Journal Entries: Back From Guatemala

It's A Long, Long Way Down To Reno Nevada, And A Lo-o-o-ong Way To Your Home

Tuesday, 27 May 2003, Reno Nevada

Today was somewhat planned but its predecessor wasn't. Yesterday was Memorial Day. We lazed and puttered until mid-afternoon, then went to visit Beth & Brad for a couple hours - and were happily induced to stay until late night. It was the first time we'd seen their place in the summer. The cool pool, the dry deck, the neat yard, the piney view. And chips & wine evolved into BBQ & wine, dinner and a film - and our chores were put aside.

So today we had to rush about to prepare. Much to do. We'd just booked a room in Reno for three nights, to see the Frida & Diego exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art, and to explore and shop, and to air our lungs up around high & dry Virginia City. So we dashed down the mountain to Jackson, stopping along the way for our medical and financial and personal and electromechanical necessities. Then back home to quickly pack, and to roll eastward over the Sierras.

Rolling Eastward

And a fine day for that, too. Hot sun, blue skies, pine-clad mountains, rushing water. Air temp in the 90's below, the 70's above. Snow on the ground above 5000 feet and all melting, cataracts shooting from rocks and slopes and chutes. Higher, the granite faces peeled off their white winters' masks, aired their metamorphic pores, cried cold wet tears of joy.

From the first avalanche zone we looked north across tens of ragged miles of stony chaos at the still-snow-covered Crystal Range, the Desolation Wilderness mountains nestling Lake Tahoe. Past the high lakes, still mostly frozen. Beyond Carson Pass, the Sierras' dry leeward side bristled with stubs of green grass, greener-than-grey sagebrush, thin carpets of wildflowers like color-sprayed sawdust. The Carson River crashed along the roadside with riotous murderous mayhemic music.

A hot spring afternoon driving north on the narrow prairie, at the bottom of the looming Sierra eastern escarpment. We'd never before seen the Carson and Washoe and Truckee valleys like this, verdant and simmering.

Reno, Nevada

We reached our downtown Reno hotel-casino, dined through the sunset, then walked into the glittering night along the Truckee river where the desert wind huffed, jewel-lit fountains blew, kayakers worked the slalom gates. It's a fine night to wait for a freight train to pass while crass casino lights roll madly, hypnotically.

So now I stand naked at the open window on the 15th floor, the flashed glow of Reno's heart unrolled below me. That desert wind carries an edge of city noise. Desert ranges hiding desert animals lie in shadows eastward beyond the casinos and carparks. Our own low-budget nonsmoking casino room is larger and costs less than most of our recent Guatemalan accommodations, and Nevada is cleaner.

The Reno-Antigua Connexion

Wednesday 28 May 2003, Reno Nevada

I've pondered on just what the hell attracts us to Reno, Washoe, Carson City. We don't care much for cities, as such, much preferring less-inhabited areas. We don't come here to gamble because we DON'T gamble - money markets and CDs and other investments produce much better returns than roulette, poker, keno, craps. We sure ain't here to get married or divorced neither. So why the fock to we bother coming?

I think I know why. It has to do with parallels between Reno-Carson and Antigua, between Lake Tahoe and Lake Atitlán. I'll deal with the latter first.

I've already noted that Atitlán is like Tahoe without the snow and smog. Both are large lakes (Tahoe is bigger) ringed by dramatic mountains and lined villages offering exotic accommodations and mass-produced goodies. Atitlán's products are churned-out handicrafts; Tahoe's are factory-fared snow- and water-sports items, some mountainy decorations, and the stock of a few factory-outlet stores, stuff we don't usually consume much of. The prosperity of both lakes is due mostly to outsiders drawn there for recreational and social reasons. But the VAST numbers of Tahoe's visitors reduce its attractiveness for me.

Anomalous Cities

Ah, but Reno-Carson and Antigua - these are ANOMALOUS CITIES!! By the logic of geography, they should be insignificant. A secondary north-south road runs through Reno and Carson City, intersecting respectively with primary and tertiary highways. Antigua is off all the major routes, at the juncture of tertiary routes leading from population centers to a minor port. There's no compelling reason for such a town to be more than a minor crossroad pitstop.

Yes, they are in visually arresting locations with great mountains hovering overhead. Reno-Carson's are snowy, Antigua's are smoking, but many such mountains exist elsewhere. These towns focus some economic activity from widespread hinterlands. They encompass a few historical sites. But why are they compelling?

Lots Of Money

Why? Because LOTS OF MONEY has been pumped in, mostly fairly recently. Since the end of the Guatemalan conflict and with the extraordinary cancerous growth of Guáte (Guatemala City) Antigua has been bankrolled and boomed, rebuilt and redecorated, marketed as the funky BeverlyHills-DisneyWorld of Central America. (Some of that wealth has found its way to the Atitlán playland, to the villages of Pana and San Pedro and Santiago etc.) And with California's exponential growth and the oversaturation of Tahoe as a premier resort (and with a lot of gambling revenues), Reno and Carson City (and Las Vegas even more) have been rebuilt as resort and vacation and retirement destinations. They catch the overflow of desperate Californians anxious to escape the manheaps of Paradise (who destroy what they desire in the process). And all that money goes somewhere.

"...the engineer Mulholland throws open the sluice gate on his new aqueduct and yells, 'There it is — take it!' as somebody else's water cascades down to a host of real estate developers and orange growers. Putting in five words the creed of everyone who'll ever lay their eyes on this poor California."   —Kage Baker, SKY COYOTE

Shopping Frenzy

So Reno and Antigua (and Tahoe and Atitlán) now attract many more-or-less well-heeled visitors, and vendors to sell them basic necessities and trippy artifacts and fancy fantasies and luxurious foof. So these towns support shops and arts and structures and attractions FAR BEYOND the capacities of their resident populations. Merchandise for millions, without 95% of the people.

So these towns are interesting as places to wander around, to stroll the clean old streets (temperature permitting); to peer into windows, straggle down goody-filled aisles, stare at rare architecture; to SHOP. And not to be TOTALLY crushed by masses of Others. Busy, but not overwhelming. Goods in all price ranges. Dramatic silhouettes on the horizon. And a return ticket home, please.

Reno, The Song

Thursday 29 May 2003, Reno Nevada

Hot hot hot yesterday, record high temperatures, car thermometer showed 108°f briefly but a dry heat, not quite over­whelming. Take pills, do some home-improve­ment shopping, eat health-food pizza, relax. After dark we stroll downtown, first under the gambling lightshows along the electrified sidewalks, then through the interconnected casinos. A total alternate reality zone, no need to access the Real World except to punch an ATM for more cash. No windows, no wind, no wind-up; escape optional.

During the night: slow train whistles echo eerily off the casino fascias, intermittant screams of mechanical longing, or warning, or meaning.

Thursday Mainstream

And today the clouds came in, temp didn't rise above 95°f, the hot wind was almost refreshing. Some exploring, more home-enhancement shopping, more cheap healthy pizza [WILD OATS MARKET - wildoats.com] and then to the show of works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and other 20th century Mexican artists. [INSERT URL HERE] Fine museum, fabulous exhibits, many ideas planted in my beady little brain. Better not reveal them here...

Then back to our cheap room ($29 per night including tax) downtown at the Sands [sandsregency.com but AVOID THE ITALIAN BUFFET HERE] - for our final night amidst bright lights. We'll have to come back for a few days when it's cooler, to prowl the antique and pawn shops.

Thursday Evening

And now we alternately punish and reward ourselves. Punishment, casino food - NEVER AGAIN! Reward, a stroll along the twilight Truckee River walkways, washed with whispering winds and waters. Punishment, strolling through the downtown casinos interconnected by skyways - NEVER AGAIN! Reward, showering off the casino smells and smokey sweat, then sipping a mix of tequila and rubyred grapefruit juice whilst surveying the lunatic lights below and beyond from our stratospheric window. We're almost sado­masochistic,eh?

Tomorrow we'll leave early for rather less intense environs - final foodshopping, exhaustively visiting Virginia City, Thai-lunching in Carson, and swinging back over the Sierras before the sun sets in our eyes. Back home in time to free the cat from hysteria. The usual.

The Last GT Journal Note?

And thus ends the almost-final Guatemala follow-up - just a few observational-analytical-fantasitcal notes to be added, and the songs indexed, and maybe a few more songs written, and of course the images to be processed and posted. Soon, soon, but there are other things to be done first. Patience, eh?

POLITICAL COMMENTS

Saturday 31 May 2003

Some readers of my Guatemala journal emails have said they like everything I've written in these journals except the political comments. Well, tough. I haven't forced anyone to face the grim facts of current US politics, but I'd like to explain a few things. Everything in this section is an indisputable, well-documented fact. Not speculations, not theories, not propaganda - FACTS. You don't believe me? Look'em up yourself.

DUBYA IS A COWARD AND A DESERTER

During the VietNam war in 1972 and 1973, while a member of the Air National Guard, George W Bush vanished from the records and memory of the military. He never showed up for drills. Neither the commanders nor anyone else at Dubya's assigned bases recalls his presence. He remained AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave) during wartime for over a year - and being AWOL over 30 days is DESERTION.

Dubya claims that although he was a fighter pilot (who had been suspended from flying) he just did 'desk work' and so nobody noticed him. Yeah sure - a base commander just DOESN'T NOTICE one of the flyboys in his command, the son of a US Congressman who sits on military and intelligence committees? If you believe that, I've got some bridges to sell you. Dubya was actually in Alabama working on a political campaign.

Convicted US military deserters are FELONS, ineligible to hold Federal office but eligible for execution. Dubya wasn't prosecuted. While a couple hundred men in my Army unit (1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division) were being overrun and SLAUGHTERED by VietCong, Dubya was hiding out, safe and sound. He is a coward, a deserter, a shame to the nation. I'm a veteran who served honorably and continuously, and I find Dubya despicable. You should too.

DUBYA'S ELECTION WAS FRAUDULENT

George W Bush's brother Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida, ordered that tens of thousands of names be illegally dropped from lists of registered voters prior to the 2000 presidential election. Forget the vote-count controversy (although there was also massive fraud in the counts) or the intimidation of would-be voters by State Police - by disenfranchising large numbers of likely Gore voters, the Bush family rigged the election.

Of course, nothing is really legal or illegal unless judges say so. The massive dis­en­fran­chise­ment WAS challenged in court, but too late to affect the election's outcome, and the Federal judges (Republican-appointed) didn't rule that it was illegal. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court had already blocked an honest count of Florida votes.

Now consider: Suppose you're a corporate officer or manager, or an attorney or publicist representing a corporation. And suppose your spouse or parent is a judge. And suppose a case involving the firm you manage or represent comes up before that judge, your close relative. To avoid any real or apparent conflict-of-interest, that judge should remove themself from the case - this is called RECUSAL, and it's the LAW. Failure to recuse oneself is an ethical and legal breach, and is grounds for official censure or removal from the bench.

Guess what? Two US Supreme Court Justices had close relatives in just such positions during the 2000 presidential campaign - Clarence Thomas' wife, Antonin Scalia 's son. Had Bush vs Gore been a commercial case, the conflict-of-interest issue would have led to action against the judges involved. But these 'justices' are untouchable, no matter how they corrupted the political process and defrauded US voters.

THE ATTACK ON IRAQ: WAR CRIMES

Under current international law (largely put in place by the US after World War II) there are just two instances in which a war is legal: 1) a nation may respond to an attack or the imminant threat of attack; or 2) the war is authorized by the United Nations Security Council. The US-UK invasion of Iraq met neither of these criteria.

Despite great ballyhoo and bluster, no verifiable evidence has been presented that Iraq was 1) behind any international terror attacks, or 2) in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), or 3) about to attack the US, the UK, or any other nation. And the UN specifically refused to authorize a war. Thus, the war is illegal and those who engineered it are war criminals.

The US had some reason to believe that Iraq might possess WMDs - because WE SUPPLIED THEM! Nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) technologies, strategic and tactical intelligence, other military aid - the US and its NATO allies pumped all these into Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Yeah, Saddam was/is a real vicious bastard, but he's OUR vicious bastard. We MANU­FACTURE future enemies for our military to face. Top people in Dubya's administration were instrumental in supplying NBC materials to the 'Axis of Evil' - look at Rumsfeld's role in selling nukes to North Korea, Cheney's role in rebuilding Iraqi chemical plants after Gulf War I, etc. We also manufacture terrorists, such as our support for the Mujahadin who evolved into al-Qaeda.

But I digress. The US-UK justification for the Iraq attack is just as bogus as Hitler's justification for invading Poland in 1939. Surviving German generals who planned that invasion were hanged as war criminals. Current war planners are unlikely to face justice.

ET CETERA, ET CETERA

I could bring up other issues. GW Bush's father was employed by Osama bin Laden's father. Al Qaeda's goals of toppling Iraq's secular Saddam Hussein regime and removing US forces from 'holy' Saudi Arabian soil have been achieved. US elections are suspect when the votes are counted by Republican-owned firms. LYING is the official policy of the Bush administration. Concentrated corporate control, massive intrusion of govt inquiry into the private lives of citizens, endemic political corruption - you get the picture. But the items I detailed above are the most obvious, the ones you should get REALLY worked up about if you give a shit about the future of the US and your role in it.

Non-citizens and -residents of the US can probably ignore the above. For now.

Local Beauty etc

Sunday 1 June 2003 - exploring local beauty

This was the Italian Celebration weekend around Sutter Creek. We skipped the annual picnic on Sutter Hill (too crowded) but thoroughly enjoyed the small-town parade, complete with dancing girls and tiny horses and a top-fuel dragster and water sprays. (pictures) Much noise, much fun, not quite too much heat.

We rolled out to Shenandoah Valley, some slight vin-tasting and an exhibition of huge Galen Rowell images at the Shenandoah Winery. Great stuff, we'll be back - and on a cooler day we'll survey and sample the many local vineyards.

Then through Fair Play and up the dauntingly named Slug Gulch Road, which climbs to views of surpassing beauty, glimpses of the Desolation Wilderness's Crystal Range and across vast valleys and ridge systems. How to keep word of this gorgeous drive from leaking out and attracting ravenous hoards of thrill-seekers? Burn this webpage after reading...

A stop at Ham's Station for the least-greasy lunch offering, then down paved but steep USFS (Forest Service) roads into the canyon of the Mokelumne River and the Salt Springs resevoir. More supremely pretty country leading to a glacial-cut mini-Yosemite valley complete with half-domes and gnarly granite walls and the most spectacular dam-outflow we've ever seen, braided cascades threading hundreds of rocky vertical feet.

Finally, we're rolling over more mostly-paved USFS roads down the Moke canyon past Tiger Creek, back to our own neighborhood but along ridges and through notches with glorious vistas we've never experienced before. Our new mountain backyard is great! Stay away! Watch TV! Whatever!

Searches: Sutter Creek & Sutter Hill & Italian Parade - Shenandoah Valley & Shenandoah Winery & Galen Rowell - Slug Gulch & Fairplay - Crystal Range - Ham's Station - Mokelumne River & Salt Springs & Tiger Creek