jungle thoughts

i just got back from a long solo jungle hike. theres a nice trail up a mountain here where you can see a good amount of wild life without being too far from civilization. immediately upon entering the jungle, i saw a snake catch a lizard and drag him into the leaves to eat him. a frightening way to begin a journey. but im much larger than (most of) the lizards here and i dont think snakes want much to do with humans. so i carried on. walking alone has always been something i really enjoy. i feel like buddha. walking thinking walking thinking walking being. so i used the time to kind of digest the past week. ive been hanging with rhasta man quite a bit and despite the fact that we were born in two different worlds and we speak two different languages, we get along quite well and ive been learning a lot a lot a lot from spending time with him.

we went one day to a tiny village towards the interior of the country. there is a huge river that flows through it and we arrived just in time to watch a local family fish for dinner. the homes were beautiful and tiny and wide open and built into the earth. the people were friendly and the fruit was plentiful. rhasta man showed me how to knock some fruit off a tree by tossing a rock or something at a branch. not rocket science obviously but something i had never needed to know how to do. so we tossed rocks at this giant tree until a softball sized, brown skinned fruit came tumbling down. he promised we would open it as soon as we got home. we drove for a while through some twisty jungle/mountain roads until we reached a look out spot high up in the hills. the sun was just fixing to set and due to the recent rains, there was a thin fog over the tree tops. in that spot, at that time i really felt like i was at the edge of the earth. so so so far from home. (and today i received an e-mail from dad with a photo of the sun setting over lake michigan. which reminds me that im not that far from home after all).

so, like i said, rhasta man lives in a hut in the jungle. but his parents live in mansion on the beach. so we went one day for lunch at his parents where his father designed the home and built everything in it, where the pool is built on a hill and looks out over the ocean and where the dogs eat coconuts by pealing the outer layer and chucking the nut against the wall to crack it open. we ate a kind of mashed potato like dish only instead of potatoes we used papaya! we talked a lot about culture and rhasta man told me all about the students in his school who take pirogues to class (little canoes) and who are the first generation to be attending school and how the concept of time does not exist in native cultures the way it exists in the modern world and the problems that it can cause in the classroom.

he taught me that kay'la means home in creol. which is really cool. because before i left i was so stressed about my home or the lack there of. and not that i should need such a literal connection but it is a reminder that our home is what we make it and while were traveling, we often cant make much. so we are our own home. and thats comforting.

and we talked a lot about music because he is a musician and i am in love with a musician. i think, and this is just an idea, that there is like...a sound that is intrinsic to certain locations. you know like...the way that the earth would speak if it could. here that sound is like steel drum-reggae-celebratory-tribal chant. and its interesting to know someone who was born and raised here and to hear the music that they make its like a language on its own. i have been listening to haitian music a lot and its funny because before i came here i dont know that i even thought of music coming from haiti i just thought of the hurricanes. and truthfully, i didnt know a single person from haiti and because of the way it is portrayed in the news, i didnt really want to. but two people i have met here-bass and milo-came from haiti and are professors here and are two of the friendliest, and most sincere people know. not to mention they are incredible dancers! if anyone wants me to send them some haitian tunes send me your e-mail. i would be happy to attach a few songs! although...part of the music being intrinsic to the location is that in michigan...durring the fall/winter...i dont know what this music will do for you. but here is hot! and its perfect. it sounds just right playing at a party in the night time and it goes so well with rum.

this is a messy post. but there is a lot to say, as always. and not nearly enough time to sit and correct the errors or attempt to write poetically.
so happy halloween everyone! eat some candy corn for me!!
a plus tard