taxi, que sólo cuesta dos dólares o algo así, pero es muy difícil conducir allí—a no ser que seas el Corredor del Caminos. En San Pablo, todos conducen como viejas damas, ellos deberían ir a Lima, pero no conducir, olvídense de conducir; se matarán si lo hacen, consigan un taxi o tomen el autobús.

Cuzco es hermoso, y Machu Picchu es el número siete en mi lista de los diez primeros lugares, y éste tiene el Valle Sagrado, pero esto no puede compararse con la belleza y la serenidad del entorno de Huancayo, y San Jerónimo con su Valle Mantaro, y su pequeña iglesia de adobe, San Sebastián, donde la leyenda dice que Catalina Wanka ocultó su tesoro de oro, tesoro que ella traía a través de los Andes para la liberación del Rey Inca, Atahualpa, a quien los españoles mataron, y perdieron el oro—en efecto ellos lo hicieron, les gustó la sangre más que el oro, creo.

Last Night in Tokyo

Last Night in Tokyo
[A Harsh Romance—July 1999]








By Dennis L. Siluk









During an interview I was once asked: “If you were to die tomorrow, would you have any regrets Mr. Siluk?” And I answered, “Only one sir.” And he asked “…yes, and what would that be?” And I answered, “If only the world could have be bigger.“ [A remembrance.] D.L. Siluk

Advance: Under the best of circumstances, you always think things will turn out right, somewhere further down the road that is. I suppose it is just a natural thing; I mean we can’t live on negativism, now can we. But change the environment a little, especially cultural environments, in my case go to where your mates surroundings are [Japan] and see what changes what, things are not always the same way then; the answer my rest in: can you adjust or can she, and there is always a they involved someplace. In my case Kikue could adjust in the United States, and with my friends and family, but I’m getting ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning, somewhat.
My lady friend met me in Istanbul, Turkey, and we wrote letters for two years, then we met in person when she visited me in the United States for another two years—off and on (for a week first, then two weeks, then three weeks), and then I went to Japan, her turf, and things changed. Thus, the relationship went on this way for, four years. In-between I learned how to write Japanese in all its three styles, quite well: an achievement in itself.
Kikue: she is Japanese, a small woman, with short black hair, fair looking, sincere, and she became a Christian Buddhist, from a Buddha Buddhist, during our dating period. So we both achieved something out of this relationship, if not wisdom and some good times, along with a wobbly friendship.
I suppose if we all could see down the road of life, we’d not venture down it perhaps: maybe it is a bigger gift from God than we give Him credit for. This story I’m about to tell you has a few life lessons in it for me. On one hand, it was nice relationship between us, on the other, thank God I had enough insight to step away from it when I saw, felt instinctively I had to; consequently, I acted on my instincts; a harsh decision but it was turning into a harsh relationship. I firmly believe we are given certain natural traits, mental, neurological, and instinctive, whatever they are, they tell you which way to move; I also believe you should trust them.
In this story you are about to read, you are going to get the end in the beginning because to me, it is only the six days in Japan that count in this ongoing, four year relationship, and the last day in Tokyo, that made the difference; I mean that really matters in the long run. Had I not made the decision I did make, I did on the last day, I’d not be writing this story, as it is here; it might have had to be named different, and I’d have had to add a lot more adjectives to the story. Nobody is to blame for this, not me, not the other person involved. I’m sure she’s better off, for the ending that occurred.
The story starts off in July 1999, I’m about to leave Minnesota, flying into San Francisco, and over to Japan. This is really a story that is extended beyond Japan, for after I leave Japan, I will go to Guam, Bali, and Java, then back again through Japan to go home to St. Paul, Minnesota (halfway around the world). But again I say it is Japan I am speaking of for the most part.




Chapter one: Tokyo, Day One and Two


Tokyo: home to eight million people, of its 130-million residents [1999]; there is a lot of energy in Tokyo, and the very young seem to have control of it. I wanted to get a massage the first day I walked about the city’s sidewalk, ten-minutes for ten dollars, but I couldn’t, it was so busy, with people jumping off the trains, eating lunch, standing in lines to get a massage, and back to work, just watching the activity tired me out. Matter-of-fact, they even have punching bags in the gyms, usually in the lower levels of the buildings, in some employment places to get your anger out, instead of getting it out on your boss: a different world indeed.
Kikue had taken me from the airport to have dinner at a nice restaurant someplace in Tokyo, then we met her sister, whom was fighting with her about having me over in Japan, and staying with me overnight, and wanting to marry me; the fight went on in the hallway by three café’s, and the train station not far from sight; for two hours they fought, and left me pace in circles, and told me to just wait and be patient, and get away from them. I think she wanted her to marry a Japanese man, as I’d find out later her whole family was against me marrying a Japanese, none of them made me feel welcome.
Then we headed to our hotel, a kind of apartment, where you had to provide your own linens, pots and pans. There we’d stay for two days. And as we left the building the following morning day-two, all I really wanted to do was walk the streets a bit, see what Tokyo was like. I was hungry, and we looked in a few stores on the way to the bus, and got some candy, coke and a sandwich out of vending machines along the way; they are everywhere. And so that is what we did as soon as we went from the airport, on to several trains to get to our apartment, had a good sleep and found ourselves in day two.
As the day progressed on day two, people were very kind to me, matter-of-fact, I didn’t seem to think they even saw me; they were too busy going here and there. I would find out by the end of this first day the system of the trains, which you had to hang on for dear life to the loops hanging down overhead, if indeed you were lucky, you’d get a seat. I can’t figure it out, but half the folks on the train were sleeping, and when their stop came, they woke up from the dead: they were on automatic recall.
We’d have to take a bus later on, and then a taxi to her girlfriends house, where she gave me a session of acupuncture, free of charge, and when I got back on the train thereafter, I collapsed on the floor. My whole body was limp like a noodle. Thus, that would end my acupuncture days.
It was a nice month to be in Japan though, it was July, and it was summer, and it was hot. Tami was where we’d go the second day, where most of her family lived, in the afternoon that is. And so after a stroll downtown, we caught another train to Tami.


Day Two

In the afternoon of Day two, I met the whole family at a nice restaurant, and got the third degree: “Why do you want to marry my daughter?” Her mother asked. Her sister next to me asked, “Do you really love her or is she just a thing for you?” This interrogation went on for two hours one voice after the other, there were about ten folks present representing the core of her family, and then I broke down and put my hands on the table and pounded lightly saying, “You people are very rude to me, and I’m through answering questions.”
I pardoned myself, and went to the bathroom. And that was that. Now we were equally in frustration. Kikue didn’t say all that much. But from the phone calls I made to her from Minnesota to Japan [in the last part of the year], the father slamming the phone down, as well as the mother, I came back and let them know they were double rude for the insults over the phone as well. They did apologize for that, and was a bit embarrassed that I brought it up. But it was over as far as I figured, over now that is. I had dreaded this moment, knew it was coming, but couldn’t avoid it; I’m not sure how Kikue took it, she was quite passive during the ordeal.

That evening she took me to her place of work, the hospital, and I found out the cab was a dollar a block. Tami city was a new looking city to me, very clean, too clean, almost as if it was not even lived in. But we had time that evening to go to an art show, where her sister had her art exhibited. It was mostly of flower-patterned items well done but not my cup of tea. She was kind enough to give me one.
In the morning we had things to do, and buses to take, and trains to catch, but she wanted me to meet her friends [women] at a small gift shop one owned by her friend, and so I did, we all four then sat at a cozy table by a garden and a glass window separating the garden from us, and had coffee and crackers. Again the Japanese can be good hosts, just make sure the family is ok with mixed blood. I purchased some postcards, and then we had to get back to our apartment, and on our way to Kyoto.



Chapter Two: Day Three and Four
[Kyoto: Nanzen-ji; Ginkaku-ji; Gion]

Of all the cities I was in while in Japan, which were perhaps several, Kyoto was my favorite. Before we left Tokyo, we stopped in at Chofu, at the Jindaiji Temple— actually we visited several temples, and a Japanese castle Japanese Castle in Nogoya, where we went to the international sumo tournament; but here at this temple the pigeons seem to like me, and flew around me like mosquitoes. From here we went on to Nogoya.
Sumo wresting, or this international tournament we attended cost $500 a seat, and we sat in the third tier, 9th row. Nothing is cheap in Japan, and everything is different; perhaps that is what you are paying for. Sumo wrestling is like soccer is in Peru, or baseball in America, number one sport.
I really enjoyed it, and we stayed to the very end, and I got to meet a few of the wrestlers. From there we went to the Castle, got a little lost, and found our way to the bus, no trains from here on in, to Kyoto.


Kyoto: Nanzen-ji; Ginkaku-ji; Gion


Of all the temples in Japan, this one was the most impressive by far, Sanmon (Mountain Gate) of Nanzen-ji. Here, on the site where the temple was rebuilt, taken from an old site was an ancient Nanzen-ji Viaduct, again most impressive, with its many arches underneath it.
In Gion, there is a red temple known as Yasaka-jinja (Gion):
not as impressive as Nanzen-ji, but inspiring nonetheless. And once walking down Gion, you see its many Yasaka-jinja Lanterns, again extraordinary; this whole area, city and all was unusual, as was the Yasakano Pagoda, I saw from a distance. I wanted to see it closer and so the taxi drove by it, but we didn’t have time to get out and explore the Japanese Tower.


It was late afternoon when we arrived in Kyoto, and we went right to a temple, and on to our sleeping arrangements, a Ryokan Inn. I wanted to see the Geon district and a Geisha badly, but I’d have to wait until tomorrow.
The Ryokan; a cobblestone alleyway led to this small [guesthouse, house, or inn of sorts], in Japan, it is called a Ryokan, with sliding doors; the room is clean, uncomplicated, a table with cushions; a hanging scroll as a centerpiece. No swimming pool or weight room, not anything like the five start hotels in New York City; we had reservations, not sure if we needed them. I would call their room minimalism, but its simplicity was beautiful and different, even the sound of the sliding doors made me feel like I was in Asia. They had even a place for my shoes, while I put on wooden sandals. Strange I thought, but cool. Kikue made all the arrangements. Some of these simple rooms cost up to $800 a night. The Ryokan date back to 1603 AD [the Edo period]; by tradition these are called Inn’s, and come in all sizes, mine was small, original wooden inn authentic I would say.

We stayed two days in the Ryokan, and used that as a steppingstone to other activities throughout the area. Meeting with Kikue’s girlfriend in Kyoto, and going to the temple, Lunch for $100, and to the Geon District. Lunch was an assortment of foods, all Japanese cuisine that never got me full.
The aqueduct at the temple site was most impressive. But again I wanted to see Geon, and after lunch we all went there, and the girlfriend parted with us, having to go back to work. Kikue and I walked up and down the streets. We then went into one of the Geisha guesthouses, and an older Geisha gave us a tour of the place: most kind she was. And as we left I met a Geisha, a lovely young women, I seen her again in six months, in a book someone would write about Geisha’s, a small world isn’t it. Kikue was a little disturbed I wanted to have this experience, but then she overlooked it. After dinner we went to the Tower of Kyoto, it was closed but I snuck all the way up, via, the stairway to the top. Then back down again.
That night we had a fight on the streets of Kyoto, after dinner at a Chinese Restaurant and I had some resistance to g back into the Ryokan but I did after walking up and down the cobblestone street trying to get my composure back, there was, it seemed, a lot of little things bothering both of us.
In the cozy little Inn, someone left the door open to their room, and it was hard not to look in as I passed by glanced in, and here they were, humping away like two camels; making love (Girl and boy) like there was no tomorrow, on a black rolled out whatever on the hard wooden floor; I stopped looked for a minute, and they were as white on rice, doggie style, and they looked at me looking at them, and they smiled. I caught my breath, and put myself in second gear to get moving, as they motioned me to join them, and I found my room quickly which was next to theirs: and had to listen to some moans and groans and I celebrated with them, via, through the walls.

The following morning, day five we had to go back to Tokyo, but had to make a stop on the way. At the train stop, I had an episode, I have MS, and so my spine acted up, it was very painful, and so I laid down on one of the benches, while Kikue rubbed my back. It looked a bit weird, but it did the trick.



Chapter Five and Six

We had stopped at a tour place, and Kikue gave them two tickets she had purchased a few weeks earlier, then we got onto a bus that morning and drove out towards Mt. Fuji [9000-feet]; later on that day, I would be above the clouds, almost on top of Mt. Fuji, but first we went to a lake and flower area, an outside conservatory of sorts, larger than a garden I should say, and many rows of flowers. Then it was afternoon and we went to eat by a lake, there was but forty of us on the bus, but again Kikue seemed to have gotten mad at me, I was upset also for the way her family and sister treated me, and how she had shunned me, and it was all getting bottle up for both of us. I grabbed a necklace I bought for her and threw it in the lake. Then feeling bad, I bought her a new one. Then when we went to eat, we seemed to be the lone ducks, and the servers had to find more food for us. Thereafter, we went up the mountain to a certain level of Mt. Fuji, and I climbed the rest of the way. It was quite inspiring.
On our way back to Tokyo, Mt. Fuji turned into a pale daunting shadow, from my train window, a most beautiful one.


Chapter Six: Night Five, Day Six

Kikue got angry that night as we sat crossed leg in our little apartment in Tokyo. She had forgotten all the fighting we had done, all the disrespect their family threw upon me; her disrespect with her sister by the subway and cafés, also she forgot the disruption I created by the lake: but it was all coming out now, sideways: her mood was aggressive. Out of me and out of her came unkind words. She was kind of threatening, in the sense I did not know my way around Tokyo, and I sensed she wanted to leave me stranded. I told myself I could find my way to the blasted airport if she left, so I told her if that was the way she felt, angry and didn’t want to cool down she could leave, I’d manage, and she slowed her anger to a more somber, or sad mood than a demanding and angry mood.
I understood she was upset I was leaving to Guam in the morning, but it wasn’t new information, it was what I had told her all along. We had plans up to this point to marry some time in the future [no certain date, just verbal plans, and based on if we could keep a cool relationship in place, or so that is how I based it on], we had talked about it briefly, and I felt I needed more time to look at the whole situation, and she had gone along with it, but I knew this evening it was over. Perhaps I knew it long before but I needed Japan to explain to my subconscious the amalgamation, why so many haunting thoughts were coming to surface in this situation. I was perhaps anticipating marriage on the grounds she was a good woman, and fair. This was really not enough I suppose. And now her parents were not tossing insults over the phone, they were doing it in front of me (or had been). And she was doing exactly what her parents had done, and she was against. They controlled her, and she wanted to control me. Control is a big word, and perhaps over used here, I don’t mind closeness between mates, but domination is not good for anyone—nor is codependency. I wanted a healthy relationship as a whole, not in part. Meaning, socially, with our faiths, psychologically, physically or sexually, and so for and on. Not really too much to ask. I was not looking for perfection, rather, a sidekick, I had been married before, I didn’t really need a wife: I needed a sidekick that was a wife.
And so I left Tokyo, and she looked out the big by window as I left.
On my way back from Java, my ultimate destination, from my visit at Borobudur, the Great Buddha temple, which was magnificent, on my top ten places in the world to go, it was number three, the Taj Mahal being number one, which I had seen in 1998, and the Great Pyramids of Giza, in 1998, number two, and in 1996, I had went to China, and seen the Great Wall, number four on my list. I had plans now to return to Minnesota, via, Japan, and head on to Peru, to see Machu Picchu, that would prove to be number seven on my list. In the future I’d go to many more places, in 2001, the Amazon, and in 2003, the Galapagos, and in 2006, the Panama Canal, the Canal being number #11, but I never made a list beyond ten. Anyhow, on my return to Minnesota I stopped over in Japan, only at the airport to change planes, I had a hour, and as I walled alongside the windows to the corridors to lead me to the right gate, I saw a woman staring from the window at me, her pale silhouette, I think it was Kikue, I’m not sure, when I looked back up after a moment she was gone. She did write me a few times after, and her parents did apologize for their misbehavior, but I had discovered a women I fell in love with in Peru and married her two months later, it felt right, and was right.


Note: although the story is true in fact, the name of Kikue and the suburb of Tokyo she and her family lived have been distorted. The time period is correct.

Pachacamac [Peru] An Archeological Site

Pachacamac [Peru] An Archeological Site

By Dennis L. Siluk

Sept. 22, 2005


Pachacamac or spelled: Pachakamaq, an archeological site, Inca culture site, built continuously between: 900-1522 A.D; Pachakamaq was an Inca idol, representing a cosmic vision of the Andean world of the 10th century. It is a sort of axis mundi. Let me back track a bit. The site, which is a most stunning site, is right outside of the city, Lima Peru. And it seems most visitors to Peru miss this site, but it is huge and most impressive. I’ve first seen it in 2002; it looks like a sacred adobe city, filled with temples, plazas; located in the Lurin Valley.

According to legend, or myths, Pachakamaq took Urpiwachak as wife and she was a goddess of birds and fish. And on the site a pyramid is built in her name, a ting smaller than the Temple. Pachakamaq was said to have control of the earthquakes was an oracle to cure diseases and protector of the food.

I took my son Cody with me on this trip, and my wife Rosa, and we walked around the compound, its rectangular shape, and some 32,000 m2. The square is located in the lower part in front of The Sun Temple, and they have a museum, and a place to eat there. Matter-of-fact, I purchased my handmade guitar there.

All in all, it is an underrated site, and worth a visit if you have a half day to spare. Good luck.

Morning in the Village [Easter Island 2/2003]

Advance: I am not asking anyone to believe in ghosts, goblins or spirits, but I will tell you, I believe in them—the spirits that is, and in the ghosts, or ghouls; not so much the goblins though. When I first arrived on Easter Island, it was bad weather, it was night, and nothing went right. They knew I was coming (the spirits; and I knew they knew). And they were restless. In my small motel room, a banshee was knocking on my door, screaming and hollering to get in (it scared my wife, as the lamp busted, and the phone went dead). Shortly after that, the water was shut off, and the electricity went off. I talked to the owner, and she had to put my wife and me in another room, but it continued. Again the owner said, it was never quite like this before—but I knew what it was, call it second sight, or whatever, the old spirits indwelling in the stone status do not like folks that may cause them a disturbance; or think they may, this was not the first nor the last experience I had in this forbidden area. For some reason, they like things left at a laze fare statues; especially if they are the category. A dreary night it was, and thus, I made my peace with them, and the spirits, scrupulously, and carefully made their peace with me, and life went on, in both worlds; and from my notes, here is the morning after…:

Morning in the Village
[Easter Island]

The gray light of dawn crept in,

Over and upon the village—!
Somewhere in the village, I heard

The cock crow!...
From the east, the coming of day

Was emerging, slowly—
Night had passed….

My face felt a red bolt of dawn

From the sea—had leaped upon it.
In my dreams, I had absorbed:

All that had been—,
And all that was to be.

#774 7/26/05 [Notes from 2/2003]

Poet Dennis Siluk, has received in the past, National, and International attention for his poetry. And has been it has been reviewed a number of times for awards; his book, "Spell of the Andes," is presently under review for such. His books can be seen on http://www.bn.com [see: http://www.correo.com] (July 9, Marissa Cardenas review)

In the Mountans of Haiti [A Poem: in English and Spanish]

In the Mountains of Haiti

(In the City)

—July is a hot month—sweating
Poverty out on every street
(In Port de Prince); mixing

Memory with desire causes stirring.
Not much rain in Haiti (in 1986);
Summer kept us busy, building
A medical clinic, in the mountains….

(In the Mountains)

—A new life, for the dried-up village.
With only a shower of sun-beams
(Resting) coming over my shoulders

I stopped work to rest—;
The others (young) kept working in the sun,
They all got sick—bed-ridden.
And my teammates became frightened.

(Night comes)

—A heap of fragmented images
Where the sun-beams used to beat
(And the dried up foliage gave no shelter)

Gave-way, to the sounds of crickets
And night’s voodoo drums.
Shadows from rocks—extended out
Seemed to shout, shout—talk!...

(Night Noises)

—I never knew what they were thinking
Somehow, they seem to speak to me now.
Footsteps; fires crackling; voices chanting:

By bushes, tress, and huts—all about;
All nightly noises that never stopped—
No wind under the door—nothing;
You see, know nothing—only hear

(…you are alive).

Note [#777; 7/27/05]: The author spent some time in Port de Prince, Haiti, at an Orphanage doing some work with the children; helped put on a puppet show; as well as the author spending some time in the mountains of Haiti, doing some work on building a medical clinic with a team from his church for a village that had no medical means; 19-students; he was the elder you could say, or one of the two; back in 1986.

In Spanish

En las montañas de Haití

(En la ciudad)

Julio es un mes caluroso-húmedo
La pobreza afuera en cada calle
(En el puerto de Príncipe); mezclando
La memoria con el deseo causando emoción.
No llovía mucho en Haití (en 1986)
El verano nos mantuvo ocupados, construyendo
Una clínica medica, en las montañas….

(En las montañas)

-una nueva vida, por la desértica villa.
Con solamente una ducha rayos de sol
(Descansar) que viene sobre mis hombros
Paré el trabajo para descansar un rato-;
Los demás (jóvenes) se mantenían trabajando en el sol,
Todos ellos consiguieron enfermarse postrados en cama.
Y mis compañeros de equipo llegaron a estar asustados.

(La noche viene)

Un montón de imágenes fragmentadas
Donde los rayos del sol-solían golpear
(Todo el follaje seco no consiguió dar refugio)
Dando paso, al sonido de los grillos
Y los tambores voodoo nocturnos
¡Las sombras de las rocas, extendidas.
Parecían gritar gritar, conversando con gritos!…

(Ruidos nocturnos)

Yo nunca supe lo que ellos estaban pensando
De algún modo, ellos parecían hablarme ahora.
Pasos; crujido de fuegos, voces cantando:
Por arbustos, y chozas, - todo cerca:
Todos los sonidos nocturnos que jamás pararon-
Sin viento debajo de la puerta- nada;
Tú ves, no sabes nada- solo oyes
(Tu estas vivo).

Nota (#777; 7/27/05):El autor pasó algún tiempo en Puerto Príncipe, Haití, en un orfanato haciendo algún trabajo con los niños; ayudándoles a poner un teatro de títeres; Así como el autor paso algún tiempo en las montañas de Haití, haciendo algún trabajo en el edificio de una clínica medica con un grupo de su iglesia para la villa que no tenía ningún medio medico; 19 estudiantes; el era el mayor Ud. podría decir, o uno de los dos; atrás en 1986.

The Cave of Darkness (Ghar il-Kbir: Malta-11/2001((NOW! In English and Spanish))

The Cave of Darkness
(Ghar il-Kbir ((Malta—11/2001))

Advance: of most places I’ve traveled in the world [683,000-miles throughout], Malta has been for the most part, always on my top-ten list, of all-round places to go. It has a ting of everything. Ghar Dalam, otherwise known as the ‘Cave of Darkness,’ was used for habitation by prehistoric man, 5000 BC, and animals, and thereafter. There have been found human bones and teeth in the cave, as well as a gathering of animal bones from time immemorial. There also is a legend of a sea creature that surfaced and seemed to live within this area (in the 17th century). I had written a trilogy of the ‘Tiamat.’ In one of the books I used this cave [not in name] as a backdrop for the story. It is huge, and quite the picture for a living environment. In l729, there was an engraving done of the cave life in Ghar il-Kbir, published in Vol. 62. No 72, in “La Galerie…” of which 66-volums are combined. The point being, the engraving is attributed to Pieter Van der Aa, 1712, and I’ve seen this engraving, it had to be done on site, thus the artist saw the small group of people perhaps that remained in the cave. The etching is fanciful, thus I’d think he perked it up, for whatever reasons. It seems to me he made the cave larger in the picture. Although the cave is large with sections; larger and smaller caverns attached to it. The faces on the folks within the engraving are flat, no smiles etc. As I had checked this out further, I had found conceivably there was a group of folks living in the cave between 1665 and 1680 AD. But the record is not vivid by any mean; and having said all this, here is my little poem to go along with this over zealous Advance:

The Poem:

I could get no fit idea—of the
Proportion of the cave, merely
By the patch of light from my
Flashlight

I was surrounded by limestone
And I felt a disadvantage—a few
More feet within the cave the roof
Began to rise—

A gentle slope—then suddenly….

My eyes had become adjusted
To the caves darkness—the oily
Glaring walls around me; cautiously
I descended…

—The floor of the cave became
Nearly level, but the tide of dark
Shadows came afresh, unnoticed by
Others—

But penetrating…to me.

Something, long ago had lived here,
Lived in this grand grotto—;
My treasures were in: whom! They were.
And then came the bones!...

Bones, massive bones; all about—
Dazzling hues, in the petrified bones;
200,000-years old: dwarf elephants,
And hypodermis’…

Wolfs and bears, giant swans,
Deer—all appeared to be here; and
From European stock; sacrifices or
Diner, they were all here: my
Treasure.

#778 7/28/2005

La Cueva de Oscuridad
(Ghar il-Kbir ((Malta-11/2001))

Translated by: Nancy Penaloza

Avance: de la mayor parte de sitios que he viajado en el mundo [683,000 millas a través de todas partes], Malta ha estado principalmente, siempre en la lista de las diez primeras, de sitios caprichosos para ir. Esto tiene un descubrimiento de todo. Ghar Dalam, conocida de otra manera como “La Cueva de Oscuridad”, fue usada para vivienda por el hombre prehistórico, 5000 años antes de Cristo, y a partir de entonces usada por animales. Allí en la cueva han sido encontrados huesos humanos y dientes, así como un monton de huesos de animales de tiempos inmemoriales Allí también hay una leyenda de una criatura del mar que salió a la superficie y parecía vivir dentro de esta área (en el siglo XVII).

Yo había escrito una trilogía del “Tiamat”. En uno de estos libros usé esta cueva [no en el nombre] como un fondo para la historia. Esto es grandioso y casi un cuadro de vida del medio ambiente. En l729, había un grabado hecho, de la vida de cueva en Ghar il-Kbir, publicado en Vol. 62. El No 72, en " La Galería…” del cual 66-volums son combinados. El punto es, que el grabado es atribuido a Pieter der Aa, 1712, y he visto este grabado, tuvo que haber sido hecho sobre el sitio, aunque el artista vio al pequeño grupo de gente que quizás permanecieron en la cueva. La estampa es imaginaria, aunque yo pensaría que él se animó, por cualquier motivo. Me parece él hizo la cueva más grande en el cuadro. Aunque la cueva sea grande con secciones; cavernas más grandes y más pequeñas unidas a ello. Las caras de la gente dentro del grabado son planas, sin sonrisas etc. Como yo había chequeado esto mas minuciosamente, había encontrado que evidentemente había un grupo de gente que vivió en la cueva entre 1665 y 1680 antes de Cristo. Pero esto no esta registrado por algún motivo; y habiendo dicho todo esto, aquí está mi pequeño poema para acompañar esto sobre este Avance entusiasta:

El Poema:

Yo podría, no tener idea suficiente - de la
Proporción de la cueva, simplemente
Por el pedazo de luz de mi

Linterna

Fui rodeado por la piedra caliza
Y sentí una desventaja- un poco
Más pies dentro de la cueva el techo

Comenzó a elevarse –
Una subida apacible - entonces de repente-.

Mis ojos se habían acostumbrado

A la oscuridad de las cuevas – el aceitoso
Evidente de las paredes rodeándome; cautelosamente

Descendí…

-El piso de la cueva se hizo
Casi el nivel, -Pero la marea de Sombras
Oscuras vino de nuevo, Inadvertido por Otros –

Pero penetrando…hacia mí.

Algo, hace mucho había vivido aquí,
Vivido en esta magnífica gruta-;
Mis tesoros estaban en: ¡quienes eran ellos!.
¡Y luego vino los huesos!...

Huesos, huesos masivos; por todas partes –

Matices Deslumbrantes, en los huesos petrificados;

200,000 años: “elefantes enanos, y hypodermis”

Los lobos y osos, cisnes gigantescos,
Ciervos - Todos parecieron estar aquí; y
De reserva europea; sacrificios o
Comidas, ellos estaban todos aquí: mi

Tesoro.

My Top Ten-List of Archeological Places [In Spanish and English]

My Top 10-List of Archeological Places [NOW! Spanish and English]

My Top 10-List of Archeological Places [sites] I’ve been to around the World [*indicates dates I was there] By Dennis L. Siluk

1—The Taj Mahal [in Agra, India]. The beauty of the Taj Mahal is beyond description, especially on a sunny morning with a little dew from the nearby river. A mausoleum, on the banks of the Yamuna River; it took 22-years to build, and 20,000 laborers. The riverfront is most inspiring. And the Town of Agra is worth a visit. There of course is a love story behind this monument, and you will have to seek it out if it interests you. If all I had seen was the Taj Mahal, on my trip to India, it would have been worth the long voyage. [*l997]

2—Giza, or more important, the pyramids of Egypt. We often only see three, but there are four worth ones noticing; the pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of the four pyramids, a stepped pyramid; in the sense of, one layer built over the other. This is northwest, and in the Saqqara site; I personally liked the tomb or pyramid of Cheops, north of Memphis on the plateau of Giza; among the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Sphinx gives the pyramids their mysticism, and even magic I do believe. One could not claim its famous status without the other. [*l998]

3—Borobudur (Largest Buddhist temple in the world ((built 760 AD): of Central Java; made of dark volcanic stone, on a natural mound.This site has square and circular terraces, and a top Stupa. It is almost magical. It stands almost 150-feet high, and its square base is 373 feet each side. Designed by Gunadharma; it does have a calming atmosphere, even more so than the Tor of Glastonbury [or Avalon]. Very few places in the world have this calm effect I do believe; Mary’s house on the hill of Ephesus has, along with a few other locations throughout the world. [*1999]

4—Easter Island [land of the Moai]; the whole island is an outdoor museum. Many things happened when I arrived on this little island in the Pacific. A spirit filled Island if I had ever seen one. Much more than Maui, or even Malta; it is considered the most isolated island in the world. Some of the statues on the island go from 9-tons to 90-tons. And you have a few craters on the island to venture to; but Rapa Nui, the original name for Easter Island, has some 600-statues to look over so rent a jeep. Some of the statues are up to 33-feet tall. They are all about the island. The dogs run free and the horses run free and so do the spirits; and so did I, on this island, annexed by Chile. [*2002]

5—The Great Wall of China. The wall is some 4000-miles long over mountains, deserts and plains. I walked up and along its great walls outside of Beijing, feeling its ancient touch of empire. It was built to keep the barbarians out, some sections date back to 221 BC. Even Genghis Khan crossed over these walls, in 1211 AD. The Ming emperors rebuilt the wall on a larger scale in the 1400s. I loved seeing the Great Walls of Troy, but these took my breath away, they go and go and seem never to stop. Matter-of-fact, it can be seen from outer space. [1996]

6—The Acropolis of Athens; in particular the Parthenon; if I go back to Greece, I would like to see Crete, and Knossos, I’ve left so many places out, I’ll never get to them; but I’ve seen the best of the best; and the Acropolis is the best. After reading Mary Renault’s entire book on Greece—for she was my inspiration to go, I went. And each morning I’d walk down by the Acropolis, eat in a local café, and gaze at the beauty of the Acropolis on the hill. This site dates back 5000-years as far as being inhabited; with its many temples, and a fine museum right on location. [*1995]

7—Macchu Picchu [the Lost City] there is so much to say about this site, one does not know where to start. This is perhaps the last ancient remains of the Inca civilization of the Andes. There are many dates put on this site, and if one looks it over, you have stones from three different periods I believe, dating back to 2500 BC, to 1250 BC, to the 1400s [AD]; the town of Cuzco remains above it, and a beautiful city it is. Macchu Picchu is 70-miles north of Cuzco, at a height of 9,000 feet; most people do not know, Cuzco, the town is higher, 12,000-feet, so bring something to help you adjusting to its height. I suggest oxygen; or see if a hotel has it there. [*l999]

8—The gladiator’s famous home: The Colosseum of Rome. Where gladiatorial played the death game with wild animal hunts; this is the biggest of the Roman amphitheaters. Quite the complex system, with underground passages; you got to go across the street up to a small park, look through the fence to get a good, full picture of it. Or I suppose you could just walk down the street and get all the traffic and other buildings in the picture to. I got to go back and see Pompeii now, a site I’ve longed to see, but I had to see this first. And you can’t help just gazing at it as you walk here and there, it is Rome to me. [*l997]

9—Stonehenge—a few miles from Salisbury, megalith stone giants you could call these earthworks here, or heel stones. This stone circle dates to about 2500—3000 BC. It reminds me of Mystery Hill, in New Hampshire, also called, the Stonehenge of America; but of course, has a more powerful appearance. I get the same haunting feelings from here, as I got from Gaza. As if they were fraternal twins. They are said to come from the same time period. Something tells me both the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge, and even and Mystery Hill, all belong to a later time. If only you could touch it [the stones at Stonehenge], it was fenced off when I was there, but I've heard lately, they were taking the fence down; about time; it takes 90% of its magic away. Everyone suffers because of the destructive habits of a few. I went nonetheless, and have to live with 10% of its magic, good enough. [*l998]

10—Angkor Vat [Palaces of the Gods]. Another giant complex: you have within this area, Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Thom [the great city of the Jayavaman VII, inspired by a great Hindu myth], Bayon, Ta Prohm [where trees grow around the ruins, as if they are hugging them]; Ta Som, etcetera. It is a masterpiece of Khmer art and brilliance in building. Surrounded by a huge trench; Angkor Vat, is also spelled Angkor Wat. The food in Cambodia is great, and the people kind. Stick with a guide though. While in Cambodia, I got to go on/in the Mekong River, which was a delight to see, and its fishermen with their nets, and so forth. [2000]

In Spanish Translated by Nancy Penaloza

Top 10-List of Archeological Places [sites]

Mi lista TOP de los 10 lugares (sitios) Arqueológicos. En el mundo entero en los que he estado [*Indica las fechas que yo estuve allí]

By Dennis Siluk

1-El TAJ Mahal [en Agra, India]. La belleza del TAJ Mahal está fuera de cualquier descripción, especialmente durante una mañana soleada con un pequeño rocío del río cercano. Un mausoleo, sobre los bancos del Río Yamuna; que tomó 22 años y 20,000 trabajadores para construirlo. La orilla es la más inspiradora. Y la Ciudad de Agra vale una visita. Allí desde luego hay una historia de amor detrás de este monumento, y usted tendrá que buscarlo si esto le interesa. Si todo lo que yo hubiera visto fuera el TAJ Mahal, en mi viaje a la India, habría sido valioso el viaje largo. [*l997]

2-Giza, o más importante, las pirámides de Egipto. Nosotros a menudo sólo vemos tres, pero hay cuatro de valor que notamos; la pirámide de Djoser, la más vieja de las cuatro pirámides, una pirámide pasada; en el sentido de, una capa construida sobre la otra. Esto es de noroeste, y en el sitio de Saqqara; personalmente me gustó la tumba o pirámide de Cheops, al norte de Memphis sobre la meseta de Giza; entre las siete maravillas del mundo. La Esfinge da su misticismo a las pirámides, y aún la magia, creo. Uno no podía aclamar su estado famoso sin el otro. [*l998]

3-Borobudur (el templo budista Más grande en el mundo) (construido 760 años antes de Cristo)]: de Java Central. Este sitio tiene terrazas cuadradas y circulares, y una cima estepa. Es casi mágico. Esto permanece a casi 150 pies de alto, y su base cuadrada es 373 pies cada lado. Diseñado por Gunadharma; realmente tiene una atmósfera calmada, entonces, aún más que el Peñasco de Glastonbury [o Avalon]. Muy pocos sitios en el mundo tienen este efecto tranquilo que realmente creo; la casa de María sobre la colina de Efeso lo tiene, (junto a otras pocas localidades en todo el mundo); hecho de piedra oscura volcánica, sobre un montón natural. [*1999]

4-Isla de Pascua [tierra del Moai]; La isla entera es un museo exterior. Muchas cosas pasaron cuando llegué a esta pequeña isla en el Océano Pacífico. Un espíritu llenó la Isla como si yo alguna vez lo hubiera visto. Mucho más que Maui, o aún Malta; es considerado la isla más aislada en el mundo. Algunas estatuas en las islas van de 9 toneladas a 90 toneladas. Y usted tiene unos cráteres en la isla para aventurarse; pero Rapa Nui, el nombre original para Isla de Pascua, tiene algunas 600 estatuas para revisar, alquilando entonces un jeep. Algunas estatuas están sobre 33 pies de altura. Y ensucian la ciudad los perros y los caballos que corren libres y lo mismo hacen los espíritus; y yo también . La isla esta anexada a Chile. [*2002]

5- La Gran Muralla China. La pared es de aproximadamente 4000 millas de largo sobre las montañas, desierto y llano. Me acerqué y a lo largo de sus grandes paredes fuera de Beijing, sintiendo su antiguo toque de Imperio. Fue construido para mantener a los Bárbaros fuera, algunas secciones remontan a 221 AC. Incluso Genghis khan atravesó sobre estas paredes, en 1211 antes de cristo. Los emperadores de Ming reconstruyeron la pared en una escala más grande en los años 1400. Me gustó ver las Grandes Paredes de Troya, pero estos se llevaron mi aliento, ellos van y van y parecen nunca no pararse. Normal, puede ser visto del espacio exterior. [1996]

6 - la Acrópolis de Atenas; en particular el Partenón; si vuelvo a Grecia, tendré el gusto de ver Creta, y Knossos, he dejado fuera tantos sitios, nunca los conseguiré; pero he visto lo mejor de lo mejor; y la Acrópolis es lo mejor. Después de leer a Mary Renault todo el libro sobre Grecia - Ya que ella fue mi inspiración para ir, yo fui. Y cada mañana yo tuve que caminar abajo por la Acrópolis, comer en un café local, y dar una mirada fija a la belleza de la Acrópolis sobre la colina. Este sitio remonta de 5000 años tan lejos como siendo habitado; con sus muchos templos, y un excelente museo directamente sobre ubicación. [*1995]

7-Macchu Picchu [la Ciudad Perdida] Hay tanto para decir sobre este sitio, uno no sabe donde comenzar. Estos son los restos de quizás el último poder, de la civilización inca de los Andes. Hay muchas fechas puestas en este sitio, y si uno lo mira, usted tiene piedras de tres períodos diferentes, creo, remontando a 2500 AC, a 1250 AC, a los años 1400 [antes de cristo]; la ciudad de Cuzco permanece encima de ello, y es una ciudad hermosa. Macchu Picchu esta a 70 millas al norte de Cuzco, en una altura de 9,000 pies; la mayoría de la gente no conoce, Cuzco, la ciudad es más alta, 12,000 pies, por los tanto traiga algo para ayudarse a adaptarse a su altura. Sugiero el oxígeno; o ver si un hotel lo tiene. [*l999]

8 - La Casa Famosa Del Gladiador: El Coliseo de Roma. Donde los gladiadores jugaban el juego de muerte con animales salvajes cazados; este es el más grande de los anfiteatros romanos. Casi el sistema complejo, con pasajes subterráneos; usted tiene que ir a través de la calle hasta un pequeño parque, mirar por las rejas para conseguir una imagen buena de ello. O lo supongo solo podría caminar abajo la calle y conseguir todo el tráfico y otros edificios para la imagen. Conseguí volver y ver Pompeya ahora, un sitio que he tenido muchas ganas de ver, pero tuve que ver esto primero. Y usted no puede ayudar solamente mirando fijamente en ello mientras usted anda aquí y allí, esto es Roma para mí. [*l997]

9-Stonehenge-a pocas millas de Salisbury, megalito piedras gigantes que usted podría llamar estos trabajos de tierra aquí, o piedras de talón. Este círculo de piedra remonta aproximadamente 2500-3000 AC. Esto me recuerda de Colina de Misterio, en New Hampshire, también llamado, el Stonehenge de América; pero desde luego, tiene un aspecto más poderoso. Conseguí los mismos sentimientos atormentados desde aquí, que los que conseguí en la Gaza. Como si ellos fueran gemelos fraternales. Ellos, como se dice, vienen del mismo período de tiempo. Algo me dice que ambas pirámides de Egipto y Stonehenge, y aún la Colina de Misterio, todos pertenecen a un tiempo posterior. Si sólo usted pudiera tocarlo [las piedras en Stonehenge], fueron separados con una cerca, cuando yo estaba allí, pero me enteré últimamente, ellos bajaban la valla; algunas veces; esto llevaba al 90 % de su magia. Cada uno sufre debido a los hábitos destructivos de unos cuantos. Fui sin embargo, y tengo que vivir con el 10 % de su magia, bastante bien. [*l998]

10-Angkor Vat [Palacios de los Dioses]. Otro complejo gigantesco: usted tiene dentro de este área, Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Thom [la gran ciudad de Jayavaman VII, inspirado por un gran mito hindú], Bayon, Ta Prohm [donde los árboles crecen alrededor de las ruinas, como si ellos los abrazaran]; Ta Som, etcétera. Esto es una obra maestra de arte Khmer y esplendor en el edificio rodeado por enormes zanjas; Angkor Vat, también es deletreado Angkor Wat. La comida en Camboya es buena, y la amabilidad de la gente. Pegado como una guía pienso. Mientras en Camboya, conseguí continuar / en el Río Mekong, el cual era un placer ver, y sus pescadores con sus redes, etcétera, etcétera. [*2000]

You can see these places on his web site: http://dennissiluk.triod.com