On Thursday afternoon, my building decided to try to make our smooth marble stairs less slippery with this (shoddily done) grip tape treatment. Bro, do you even straight-edge?
...I still made it to Monday night's class. Fun to get to the top of the stairs and see how big the class is going to be by the number of shoes laid out in the hallway.
Headed back out into the world. Feeling lighter-hearted. I don't remember if Dr. Rubin mentioned it during his talk or it came up somewhere else, but I also have this Rumi poem written out in its entirety in my journal for the day:
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Made it back to the bike rental place within seconds of another torrential downpour. The bike rental guy let me hang out in his little house with him for thirty minutes until it cleared up.
The entire time my mind was trying to soak in the details and atmosphere of the place and comprehend the minds of the people who designed and built it, it kept getting interrupted with a voice saying "this is JUST LIKE being in an Indiana Jones movie!"
From the Wikipedia summary: "Baudrillard defined "hyperreality" as 'the generation by models of a real without origin or reality' it is a representation, a sign, without an original referent. Baudrillard believes hyperreality goes further than confusing or blending the 'real' with the symbol which represents it; it involves creating a symbol or set of signifiers which actually represent something that does not actually exist, like Santa Claus. Baudrillard in particular suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more."
Busy day! Went back to the hotel for a nap.THIS, by the way, is the hilarious / terrifying entrance to my hotel: Hotel upstairs, MEATSHOP downstairs!.
Sure, you're welcome to stay here. As long as you can overcome your fear of the obvious horror-movie danger of us murdering you in your sleep and SELLING YOU AS FOOD in conveniently-located meatshop downstairs. Haven't you seen the movie, Hostel, you idiot?
Built around 800AD and standing 130+ feet-tall, it's the second-tallest structure in all of Belize. After walking up the first group of steps to the first terrace, we went to the other side of the pyramid...
At some point during October, I lost my camera along with all of the photos from the beginning of the month. (I was just getting used to Meredith and I separating so it was a quiet few weeks). Fast-forward to the end of the month: I bought a new camera and Scott & Erika came into town to...
Later that afternoon while taking Maddy for a walk, I spotted two of my neighbors all dressed up and asked if I could snap their pic. (I'm pretty sure the guy on the right is THE DEVIL OF TOMPKINS PARK!)
I'm a big fan of the tail end of a party when "physical challenges" are prone to break out. What started off with a simple flexed arm hang quickly escalated...
I totally forget the name of the 2nd place we stayed at in Ubud, but it was pretty insane. Here's Meredith like "Whoa" as we walked through the stone-walled maze that led to our bungalow.
The temple was getting ready to close and we were the only visitors! Luckily, there was a temple minder there who's job was to show you around and to help keep the monkeys from getting too aggressive!
When we got to San Loco and pointed out the buildings across the street, Jenny STILL didn't recognize any of them. So we ended up having to take her giant comedy-keyring and try all the keys in three different doors until we finally unlocked a door! We walked her all the way upstairs and even made sure she got into bed without setting the place on fire or something. Mission accomplished!
Here's a picture of our descent into the burial chamber via a secret shaft that's hidden in the side of the pyramid! The shaftway is only 3' tall, 4' wide and goes down for over 200 feet at a 27-degree angle. I only took this one picture because it was such hard work hunching my way down the shaft in the crazy-heat!
Here's steps leading down to the entrance to one of the excavations that wasn't open to the public. Six storeys under the desert's surface, you know, NO BIG DEAL.
