Quito

Two days of travel including a night in Toronto, finds me arriving very late in Quito. An hour bus ride takes us to a quaint hotel and we finally find a bed at 1am to which I am very glad to crawl into.

We begin our tour of old Quito with a delightful indigenous woman who is a traditional healer and shaman. She is full of energy and stories and is anxious to help us see this city and country through her eyes. She introduces us to traditional healing tea, passes arounds samples of dried herbs and plants and talks about the connections between these practices and traditional spirituality. We then go to an amazing museum of indigenous spirituality when artifacts dating back to 1300 bce show spirals, labyrinths, burial practices and a belief in the spiral nature of life and rebirth. These are the kinds of things Joseph Campbell highlight in his work of finding the tremendous interconnections between ancient religious traditions and our modern myths. Carl Jung had also made similar observations in his alchemy works stating that the Mandela ( or spiral) was an ancient symbol that transcended time, culture and consciousness. This spiritual museum certainly provided further evidence of this conclusion .

The rest of the morning is spent walking uphill to a church and along the streets. One can certainly feel the effects of being in a high altitude while doing such. We board our bus which takes us to a hilltop where we can see an almost panoramic view of the hills and valleys below where Quito is nestled in. The roads through the city are very hilly, steeper than San Francisco but with similar cobblestone.

After lunch up there we head to the equator on an hour long bus ride ( on which i start to feel quite nauseous) and on our tour we learn more about indigenous peoples and tribes in that area, their burial traditions. Like Egypt I am again struck at how central death and life after death questions so dominate religious traditions around the world.

We get to experiment with a variety of things while standing on the equator, from telling time, to shadow positioning, experiments with water that flows clockwise south of the equator but when you move the basin to north of the equator it spirals the opposite direction. A variety of other experiments and insights are fun for this group of teens I'm traveling with. Unfortunately a combination of the altitude and bus ride sends me to bed for the night while they head out to supper .

Rest will hopefully make the eight hour bus ride to the Amazon tomorrow bearable.

Off to Ecuador

Two months have now gone by ( rather quickly I might add) and I'm now ready to embark on my next leg of Sabbatical Travel.  This time I will be traveling with a group of high school students (including my eldest daughter Hannah) with the Craig Keilburger's  ME to WE foundation to Ecuador. Check out their website for background information ( www.metowe.com )

This experience mixes volunteer work with exposure to the issues the people in Ecuador live everyday.  A look at the economic, social and interconnectedness with our part of the world is all part of the experience.  In addition, there will be a chance to see some incredible and diverse aspects of Nature.

My reasons for going on this trip are threefold:
1)  Its an opportunity to have a very unique experience with my daughter who will be going into Gr12 in the fall and making some important life decisions.
2) I'm interested in how this highly regarded organization uses global educational exposure tours to have an impact on the lives of youth and young adults.  How does it compare to "mission trips"?
3) I'm excited to learn about the culture and the people of Ecuador and learn about the interconnectedness of our lives.

For those of you who were following and reading my journey to the middle east in April,  welcome back.  For those of you who are joining for the first time, past reflections about that trip are still available online if you wish to see them as well .

Thank you for taking this Journey with me.  Internet access for this trip will be very intermittent so I will attempt to post everyday but it may days inbetween before I can access the internet.

Hasta Luego

To the Mediterranean Sea and back

Our day starts extra early as we have a 3 hour drive this morning to get ourselves to Alexandria- the city named after Alexander the Great, what used to be the main port city for the Greeks and Romans coming to this part of the world. Its' population is 15 million and its the second largest city in the country of Egypt whose population is over 90 million. Our drive takes us back through dessert like topography past huge fruit farms, fertilizer industries, a huge technology centre with corporate offices with all the big names, and the large prison complex out in the middle of nowhere where ex president Mubarak, his family members and political allies are being held.

Driving on the roads in Egypt is itself a major adventure. Speed limits, lanes, directions - these are all western ideologies that don't apply. At times we can be going down a one way street and we will find ourselves facing on coming traffic anyways as such rules are meant to be bent. Unless you are aggressive you will go no where in traffic. Trucks and bicycles are loaded to overflowing and people cram into buses, in between cargo in pickup trucks or simply hanging from a back bumper as needed. Motorcycles are common with between 2-4 riders on each. I never once saw a helmet on anyone as they swerve through and among the traffic. On this trip we have an armed security guard that the travel company has sent with us in case there is trouble on the road. - over protective from my standpoint as I have not felt ill at ease at all during my time here.

We visit the site of the lighthouse Cleopatra had built. It was destroyed 3 times due to earthquakes but some of the remaining stones have been incorporated into the new building that commemorates it. It has an amazing view of the city of Alexandria and of the Mediterranean sea. We also visit the catacombs used by the Romans to bury their dead. In their attempts to integrate and honor some of the traditions of the Egyptians, these catacombs are unique because they found Egyptian style paintings of the mummification process and ashes within the tombs. No writing about the persons life was found of the walls as they did not hold to a belief in resurrection. As well, about 300 mummies were found in the wall holes where usually only ashes in containers were found. A large room is near by where relatives would come to visit the tombs on the anniversary of the death. Plates, glasses etc would all be broken at the end of the meal in good Greek fashion to ensure good luck. These catacombs go down 5 stories deep. Amazing but alas no pictures allowed.

Following lunch we visit the Egyptian library, the largest library in the world. After a large competition from architectural design firms where some 1400 submissions were made, a Denmark firm is hired and with the help of UNESCO, it is built. It has 8 stories for books, multi media and computer terminals with enough space for 2000 plus reading/comp patrons at any one time. It has enough space for 8 million books though at this time 1.5 million fill the shelves while they work to add 15% to the collection each year. All languages are represented here. It also has 2 amazing machines that will copy and bind a 300 pg book including cover in under 5 minutes .

We then return to Cairo for packing and saying goodbye . This will be my last post related to this trip. Thank you all for sharing this journey with me. I'll have more to reflect on in relation to this learning experience that I shall endeavor to share in a variety of ways. I will post some other reflections from time to time on other insights I'm having while on sabbatical and then I will try to do something similar blogging wise when Hannah and I head to Ecuador at the end of June with the Me to We foundation. Looking forward being back home with loved ones and friends !

A balloon with a view

Up at 3:30 am, we head by bus to the waters edge, cross on a boat, load onto another bus and make our way to a field near the edge of the dessert. By now it is 5 am and we climb into the basket of the hot air balloon and ascend into the air just in time to see the sunrise. The air is cool but the heat off the burners more than keeps us warm. I've wanted to take a balloon ride for some time now and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to do so in this location. Ballon rides have only just begun to be offered again after the tragic accident a few months ago.

We fly on the edge of the valley of the kings, the Hatshepsut temple, remnants of Ramsey's temple, wheat fields, sugar cane fields. We float along and across the Nile river with fishermen in their boats below. Our ride is about 1.25 hrs with a soft landing. The perfect first experience and exhilarating in many ways. We head back to the boat to check out and board the bus to visit the Karnak temple.

This temple is the largest ever found and covers 62 acres of land. Construction of the temple cover the dynasties of 10 pharaoh's family lines and archeological evidence shows that materials and different parts of the site span of about 2500 years of this temple being built and used through the many phases of it's construction. The columns in this temple are the largest anywhere. The encryptions, the architecture, the statues and the Oblisks create a sense of awe that one can certainly see would have contributed to the ancient sense of reverence and awe. I can see why we visit this one last, as while the other temples are equally impressive in their own right, they would be anticlimactic after seeing this one.

The Luxor temple is less than 5 km away for the Karnak temple and it is the temple that was the home of the wife to the god of the Karnak temple. They are linked by road that was lined with 1600 sphinx statues on either side. Parts of many of them still remain to this day. The Luxor temple though was buried under sand for a number of centuries but its excavation has revealed much about its history. During the post Constantinian era, the hieroglyphics were plastered over and Italian type Christian frescos were painted on top. Remnants of these can also be seen but most have crumbled away to reveal the original Egyptian carved limestone underneath. Ramses II was mostly responsible for the building of this temple and several statues of him also grace the grounds. It was said that the two ages would visit one another's home for a holiday each year- 15 days in each place.

We spend the remainder of the afternoon in Luxor relaxing and reading before our night train takes us back to Cairo for the day. Its been a long day having been up 22 hours. The trip is almost over and it has been an incredible journey but I can tell that parts of my mind have drifted home to people and places I love and am ready to return to. A day of rest tomorrow to recuperate from the overnight train ride. Then off early to Alexandria for our last day in Egypt.

Valley of the Kings

Today we stay in Luxor and disembark early In order to make our way to the valley of the kings. I guess I didn't pay as much attention in grade six when we studied ancient Egypt because I was under the allusion that I would be seeing an array of pyramids here. But no! Instead in this valley, accessible by only one entrance, are limestone hills where hundreds of tombs are tunneled into the mountains and are still being discovered. Most of them when opened had little if any contents in them, having been robbed some centuries earlier. The only exception was Tutankhamen tomb whose contents I described in an earlier post. What is incredible is the depth of these tunnels and caverns, the polished limestone walls, the drawings and descriptions in detailed color and the encasement containers and rooms at the bottom. Stories and instructions from the " Book of the dead" are also on these walls as instructions to the king to follow when he returns from death.

These tombs were begun when a Pharaoh took the throne and the depth depended on how long his life and rule was. The workers lived in a small town nearby and were part of a community where their sole purpose was the building of these tombs. When they got word that the king was dying, they had to then hurry to finish the tomb endpoint cavern, sometimes leaving some of the descending walls undecorated. Only the family was allowed to bring the treasures and the body over so that no others would know the location of the tomb and more importantly where the mummified body lay. If anything happened to the body, then their would be no next life for the Pharaoh. Period. We were allowed No cameras on this site which was hard for me as the walls inside we're incredible. Thus no pictures of the inside to post for now till I can scan some in later.

From here we go to Hatshetsut's (the man queen) temple which was complete destroyed by her stepson along with any statues and depictions of her after her death. The temple has been reconstructed on the bases of the remnants by the polish government beginning in the 19 th century and continuing today. Sections of the original have full color renderings that withstood the test of time. It's a mammoth structure the basically backs on to the valley of the kings. Her mummified remains have recently been identified.

We come back to the boat and hear a lecture along the way about some elements of life in modern day Egypt. An afternoon on deck to soak up some sun and read is followed by some entertainment of a belly dancer and a whirling dervish before supper.

Tomorrow morning some of us will be up very early at 3:30 am in order to return to the valley of the kings for a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the west bank of the Nile! I'm so excited as it will be my first balloon ride which I've always wanted to do.

Down the River Nile

We begin our journey down the river Nile, which is the life blood for Egypt. On either side of the Nile is green fields, palm trees, sugar cane, and small farm plots. Not far from the edges of this green is simple dessert. Dry, harsh, hot dessert. Before the dam, there were seasons where the river dried up and communities would perish. This reality is reflected in the temple life along the river.

Our first stop is Kom Ombo where we visit the temple share by two gods Sobek and Haerorsis. Gods of fertility and medicine. Sobek's incarnation was in the Alligator and so this temple had a pit where an alligator was kept and fed and offerings made to until it died. Then the alligator was mummified and place unto the catacombs below and a new alligator would be brought up for the waters of the nile and the process would begin again. Haerorsis was the god of medicine and on the walls are descriptions of operations for cancer, surgical tools, anesthetics, etc of a very advance civilization.

We return to the boat and continue down the river until Edfu where we visit one of the best preserved cult temples dedicated to Horus . This Temple is massive and it is hard to convey the scale of it in pictures. Here we see some good examples of color, design, destruction again from the crusades and then ottoman empires, and a very good sense of the worship practices. A statue of less that a meter was what would eventually be housed in the inner most sanctum and would be brought out and paraded at certain times of the year. The huge amount of hieroglyphics and illustrations all over the walls is an incredible testament to the power of myth and story telling in the development of culture. The role the Greeks played in resurrecting these temples as a way of cooperatively bringing the egyptians into the control and oversight of their expanding empire is a testament to alternative ways to dealing with integration and assimilation instead of war and annihilation.

To stand in places where many ancients have walked, worked, imagined, worship, struggled and prayed is a truly humbling experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and one cannot do a trip like this without realizing how privileged we are to live where we do and have the resources to do these kinds of things. Often on this trip I've encountered sellers whose things I do not need or wish to carry but I buy simply to support their small enterprise and to give some hope in very hard times. Egypt's economy is in a tough place since the uprising and many people are suffering and despairing in the new presidents lack of positive action since taking power.

A day in Aswan

We arrive by 10 am by train and I'm feeling a bit haggard from time in the sleeper car. I'm grateful to head to our boat and after finally being checked in, having the opportunity to have a shower and some time simply sitting in the sun.....yes finally HOT sun!

By 1 o'clock though we are off to visit the sites of Aswan, a city that became famous in ancient times because it was the site of many gold mines and huge granite quarries. We begin by visiting the site of the unfinished obelisk. These massive pieces of granite where typically carved/hewn from the quarry into a tall rectangular shape with a triangle on the top, about 40-50 meters in length. These were then transported to the burial sites of Pharaohs and royalty. What we see today is an example of one not finished. As well, an earthquake in subsequent years has rendered it unmovable . It is equally unimaginable that these could be created and moved with the equipment of the time.

From here we tour the two dams on the Nile river. Because of the source of water for the Nile and the seasonal floods, it was decided that it would be in the best interest of an emerging modern society to have a dependable flow of water on the Nile year long. These dams also bring with them the capacity to create power for the entire country plus a bit extra to export. We learn about the political allies that were also created in this making of these dams. However, with these dams also came to the need to relocate entire villages and people's and some ancient sites were also submerged. The benefit to these villages was a consistent source of water for their crops and their daily living.

From here we go to the Philae temple which was submerged with the flooding. UNESCO worked with locals to restore and move this temple over a ten year period of time. The temple itself is also incredible in its intricacy of hieroglyphics the inscriptions which when the temple was. Use would have been in full color as well. It's hard to describe the energy, the size, the complexity . Our guide has so much history and knowledge of the various stories that after an hour my head is full and on overload. We return to the boat where we will begin our descent down the river Nile by early morning.

It is increasingly interesting to me the ways in which early religion's development of mythology always tackled the issues of afterlife first AND how ones succession was depended on how kind/generous ones heart was in this life.