Hong Kong

After our quick stop in "not so friendly"-America, it was time for Hong Kong!

First impression of the country? Well, I would say an article in China Daily. It was an editorial about the new European tax about C02 emission abd how bad it is for the Chinese air company. I don't know much about the law, but what I could see in this article is how unpartial they were, the non signature at the end and the final words: "we must fight against it". "We"? really? It's not a joke? Anyway, welcome to China.

Stopping in Beijing, it was impossible to get to Facebook for the censurship and I was more than pleased to arrive in Hong Kong to see stuff like that:

Tiny streets

Big buildings

You got pushed around a lot as people have a sickening need to be first. Therefore everybody is kinda running on their little legs, even for prayer!

You had to be fast for this picture as it lasted less than a second

My friend Albert that I met in Argentina explained it wasn't really a religion but more of a tradition. And they loooooove to burn stuff in this tradition: Encent, papers with words in it, etc. There is even this guy, specialize in burning stuff, outside of the temple, getting the stuff to burn from the people and put it in his bug fire!

The shocking fact about Hong Kong after being in the States is, you think Americans love malls, but Hong Kong IS a mall. The Chinese come here to buy shits and really, the consumerism is incredible here!

That was my one week in Hong Kong, meeting nice people and going over budget (even though I didn't go clubbing, costing 50 euros just to enter :/)

I'm now in India, and things are all very different here!

The book of Mormon

Finally a post about religion!

As you may not know, I'm really into this topic and I get involved in many conversations with whoever was patient enough to talk to me. Then, you are thinking, why a post on religions only now?

Well, mainly because Latin America is catholic and apart from some flying Jesus and weird habit I had nothing to talk to. I could have gone through some Incas beliefs, but aside the Pachamama's followers deep inside of the mines of Bolivia, I had nothing to offer.

What changed then?

This:

Mormon's temple in San Diego

 You can't really miss that, and while walking around we talked to the security guide who give us few information about this temple. What he gave us though was enough to pick my curiosity and when we were back in Los Angeles, we headed straight to a visitors' center next to another temple to get a better view of this religion.

But first things first, let's describe a bit my personal view of those matters before going into what I understood of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Later Day Saints.

I would call myself an agnostic for having some faith over things I cannot explain. Some people would probably see me as an Atheist through my logic and way to think, I guess. That is, of course, before they would ask me (which happen rather rarely actually).

I'm extremely curious about religion and try to not offend anybody with my stupid questions, even though it would be inevitable at times.

I started to read the Bible from the very beginning, thanks to a young French catholic who gave me his very own Bible in Costa Rica. I'm not through just yet, it's rather hard to read, and I even need to read pieces of the New Testament to get a bit of a breather from the Old Testament. Surprisingly enough, most of the believers I met never really read the book, and clinched more on an interpretation of their Churches than an their own perception of the scriptures.

During my time in Latin America, I had the chance to talk a lot about faith and religion, first with my cousin, born and raised in a catholic environment (as opposed to me, being born and raised in an atheist one), and secondly with an American protestant girl I met on the Inca trail who was nice enough to let me torture her with wicked questions.

All of that bring me in front of two Mormons, rather young I thought, who welcomed us to answer some questions and to give us the book of Mormon that I intend to read (one day).

 I don't know if it was all of those talks about religion I had during the last months or only the travel experience gained through those 8 months out of Europe, but I felt ready to go talk to Mormons inside of their own place.

Trying to have an honest look at this organisation, it was hard to not notice the wealth of it. Giant temples and luxurious inside gave me the first impression of a really powerful institution.

One of the first topic that was raised was the main differences between their religion and the others. The straight answer was: "Ours is the real one". I wasn't so much surprised by that, but the insistence of it proved it was something really important: having a second witness other than Jesus scriptures give them proof that their religion was the real one.

Their proofs are compile in the Book of Mormon, written by Joseph Smith, one of their main prophets. Roughly, they believe Joseph Smith received from Moroni, the son of Mormon, the gold tablets written by Mormon. Joseph Smith went to translate those tablets, making a book, being the most important book of the present Mormon religion.

Having not yet read the book, I'm in no position to make statements just yet. 

The second topic raised was the living prophet guiding the church right now.

How do they choose their Prophet?

Isn't it a problem into choosing a Prophet?

Why isn't some young Prophets?

Apparently. you have to work your way to be a Prophet and the apostles (yes they also have living apostles) will, through God guidance, point to the new Prophet (usually among themselves).

We had a bit of a talk about it, and none of their answer really satisfied me as I would see a Prophet had to "work" to be one, as I would think a living Prophet of 15 years old would be as important as on of 80 years old, and finally, I don't see why, all of a sudden, an apostle would transform himself into a Prophet because the former one passed away.

We didn't had much time left, and only another topic was discussed before the end: The temple purity.

Apparently, a non-Mormon is not allowed inside of the temple (where is performed baptism, wedding and other kind of sacred activities) because it's to pure and sacred to let an impure soul soil it.

I still have some difficulty with that, with this religion or this others. I can't really get to the idea that without the faith into one religion, someone can not be pure in any way. From a christian point of view (the theoretical one), to not have a baptism would mean a way straight to hell. To not have faith, in many religion, would result in the same conclusion. How a God would be so possessive? Can't somebody be good and pure not believing in God?

Well, I'll probably write more on the topic when I'll know more. I hope it will incite you to get interested in this topic that I find fascinating (a growing religion which is so rich and powerful already!).

Let's not forget that the new president of the USA might be Mormon...

Bolivia and Uyuni

Bolivia was clearly the cheapest of the countries I`ve been to (can't wait for Asia, you know?). Which means you usually order a lot of juice for next to nothing and you life start being miserable when you get to Brazil and you need to sell a kidney for a glass of water. But today, let's remember the happy days of BoLIEvia. Yes, it's true, we've got lie to a lot in Bolivia. As much PeRULES as it's weird rules, Bolivians couldn't stop lying to us for silly things (sure you got WIFI and hot water here...).

The first place was the lac Titi-caca. It was stunning enough to make it hard for me to only breath. Climbing 2 stairs was exhausting and the air is fresh.

Prettiest lac!

Yes, Jesus loves you and also the laws of transportation. He doesn't know which one more than the other though...

After a quick stop in La Paz and some epic parties (sur it was epic, I was there: Q.E.D.), we've headed straight to the Salt flat. Lucky as I am, it rained just the right amount and the views were stunning! (Some weeks later, with a bit of more rain, some tourists got stuck in the desert for a couple of days... :/)

Llamas on Uyuni

Our guide excavating some salt chrytelised

We promise: it was salty!

Potosi, one of the highest cities of the world, once, one of the richest too, was our next destination.
Now, the povrety is everywhere; the Spanish took all the silver (41 tons of it between 1556 and 1783) and the miners are still chewing the coca to restrained them to eat, still drinking the alcool to restrained them to think too much about it.

Before each sip, a bit of their alcool is poured on the ground for the sake of Pachamama, their goddess.

Being underground most of the time is a terribly hard job and it's the only available job for most of them. Trying to support their families, some of the boys here are not even 16 years old...
This experience also raised also some ethical problem as we had to buy the miner some alcool and some coca leaves. Without them, they wouldn't have open up like this to us, but in the same time, you are supporting their dependancies...

Ready for 21 hours of train? Haha, she has no idea...

Last stop for us in Bolivia: Santa Cruz. This Brazilian looking city has hot weather and warm people. The best way to get used to our next destination: Rio de Janeiro!

Peru and Machu Picchu

Peru is an amazing country of contrast. Thinking of Peru you might think of that:

Well, no need to say I was surprise when I saw that (Huacachina):  

Peru is big and its desert is giant. Starting with an "only rocks" kinda desert and finish Sahara style. And what do you do on dune of sand? You do that:

I could have hurt myself, true, I could also not having any fun at all!

And then, not looking like an smiling idiot

Being in Peru, you HAVE to go to Machu picchu (ok, ok, I was thinking not going, but that was really expensive... ´Till we found this 4 days trek!)

First day: biking around

Second day: walking around with Abraham

Second day: playing around

Second day: stirring around

Second day: fooling around

Second day: jumping around

Second day: sleeping around

Second day: weirding around

Second day: drinking around (not pictured here for obvious reasons)

Third day: canopy

And finally: the machu awsome picchu

Some dude (do I really have to caption everything?)

Nobody is reading that anymore, yes? Hooooo ok, that's the Colca Canyon (near Arequipa). It was awsome, blah blah.

 I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Next adventure: Uyuni!

El Porvenir

Starting in Quito, we decided to follow the wise advice of a French girl we met in Quito to travel in some hacienda and do some horse riding!

We had just met those 2 canadians in the backpacker and we met francis, the Bavarian we first met in Panama. The 5 of us were therefore ready for new adventure and we traveled in an early morning with all of our bags to this place (as we intented to go to Baños afterward).

Just to go to the train station was a pain, many bus routes, few information and with all of our bags, it was already hard enough. It just started to be annoying when I got picked-pocket and lost my credit card (BUMMER!). And when we got to the train station, we saw this:

It was then out of question to take a bus, so we got into this car/truck for a good 3 hours of dirty and bumpy roads (hoooo, we love those!). That was already some emotions we had for this day, and when we get there, we were welcomed with a nice grog and some cheesy things. Everything was so delicious, and the place was soooo comfy. We felt immediatly at home! But we had to ride our horses and we got our costumes.

Here we are!

On the road

Francis before the fall

The horses were following each other as their lives depended on it... Therefore we struggled to get them out of the path (you know... for fun!). The fun came later with some heavy hail. All surrender by storms and lightnings, the horses were nervous when we heard: "no, no, no, no, nooooooooooo".

The horse of Francis was bolting. To see the tall German on a little horse was funny, but to see him charge into the wild only stupor was upon us (ok, it was hilarious afteward). The fall had a dull thud and a scream came right after: "I'm alright!".

Realisticaly, he could have hurt himself badly, but we already had our bit of unluck for the day. Everything went perfectly this day, the soaked clothes and backpack, the nice pictures, the hot and delicious meal which was waiting for us, and the warm goodbye to the Julia and Claire...

That was a nice ride!

Colombia and Ecuador

After this adventure in Kunas territory, we arrived in Colombia with all the bad things we heard in Europe and with all the good things we've heard from the traveler. Let's just say it was sort of a mix between a magical place full of faeries giving candies and one of dragons giving diarrhea.

It was all surprises when we arrived in Cartagena with its amazing old town, super rich sky lines and some of the finest almuerzo (lunch)... I let you discover the pictures, they do talk for themselves.

Cartagena !!

During this stay, we've met many nice people. We will think particularly about Kaspar (half French, half German), Camille (a traveler who uses very few backpackers hostel by asking for a shelter to locals), Sam (A Londoner who looooves very old books), Nergiz (German music junky) and Anne-Sophie (german sarcastic girl with a french name) and (finally, last but not least) Marion (who was working in Quito and who gave us many advice for Ecuador).

Kaspard, Thinking !!!

Marion, Smiling?

Despite our good surprised in the country, we had to rush a bit and took a flight to Cali (where we learned how hard it is to find a post office...) and then: straight to Ecuador!

Ecuador was a blast where Quito (our first city) stand out with its baroque churches (in which you are not welcomed for mass...).

Quito's cathedral

It's here where we finally enroled Francis, the Bavarian, and two Canadians to follow us in next adventure...

Claire and Julia

The tall Bavarian

2 handsomes cowboys

Los Kunas

What we understood from their culture in 3 days

Politics

The reserve (called Comarca) Kuna Yalla is mostly independent but for the National Defence and the National Education Program. They seem very interested in the Panamean politics (for the most educated of them).

On a local basis, daily meetings (called "Congresso") are held everyday to address practical matters: "Should we clean the beach?", "Should we make it compulsory for people to clean their own backyard?"... or more critical ones: "Should we accept to be connected to the national electricity/phone/mobile network?"... or even matters not really part of their responsibilities: "Are we happy with the school teachers work?"

These "Congresso" make this society seems like a true democracy. Indeed, everyone in the village (I mean every Kuna in the village) is consulted on all kinds of matters. The problem is that a large part of the population is extremely conservative (especially women). It means that any attempts to modernize a bit the local society are always rejected. Culture needs to prevail.

Funny facts:
- The congresso is held from sunset to 9-10PM (everyday). During this period of time, the bar of the village is closed. If you want to drink better anticipate...
- They are so conservative that they didn't modernize the toilet system yet. You have one spot for the whole village and its located 10 minutes away from the village (see picture). Remember "Slumdog Millionaire"? ...
- Same for the shower,  there is a pipe carrying water around the village, there is a tap in a kind of bathroom... why not make a shower out of it then?... No they decided to fill some buckets with the water. So, to shower you need to do it the old fashion way by pouring water on our head... Fancy !!!!
- We are not sure why, but somehow, it seems they decided to not have animals inside of the village. We were eating a lot of chicken, so they must be somewhere... But not inside the village, running wild...


School System

We met the teachers from the village. Most of them are from other parts of Panama, they don't speak Kuna and they don't understand the local culture.

According to them, kids are not supported at all by their parents. Elder Kunas might be able to help kids but they don't value at all the national education system. For them, local culture is really the priority.
On top of that, kids suffer of malnutrition issues. They only eat fish, rice, plantain banana and coconuts... it is not enough. They suffer of a lack of vitamins and minerals necessary for their concentration.


François: "So what do you think of the army here?"
Ufemia (local teacher): "Well, there are 3 things really. Firstly, it's safer. Secondly, they are educated and open minded. It's more interesting to talk to them than to locals. .... ....."
François: " And third?"
She blushes and doesn't answer for a second.
Ufemia: "I can't really tell you that"
François: "And third: they are cute?"
The 2 women laugh
Ufemia: "No, no, really, that's not that!"


The militaries

As explained in the previous post, this village is protected by the Panamean army. This army is making sure that the FARCs (Those famous terrorists from Colombia who kidnapded Ingrid Betancourt about 7 years ago) don't cross the border of Panama.

Carlos, one of the militaries we met, really wanted to play football with us. He told us when we met him that later on in the afternoon we should meet him on the beach to play football with him and some of his colleagues. What a good idea !!
4PM, we decided to walk to the beach to play football. When we got there, Carlos told us that we needed the approval of his captain first.
We walked together to meet his captain and after a very short introduction, Carlos left and the captain looked at us and said "So?, What do you want?"
Francois: "Well, we were thinking to play football with your guys if it was possible?"
The Captain: "Humpffs!!!!"
We briefly looked back at Carlos who was 10 meters away trying to understand the result of the conversation like a child.
The Captain: "You see, after some time in the jungle, many of my guys are injured and I can't allow to lose anybody else. I'm sorry. But you can ask the young Kunas if you want to play."
François: "Oh, ok, of course, we understand. Thanks for your time !!"
No need to say that Carlos was ... disappointed...


The Kuna women

Kuna women are very conservatives, we said already. They were those colourful outfit wherever they go (They start wearing those when they become women... if you see what I am talking about....).

They are very powerful, when men only partially attend congressos, they attend most of them and make sure to be heard.

They manage all the money matters, you won't see a man in the only shop of the village. Women manage it and make sure that foreigners pay double anything they buy. This way they make sure that foreigners won't stay, and they make money for the village.... Indeed that's the funny thing about this culture. They are very conservative and want to live as they always did. But in the same time they understood very well what capitalism is all about. As soon as they can make extra money... They do !!!

It was one of those unique experiences

As I was walking to the loo (meaning walking 10 min...), I met many Kuna women working the coconuts field and, naturally, I greeted them. To my surprise, most of them didn't even reply to my surprise but they produced a guttural sound in response to my shy "Buenas!".
It kinda goes like this: "hum huuuum" (the first "hum" being higher pitch than the other).
The recent translation from the expert says that it means:
"hooo, you are very handsome and we are ready to give your family 1 000 coconuts to marry our daughter".
They are 10% sure of this translation.

There is always another way

As we were in Panama, we looked for a way to cross the border to reach Colombia and, at first, it seemed all the possibilities will cost us a damn sh*t load of money. We weren't ready to pay those price (350 $ by plane or 450/550 $ on a sailing boat and, frankly, as we looked up the Internet for some inspiration, "the other way" looked very tempting as it was: long, hard to perform and kind of safe. The other way was all about lanchas!

Over there, the lancha is as important as an horse in a very poor village on the land. Those boats are sculpted directly from the trunk of a big tree and the floating line is VERY low. The stability is so-so, but as you trust your driver (:-$), there is no worry. So, we would go for the hard way, but performing all the way down to the frontier in this kind of embarcation is, all together, expensive and wetty. We took then a first class shortcut: the plane. Flying inside of the country isn't so bad in comparaison of international flights and the cost stayed limited (80 $ per head). We would have go for Puerto Obaldia straight, but all flight were booked for (at least) the next month. We checked the closest airport on the Panamean side and finally landed in Molatupo, little carrabean island (so little in fact, the airport is litterally on another island).

From this point, except the spectacular lack of information for a 4 hours delay flight, all was shinny for us: the point of view of the San Blas (the Panamean coast we had to go through) was spectacular. We felt like being Yann Arthus Bertrand.

Yep, that was a small plane

I never said Yann Arthus Bertrand had it easy

Or if I said it, I didn't say it loud...

The airport was really small (only some logs and straws, really) and full of these people with strange habits: the Kunas. Women were wearing very traditional clothes (and shakiras all along their legs and arms), and Men, not so much. We could tell straight away those persons were poor as one of the passengers of our plane had a lancha without motor waiting for her (3 hours of paddling was ahead of them).

Could be 4 hours actually

Finally in the city, we could also tell they didn't lost the North as they were asking for 150$ total to reach Puerto Obaldia: No thank you, we have time, we can find better price...

Some talks at the pier got us into a boat covering half the way for only 6$ each (and the possibility to stay overnight). Followed a good 2h30 of wet water and cold wind to get to the village called Punta Carreto, one of the most conservative indian village of the reserve.

The Kuna colors and sign.

Warm welcome by the army

As we arrived on the beach, nothing could give away we were in the XXI century: no piers, fichermen all over the place, military presence and very old equipment (our motor stopped 4 or 5 times). Apart from the "sophisticated" weapons (a strange mixed of old russian ones and brand new americans) of the army and the old motorboat, you couldn't tell from which of the XV or the XVI century we were.

A real leap in the past.