Live An Adventure Podcast

By Walt Whitman Italy, France and England await. As I make the final preparations for a summer adventure, I feel so thankful for the opportunity I have to do what I love: to teach and to travel. Here are a couple of my favorite stanzas from one of my favorite poems of all time. Enjoy! H a p p y S u m m e r !! :o) 1 AFOOT and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune, Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, Strong and content I travel the open road. The earth, that is sufficient, I do not want the constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are, I know they suffice for those who belong to them. 4 The earth expanding right hand and left hand, The picture alive, every part in its best light, The music falling in where ...

Pablo Neruda Oda a la vida                                         Ode   to   life La noche entera                                     The entire night con un hacha                                         armed with a hatchet, me ha golpeado el dolor,                      has broken me with grief, pero el sueño                                        but sleep pasó lavando como un agua oscura    like dark water washed away piedras ensangrentadas.                     ...

Buenos Aires, 2007. My first trip in South America, summer 2002 South America has been amazing! 8 weeks visiting Peru, Bolivia, Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. This past week I've spent a fantastic few days in Buenos Aires. I am a bohemian. One of the bohemian singers-songwriters I admire most is from Argentina. His name is Facundo Cabral. I had the chance to go to one of his recitals in Costa Rica while teaching there. I have listened to his music since I was a teenager. Now, guess whom I saw having coffee as I walked down Recoleta ? Yeah !! A friend told me that these kinds of moments happen to me because I have the best karma. LOL When I first saw him I hesitated for a minute to approach him for an autograph. I didn’t want to interrupt his conversation with a friend. But I had to. I went in the café and said: Don Facundo, could I have your autograph? He immediately asked me: Where are you from? I told him: Guatemala, he then he says loudly: Waiter, a coffee f...

Dear Mom, Today is your day !! Today I want to thank you for being the best mom in the world !! I have so much to thank you for.  Thanks for carrying me in your womb for 9 months mom. Thanks for taking care of me as a baby. For changing my diapers and holding me when I cried or simply to show me how much you loved me. I am so thankful you taught me how to talk as I love words so much !!  Words are so wonderful when you speak them, read them, write them or listen to them. Thanks also for teaching me how to walk because I l o v e going out for a walk  !! Thanks for feeding me and for cooking every day for me and my brother and sister !! You know how much I l o v e your cooking !! You are an amazing chef and you cook with such joy !! You sing and smile when you cook, putting all your love in every meal. Thank you for that mom. Thanks for taking me to the doctor and for giving me the medicine I needed when I got sick. I am thankful for all the times you to...

Mario Benedetti es uno de mis poetas/novelistas favoritos. Me parece genial como juega con las palabras y las ideas en este poema. Viceversa Tengo miedo de verte necesidad de verte esperanza de verte desazones de verte tengo ganas de hallarte preocupación de hallarte certidumbre de hallarte pobres dudas de hallarte tengo urgencia de oírte alegría de oírte buena suerte de oírte y temores de oirte o sea resumiendo estoy jodido y radiante quizá más lo primero que lo segundo y también viceversa Lee mas en: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Benedetti ENGLISH Mario Benedetti is one of my favorite poets/novelists.  I think it’s brilliant how he plays with words and ideas in this poem. Vice versa I am afraid to see you I need to see you I hope I see you I don't think I will I want to find you I am worry I will find you I am certain I will find you I doubt that I will It is urgent I hear you I am happy to hear of you I am lucky to hear of you I am afraid to hear of you So summari...

August 25, 2007 Only when the airplane flew over the pyramids I could believe I was actually here. The land of Cleopatra and Tutankamen: Egypt. My first task was to find an apartment. I found a great place in 3 days! I was worried the first couple of day because the apartments were way too expensive for my stipend. But thank God I found a 3 bedroom one in the coolest area of town, El Maadi. I got quaint white bedroom with two big windows and a balcony with a view of my tree-lined street. School is great. Nice campus and a fun group of teachers. Very diverse crew: single and married, younger and older. There are Egyptians, Americans, Europeans and and one Latino, me. :o)  Our common trait is that we all love to travel. Together we have taught in 52 countries. A week ago we had a dinner and dance at a posh Cairo hotel and yesterday we went to the pyramids. Students start on Sept 2, so I have a week to get ready for my 22 students. I will teach Math and Science to 2 groups of 5t...

Bucharest's unmistakable  Palace of Parliament , due to its immense physical, psychic and historic stature, is perhaps the most controversial building in Romania. Meant to be the crowning achievement of 'Centrul Civic' or 'Civic Centre' - Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu's ambitious urban development plan - the Palace of Parliament represents one of the most extravagant and expensive building projects in the history of mankind; certainly of the last century. Claiming superlative as the world's second-largest building by surface area (after the sneakily spacious US Pentagon), the Palace of Parliament is one of Romania's biggest tourist attractions. Note: I took the pic on my first trip to Bucharest in 2008. Little did I know that I'd be living here 2 years later. :o)

March 19, 2008 Two friends and I took the night train from Cairo to Aswan. 14 hours of travel. Yeah, that’s how I roll. I did not have a ticket because I was told I could buy one once on board. I boarded the train and it was practically empty, but I got worried in Giza when a bunch of people got on the train and I had to move out of the comfy seat I had. In the end I got the very last seat in the "foreigners" car (first class with AC). This sort of thing happens often to me. I guess my optimism hasn’t failed me yet and I hope it never does! After 14 hours on the train we arrived in Aswan. Aswan is a quaint little town by the Nile in southern Egypt, only 3 hours north of Sudan. That afternoon we went to Philae Island to visit a temple built with Roman and Greek influence. The classical Egyptian hieroglyphics don’t cease to amaze me. We also visited the dam that forms Lake Nasser, one of the biggest man-made lakes in the world. When we returned to town we had a...