Easter at the Ranch

Our friends Karina (center) and Gustavo own a coconut orchard down the beach from us. Other wise known as ¨the ranch´. It is a magical place with absolutely thousands of coco nut palms, all planted in streight lines one after another and another etc...it is a photographers dream, light beams and iguanas...
The ranch is located on a river on one side and the beach on another, so in the summer when it rains alot the whole place gets covered in about 18 inches of water. All that you see behind us in the photo is a huge lake.
We had an easter egg hunt on Sunday, no chocolate bunnies (funny these kids don´t even know about chocolate bunnies!) but lots of painted eggs! A good time was had by all. In the photo you see from left to right, Me, August, Thamara, Kaya, Jessica, Sol on Annies lap, Laura, Karina and Kata. 

More politics! I can´t help myself!

This post i have cut from the www.firedoglake.com site. I think that it pretty much sums up what i was trying to say.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/17/oh-wow/

Monday, April 17th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Oh Wow
By Ian Welsh

Guest Post by Ian Welsh

I’m in the odd position of being a Canadian who does most of his blogging on American politics for US blogs. It’s a kafkaesque exercise at times, and the recent Iran mess has reminded me yet again, that to a foreigner, the US really is “through the looking glass”.

Because to me the conversation on Iran isn’t sane. In fact, the idea of bombing Iran, either large scale conventionally, or, even worse, with nukes, is one I’m astounded is even being considered.

Let’s deal with the specifics from one Canadian’s point of view.

First: bombing a country is a declaration of war and Iran will react to it as such. To meaningfully damage the Iranian nuclear effort will require massive bombing. This isn’t one pinpoint attack. Oil will soar to $150 a barrel or so, your economy will crater, so will everyone else’s, your allies will abandon you and you will be all by yourselves. And people won’t blame the Iranians, they will blame you.

Second: Proponents of bombing Iran spend a lot of time talking about how Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. Iran doesn’t sponsor terror against the US, at least not recently. You do this, that’ll change. You do this, you will come to see 9/11 as the good ol’ days when you only lost a couple thousand people, because not only is Iran a State sponsor of terrorism – they are very very good at it and there is every reason to believe they have cells in the US. And we haven’t even talked about the fact that even if most Americans don’t know it, most foreigners are well aware that the US is, itself, a huge state sponsor of terrorism.

Third: A lot of this is being driven by the fact that Iran does sponsor terrorism against Israel and that Iranian nukes will threaten Israel (note that they will not threaten the US directly.) Israel is the nation which spies most on the US. They are not your friend, whatever you may think. Of course, given the power of the Israeli lobby, and the specter of being called an anti-semite, no one is willing to say this. Let the Israelis deal with their own damn problems, it’s their bed, let them lie in it.

Fourth: Bush brought this on America by invading Iraq. The lesson of Iraq is this: if you have nukes you won’t get invaded. If you don’t, the US will (compare and contrast: North Korea/Iraq). Iran is acting entirley rationally.
Fifth: I think Canada should have nukes, because I know you invaded Iraq based on lies. I don’t want Iran to have nukes, but if I were the mullahs I’d be doing the exact same thing. The Mullahs aren’t nuts – they’re acting in self preservation. I know why they’re doing what they’re doing and it is perfectly 100% rational.

Sixth: I have to tell you, that from a foreigner’s point of view, and this is true even in your closest allies (the majority of Britains, for example) you are a rogue nation. You invade people based on lies. You have no credibility on Iran. You are the boy who cried Wolf. You don’t obey the Geneva conventions. You have secret prisons. You torture people, including the citizens of your allies. You have abolished habeas corpus for classes of people. You kidnap foreigners and secretly ship them off to be tortured. You have endorsed Bush’s war crimes – crimes for which Americans hung Nazis who had been in no way involved the with the Holocaust. You could produce pictures of nukes and missiles and half the world wouldn’t believe you. Even if we did believe you, we don’t care enough to endorse going to war with Iran.. There are only two nations in the world who constantly talk about how they’re willing to nuke people without even being attacked first: The North Koreans - and the UNITED STATES.

You gave up the ability to stop countries like Iran from getting nukes when you invaded a country like Iraq which had no nukes and no real possibility of getting them. That was your wad, and you blew it. You chose to be weak. At this point, for you to stop Iran would involve you in a war you cannot win – or at least no victory worth having. You can’t occupy Iran, so are you going to really glass Tehran or the entire country? Do you know what the world reaction would be? Do you know what would happen to the dollar? Are you out of your minds?
Why is this even being discussed? And why is it that I can’t simply dismiss it as diplomatic posturing? When did the US step through the looking glass? When did insanity become reasonable?

Update: To help us take action on Iran, please scroll down to read this entry about our Roots Project. Thanks! — Pachacutec

Don´t bomb Iran!

I just have to make a comment that doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with our hotel but rather world events. This is from my point of view of course; I only know how things appear from a small town on the beach in Mexico.

What I feel that I have to say is; what is going on?? Iran?? Has the United States gone mad? Can politicians and therefore voters possibly think that this is a good idea? War cannot possibly be the answer! You can make a difference! Look at the change effected by the recent protests made by the immigrant population in the US. Whether good or bad they got the attention of the powers that be.

I hope that all of you will get together and let your representatives know that this Iran thing is NOT an option. Protest! At least then the rest of the world will know that the government is acting alone, and the people of the United States are fundamentally against this unilateral warmongering! I could spend days and days talking about this and that on the subject but the bottom line is the same. Just say “No” (No! No!) Please don’t let this happen!

Here are two great articles and a few of links to blogs that I’ve read. They contain lots of information and are more eloquent than I am.

http://www.juancole.com/2006/04/iran-can-now-make-glowing-mickey-mouse.html

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060222&articleId=2032

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/14/iran-calculated-madness-and-common-sense/

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/17/join-us-to-stop-bush-and-rumsfeld-on-iran/


(from www.firedoglake.com)

Join Us to Stop Bush and Rumsfeld on Iran
By Pachacutec

A lot has been written about Bush and Iran since Sy Hersh’s New Yorker article, and too little done. This is a time for actions more than blog posts.
We’ve had confirmation that Bush is considering a preemptive nuclear attack against Iran. This is suicidal madness for America, as I described here. We also have word from Joe Biden yesterday that Democratic senators need a serious kick in the ass to wake up on this issue.

Ladies and gentlemen, put yer steel tip boots on.

We’re asking our readers to sign up for our Roots Project, to get together to lobby and meet with their senators in their home states. Since we’ve had time across the blogosphere to refine our message, here’s our current FDL recommneded talking points:

1. Starting a nuclear war against Iran is seriously nuts. It won’t just destroy part of Iran: its consequences will destroy America.

2. Through Iraq, Bush and Rumsfeld have proven they are weak failures who can’t be trusted to do the right thing with Iran. Even our military establishment is against Bush and Rumsfeld and is demanding a change in leadership. Rumsfeld must be replaced. Bush’s reckless rush to war must be stopped.

3. Strength begins with leadership, and yet leadership has not yet been tried on Iran. America must cooperate with our allies to contain Iran and promote its democratically inclined people through engagement and tough negotiations. Congress must act to be sure this occurs. Only people who lied about Iraq deny Iran is many years away from developing a nuclear weapon.
To get involved in the Roots Project, contact me according to the instructions in this post.

Getting groups of citizens to show up at the offices of senators and congressmen is an extraordinarily powerful tool. It’s underutilized and underappreciated. A handful of people going to an office is worth two thousand emails, letters or phone calls. It works. It shows them we are real people, and takes much less effort to coordinate than a peace march. Please get involved today to stop the next next mindless war against American interests, before it’s too late.

For the friends and family of Katta!

The Man and his baby

Here is kind of a cute photo of Jim on the horse with Evita going up the volcano. He looks so good! She loved it and never said a word the whole time. She was so into it, all she did was look and look and kick her feet with happiness! 

Paricutin

Last month we went on a short road trip inland to the mountains. We stayed in a cabin on Lake Zirahuen. Here is a link to the place http://www.zirahuen.com.mx/ it was great! We stayed in one of the ¨resedential´cabins. Lots of fireplaces and a to die for view of the lake. I can´t believe that i don´t have a photo of that! Anyway the photo that you see here is when we went down lakeside to go `fishing`not alot of fishing was done but it was just great to hang out in the cool air and be on vacation!

The next day we drove over to the volcano Paricutin. It was about an hour and a half from the lake and kind of a long and windy drive. There are quite a few places to stay along the road from Uruapan to Anguahuan the village that is the closest to the volcano, that i imagine would be nice and shorten the trip. We were met at the edge of town by some guys on horses, and since we had heard of the horse thing we hooked up with them. They then galloped beside our cars to the parking lot. It certinaly would have been possible to ignore these guys and go directly to the trail head where there are other horse people to choose from. But in the end they all looked pretty much the same.

We got great horses and had a wonderful day. It took about 1 and a half hours to get to the church that you see in the photo below. We went through pine forests and then over the lava flow. There was only one other group of people on the volcano that day. It was perfect.

The lava flow was impressive. Apparently it covered the town compleatly. No one dies however. How cool is that!? Only the church remains, and much is made of the fact that the lava stopped at the altar.....

Below is the story of the erruption that i got from Bruce Wippleman at his site: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/98/0898paricutin.html. There is lots more information there. I just thought the story was neat.

Dionisio Pulido's Story:

On the afternoon of 4 March 1943, campesino Dionisio Pulido was the first person to witness the birth of a live volcano and live to tell the tale. He said that, around three in the afternoon, he was plowing his field with his yoke of bullocks, when the earth beneath his feet began to shift, shudder, and roar. Soon steam began rising from the animals' hoofprints. When Dionosio grabbed his hoe and desperately tried to fill the steamy holes, more holes appeared. His wife arrived with a dozen villagers, who worked like demons with sticks, hoes, shovels, and picks, struggling to fill the ever-widening hot fissures. But it was no use; a terrifying fiery explosion blew huge rocks into the air, and most people simply knelt down in the field, weeping and praying.
Over the next few weeks, the smoke and explosions gradually became more violent. People ran for their lives as choking ash blanketed their fields and red-hot boulders rained down for half a mile around. Within six months, lava began oozing from the crater and formed huge flows 10 feet deep that burned the forest and buried the villages of Paricutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro, including their church.
When Volcan Paricutin's fires finally sputtered out on 4 March 1952, a grand 10,000-acre moonscape of burnt embers and hardened lava lay at the foot of a dark cinder mountain nearly a third of a mile in height. The entire displaced population of both villages were resettled in a new town, San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, where the people rebuilt their church, six miles west of Uruapan.
Local resident Simon L. Jimenez heard Dionisio tell his story scarcely two days after the volcano had burst from the ground beneath his feet. Jimenez later related the story in his 1993 book, Paricutin, Fifty Years After Its Birth.
Excerpted from Pacific Mexico Handbook by Bruce Whipperman, Moon Travel Handbooks, 1997.