back to where I was ...and yet different - of course. Change does not even have a name, since permanence is an illusion. So maybe that is why I look at reality the way I do today, after all these trips, images, conversations, reading, and thinking.
Hope to be back many more times. To where I was, to where I am, and to where I will be. Because is it not the present that is real?  ¶ 11:26 AM 2 Comments

  wanderings time to upload some photos of the last few days in Rome, time to put to paper some of the thoughts I have been building wandering the streets of Rome.
the most important thing is my presence here right now, so I will not yet do anything about photos. time for thoughts now, will wander the Colosseum for a bit again, to take in the pulse of the city around and the sweet presence of history. It is dark and quite chilly, but not the kind of chill we have much further north. Funny how much at home I feel here, communicating now quite comfortably in my Itañol, observing fashion, behaviour, conversations (animated and across the street), and indulging in visiting the small (and bigger) shops specialising in selling all my favourite sweets (read Panettone for example) .
I want to live in a city like this: magnificent, full of perfect imperfections, constant buzz, history and art around every corner, invitations to walk every minute of the day.  ¶ 6:33 PM 1 Comments

  a way life unfolds I am back - to the mystic place that resonates with me, in me. I still remember when I first arrived here, years ago, looking around, connecting immediately. At the final destination that time the air was warm and slightly humid, pregnant with the sweet smell of the remains of a sugar cane field.
So I am back and I recognise the places; places that are an embodiment of possibilities. The possibilities of connecting humanity, transcending stereotypes, of which there are many.
So I am back and I can recreate over and over in a new context that is as fluid as the last, breathing with history of what once was and which transgressed into today.
So I am back to a fundamental love to take the past into the future. The events step by step are as important as they are not: it is about breathing and living and faith. Comfortably I detach from hunger for success and the fear of failure - to learn, love passionately, and write.
My days are dedicated to making sense of what can be and connecting "reality" to the future - creating opportunities where there were none. Connecting individuals, giving them the opportunity to connect to themselves above all and live their dignity.  ¶ 5:38 PM 0 Comments

  we can
chat for hours passionately
plan trips around the world
share dreams
discuss business
bitch about customers
fascinate each other
solve the world's problems
indulge in complex solutions
simplify
just enjoy being together

my love, respect and admiration for this man just keeps growing

how proud I am to have such a father  ¶ 11:40 AM 5 Comments

  missing
in a perpetual state of missing, the place I miss is still London, it was London, has been London and forever will be London. It is everything about it - the lit streets at night, only crystal shop windows, small gardens before terraced houses, light behind wooden window frames, leafy parks, scary roundabouts from my bike, late night sessions at the library or the annual fund, my small house - life on a staircase, our roof and prolonged lunches of pasta with green pesto and tomatoes... the trips to Natalia's house to chill, chat, cook - oh, and our runs along the Thames and showers in the basement of the Old Building (never thought I'd miss them). And earlier memories mix with emotions - a clear February morning on St.Paul's cathedral, my solitary strolls on Queen's Walk on Sunday nights, Oxford Street retail stress and home made muffins.
There is nothing that quite compares to all of this, nor will I ever be able to express it all. But maybe we could go there and have it all together some day?  ¶ 7:33 AM 0 Comments

  Te quiero Tus manos son mi caricia,
mis acordes cotidianos;
te quiero porque tus manos
trabajan por la justicia.

Si te quiero es porque sos
mi amor, mi cómplice, y todo.
Y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho más que dos.

Tus ojos son mi conjuro
contra la mala jornada;
te quiero por tu mirada
que mira y siembra futuro.

Tu boca que es tuya y mía,
Tu boca no se equivoca;
te quiero por que tu boca
sabe gritar rebeldía.

Si te quiero es porque sos
mi amor mi cómplice y todo.
Y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho más que dos.

Y por tu rostro sincero.
Y tu paso vagabundo.
Y tu llanto por el mundo.
Porque sos pueblo te quiero.

Y porque amor no es aurora,
ni cándida moraleja,
y porque somos pareja
que sabe que no está sola.

Te quiero en mi paraíso;
es decir, que en mi país
la gente vive feliz
aunque no tenga permiso.

Si te quiero es por que sos
mi amor, mi cómplice y todo.
Y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho más que dos.

- Mario Benedetti  ¶ 10:46 PM 1 Comments

  kaleidoscopic when I finally let go, I discovered that memories were nothing but dusty shadows of what they once were. There is some pain somewhere, dull, but it lost its pounding intensity and grip on my reality. Already faint and distant.
Instead I focus on the colours of today with their sharp edges and intense volume - breathing, hearing, tasting, touching.

And yet, sometimes the colours of today soften and flow into what can be tomorrow - kaleidoscopic permutations and combinations of what is attached to the ends I hold in my hand now.  ¶ 10:58 PM 1 Comments

  real question: why can't i just go and do something everyone else i graduated with is doing?
(check facebook for what that could be)
answer: because that would not be real enough

enjoyed quite some real life recently.
looked like a porcelain figure on a mantelpiece during a beautiful ceremony. spent nights talking and watching couples disappear in the forest. bitched about rules, tried to circumvent them, and got busted. left a hat on a bus in istanbul. spent time reading on empty dutch stations in the middle of the night. coped with some new challenges that seemed not to have solutions. caught a fresh breath of honesty and dealt with the pain to emerge different and free. spent time laughing smiling poking your side and telling you not to get stressed.

still need a bike. still more things i do not know how to solve. still more flights to book. still not sure when I can hang up the hammock in my room (need a powerdrill to place the hooks). still a lot to communicate. still more pain to deal with.
so it is all pretty real.  ¶ 10:18 PM 1 Comments

  on this side of the ocean. In so many ways, and in all its forms. Life does not go in circles, and certainly not as planned. There is always space to do the opposite, and the drunken exhilaration it provides has cleansing if destructive effects.
the brand-newness not of the surroundings as such, not of the company as such, not of the activities as such, not of the conversations as such, but of the inside. Exhilarating scariness, and connected curiosity...  ¶ 5:58 PM 5 Comments

  morgenstund' remember that I live in the centre of Bogotá...
  ¶ 4:55 PM 2 Comments

  The World’s Most Extreme Emerging Market Colombia’s improbable journey from crime capital to investment hot spot
Multi-media coverage
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4

  ¶ 10:57 PM 0 Comments

  this is the closest thing to crazy 2 weeks ago I was not even thinking about it
10 days ago I downloaded the application
9 days ago I sent it
6 days ago I had the interview
1 days ago I heard about it
in 12 days I leave Colombia
in 13 days I arrive in London
in 16 days in Rotterdam

my calendar for June looked completely empty, now I know that it will overflow. Not just for June.  ¶ 3:27 PM 19 Comments

  PA201: Principles of Patacones Step 1:
peel the platains under running water. It's easier that way, and they do not turn brown.







Step 2:
set to simmer a few chopped tomatoes and an adequate amount of chopped spring onion. Season with salt and a hint of chilli. If the tomatoes are too sour, add a sprinkle of brown sugar. This is what will come to be known as hogao.




Step 3:
Cut the raw platain in 3cm long pieces and fry them in very hot oil until golden. (not pictured)



Step 4:
Take each piece of pre-fried golden platain, place it in-between a plastic bag, take a heavy flat item (pictured: cutting board, but also works with the base of a big plate), and flatten each piece of platain.





Step 5:
Repeat step 4 until you have a plate-full of beautiful thin pre-versions of patacones. Make sure you do not forget about the hogao simmering on the stove (step 2 above!)





Step 6:
Fry each of the flat pre-patacones into crispy-golden patacones! Make sure the oil is very hot, that way the patacones do not suck in the oil and become crispy! (don't forget about the hogao that is still simmering on your stove from step 2 above!!)



Step 7 (optional but highly recommended):
Scrape the inside of one maracuya per person into a mixer, add some water and sugar, put through a sieve, and add some ice (if you are not in Bogotá, that is!)





Step 8:
Enjoy your patacones with the hogao you made, just with salt, or add some lemon or orange juice. Or Suero for the caribbean feeling!  ¶ 3:41 PM 9 Comments

  celebrity life   ¶ 8:04 PM 2 Comments

  I have never...
felt so good.
So crazy. So confused. So excited. So alive. So sad. So attached to a group of people. So fortunate. So sorry. So intense. So grateful. So loved. So scared. So curious. So emotional.
all at the same time.  ¶ 5:25 PM 1 Comments