reboot, refresh, restart.

fresh page, new day.

I might turn out to be the world's most terrible writer....or maybe I am just bad at commitment. It seems like many times when I decide to do something I don't always stick to it. Last time i posted for real around here was more or less 4 months ago. 4 months seems like a long time when I don't write. The truth is its been an odd year or so. Its been a time to change and adapt and try to figure things out, maybe to try to find myself (not that i have accomplished or even gotten close to that).

I've been back home for a year more or less, and although I love Quito and Ecuador, for some reason I haven't been handling moving back here very well.

Its also the first time I actually have a real job. A bit less than a year ago I finished college and started working, and its the longest time i've been in one job and well, its not easy.

Going to work at the same office every day, without major vacations or breaks isn't easy when you are used to the great life you can have as a student. But I'm here and that's what it is.

Of course for a whole year, although i have been here, I haven't really been here. I've been dreaming of buttercups instead going out and planting some real ones. Mostly I've been living in my head, maybe in denial and probably in the past.

But it seems like maybe the time to move on has finally come.

So today I made a pretty big decision...or at least its a pretty big decision for me.

I decided that I need to start climbing up some mountains, because I need a break. I need some change. And of course, I need some distraction. If not I might just go crazy. So I've decided to join a group of mountain climbers here in Ecuador. They go out every weekend to climb a mountain and they have more or less 3 programs every year where they train to go up to different peaks.

I start next weekend and hopefully I will be able to go up Cayambe and the Iliniza Sur at the end of the training. We'll see how it goes. I'm not the most fit person and I'm definitely not the strongest, but I am healthy.

Next sunday I should be going up to the Pasochoa (4199 mt). Its not the highest mountain of course since its just the beginning of the training. We will also be learning a bit about rock climbing since both the Cayambe and the Iliniza Sur require a bit of rock climbing to get to the top.

The truth is the rock climbing is what worries me the most. Last time I tried to go rock climbing with my brother it was a horrible experience. I don't know how I expected to pull myself up a rock wall when I can't even do a full push-up or pull-up, but I guess I am hoping that I will get fit in some magical way and I will be able to go up the final mountains. If I do manage to do this I will be incredibly proud of myself (and so will my brother I am sure). To prepare I decided I am going to do the 5 tibetan rites every morning. And I also installed a pull-up bar in my bathroom doorway (I'm hoping by the end of this I will be able to do at least one pull-up).

We'll see how it goes. Here are a couple of pictures of the mountains I might be climbing in the following months.

Pasochoa 4199mt (extinct volcano)

Chiles 4720mt (active volcano)

Imbabura 4660mt (inactive volcano)

Rucu Pichincha 4698mt (active volcano)

Sincholahua 4919mt

Cotacachi 4935mt (dormant volcano)

Cayambe 5780mt (volcano)

Illiniza Sur 5305mt

the death of identity

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together"

Wonderful Cities: Rome

Some details from Rome. These pictures were taken all over the city; at the most famous landmarks and in lonely streets. Rome is a great place to explore.

Details: Windows

Here are a couple of windows from my travels. I love how different windows can be. 

1. Firenze, Italy
2. Barcelona, Spain
3. Roma, Italy
4. Bari, Italy
5. Padova, Italy
6. Alberobello, Italy
7. Cusco, Peru
8. Torino, Italy
9. Palenque, Mexico
10. Genova, Italy
11. Medellín, Colombia
12. Cali, Colombia
13. Verona, Italy
14. Vetralla, Italy
15. Berlin, Germany
16. Napoli, Italy

from a letter to a friend

"I was thinking...its funny how people say that people don't change...like when you are in a bad relationship people will tell you that you can't even try to change someone because people are incapable of change and that old dogs don't learn new tricks...etc etc etc....

but I don't think this is in fact true...at all..people change all the time...people are changing everyday. I was listening to a conference online yesterday and they were talking about identity and how we are really just a sum of parts. Like a computer...a computer is a hard disk with a monitor, with a key board and well whatever else composes a computer. one computer is different from another depending on the different pieces they have. and that is pretty much how we are...we are a collection of things a body with a brain with different experiences all that sums up to who we are...there is no real "essence" to our identity...it is constantly changing because of the different things we live through...would you still consider yourself to be yourself if they took your body and put another brain in it...it would be your body..but it wouldnt really be you...and if they put your brain in another body it wouldnt be you completely either...because your body is part of who you are...but it is not enough to make you you by itself. its pretty much the same with everything else that makes you you...you cant be you if you are missing any of the components...or can you?

anyways I found it interesting because it pretty much says people are in constant change...because everyday we have new experiences that add to who we are...so its illogic to say people can't change...we change all the time. we are never the same...tomorrow I will already be a different person."

You can listen to the conference by downloading the RSA podcast "what does it mean to be you?" by Julian Baggini

Identity and Me

I am thinking about identity again. I guess I think about it most of the time.

A couple of months ago I posted about Identity and Nationality, and then later I talked about Identity and Objects. However, I am still struggling with my own identity. As I said before identity is basically what you identify yourself with. In other words my identity is based on whatever I find I have similarities with. In its essence identity would be completely relative to what I know and what surrounds me. It all goes down to comparisons.

In my favorite book in the whole world, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, there is a short episode where Milo, the main character is sent to meet "The Giant". He heads over to the house with an inscription above the door that reads "The Giant". After knocking an ordinary man comes out claiming to be the smallest giant in the world. He then sends Milo to the other side of the house to find "The Midget". Here Milo finds a man who looks exactly like The Giant, but who claims to be the tallest midget in the world. He then gets send to find the Fat Man and the Skinny Man...of course Milo realizes they are all the same person. Here is an excerpt:

     "I think you're all the same man," said Milo Emphatically.
"S-S-S-S-S-H-H-H-H-H-H-H," he cautioned, putting his finger to his lips and drawing Milo closer. "Do you want to ruin everything? You see, to tall men I'm a midget, and to short men I'm a giant; to the skinny ones I'm a fat man, and to the fat ones I'm a thin man. That way I can hold four jobs at once. As you can see, though, I'm neither tall nor short nor fat nor thin. In fact, I'm quite ordinary, but there are so many ordinary men that no one asks their opinion about anything."

I pretty much agree with this; We can only be described in comparison to what we know and what surrounds me. If I go to some far away village up in the mountains of Ecuador, where they have little contact with foreigners, I am pretty sure I will be one of the tallest people the villagers have ever met. To them I will be considered tall, or even extremely tall, but I consider myself average, even short at times, because I have met taller people.

So maybe that is why I have troubles with identity. If I constantly learn new things and everyday I see different things, then I have to place myself in context every time that I add any piece of  knowledge to my life. Any object that I interact with should have the capacity to change the way I feel about myself and how I view myself with the world; ideas and thoughts should have a similar effect. However, this doesn't really help me with my identity issues. Maybe some day I will figure it out.

If you have any thoughts about where identity comes from, let me know!

When Objects Became Art

I have always been intrigued by art.

Up until the end of the 19th century art had generally followed the accepted aesthetics of the time. Paintings were done to please the patrons or to express the ideals of beauty of the moment. Then in 1914, Marcel Duchamp presented "Bottle Rack", which is considered one of his first readymades.

replica of Bottle Rack

This object, unlike other objects he had used before like "Bicycle Wheel" and "Pharmacy", was not altered in any way, making it his first true readymade. Today the most famous readymade by Duchamp is "Fountain". 

replica of Fountain

A lot of controversy surrounded this object. It was supposed to be exposed at the Society of Independent Artists Exhibit in 1917. This event had stated that it would exhibit all the pieces it received. However the board members decided "Fountain" was not art and hid it from view during the show. After this the New York Dadaists decided to publish it as a photo in one of their anonymous journals. It was entitled "The Richard Mutt Case" and accompanying the image was the following explanation:

"Whether Mr Mutt made the fountain with his own hands or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object."

Duchamp and the dadaists were some of the first artists that began to question what art was, what it was supposed to be and what it could be. With their actions they shifted the focus from the physical object to the intellectual aspect of the piece and thus, conceptual art was born.

Around the same time, at the beginning of the 20th century, in Germany something very different was happening. In 1907 Hermann Muthesius, along with several architects, founded the Deutscher Werkbund.  The idea of this group was to combine traditional crafts with industrial mass-production techniques. It also sought to integrate artists, architects, designers and industrialists. The men involved in this group were mostly architects and designers and during the years that the group was active they created furniture, houses and spaces.

It was also thanks to the development of this group, that the Bauhaus came to be. It held similar principles, as it was meant to bring all arts together so that they could influence each other and work as a whole.

So now we have two important movements in the world, at the same time, that look at objects and art. The world was becoming more industrialized. Artists were questioning art and Industrial Design as we know it was born. Artists began to appreciate the beauty of everyday industrial objects to the extent that industrial designers could be considered artists.  I guess it was only logical that the boundaries between art and design became hazy. Today there are designers that use objects to question beliefs the same way artists do. But I'll leave that for some other day.