When the Almond Tree Blooms

In this post, I will review two Italian crime shows on Netflix, Suburra: Blood on Rome and Gomorrah . Then I tell the story of El Lupo . Crime Show Reviews I finished watched Suburra: Blood on Rome a few weeks ago. It’s a crime show about three young men in Rome who are trying to make their way in an organized crime world dominated by a cunning and cold blooded puppetmaster: the aging godfather Samurai. Suburra succeeds in developing characters that despite their shortcomings, I found myself sympathetic towards. The series aptly conveys how organized crime preys on people’s faults, their petty ambitions, greed and desire to be someone important, and draws them into its sinister web. I loved the setting: most of the scenes took place in the darkened streets of the Italian capital and in dingy cafes and gas stations in run down suburbs, but also included shots of the beach at Ostia as well as a gypsy crime family’s ostentatious palace. What I also liked about Suburra was that th

Happy 2011 readers! I've been in California for the past week or so, I have a lot to write about but instead am just going to share some photos from my time so far. On Wednesday, December 29, my Dad and I set off for California. We left on a dark evening after dinner, with clear skies over Seattle. Around Kent (15 miles south of Seattle) we ran into a snowstorm, complete with lightening. The snow turned to hail in Tacoma, after that it was clear sailing all the way to Longview. The next day we continued our journey, enjoying a savory breakfast at a Denny's outside Portland, pie and coffee at Peggy's in Rice Hill, Oregon and this beautiful evening light on Mt. Shasta after crossing the Siskiyou Mountains: More Mt. Shasta We stayed in a Travelodge in Red Bluff and continued south the next day. A chilly morning at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, near Willows, CA Snow geese at the Sacramento NWR I celebrated the new year in good company, in a karaoke boo

For someone who grew up in one of the more damp, green corners of the world (Seattle, WA), I've always loved deserts. When I was a kid, I would go with my dad to Ernst Hardware Store in the University Village (back when the U Village had stores that actually sold useful stuff) in Seattle. Sometimes, if I was lucky, he would buy me a cactus or a little plant. The old man's beard cactus still sits on a desk in my parents' house, not much taller than when I bought it at least twenty years ago. So for me, deserts are pretty cool places, especially if they have cacti. After leaving Flagstaff last Wednesday, I planned to spend a few days drifting back to the Bay Area through the deserts of Eastern California. I am glad I did. I turned off I-40 a bit further west than Needles, CA and didn't get back on the interstate until I reached Stockton yesterday night. So what did I find out there in the desert? Solitude, for one thing. Having spent the past three weeks on Bla

Ok so it's been a while since I've done any blogging. But I am on the move and have much to write about, so here I go again. About a month ago, back in February, I left my job teaching Nutrition and Garden at Park Elementary in Hayward, CA. It was a sad farewell, and I will miss many students, parents and staff there, but I was ready to move on and experience new challenges, adventures and opportunities to grow, learn and have fun. I packed up my stuff in boxes, loaded my car with supplies and headed east for the high deserts of the Navajo Nation, specifically the contested partition lands of Black Mesa. The history of the Hopi-Navajo land dispute and it's relationship to the coal interests is a complicated one. At the center of it lies Black Mesa, a rolling plateau of sagebrush and pinon and juniper forests, the traditional home of many Dine (Navajo) sheepherding families. Under their lands lie some of the largest coal deposits in the U.S. For decades, the coal in

I have put some of my photos from the past two and a half weeks I spent in Nicaragua on my Picasa Web album. Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/rfadam/NicaraguaEnVerde# I returned to Oakland last night after two and a half weeks in Nicaragua. I feel as if I've been gone much longer than that. Traveling a lot certainly has much to do with this: we packed a lot into a few days, with many early mornings, long bus rides, new places and many people we encountered along the way. Also, being in Managua for 24 hours before leaving Nicaragua was intense. Managua is an intense place. On my first visit to Nicaragua, I only passed through it on the way to and from Leon, and found it off putting and depressing: dirty, chaotic, noisy and poor. While the city certainly has plenty of these four qualities, I gained more of an appreciation for Managua this time around. Most of this has to do with the wonderful time I spent with Atalanta and her family. They are incredible

The noises of cars and pedestrians on the street here in Rivas are a strange shock after having spent nearly all of my time so far in Nicaragua in the campo . On Monday, Rawley and I left Lagartillo on the 6:30 bus (the times I´ve been waking up at will make going back to work seem like sleeping in) for Esteli, leaving behind friends and a great community. We arrived in Esteli, did some errands then left for Miraflor that afternoon. The bus gradually climbed through cattle pastures and forests to the highlands of Miraflor located north of the city. As we gained elevation, moss cloaked trees, small fincas and fields of corn, potatoes and cabbage appeared out of the drizzle. We passed small communities, eventually arriving at Puertas Azules. From there we hiked along a gravel road a few kilometers to Posada La Perla, located at the highest point of Miraflor. We had reservations to stay two nights there at the small farm of Maribel Gonzales and her family. The finca is a rustic sp

I am here on a cloudy Friday morning in Esteli. I needed to run an errand (get money from the bank) which means taking a 2 hour bus ride across the mountains. On the plus side, the landscape is beautiful because it has been raining a lot, and there´s no dust to inhale during the journey. I just have a couple of things to do so I´m returning to Lagartillo this afternoon. It´s been a week since I arrived in Nicaragua but feels longer than that because it´s been easy to slide back into the routine of life in Lagartillo. It´s a little different this time of year though since sometimes it rains for a few hours and the rains are heavy so everything comes to a stop for a while. Earlier this week it rained a lot, but the rains haven´t been as hard the last couple of days, so things have dried out a bit, which is good because all of my stuff was getting damp. Limpiando frijoles As some of you may remember from earlier posts, agriculture is a big focus of my experience here. Last January I

Writing about travel is simply more fun than writing about everyday life. Things are new and exciting, and the unexpected becomes much more a part of the everyday experience. It´s my first full day here in Nicaragua. I arrived in Managua yesterday morning after a long but not so bad trip from San Francisco, via San Salvador. This time around, I was unable to get a deal on a first class ticket, so I rode in the coach section, which was less comfortable but more interesting. I spent much of the trip chatting with the woman sitting next to me, who was traveling with her two kids to visit family in Masaya, Nicaragua where she was from. I didn´t get much sleep, which was too bad since it was a night flight. Also on my flight was the daughter of one of my coworkers from Hayward, who was traveling with relatives to visit family in Guatemala. When I arrived in Managua, I headed to the bus station, where I ate a quick meal (fried chicken, salad, rice, beans, tostones and a drink) then

In nearly twelve hours, I'll be arriving in San Salvador, El Salvador, aboard a night flight from San Francisco. From there, it's just a quick hop to Managua, Nicaragua, then a bus ride up north to Esteli. I must admit, it feels a bit strange going back to a country where I was just six months ago. I spent a little more than a month in Nicaragua this past December and January and had an incredible experience there, mostly because of the time I spent studying Spanish in the remote mountain community of Lagartillo. For those interested in hearing more about my time in Lagartillo, please check out my earlier posts. After returning to the states, I was happy to be back but scheming about returning to Nicaragua, hoping to stay longer in Lagartillo. My dream of spending many months there turned into a month long trip, now I am only going to be in Nicaragua for two and a half weeks. Life--recovering from a hernia surgery and having to find a new place to live--kept me from goi

Hi Folks, I'm back in Oakland, I arrived late last night. I'm tired. I posted photos on my Picasa photo page. Come take a look: http://picasaweb.google.com/rfadam/QueLindaEsNicaragua# Last time I posted, I was about to leave for the Las Penitas beach not far from Leon. The short trip turned into more of an adventure than I had imagined. I took a bus from the centro near my hostel to a small mercado in the Subtiava barrio , where I boarded the bus to Las Penitas. There was a really annoying drunk on the bus--at 10 AM in the morning, he and his two buddies were already out of the minds from cheap aguardiente . He kept asking me over and over whether I was going to surf at the beach, so eventually I started ignoring him. The road to Las Penitas, like most roads in Nicaragua, is undergoing repairs and improvements, and on one of the spots under construction, our bus broke an axel. We all got off and waited for the next bus, which came, already full, in about ten m

Hi Folks. I´m back in Leon, where I am hoping to spend my last full day in Nicaragua at the beach, enjoying the warm weather before I head back to that ice box of a house where I live in Oakland tomorrow night. It´s plenty hot here so I need to enjoy the sun and sweat while I can. I left Lagartillo yesterday afternoon. It was not easy to leave. I had a wonderful week relaxing, working and exploring. On Monday, I returned to Lagartillo from Leon, the bus was empty compared with the day before, and I made sure to appreciate the spectacular mountain scenery along the way. On Monday afternoon, I went with Willa (the long term student who has been in Lagartillo for three months, I think), her professora Lizbeth, Lizbeth´s husband and their little boy Gaby to watch the sunset. We went to a large rock with a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside and the volcanoes in the distance to the west. After having spent a few weeks in Lagartillo, I´ve become more familiar with th

Finally, some photos for those of you who´ve been following my blog... (they´re backwards, but who really cares...) Las Brisas Waterfall The Mural at the Lagartillo school finished The Mural in progress Monchito and Roniel at the Las Lajas Waterfall This Sunday finds me again in Esteli, I came to buy coffee to take back to the states, to use the net and eat a quesillo (like a quesadilla but not only with cheese, but also cream and spicy onions...mmm). I had originally planned to leave Lagartillo for good this weekend, but I am returning to the community tomorrow for the rest of the week. My plan was to travel and see other places in Nicaragua, but there´s so much to do in Lagartillo (not to mention so many wonderful people to hang out with), that I don´t really feel like leaving. So I changed my plans and will probably stay there until next Saturday. What are plans for besides to change them anyways. If I had known how bad the bus ride today was going to be, I might not ha