One of my best thus far?

This may be one of the best photo I've ever taken in my life. Definitely the best shot I took during my recent trip to Nicaragua I think. What do you think? Let me know. Oh and by the way, you can see the full quality shot here.

Reflecting on India and enjoying NYC

I'm loving NYC. I'm just having a ball here. I don't ever want to leave right now. I just wanna figure out a way to make money on the streets selling stuff/artwork, or get a job at the Apple store and/or some sweet bar where I can make good tips, continue to bounce around my friends couches of the city until I save up for my own place, and just not go anywhere for a while.
Today was yet another beautiful day in the city, even if it did take me until 6pm to finally get there only to find that there was a line an hour and a half long to get the new iPhone even at the 5th avenue amazing store. So I pressed on and took in the movie "Hurt Locker" with two buddies and was not particularly impressed after reading all these glowing reviews.



Where did I read said reviews? I wish I could remember. Time Out NYC I think? Could it have been The New York Times? Not happy with them if it was. Anyway, I can see how some would find it great, I suppose it had a nice sort of angle that managed to allow you to root for the military hero without feeling like a war monger in a movie about Iraq. Nevertheless, I think I would of rather have seen this:





Yes, its a movie from India's "Bollywood" film industry about 9/11. I somehow happened upon this as I searched the internet, after it occurred to me that I had no idea what was going on in India as of late, especially in the world of Bollywood. For those of you who don't know, but should be able to see from this trailer, Bollywood has sharpened up its act seriously in the very recent past. Well, at least sharpened in the sense that the films don't all have that blur/glow to them anymore, the film quality, sound quality, and special effect quality all seems to have taken a quantum leap in the past half decade, the styling is much more polished and worldly, the babes and dudes much more buff, cut, and basically contrasty in general.

But nevertheless, I'm sure you can also see from this trailer that Bollywood still has plenty of ridiculous to go around.

That being said, what an interesting take on 9/11 this seems to be. I'm totally intrigued to see it. For those of you who also don't know this: India is the largest democracy in the world, and has the third largest Muslim population in the world, second only to Indonesia and Pakistan. There are 121,000,000 Muslims living in India. That's real religious diversity, unlike the sham of diversity we have in America where we are so dominated by Christianity that other religions seem to exist simply for cutesing up the place. Ok, sorry, that was a little far, but you get my point, India's a real democracy, where Muslims don't hide themselves away for the most part. New York also looms large for Indians, many families have big connections to NYC, so its interesting to see this film being made.

But anyway, enough about that. I gotta go to bed. The sun's coming up.

Gay Pride 2009

check out the shots.

Rest in Peace Billy Mays . . .

God bless you good sir.



By the way, why the F is everyone dying right now, and why does it seem that crazy s@*% is happening to celebrities and famous people right after they're all up in the news? For instance, Michael Jackson was about to do a big tour - Dead. Mark Sanford, all up in the news for being a dumb ass trying to refuse billions of dollars from Obama - not dead but crying and s*#& on national TV. Billy Mays, just read about him on the airplane back from Nicaragua, supposed to be blowing up as this informercial dude - Dead. What the hell is happening?

National Security Experts: Jackon Death Could Doom Iran

This is highly distrubing. Will history remember Michael Jackson as the man who was responsible for setting back Iran another 25 years? That would be a damn tragedy.

And while I'm at it, let me just say, God bless you Mike. Thank you so much for the music. You were the greatest. See you next lifetime, hopefully for your sake, it will be a bit more relaxed for you this next time around.

Oh, and screw you New York Post for the upteenth time for another almost hilariously distasteful and bombastic cover.

Miami Airport

(why did I ever leave this behind?)

I better really make this blog worth it because its costing me $4.95 for ½ an hour. The people in charge at Miami Airport, unlike the socialists in Managua, charge an arm and a leg to check your email. Here I sit playing my new Creedance Clearwater Revival CD I burned from Mike, wondering if that Asian dude who keeps looking back at me over his shoulder from the booth in front of me is bothered by the fact that I am playing it through my computer speakers since I lost my damn headphones on the airplane, or maybe he’s just mesmerized by the fact that I look like a member of Creedance right now with my mustache and rolled up headband tight around my dome piece, digesting my enormous slice of Pepperoni Pizza, Budweiser beer, and ceaser salad, mourning the loss of said earphones, adjusting to the new problem my computer has developed where oddly enough I have to put a little folded up piece of napkin under the body at the precise spot where the removable battery seems to have bowed out for some reason, observing all these rich and wasteful Americans, reentering into the reality of being one myself, checkin gout this copy of US Weekly which is really fascinating and riveting, and on that note, lamenting the fact that I’m back in this country at the moment.
It was funny, Nicaragua probably felt like the least foreign country I’ve ever been in my life. I guess Asia, where I do the majority of my traveling is just so f-ing different, so on another planet, especially India, that Nicaragua comparatively just seemed like some other state in some sort conglomeration of the Americas. Especially since coming through Miami, where I’ve never been, and I was surprised to find everyone in the damn airport speaking Spanish, which was freaking brilliant. I had no idea Miami was like that, I mean if the airport is like I can just imagine the city itself. Makes me excited to come back down here in December, when I’m supposed to come down for Art Basel.
But enough already, I’m gonna go check out some news on The Huffington Post (.com) on Iran. Seeing as I’ve been off the radar for 2 weeks, I don’t really know what’s going on, but my heart is gripped with the news. As everything that happens in the world, it is all already written, its all predestined anyway, but I can’t help but hope things calm down soon for the sake of the people with the changes they are seeking but in place. I hope they finally get the change that so many Iranians I have personally known have deserved and not just yearned for, but needed. If you’ve never met someone from Iran, you can’t know how dynamic, deep yet modern, and advanced they are as a society and as a people. They are quite simply some of the most impressive people on the planet, and the land itself is a seat and source of spirituality and power rivaled by few other lands in the world. And then to be ruled by such a dis-representive government . . . . we just can’t even imagine. It would be like having Dick Cheney with Vice-President Rush Limbaugh in power for decades, and being powerless against it. I can’t say I know enough about whats happening, but I’m holding out hope that this time it might finally be happening on their own terms, without coercision and power plays of outside forces and governments (CIA ahem ahem). That’s all for now . . . stay tuned on where I figure out where I’m gonnna sleep tonight. I hadn’t really thought of that. . . . somewhere in NYC . . .

Goodbye Nicaragua

Well there will be no more of the above for a while.
I'm heading back to the good old wave deprived East Coast of America.
I'm sitting on the floor of the Managua International Airport. To be more correct, the Aeropuerto Internacional Augusto C. Sandino, named after, you guessed it, Augusto C. Sandino, the biggest historical figure by far in Nicaragua, and the man that the Sandanista political party takes its name from, the same Sandanistas who fought American forces under Reagan's dodgy Iran-Contra debacle. But we'll get back to that. I'm watching the boarding line right in front of me for my Taca Airlines flight to Miami, so I'll make it quick.

Yesterday was pretty much a full day of surfing. My buddy Mike D, who I've been staying with down here, (again, his website - www.NicaWaves.com) shot photos pretty much all day, and I tried desperately to get a good photo of myself looking something more than the mediocre surfer my 13+ years of surfing has made me. I can't say I necessarily suceeded, but it was nice at least to finally see some shots of myself, something I haven't really seen to much of.

I had one last meal of Gallo Pinto and fried plantains for dinner last night, with a Tona beer to wash it down, the ever present meal in Nicaragua, but one I don't mind a bit. The food in Nicaragua is definitely not eclectic, and doesn't seem none to healthy either necessarily. The general idea seems to be to douse everything in buckets of vegetable oil that comes in those huge 2 litre handles. Either that or fry it with huge dolops of margarine. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the food, it was always cooked with love, thats for sure.

This morning I awoke at 4am and drove my rented motorbike one last time from Mike's country homestead to the city of Rivas, about an hour away. It was a beautiful morning drive, with the sun cutting reds and oranges through the blue sky and cumulus clouds just over the verdant green hills. It was pleasent however bumpy through the dirt roads. And now here I go, back to New York City for a week with my family. Quite a different scenario to the country life I've been living for the past two weeks. Lots more to catch up on, but for now I'll say Buena Onda. Gotta catch a flight!

Good Times

The whole Ben ordeal is over, and I've been having a ball just surfing my brains out, enjoying some really nice waves here in the Popoyo area. I'm just trying to get caught up with blogging and posting some pics of everything that has happened on this trip. So much to write about and so many pictures to post. Enjoy the one above in the meantime, shot by Michael Dennison of NicaWaves.com. He does House Rentals at Popoyo Beach, Nicaragua for visiting surfers, so if you want to catch some sweet waves and stay with a really cool dude, check him out. In the meantime, check out this first set I've managed to upload to Flickr. More to come soon from this wild and wooly, but very enjoyable trip. Stay tuned.

On the Run

So here I am back in Rivas, Nicaragua, its been a while since I´ve checked in here on the blog, and a lot has happened in the meantime. If you´ve been following me on facebook or gotten the forwarded email that I´ve heard has gone around, you know that I´ve been bascally dealing with third world hospitals and swine flu epidemics, being held by armed guards with shotguns and trying to get my friend Ben well from a 105· fever that the Nicaraguan government thought was swine flu. Needless to say its been an interesting journey. I managaged to finagle a pen and paper along the way and I´ve been writing down the whole experience, so I should have a good long blog coming soon, in the meantime, it seems the adventure isnt over yet.

So here I am stealing a moment while I can at a sweaty but sweet internet cafe, Spanish music on the radio, a group of college students next to me working on something, fanning themselves with their papers, the words "INTERNET WELLCOME" painted on the powder blue wall, chickens, goats, bicylces, vendors walking by outside. I couldn´t be happier to be here. I finally dropped Ben off at the hospital this morning, in the care of Charles, for all I know they never got on the plane, seeing as they don´t have a phone, but I feel like all went well, and they would have contacted me or Mike if something went wrong.

I caught a taxi back to Rivas this morning, had a very pleasent drive with my new friend Jose Luis, met up with Mike, thought we were going back to Mike´s little paradise he´s built for himself in the hills around the beautiful beaches and perfect waves of Popoyo, Las Salinas, and promptly found out that I was a wanted man. Word is that MINSA, the national ministry of health, (another national organization in this country, God help me) is after me, they want to bring me in for examination draw blood, and fumigate Mike´s house. These are the same guys who had armed guards with shotguns that looked like they were out of the new terminator movie stationed outside the insect, rat, and cat infested hospital I was cooped up in watching Ben almost have heart attacks from all the drugs they were pumping him up with.

I don´t know why they released me only to go after me again, as if they are into some kind of strange cat and mouse game, but I´m not going back that´s for sure. I´m not letting them get their hands on me. So I´m on the run! Ha! I´ve got a motorcycle I rented for $10 a day, its a piece of crap, but it works and I´ll be hitting the road if they try to put me in a hospital again.

As gnarly as this all sounds however, let me say that I´m having a good time, I´m enjoying the wildness, the people are incredibly sweet and well intentioned, and I´ve had a lot of interesting conversations and interactions along the way. I love this stuff really, experiencing all the wackiness. So don´t worry for me, I´m doing fine, I´m gonna be fine.

And I wanna give a shout out to Michael Dennison (check out his deal at www.Nicawaves.com), my buddy who´s care I´m currently in, and who´s doing a good job of sheltering me from the storm. He´s got an amazing thing going here, and I can see why he loves this country. S@#& happens everywhere, and dysfunctional as things might have gotten I really love it all at the end of the day. I live to experience and tell stories like this. And at the end of the day and I´d trade good people, good culture, and good waves for 1st world opulance any day of the week.

i gotta get back on my bike. Mikey´s honking for me. Until next time . . .

Bacon