star gazing & the black hole

I have always loved stars. It might have something to do with my mom’s persistence of taking us to the planetarium whenever she could when we were kids. Astrology was one of my favourite electives in Uni along with the countless camping, skiing trips and bond fire under the starry skies. 

I am so psyched that I can finally do some stargazing in Grand Canyon (the last time was Joshua Tree) that I even brought my own sky chart. 

This is an indescribable feeling - always in awe when I look up the sky seeing how massive it is packed with brilliant diamonds, big and small, shiny and dull. It is also an unsettling sensation because there are just so many of them and at times I feel I am in the unknown. But I always managed to find the Orion, the Big Dipper, the Summer Triangle (not this time because it’s January and they are way below the horizon). 

It's like being surrounded by the mass in a huge city with no sense of orientation, and out of sudden, I spot a familiar sign that I could use to navigate myself. It gives me peace and calm and also confidence to gradually find my way around. 

Then I find Polaris, the True North, and life is good. 

Kids are less enthusiastic about the stars. They were just entertained wandering the woods with the flashlights looking for wild deer and playing with the ice patch. 

I think of you, the only person that would sit with me in this freezing cold (-10 degree Celsius) with a cup of tea, just gazing the stars for hours and admiring the captivating sight that the universe has created and counting the shooting stars as they showcase their final spectacles. Only you would understand the exact excitement and tranquility right at this moment. 

 

banana republic

What a day! A roller-coaster, from the Georgia run-off to Congress count on electoral college vote (or objection to electoral) to the Capital Hill riot...we're definitely living the history, living it one day at time (more like one minute at a time). Yet, it is quite a draining experience, sometimes I do wish we could take a breather literally (between the politics and the covid). 

Watching the footage, images and twitter of what has happened today in the Capitol Hill, couldn't help feeling the irony with what I have been reading...

...As beautiful as they are, they don't always match the lived experience. In fact, my favourite photograph from that night isn't of Grant Park at all. Rather it's one I received many years later as a gift, a photography of Lincoln Memorial, taken as I was giving my speech in Chicago. It shows a small gathering of people on the stairs, their faces obscured by the darkness, and behind them the giant figure shining brightly, his marble face craggy, his eyes slightly downcast. They're listening to the radio. I am told, quietly contemplating who we are as a people -- and the arc of this thing we call democracy. 

breathe

volcan tungurahua 5023m

I always know that I like Ecuador and I feel home here but this time is different. It calms me down. 

I feel that l can breathe, I breathe better, much better up in 9000 feet in the Andes with a mask than just 5-minutes away from the beach in SoCal - what a paradox. 

We took an expedition down to the  Baño-Riobamba region, in search for agua thermal (but didn't go to one at the end as it was at least 2 1/2hr-hike and just didn't think it could be appropriate for my in-laws. We had disappointed Ninja thought). 

Regardless, we had a relaxing but fun-packing hacienda life - picking moras, harvesting all kinds of greens from the garden (corn, beets, cabbage, carrots, onions, nuts, apples, figs you name it), picking up fresh eggs from chicken nest (and having them for breakfast), cooking bread, pizza from stone oven...So much fun that Ninja claimed that he wanted to build the best hacienda when he grew up. 

The decision made in Pismo might be swayed now. Who knows, perhaps we can have both. Who says that we have to choose?

uio-bound in the time of covid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(dated December 18) 

We had to cancel our long-planned trip to the Big Island over the holiday season as the test and quarantine regulations became too stringent to comply prior to the trip.

"Why don't we go to Quito?" "Yeah, why not?" Quito has always been our first choice for the holiday season because we spent almost every Christmas there with families. After investigating the covid curve, hospitalization data and local measures, and the fact that we have so many doctors in the family, it seems that all is checked off. Just one thing, the RT CPR test, which is required to enter Ecuador to qualify for the 14-day quarantine exemption.

We had to "educate" the kids ahead of the time that it might be "uncomfortable" when they stick a swap in your nostril. But after being in confinement for 9 months, we are all on the "whatever it takes" mode to get on that plane (just to go somewhere). 

So here it is. 36 hours later - cleared by the lab, booked the tickets, we were on the packing mode. I couldn't remember when was the last time that I was this excited to go on a trip. Or even nervous about a trip. N95 masks, checked, face shields, checked, hand sanitizer, checked, gloves, checked, wipes, checked...feel like that we were astronauts going on a space expedition. 

When the plan landed, my eyes got misty...find it hard to believe that we got here and I've landed in pachamama.