Waz art .. is art

Life is short, the art long. ~ Hippocrates

Wanderlust

~Wanderlust (n.) – Origin: German – Definition: A strong, innate, impulse or desire to travel the world.

“Life is a voyage that’s homeward bound. Stay on the right path. He that has patience may compass anything.”    ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld.

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.    ~ Stephan Hawking

Mother Nature is always speaking. She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer. Leopards, cobras, monkeys, rivers and trees; they all served as my teachers when I lived as a wanderer in the Himalayan foothills. ~ Radhanath Swami

“She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky.”  ~ Monique Duval

“In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”  ~Robert Lynd.

Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.  ~Ibn Battuta

Still one of my favorite of all time quotes.

Travel isn’t always pretty.  It isn’t always comfortable.  Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart.  But that’s OK.  The journey changes you; it should change you.  It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body.  You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind. ~ Anthony Bourdain

Fellow Travelers:  Como para retirarse del mundo… Narrow escape; In the middle of the squares of Man; Alaska::Scenery; Courtyard, Guadalajara, Mexico; Waiting… then they come in threes; Maps;

Beautiful

That’s all! Just some things ….beautiful. Enjoy!

Selcouth

Selcouth (adj.) – Origin: English – Definition: Unfamiliar, rare, strange, and yet marvelous.

Catatumbo, Venezuela

2010-2012 I worked in Venezuela. It was my first posting and my experiences there, changed my life.  In fairness, every place that I have lived outside of the U.S. has changed my life.  However, Venezuela has left a selcouth impression on my soul.  The people and their love of their country.  The beauty and the rare opportunities that were made available to me during my time there.  I took a short trip to the Catatumbo river near Lake Maracaibo.

What causes Catatumbo Lightning in Venezuela?

Catatumbo lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon in Venezuela. It occurs only over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. It originates from a mass of storm clouds over nearby mountains, and occurs during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour.

I did not have a good enough camera to capture the lightning show.  So the above picture is a stock photo on Catatumbo. Even that does not capture how amazing and cool that was.

Even more amazing was the floating houses near where we stayed.  Like my own children rode bikes in our neighborhood, these kids had tubs, boat/cars and would paddle to their friend’s houses.  The people were amazing and friendly. I was amazed at the color, the beauty, the smiles of the children and adults.  It was truly my favorite place to work and live in my current job.

It’s a place I will never forget.  I hope that one day Venezuela will be returned to the people who love and miss their country.  I frequently think of Venezuela and my time there and I usually have a bittersweet feeling of happiness that I could have been there when I was mixed with sadness that it does not appear to be a place I will be able to revisit any time soon.

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering. ~Paulo Coelho

Venezuela: Lea; Barbara; Austin; Owens; Max; mic; Tom; Cole; Sara; Eli; Liam; Isaiah

Vemödalen

 (noun) Origin: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows | The frustration of photographing something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist.

“The frustration of photographing something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist — the same sunset, the same waterfall — which can turn a unique subject into something hollow and pulpy and cheap.”

ETYMOLOGY: From the Swedish word vemod which means “tender sadness, pensive melancholy” and then combined with Vemdalen, the name of a Swedish town. Swedish place names are the source of IKEA’s product names — the original metaphor for this idea was that these clichéd photos are a kind of prefabricated furniture that you happen to have built yourself.

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson

Kathmandu,NepalCape Town S.A from helicopter

Famous Places: Lookoom; Danee; Sidd; pedmar; marta; streets; sarah; crossings; littlemiss; PCOS; roberta; Salsa; Monkeystale