Live An Adventure Podcast

never would i have imagined that i would celebrate my 40th birthday in egypt... one of my friends asked me where was the most exotic place i had celebrated my birthday, and i said here!! ...on friday nov 9 i rented a bus for 22 friends to come and celebrate my 4 0 with me...!!! we started the night watching the light and sound show at the pyramids... it was so much fun.. the pyramids looked great with the laser and stuf, and the sound was hilariously funny, way over the top, but interesting as they tell the story of egypt... the best line of the night was, imagine a deep voice in a dramatic tone: "the world fears time, but time fears the pyramids..." hahahaha... then we went to dinner by the nile, very nice place and great food... we ended the night at the four seasons pool on the terrace... one of the fanciest hotels in cairo.. there were friends from france, canada, the US, wales, egypt, denmark, china, germany, cyprus... it is surreal for me to think i come from a ba...

An awesome song by the Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona. He masterfully expresses what many of us feel: to want... to dream... to want to live our own life..."I want to live without a script." I am so proud Guatemala has given the world a poet of life and love such as Arjona...     I want to… by Ricardo Arjona I want to make the biggest mistake in the world and navigate in a kayak from Miami to Havana I want to have a coffee watching the Mediterranean and wake up in Tulum chasing a star. I want to tell Jesus that if he is there to come back, and get my electricity cut off so I can light a candle… and to dream. I want to give a flower to the one I love who hurt me I want to start all over and to change my name. I want to stone the hallways of the lost causes and see dad trying to convince my mother. I want to hear you say what your eyes scream I want to lose the courage I gained being afraid. Chorus I want to run around while I climb on a...

a few obsevations since i've been in cairo... one of the very first conversations i had with an egyptian colleague went like this: So, do you have a boyfriend...? Nope, never had one...What? But do you go out, like on dates...Nope, the only reason I would go out with someone is if there is a possibility we would get married, then we would go out in a group... the concept of "dating" is not part of the muslim world... "courtship" is... how do you get to know someone like that? i am not sure but i guess it works because the divorce rate in egyp is very low compared to the western world... or do they stay together because they "have to"? by the way, my colleague is 26 years old and she does not wear the traditional headscarf many egyptian women wear when they become teenagers... she is "americanized" because she went to an american school and studied at the american university in cairo... she does not even have an accent... in 6 weeks i have ...

Why We Travel? The sound of the call to prayer fills the night in Cairo as I write these words.  It is a melancholic voice. I can only guess what the Muslin man is saying. Praises to Allah. Everywhere in Cairo, you hear the melancholic chant 5 times a day. It can be heard in the middle of the night, when the sun rises, and when the sunset arrives.  There is beauty in not knowing what the man is chanting from the mosque. I have no idea what my life will be like in this city in the next two years. But there is a certain beauty in uncertainty. This attraction to the "unknown" is one of the reasons why explorers, travelers, nomads, and adventurers have been lured to venture to new places throughout history. I believe every human being has deep within a profound desire to learn, to explore. Life in Cairo is exotic, to say the least. Not knowing Arabic has been a challenge and an adventure. Just getting a cab driver to take me where I want to go is ...

As the summer of 2007 comes to an end, I am feeling nostagic. I blame Octavio Paz. He was on a TV interview tonight. Brilliant man. As I listened to him talk about his life, books and poetry, I realized I have one week left in Guatemala. I felt nostalgic, not sad, but nostalgic. Here is one of my favorite poems by Paz. Between what I see and I say, between what I say and I keep silent, between what I keep silent and I dream, between what I dream and I forget, poetry. It slips between yes and no, it says what I keep silent, it keeps silent what I say, it dreams what I forget. It is not speech: it is an act. It is an act of speech. Poetry speaks and listens: it is real. And as soon as I say it is real it vanishes. Is it then more real? Tangible idea, untangible word: poetry it comes and goes between what is and what is not. It weaves and unweaves...

october 7, 2007 before i came to cairo i spent two years teaching in cochabamba, bolivia... these are some of the emails i sent to my friends during those two years... august 15, 2005 i am settled in cochabamba... it's a great town... last sunday 15 teachers from my school and i went to urkupiña, 20 minutes away, to see a parade of indigenous dances for carnival... we had so much fun... i will be sending pics to you soon... today i am sending you something a wrote about my first two weeks in cbba... take care my friend... Cochabamba Adventure… I arrived in Cochabamba almost two weeks ago… and I a m s o g l a d I decided to come here… why I am glad I came to Cbba ? Here are the top five reasons… 5. the weather… clear crisp mornings and evenings… sunny warm days… 4. the school... friendly teachers… great students… beautiful campus with lots of grassy areas and beautiful views of the city and hills from my huge classroom windows… 3. the town... lots of plazas and tree l...