Learning Life's Lessons

Community House

2011-07-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Vision: To provide a space to develop and facilitate an internationally focused community built of individuals that have a genuine interest in addressing social inequalities and environmental degradation both domestic and abroad. Primary values include patience, respect, openness and curiosity for cultural diversity.

Where: I recently purchased a property in Northeast Portland to facilitate the community vision. The house (45 NE Holland) is directly north of downtown about 20 minutes on a bike. It is on a large lot with ample room to develop garden space and various other projects (anything from raising chickens and goats to hosting community gatherings that facilitate discussion on globally related topics). The house is 2 bed/2 bath with a basement and garage that I plan to improve for additional living space. Also, I am building a small cabin on the property.

Me: I am in my late 20’s and am interested in being positive contribution to the world. The goal with this house project is to work together with a multi-cultural community to learn tangible ways to adapt lifestyles to be more socially responsible on an international scale and to have a place to grow as conscious and aware individuals.

Who: Looking for individuals interested in living together and contributing to the development of this vision. The ideal roommates would be interested in addressing some sort of local/global inequalities, someone who stands behind international communities struggling for justice. Potential housemates should also be relational, communicative, and interested in a clean, communal living environment.

This is not yet an established community; it is an opportunity to build something together from the start. It's important to know that this is the very beginning of something that has been building in my life for a while. There will be things to work out and develop collaboratively.

If you are interested in living at this home, or are intrigued enough to want to contribute in any way, we’d be very happy to hear from you. A detailed description of who you are and your thoughts on contributing to the world, would be very much appreciated. We will respond within a day to answer any questions about price, roommates, and other details.

Brent Bellamy

Change of Face

2010-11-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

My work here in Peru has changed a bit since my last post. The organization that I am working for is looking for a Peruvian partner organization to work with on future projects. It's a pretty important connection to make, having a local non-profit that can help with communication, and local resources is very valuable. The directors of my organization decided to send me to two different potential partner organizations. I am currently in Huancayo in the mountains (approximately 11,000 ft.). I am working with Expand Peru, they are a fantastic organization and if anyone is thinking of volunteering in South America I would strongly suggest checking them out. I have been learning the ins and outs of how they operate.

We took a day in this bug to travel even higher into the mountains to check out some of the more rural impoverished areas.

This is one of the ways the people earn income. These hand made pots are made strictly from hand. They don't even use a pottery wheel of any kind

It's a whole different climate here the air is thin and dry, the land is dry, the culture is different as well. I can understand people better here.

This is the director and now a good friend of mine Bernabe.

It's been great to engage in Spanish with people outside of the small village that I have been living with for the last 5 months. It's also been great connected with another organization it's giving me a number of ideas about future projects I'd like to be involved in.

Next week I am headed back North to check-in with the projects in my village before going to the next organization.

Thanks for keeping tabs much love,
Brent

Disclaimer: As much as I'd love to take credit; on many our our expedition there has been a Peruvian photographer along and most of these pictures are hers.

Waste Managment

2010-10-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

It’s starting to heat up here and the days are getting a bit longer. I imagine it is exactly the opposite for most of you reading this post.

Things are coming along great we are continuing with the improved kitchens project that I described in last months post.

This is a new room that was recently added on to the kindergarten. It will be used like a cafeteria. I can’t think of a better place to install one of the improved stoves.

We also started another project that has to do with raising knowledge about waste management below is a video the we made with the youth intended to promote awareness.

So far the youth have helped to produce 4 different videos about health related topics. We had an evening last week in which we borrowed a projector and presented all of the videos to the community. It was great we set up the projector in the plaza and had tons of popcorn. We had over 100 people come… not bad for a town of 300. It was a cool opportunity for the youth to show what they have been working on; I think that they were proud of the videos.

This is another birthday that I got invited to.

My garden is coming along nicely, unfortunately many of the seeds never sprouting (I think they were too old). However there is cilantro, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes.

On the way to the city we had plan to leave first thing in the morning as usual. The night before leaving we drove to another village for a party. Our driver got too drunk to drive back so we all took the couple hour walk in the middle of the night (through the jungle with no light) back to our village. The next morning we got up to drive to the city, but of course the driver was hung over and the truck was in the other village. So we waited around all morning then in the afternoon the driver retrieved the truck and we were on our way. About an hour into the drive we came across a line of cars stopped in the single lane dirt road. There was an accident and a small truck basically got stuck underneath a big truck (It’s not quite as bad as in sounds, there were no major injuries). But we did have to wait for a few more hours for the police to come and clear the wreckage. So after a long day we finally got in to the city at about 8:00pm compared to the usual 1:00pm.

This is my partner Monica.

Thanks so much for your interest and support.

Love,
Brent

2010-09-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

Apparently August is the coldest month of the year here. So I have made it through the worst of it and there is nothing but summer weather to come. In reality I don’t think that it has dropped below 60 degree Fahrenheit even on the coldest night.

We are on our way to installing improved kitchens in individual homes in the village as I described in my last post. We have begun building our first improved kitchen as a pilot project. It is being used to train local contractors and as a model in which other people in the community can come a view it to observe to benefits that will hopefully encourage them to want one in their homes.

We are also nearly finished with a making two different videos one about nutrition and one about basic first aid.

The other night at about 11:00pm I awoke to a bit of a rumble. Not quite sure what was going on I turned on my light and noticed the clothes that I had hanging on a hook were swaying back and forth. Then the entire tin roof started rattling loudly then small chunks of dirt from my adobe room started falling from the walls. Never having experienced this before it took me a few seconds to realize it was an earthquake. After a few more seconds of the movement growing even stronger I figured it would be a good idea to go outside. In the street there were a number of people outside there homes (normally at that hour the streets are completely quiet). Throughout the night there were a number of other small quakes. I learned that earthquakes are common here but that one was unusually strong, to my knowledge there was no major damage in the village.

I have planted a small garden in the back yard of the house I am staying with. It needs to be fenced on all sides due to the variety of chickens, pigs, donkeys, ducks, turkeys, and rats that freely roam the villages. Many of the seeds are starting to sprout already. Fresh vegetables are pretty hard to come by around here, so I am excited about the possibility of having some home growns.

Back in April of this year I was in Mexico surfing with my friend Jon Begin. I stepped on a sea urchin that lodged 14 spines into my toes and foot. I spent the better part of an afternoon digging them out. There was one spine that I could feel but it was too deep to see and I wasn’t able to remove it. I tried unsuccessfully on a number of occasions over the following couple of months to dig out the remaining spine. Eventually I just tried to forget about it and a thick callous formed around the spine. A couple weeks ago I felt like the callous was growing so I decided to dig into the callous again. I found a blister pocket beneath the callous. I was able to stick a needle literally ¼ deep into the pocket in my toe before hitting flesh. I think the pussy pocket formed around the sea urchin spine deep in my toe. Anyway after hosting a sea urchin spine from Mexico in my toe for nearly 5 months I successfully extricated it and my toe is healing up nicely.

I got invited to a 15th birthday party which is a big deal in which parents present their daughters to society, often times ready for marriage. Everyone here is pretty concerned that I am 26 years old and single. Some have taken it upon themselves to find me a Peruvian wife. Unfortunately it’s not uncommon for men my age to show interest in teenage girls, which sometimes makes things awkward working with the youth here in the village. In a more extreme case I had a man encourage me quite bluntly to spend time one on one with his 12-year-old daughter. I usually counteract this kind of unwanted attention by saying I am only interested in much older women, then I flirt with the widows in the village.

Yesica is one of the girls in our youth team. She often acts like she hates my guts. I thought it might help if we had the same hairstyle. I’m not sure if it helped?

The other day a truck came into town and there was an announcement for a political meeting in the community house. Later that night after the meeting was over I went down to the town plaza and met and a group of men that invited me over to drink with them. One man took particular interest in me and wanted to make sure and talk with me. His name was Fidel, he was fairly drunk and a bit cocky. It was until the this next morning that I realized Fidel is the same guy that has his name painted on many buildings and boards in this area. He is the current mayor of this district.

Thanks very much for checking out the post,

Brent James

One Month Down

2010-07-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

I have just returned from my first month in the village of San Francisco, in Northern Peru. The above picture is the house I am staying at, my room is the door directly behind me in the picture. The village consists of just fewer than 400 people. This village is far more developed then I expected. I was told that I was going to a very remote village that was only accessible 9 months a year and that it was very primitive. In fact this village is constantly developing. They have an excellent potable water system, a septic system, as well as electricity. During the rainy season transportation is more difficult due to dirt roads, however it is always possible to walk to the village. Last weekend I even met a couple of guys from the cable company. They are installing cable television in about a dozen homes in the village. All that to say this isn’t the remote impoverished village I thought that I was going to.

Despite things being different than I expected things are going quite well the longer I am here the more I realize that this is a good place for me to be right now. I am learning a lot about project planning and implementation. Also the Spanish is getting better and better everyday.

Right now all the people in the village have open fires in their kitchens for cooking. There is usually some kind of opening in the roof that allows the smoke to exit, however as you can imagine without a chimney the entire kitchen is often filled with smoke, and the walls are covered in soot. In many cases the kitchens are inside their homes and so the smoke is not only limited to the kitchen but also drifts into other parts of the home as well. The kitchen is possibly the most used room in the house, women are in the kitchens for long periods everyday, and often times the kitchen is where the family gathers for meals as well. After a conversation with the village health technician I learned that respiratory illnesses are the most common health problems in the village.

Another aspect of cooking with wood is that wood needs to be collected. Individual farmers own most of the land in direct proximity to the village. Therefore in residents must hike a minimum for 30 minutes to collect firewood from the forests that are not used for agriculture. This is a regular chore that must happen a few times a week in order to keep the kitchen stocked.

An obvious way to address health issues here in San Francisco is to facilitate the building of improved kitchens. There is a popular model known as Cocinas Mejoradas (or Improved Kitchens), Cocinas Mejoradas are wood burning stoves made from local materials. The stoves burn wood more efficiently reducing the amount of wood needed to produce the same amount of heat, and they also have a chimney that directs the smoke outside of the home, keeping the air inside clean.

By facilitating the installation of Cocinas Mejoradas, we are helping to reduce that amount of harmful smoke inside homes in turn reducing respiratory illness, and we are helping to reducing the amount of time, energy, and resources needed to collect firewood for cooking.

Cocinas Mejoradas are a popular technology in Peru that has been implemented in a number of villages similar to this one with highly successful results. People here are aware of the technology and are excited at the opportunity to improve their living conditions.

I am pretty happy about the project that we have decided to work on. We will begin implementing the installation of these stoves as soon as we return to the village.

For this first month I have been eating with the family that I am staying with. The other day all the members of the family that I am staying with headed to their farm for the day. Carmen (my adopted madré) said that there was soup in the kitchen that I could help myself to for lunch. I am used to having a bit more control over the food that I eat and the soup basically consisted of noodles and a few potatoes. So I thought I would take the opportunity to prepare my own lunch. My plan was to fry up some potatoes and an egg. I went into the backyard where the chickens are and started searching around for where they might lay their eggs I found a little nook that was set up for a nest and sure enough there was an egg. Once the pan was heated up on the fire in the kitchen I cracked the egg directly into the pan. To my surprise there was a half developed chick sizzling in the bloody yolk. I had a number of things go through my head at that point. First do I need to tell the family that they aren’t going to have a new chick anytime soon because I tried to eat it? What do I do with this mess in the pan? Should I eat it anyway? After all I was still hungry. I wound up burying the mess in the back yard just hoping nobody would notice the missing egg. Nobody ever mentioned anything.

My adopted family, I feel like a beast here, I am significantly larger than everyone.

These are the two kids that I live with. Brian and Angie

Also I introduced the slack line, and it has been a hit. I have been setting up the line a couple of times a week and the kids love it, also the adults often gather to watch. Some of the teenagers have caught on really quickly.

This is my partner Monica and I speaking at one of the community meetings

Working with the youth on one of our first meetings

This is the end of the street I live on

The view from directly outside my room. It's really beautiful here, we are right at the base of the the mountains, the air is fresh and clean.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a nearby village with several of the men from my village and their cocks. Cock fighting is a popular gambling activity here. Below is a short video of what I saw.

Thanks so much for checking out the post and I appreciate the comments as well.

Brent James

Cock Fighting

2010-07-30T11:09:00.001-07:00

What's next?

2010-06-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

Based on past studies and previous international trainings and experiences I applied for and was offered an internship position with a non-profit humanitarian organization. Since being in Portland finishing my studies I have also been preparing and training for the position, which will take me to Peru with the organization MEJORC. I am being sent with another intern to a small village in rural Peru for the next six months. We will be working with a team of middle/high school age kids. The idea is to support the youth team in projects that they want to implement, projects that are designed to benefit their community.

I feel like this trip will be very different from other previous trips. Over the past two years at PSU I have focused on international development, I have taken courses that relate to Latin America, global water issues, peace and conflict studies, international policy and many other applicable social sciences. My hope is that I will be able to apply my formal classroom learning to humanitarian aid work in the field.

Over the next 6 months I will have limited access to the internet however I will be posting the progress of the projects that I will be involved on this blog as well as more detailed posts on the MEJORC blog. Please share thoughts and ideas about this and any future posts over the next few months.

Much Love
Brent

A quick look back

2010-06-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

After leaving my good friend Jon Begin in Mexico (as described in my last post)at the end of April I headed to the Island of Oahu, Hawaii where I spent the better part of the month of May surfing and exploring beaches and jungles while deepening my relationship with my newly wed sister Alyssa, and her husband Jed. Then I returned to Portland where I finished up all of my degree requirements at PSU. That’s right after 8 years of travel, work, play, volunteering, and study I am now a University Graduate. Someone told me “don’t worry about it there are plenty of people who go to 8 or more years of university” the only difference is those people are usually called doctors and lawyers.

Alyssa and I share a rich and beautiful sibling connection. When we spend time together there are always dynamic, funny, and adventurous experiences as well as challenging and insightful conversations.

I was very grateful to have some quality time with the newest member of my family. Jed is heading to Iraq for the next year while Alyssa will continue to dive into her community in Hawaii

Snorkeling on the North Shore

Just after this photo was taken a huge pod of dolphins came into the bay, not more then a few hundred feet off shore from where we were swimming

While in Portland I spent some quality time in Hood River Connecting with my soul mates Colin Franger and Kristin Hamilton. The two are living life to it's fullest, they just returned from 8 months of sailing, kiting, and surfing in Mexico. Colin and I started a tasty batch of home brew.

I also headed up to Olympia to celebrate my good friend Steve Fisher's Graduation. Jon Begin also made it up back up to the northwest from his time in Mexico

Keep'n it Scrappy

2010-04-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Beegs and I are keeping it super scrappy and having a great time at it. We just spent the last three days on the coast. We hitchhiked to the coast then hiked overland to a sweet surfer destination, found someone who let us borrow boards for free, had about $6 worth of beans rice and vegetables, ate fresh fish given to us by fisherman, drank fresh water from a nearby spring, harvested coconuts for eating and drinking and we camped under a tarp that I brought. For three days we ate well, surfed a couple times a day, hung out on the beach all for about $6 total. Then we hiked back into town and went to a little market to buys some beers to drink on the beach before hitchhiking back to Beegs’s family’s house. We were about to pay for the beers and this guy walked in and said “hey guys let me buy those beers for you”. No kidding this guy said we reminded him of his sons and wanted to hook us up. That’s the joy of hanging out with Begin.

The waves were breaking right off of the point in the distance, apparently one of the best places to surf int he area.

Jungle trek to get to the surf spot Jon wound up with about 75 ticks all over his legs (and higher if you no what I mean). I wore pants and still had about 20.

Shelter tarp jimmy rigged with the surf boards

Fruit picking is pretty standard lately. Mango season is approaching quickly.

Jon is getting a fire ready for a fish dinner

Thanks for keeping up,

Much Love from Brent and Jon

The Latest

2010-04-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since my last post nearly 4 months in fact. From Ecuador Cassie and I headed back to Portland to continue our educations at Portland State. I took a term in Portland but got antsy pretty quick and decided to head south again. I am currently taking classes online to finish out my degree focused on International Development. After 8 years of on and off university study I graduate in June!

I am currently writing from Guadalajara, Mexico. I have been in Mexico for a couple of weeks so far. I've been hanging out with my good friends Jon Begin and Stephen Fisher. I am taking classes online and will finish my degree in June.

I flew into Puerto Vallarta, with the following instructions from Steve. “Get on a bus or hitch to a little town north of Puerto called San Pancho. When you get to the town go to the beach and take a left. Go past a lagoon watch out for the alligators (literally) and just past a small-forested area, look for a gray tent near some coconut trees.”

So that’s what I did and this is what I found:

Within a couple of hours our good friend Jon Begin followed the same instructions and found us sipping on coconut milk. Then We went fishing.

And collected more coconuts via Jon Begin

After a few days surfing and chill’n on the beach we headed to Guadalajara to check out what Steve has been doing the last few months.

It worked out for me to be here on Steve’s birthday so naturally we threw a steller rooftop party complete with a Pinata, Salsa music and mixed drinks from fresh coconuts, pinapples, mangos and limes.

I tried my hand at Salsa, apparently it was more humorous then anything
I was a little smoother as the night went on

I have been very happy to get a bit more insight into the work that Steve has been doing addressing water pollution issues here in Mexico. I have shadowed him on a couple of different interviews and workshops. We have been to a few areas in which sewage and chemically polluted water canals and rivers flow right through neighborhoods. This is an intense issue that will not go away without concentrated efforts by people like the ones that Steve has introduced me to.

Much Love thanks for taking the time to here my update.

Brent James

Last Hours

2009-12-14T16:23:00.000-08:00

Well our time is up. We´re eating as much mangos and avocados as possible before heading back state side. We fly out in a few hours. Here are a few shots from the past week.

We hiked to a 300ft waterfall

This one is for our friends Colin and Kristin. The monument in the background marks the equator, so we are literally jumping on the middle of the world.

Cassie is finding herself in the jungle

Its important to be ready for the wildest of afternoon rain storms

See you soon,
Brent and Cassie

Finca Vida

2009-12-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

We found another farm to spend the remainder of our time at, and this one actually lives up to its name. There are a number of things going on here and projects happening. We have been learning about exotic fruit production, coffee harvesting, chocolate making, fish farming, and even guinea pig raising. We look forward to sharing more details in person.

For now we are headed back to the farm to process cocoa beans into chocolate for the local school kids for a Christmas gift from the farm.

Coffee Production

It's a lot easier to drink then to grow, harvest, husk, ferment, roast,and then process.

Today we hitched a ride into town with the daily milk truck. These little boys were having a good time dodging the milk jugs as we bounced along the dirt road.

We are experiencing the Ecuadorean countryside first hand, the other way we get in and out of the farm is on a Ranchero.

We spent about 4 days on the coast so I could finish up his final papers and exams. Not a bad way to spend finals week, with fresh exotic fruit on hand and swimming in the ocean for breaks. I'd say it was the most chill finals week of my university career.

We'll see many of you very soon,

Love,
Brent and Cassie

Donde es la Finca?

2009-11-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry for such a long time since our last post. We were an hours hitch-hike away from the internet.
Last you may have heard from us was that we were heading north to Ecuador in order to volunteer at an ecological farm in the Amazon jungle. We were there for the past three ½ weeks. We considered staying for the remainder of our trip, however considering some of the circumstances at the “farm” (such as the fact that it wasn’t a farm at all, they weren’t really growing anything aside from the Amazon jungle engulfing the place). The current residents on the farm have big plans for the place, but no funds and little experience or knowledge of how to make it happen. We decided to move along, in fact, we are currently at the coast.
Our first few days on the farm we spent our time working in the kitchen and making saunas for the numerous guest who came for a holiday weekend. While working in the kitchen we filled buckets and buckets of food waste and quickly recognized that their current system of composting was just making a pile for at least a years worth of food left to rot out in the sun, smelling foul and attracting all sorts of insects. They have plans to begin farming there so we saw an opportunity to help set up a composting system by building a new structure to house the compost area and set up a system for some effective composting. With knowledge that we already had (Cassie taught a composting unit for her second grade class) along with a bit of internet research we spent the better part of two weeks building a compost structure and developing a system to be implemented at the farm making use of their kitchen waste. Before we left we hosted a “workshop” in order to explain the composting process to the people who live at the farm.
So now we are at a chill beach town I am getting caught up on school stuff and preparing for the end of the term. We are hoping to volunteer at another farm that some friends recommended to us which is here near the coast.
Time is going fast it won’t be long before we are back in Oregon.
Much Love,
Brent and Cassie

The new structure during the construction in process

large bins for the different stages of the composting proccess

The Final Product

We found a sweet swimming hole that we hit up at least once a day.

I feel like Tarzan here

The bugs are vicious in the jungle. At one point Cassie and I counted over 400 bites on my legs and feet alone.

There are big ones too

and mossy ones!

Time to Move Along

2009-10-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful blog followers,
Time is flying by we have already been at our current residence for a month. It’s time to move on from Sucre. We found an ecological farm/ashram that we have been welcomed to stay at. They have a number of projects going on which voluteers are encouraged to come and contribute to. Projects include farm work, building tasks, and educational plans at the farm and in nearby villages. In addition to community projects there are three community vegetarian meals each day, group yoga seesions each day, and they have a no drug policy (It will be nice to be around a more wholesome crowd). The farm is located in the Ecuadorean jungle amidst mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and hotsprings. So once school is finished this week we plan to head north. It will be a long overland trek, that will take a few days, and we are looking forward to seeing the countryside.

During a walk home yesterday evening, we noticed a crowd of people. Upon checking it out bit closer we noticed that there was a parade going on in the street. The parade consisted of lots of young people in different groups distinguished by different costumes, each group complete with its own band. The first group was about 30 grim reapers. Next was a lively dancing group clothed in all white. They were followed by an army of Roman soldiers. Then came characters in which the top half of the performers bodies including their arms were covered with a sack (looking like an oversized hat), a face was drawn on their stomachs, and fake arms came out at the waist. Taking up the rear was a cheer leading troop in skimpy cheer leading attire…oh yeah… by the way all the cheer leaders were men, many of which were fairly overweight. All of the groups were very animated and were dancing very flamboyantly they all seemed to be having a crazy good time. About half way through watching the parade from the sidelines some dapper guy with a face drawn on his bare stomach grabbed Cassie and pulled her into the parade to dance with him. Likewise a girl grabbed me and pulled me into the parade, asking me to dance with her (secretly I wanted to be in the parade the whole time I just needed an invitation). So we danced it up for the rest of the parade until we ended at a University building were the party continued in the street. Bottles of some mixed drink were being passed all around amidst the dancing. It was a pretty fun and energetic fiesta. After further inquiry I found out that this is the university student’s way of celebrating the end of the school year.

Thanks for your support,
Love,
Brent and Cassie

You're living where?!!! With who?!!! Doing what?!!!

2009-10-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

There has been some concern brought to my attention regarding the last post. I realize that I should have been a bit clearer about what happened last weekend. Our current house mates consist of an Argentinean guy (Lucas) and another housemate (a French woman who recently finished volunteer work with a local NGO). Lucas is the father of a little boy, who spends time at the house regularly. Lucas is supporting his son through entertaining children at schools and birthday parties as a clown. These are the things that we were aware of upon moving into the house. Until last weekend, we were aware of only minimal drug use generally due to visitors to the house. The party that happened was a onetime deal (at least while we are here). For the next week the house residence will be Cassie, myself, Lucas, and the French women. After that we will be leaving the area. From my observations over the course of the last three weeks neither Lucas nor the French Women keep drugs in the house, and there will not be any more parties like last weekend.

We feel like the party last weekend was a bit uncomfortable and certainly not our preferred living situation.

I hope this puts some concerns to rest. Please know that what I described in the last post is not a situation that we prefer or that we are pursuing.

Thanks for your concern,

Brent and Cassie

The Party Scene

2009-10-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

Turns out our choice of house mates is exposing us to a different scene in Sucre. Often times we completely miss each other, we are getting up to start our day and they are just going to bed, to sleep into the late afternoon. One guy offered me a pretty good deal for a new business opportunity. Turns out I can buy 10 grams of pure cocaine here for about $150 USD, I understand that any where in the US 1 gram goes for more then $100 USD.

I knew it was going to be a long night when I was shopping at the market and I received a flyer from someone that I didn’t recognize inviting me to a party that was taking place at my house. Our housemates hosted a party with a scheduled line up of performers, including clowns, puppets, juggling and fire dancing. The party got started around 12:00am. Once we were ready to go to bed around 3:30am we had to kick a few folks out of our room, and move the cocaine paraphernalia off of our bed. I got up around 10:00am to start the day and there was still about a dozen people finishing off the last of the gallon jug of vodka trying to counter act the stimulating effect of snorting cocaine all night so that they could eventually fall asleep.

The picture of the little girl has nothing to do with the party scene, it was just a picture Cassie took at the market.

Don’t worry Moms we will be leaving this place very soon, and we plan to be a bit more intentional about the next place we decide to stay, and I was joking about considering the new business opportunity.

Settling in

2009-09-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

We found a place to call home for a bit. The place consists of three bedrooms that open to an uncovered patio area it also has a kitchen and bathroom. We have been doing our shopping at the local market a few blocks away, which means we are eating all Bolivian grown foods. Our “house mates” consist of a girl from France and an Argentinean guy his picture is below. We also began language school, studying for four hours each morning of the week. We plan to hang out here for at least a month. Then who knows what? For now, between 4 hours a day of Spanish lessons, plus the the three online courses that I am taking through PSU, my time is pretty full. Cassie is going to start volunteering at a local orphanage.

Cassie doing some laundry, I did my own.

This is the street that our place is on

Our new house mate, It's no joke...He is a clown

Experiencing Coca for the first time

The other day Cassie and I went for a stroll, we wanted to get to a good view point, so we picked out a nearby hill to climb to the top of. Once we got to the base of it, we found stairs that were formed from the rocks around. We took the stairs all the way to the top where there was a large statue of Jesus as seen above. There an indigenous man invited me over to his circle where there were 6 other indigenous men and women, all around a small cook stove that had burning coals on it. The man offered me coca leaves which I chewed for the first time. Then he pulled a huge hamster out of a card board box, and a women held a cup of water up to him. The man put the head of the hamster into the cup under the water. He held it there until the hamster stopped squirming, and lay motionless. Next the man put different kinds of spices on the burning coals and wafted the smoke onto each of the people in the circle. Then he offered me something to drink, it was some pretty strong alcohol, I partook and thankfully was able to hold it down, they all had a good laugh at my reaction to the drink (I later found out it was rubbing alcohol (95%) mixed with Fanta). Next the man accompanied by one other man took the small stove with the coals and the dead hamster to the other side of the Jesus statue, and about 15 minutes later returned with only an empty stove. I wished them a good afternoon and headed back down the hill, between the coca leaves and the shot of rubbing alcohol I had a very enjoyable walk home.

We always enjoy comments below,

Be Well,
Brent and Cassie

Still in Transit

2009-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

We were hoping to write our first post from a place that we were “settling” into. However it is taking awhile for us to get to that place here is our trip so far:

September 15, 1:30am Depart San Francisco, USA
5hr layover in San Salvador, El Salvador
9:00pm arrive in Lima, Peru
Stay the first night in the airport, and second night in a hostel
September 17, 9:00pm depart for 15hr bus ride to Ariquipa, Peru
September 18, 2:30pm depart for 8hr bus ride to Puno, Peru
Stay the night in a hostel
September 19, 7:30am depart for 7hr bus ride and border crossing to La Paz, Bolivia
Stay the next two nights with couch surfer connection in La Paz
(planning)
September 21, 5:30pm depart for a 13hr bus ride to Sucre, Bolivia

Here in La Paz, a city of over 1,000,000 pop. We are sitting at nearly 11,000 ft. above sea level, that’s just under the elevation of the summit of Mount Hood. Aside from the shortness of breath and occasional light headedness we are handling quite well.

We got to spend a couple of days in Lima with Amanda, its always good to have Goodness Collective connections.

We’ll post again soon from Sucre

Brent and Cassie

2008-07-18T16:37:00.001-07:00

The crew has returned from fishing in remote and rugged Alaska! We had a good season and, as might be expected, enjoyed some classic moments together. The weather was wicked and wonderful! We experienced significant gales and swells.

These are a few of the cabins on our beach. Appliances are powered by either generator, propane or solar. The water comes from a spring on the bluff behind the cabins.

This is our cabin a hundred feet behind the the grey cabin shown above.

Hanging a new net inside our cabin.

An evening on the beach.

Rugged homies chillin' in a slew off the bay.

Midnight Sunset

Capt. Brent bringing us home after a day on the water.

Myself (left) and Ian (right) are attempting to pull the net over the bow.

We were successful after some strategical repositioning.

Taking a break in the bow.

It was great, difficult and beautiful! For most of the season Brent, Ian and I worked together. Towards the end the captains shifted strategies and the workforce of six split into 3 crews. Brent and I worked together and pulled some profitable and grueling shifts including a 30 hour hour shift.... 4 hours of sleep and then 20 hours and so on. We were commissioned to work a site across the bay and had no one to switch out with.

We enjoyed occasional downtime on the boat, and were forced to become progressively more creative with our entertainment. During slow days we had tea time, and we would set times for consumption of our sandwiches. In this way we were able to experience slight anticipation.
Then of course there was actual fishing. During one 30 hour period we caught over 10,000 pounds of fish. Thats a lot of fish and work!

Me, braving the elements.

It was a glorious month! Try it sometime.

As I predicted, the boat engine stalled as the propeller ground through the body of the dead Baluga. Filming was suspended in order to move away from the horrible stench of the carcass in a timely manner.

He's home!

2008-03-03T09:22:00.001-08:00

It was dusk when he walked up the front steps. I was on the porch recliner and still waking up when he asked (with his helmet on) " Is this The Goodness Collective?" I told him it was, and suspected that a housemate had invited a couch surfer. "Who are you? " I asked. He removed his helmet with a flourish, revealing his signature, beautiful blonde dreads.

Brent is home!!! He rode from Vegas on a 750 Honda Nighthawk steed.

2008-02-25T03:07:00.001-08:00

I was begining to get a bit worried after being in Nepal for a week with out having seen a clear view of the mountains. However my fears were laid to rest.

I'm not gonna lie the last two post brought tears to my eyes (especialy the potty thoughts comment). You guys can't be sending anymore posts like that, otherwise I might be home sooner then expected. Thank you Steve for the amazing picture you brought to my heart.

So I figure there aren't to many places back home where I can get a stright razor shave for 15 cents so I thought I'd give it a shot here. Not to worry I am still hairy as ever I just got a bit of a trim job and neck shave.

I love you all and I am thinking about the snuggle puddle that you might be in right now at the GC wishing I was there.

Brent

Thinking of you from Katmandu

2008-02-21T05:30:00.001-08:00

Namaste Friends and Fam,

I made a quick move striaght up to Nepal. I went from beautiful beaches packed with pasty tourists, to the cold mountainous air of the Himalaya. I am currently staying in an apartment in Katmandu that Dylan and Cheri have rented for a couple months.

It's been nearly a year since I have been in cold weather, and the mountains and chill bring a familar feeling, certainly reminds me of being back in Bend. I gave away my shoes back in Israel so my toes are a bit cold, I might need to remedy that soon and buy some more clothes as well.

Much Love as always,

Brent

Holy Cow!!!

2008-02-11T07:21:00.002-08:00

I was walking on the beach and something caught my eye, there she was lying on the beach naked as ever for all to see, I had to get a picture to remember this sexy sun bathing beach beauty.

Ashley and I have parted ways, and I worked my way over to the West Coast state of Goa. I have met up with a friend of a friend who is running a coffee shop here. I think I am going to help him out a bit, and crash in the coffee hut at night, at least for a few days. I think I will head north before to much longer and meet up with Dylan, Sherri and Ritter in Nepal.

Things are going great, much love as always

Brent

Overseas GC Connections

2008-01-28T01:47:00.001-08:00

So I showed up in Mumbai about a week and a half ago. I knew that Ashley (for those who don't know Ashley is a friend from Bend who also is traveling in India) was going to be flying in two days later. So I tried to meet her at the airport but somehow we missed each other, then for the next two days I was trying to connect with her but emails got delayed and we were having a hard time meeting up. I was getting a bit frustrated because I really didn't want to spend that long in a big city (population of nearly 13 million). So I was walking down a street right at dusk, wondering if I should forget about meeting Ashley and just continue with my traveling. As I am crossing the street guess who is on the other side smiling at me...yep straight from Bend Oregon to the streets of Mumbai Ashley Stone. Turns out we weren't even staying on the same side of town, she had met some new friends and was just going for a walk around the city.

We both had in mind to go check out a place called Auroville in Southern India. We are currently staying at a Botanical Garden/ Seed Farm, volunteering in exchange for a grass hut to stay in.

Ashley adds that she misses everyone terribly and loves you all greatly.

Much Love,
Brent and Ashley

Sunsets Temples and Scooters

2008-01-09T05:32:00.001-08:00

Hello Family... Just wanted to check in and say that all is well from SE Asia. My time here is running out however I fly to India in less then a week, soon to be meeting up with Ashley. Latly my life has consisted of exploring temples and beaches.

To anwser your question Travis. I actually brought in the new year at a local Cambodian club in Phnom Phen. I met an French NGO worker and we cruised around the city to find the most exciting looking place to bring in the new year. We wanted to experience a Cambodian New Year celebration so we stayed away from the foriegner spots. At first I couldn't figure why the place felt a bit different. Everyone was super friendly and touchy feely, which is not like anywhere I have been in SE Asia, most local people don't really touch each other at all when in public. I thought this is cool its just like being back at the GC (kind of). Then we went to the dance floor and things got really interesting really fast. Turns out it was nearly all Cambodian men. We later find out that the club is a very well known gay pick up bar. And yes Alyssa, I did get a new years kiss but just one and it was just on the cheek(from the NGO girl).

Thanks for the post from home. Its always good to hear about quality gatherings coming from the home base. Of course I would expect nothing less coming out of the GC. Rachael I wish I could have been there to see you off, Blessings from Thailand.

Much Love as always,
Brent

Merry Chrismas to the GC

2007-12-24T22:03:00.001-08:00

I spent my Christmas Eve swimming in the Mekong River, jumping off cliffs, and mountain biking around Don Det Island, followed by a beautiful sunset Lao dinner and party on the beach lit by the full moon.

I got to say the G.C. gathering looks off the hook, and you all look smashing. Everytime I check the blog I grab the attetion of who every is siting next to me at the internet cafe and brag about my friends.

I Love and Miss the whole Bend crew,

Brent

No Snow Here

2007-12-10T21:35:00.001-08:00

Ahhhh, It's quite pleasant in the North. I jumped on a bus and came all the way up to a town called Pai. Upon arrival I decided to get outside of the town and look for some where I could pitch my tent. As I was walking past a house next to a rice field an english women (Sara) came out and started a conversation with me. Eventually she offered her yard to me and later gave me access to her home as well. Turns out there is quite and large community of foriegners who have taken residence in this area. Through Sara and other people I have met many of the guest house owners, hotspring managers and various other people involved in the

community.

I've gotten some pretty sweet tips on hidden water falls, villages, and hotsprings in the area. Sara is also hosting a meditation group that I have been invovled in. There is even a posibility of house sitting for someone else for a while.

I'm stoked for the upcoming GC event I hope to hear all the deets and see the photos.

Allan you are a stud I can't wait to be reunited with you to share stories.

Trav make sure and give my love to the guest of honor.

Love Always,

Brent

Thai Or No Thai?

2007-12-05T01:24:00.001-08:00

So I made it to Thailand, it is certainly a change of scenery over here. I have been in Thailand for nearly a week now and I'm now thinking that I would like to try something else, perhaps a different country. From what I am observing so far, I'm not so sure Thailand is the place for me right now. Don't get me wrong it is quite beautiful here, and there are alot of amazing things to do. But I'm not really feeling comfortable here, I think maybe the very strong preasure seeking vibe put off by the mass quantities of tourists is throwing me off a bit. Don't get me wrong the splunking, sea kyaking, deep water soloing, cliff jumping, frisbee on the beach, Thai food, island hoping, hiking, and snorkeling had been incredible.

But I'll keep you posted.

Steve thank you so much for teh GC update, it appears that things are better then ever over there. Much Love to all for the GC, I miss you all.

This weeks adventures of Egyptian Pyramids/Jordanian Rock Cities/ Sinian Snorkeling/ Bedouin Villages/ Red Sea Camels/ Israel Fortress Goodness

2007-11-25T22:50:00.001-08:00

I have had very busy conclusion to my time in the Middle East. Now I am prepare to get on a flight to Thailand to chill out for a while I need a bit of a vacation so my plane is leaving tommorrow morning. I am in a bit of conflict right now I have been in contact with so many great people travelers and locals and I feel like there are still many beautiful places to see in Israel, it would be very easy for me to stay here a while longer, but then again Thailand is sounding pretty good to me as well I hear the beaches are great along with some sweet islands, cliffs and jungles ( not to mention the other surrounding countries). But you know these are the kind of struggles that a person faces when traveling. I want you all to know that despite me being in this very difficult situation (trying to decide which incredible place I should spend my time) I'm going to work it out and it is going to be ok. Its not an easy job but somebodies got to do it. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me because after I was the one that put myself in this situation. Just keep me in your thoughts, and if anyone feels the need to come over here and help me out in my efforts I would gladly welcome the support.

Much Love,
Brent

I have returned from the desert

2007-11-12T23:45:00.001-08:00

It has been a whirlwind of festivals, camping in the desert, rainbow gathering, and hitchhiking, in the southern part of Israel over the last three weeks. Life is good I have been learning and growing a lot here. The picture to the left is where I spent many hours over looking the desert in prayer and meditation while at the rainbow gathering. I feel like I have been coming to some amazing relizations during my time in Israel. Right now I have less then two weeks before I will be getting on a flight to Thailand. I am leaving today for Egypt and if I have time I will also go to Jordan. The following posts are from my adventures over the last few weeks.

Much Love thanks for reading, and I apprieciate your comments,
Brent

Rainbow Gathering

2007-11-12T23:40:00.001-08:00

The Rainbow Gathering lasted for about 4 weeks, I was there for two weeks of it. There were 100-200 people camping out during the week and then on the weekends the numbers grew to 400-500 people. It was an amazing experience it won't be the last rainbow gathering that I spend time at.

Weightless

2007-11-12T23:37:00.001-08:00

At the lowest point in the world its like the Dead Sea is saying that you've gone to low and if you try to go lower beneath the surface of the water it says no.

Dead Sea Mud Meditation

2007-11-12T23:34:00.001-08:00

After a nice mud lathering I meditated on the shore of the Dad sea until the mud was completely dry before rinsing of in the salty water

Sunset Trance Party

2007-11-12T23:31:00.001-08:00

This is the most recent festiva that I was at located near the Dead Sea. It was a music and dance festival.

Oasis in The Desert

2007-11-04T03:47:00.001-08:00

I'm still rock'n it in the desert. I'm currently at an Ashrum in the desert and will be going to a dancing festival on the Dead Sea soon. More stories and pictures to come soon.

Much Love
Brent

Networking

2007-10-21T02:44:00.001-07:00

So I was headed to Jerusalem and I found a girl through couch surfing who was studying Hebrew at the University. I went to her apartment and met a few of her roommates. After some short conversation I mentioned a was from Bend Oregon and a guy from the other room comes in and says my sister is from Bend. Turns out this guy Brett is the brother of my friend Beth in Bend(Beth Marino and her husband Chris Wolsko, I have spun fire with Beth). Just before I left Bend I was talking with Beth and Chris at Mikes block party, they were telling me that I needed to hook up with Beths Brother while I was in Isreal,I never got his contact info, but turns out it was meant to happen anyway. Ive been hanging out with Brett the last few days, and we went up to the Sea of Galilee over the weekend for a Couchsurfing Party on a private beach. I met about 60 travelers and people from all over Israel. Now have connection with people and couches to sleep on just about anywhere I want to go in Israel. It was a great gatehring there were all different kinds of languages happening the whole weekend and people trying to walk on the water. Now you might not here from me for a little while I will be going into the Negev Desert to a Rainbow gathering over the next week or two.

Blessings from The Land,
Brent

Dome of the Rock

2007-10-21T02:41:00.001-07:00

The Things You Learn in Jerusalem

2007-10-17T03:35:00.001-07:00

Turns out Jesus had a son? I got a tour from a Jewish dude, who happens to believe in Jesus, I got blessed by a guy with some sweet locks of hair coming out only the sides of his head, oh yeah and I got searched and yelled at by a a Arab Palestinian, then I stayed up until 7:00am and got pizza and beer for breakfast with some cool Israeli students who are "traditional" not religious. On top of all that I think this Israeli solider with a huge automatic rifle strapped to her back was hitting on me yesterday, a little intimidating yet, still pretty hot.

Tel Aviv Night life on the Beach

2007-10-13T19:11:00.001-07:00

Tel-Aviv Nightlife

2007-10-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

So I had a change of plans I think that I am going to go to Jerusalem instead of going North. I am going to meet up with some folks that my friend Chinua hooked me up with, then I am going with them to an Israeli Rainbow Gathering in the Negev area.

Thanks for the Comments its great to hear back from you guys.

Shalom

I'm In

2007-10-11T06:00:00.001-07:00

ahlan wa sahlan( I think that means hello)

I'm in the country. I was pretty nervous when I was leaving New York because they took me to a private room and questioned me several times and put me through extra searches and questioning because my passport doesn't look like me and its a bit moldy, and I have a one way ticket leavin the country with a different airline. So I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get past customs when I got to Israel. My friend Zohar was going to pick me up from the airport and it turns out I was pleasantly greeted at the gate before I even got to customs by one of the head security workers at the airport Yehude who also happens to be Zohar's father, he escorted me through a special gate flashing people his I.D. card right past customs no questioned asked. All I had to do was show my paaspot to one women who hardly even looked at it and gave me a stamp.

Anyway all is well and I'll be heading up north prpbaly tommorrow to the Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee,

Love,
Brent

Sunshine upon your face...

2007-10-01T18:39:00.001-07:00

Brent as you know you are loved and will be missed.