Spring has arrived in Lisbon

Well it is been some time since I entered the blog…I have been very busy…walking, walking and walking.

A few days ago, I went downtown and saw the Lisbon contingency of demonstrators
Marching in support of the young workers of France. Those marching were vocal and passionate. But, the crowd was small.

I saw about four young people standing and asked them if they spoke English. Almost all of them did. When I asked why they were not in the protest…they responded that it would not do any good. “Portugal does not pay attention to her people,” a young lady said. The rest of the people agreed. So I challenged them! I asked them why do they not get involved and determine that they do have a voice…well you know me...within a few moments; several other young people joined the crowd and listened. Now it was a small crowd listening to this man from America. As I started to leave, I told them that I would be back in twenty years and would like to see them and ask them what they have done to contribute to change in Portugal. They were very gratified to have had the discussion with me and thanked me.

As I walked away, I realized how happy I was…. how much joy it brings to me to help clarify some vision for others. This experience has made me realize that I am capable of doing that and how I must embrace that part of who I am. I share this with you because for most of my life I have denied that part of me….This is a personal learning experience and I thought I would share it with you.

Yesterday, Vanda and I spent the entire day…walking…we visited the castle of King George… It was pretty impressive. As usual, I approached someone who was speaking English and found them to be from San Francisco. They were not Giant fans and good for them. We really had a great time. I took some great quality photos, many of them of Vanda. I realized that I really enjoy photography. It is very relaxing and allows me to share some of my personal moments with special people such as you. I hope you have%2

Last Day´s in Lisbon

Friday, March 31, 2006


Well it is been some time since I entered the blog…I have been very busy…walking, walking and walking.

A few days ago, I went downtown and saw the Lisbon contingency of demonstrators
Marching in support of the young workers of France. Those marching were vocal and passionate. But, the crowd was small.

I saw about four young people standing and asked them if they spoke English. Almost all of them did. When I asked why they were not in the protest…they responded that it would not do any good. “Portugal does not pay attention to her people,” a young lady said. The rest of the people agreed. So I challenged them! I asked them why do they not get involved and determine that they do have a voice…well you know me...within a few moments; several other young people joined the crowd and listened. Now it was a small crowd listening to this man from America. As I started to leave, I told them that I would be back in twenty years and would like to see them and ask them what they have done to contribute to change in Portugal. They were very gratified to have had the discussion with me and thanked me.

As I walked away, I realized how happy I was…. how much joy it brings to me to help clarify some vision for others. This experience has made me realize that I am capable of doing that and how I must embrace that part of who I am. I share this with you because for most of my life I have denied that part of me….This is a personal learning experience and I thought I would share it with you.

Yesterday, Vanda and I spent the entire day…walking…we visited the castle of King George… It was pretty impressive. As usual, I approached someone who was speaking English and found them to be from San Francisco. They were not Giant fans and good for them. We really had a great time. I took some great quality photos, many of them of Vanda. I realized that I really enjoy photography. It is very relaxing and allows me to share some of my personal moments with special people such as you. I hope you have enjoyed my photos as much as I have enjoyed taking them.

My photo blog has had almost 4,000 hits within the past six and half weeks.

I will be leaving Lisbon tomorrow for Porto, which is in Northern Portugal. I do not think I will be going to Rome after all. It is a bit much…I am tired. I have lost 10 pounds. The trick is to keep the weight off. I want to find some small towns in the north so I could rest up and write….

Prior to my departure on April 16th back to L.A. I would like to visit Father Juan Santillan who is buried in Northern Spain. I would like to pay my respects to him on behalf of The Wall-Las Memorias Project and the many other friends and family members that he has left on this earth. We will see if I will be able to visit him. I will keep you informed.

I was constantly told and it was suggested that I was going to go through a transformation while I am gone from the day-to-day work of the office. I am experiencing much on a daily basis and sometimes I do not realize it until several days later. I am changed and will continue to change. I hope to capture some of that in the next several days. I would like to share it with you…if I do not bore you…

Tomorrow is April fools day. Ah… and Monday it is time for Dodger baseball…boy am I going to miss that…This will be the first opening day that I will miss in about twenty five years or so. It is problematic for me since there is no twelve-step meeting for baseball fans in Europe.

Will talk to you soon…..

Vanda & Francisco

Great people.....have given me great moments...I have not had much to enter into my blog because they great people have kept me busy.

In the next few days I will detail the happenings for the past several days. But, for now I would like to share with you two great people that took me into their house.

As I said...you will learn about them in the next few days....but to Francisco and Vanda...I love you....

http://www.pbase.com/richard_zaldivar/image/57789336
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Fatima, March 16,2006

Fatima

The bus trip took about tours from Lisbon and arrived at 10:45 a.m. I have been awakening rather early in Portugal. I left my unit at 8:a.m. and not had my coffee.
So the first thing that was to stop by a small coffee house and have my cup with the typical breakfast for the morning…. a chocolate croissant.

Once I was somewhat filled, I went on my way to Fatima....the basilica. I entered this rather large square. It looked somewhat like the Vatican. I never been to the Vatican…at least not yet, the square looked like a square.

Once in, I read the schedule of Masses and one was just starting. I walked into the basilica. It was very simple, but powerful. It was being video taped. I am sure there are many live feeds to various parts of the world. It was a sung mass and only the fourth one to be said in the church on that day. There were several other Masses being said in the chapel where our lady appeared.

Once the Mass was completed, I walked up both sides of the church. Facing the altar, on the right side of he altar was the tomb of Francisco ,and on the left was Jacinta Marta, the girl who died at a young age of eleven. The oldest of the children who later became a nun, Sister Maria Lucia died just last year, but it was not until this past February that her body joined the other young two children in the basilica.

Outside, I strolled around the property taking photos of the church, chapels, people and almost anything that moved. It was finally a dream came true. I always wanted to visit here. It had been a guiding light in my own life and a fundamental principle for me in my political activism.

I then went to the chapel where another Mass was starting and I decided to wait for my entrance. For me, I wanted some quiet time there and so I returned later. Those moments for me were very special. It was a very quiet and deep time for me. I had imagined that my thoughts would race by me…but they didn’t. The experience was serene for me. After my many years involved in politics and a follower of Fatima, my moments were finally at hand.

Back in 1979-80, I was a member of the National Democratic Party Convention Platform Committee. My assignment at the time was a member of the Foreign policy subcommittee where I served along with Theodore Sorenson (former President staff member) and many party notables.

Later in the day, I visited the museum, As I entered, a nun asked me in English if I could return later in the day…I noticed that she spoke fluent English so I asked her where she was from and her reply was the Philippines. I told her that we had a huge population in Los Angeles. She responded, of course. She then turned to a young Italian man and asked him in Italian if he could show me around and so he did. He gave me a somewhat of a private tour. Although, the museum was open, there is a rule that if there are schools visiting the museum, then everybody else takes a back seat. The guide took me to most of the sites and told me emphatically that photos were not permitted.

He then eagerly took me to a glass cabinet where he showed me a gold crown with diamonds and gold. Here he said was the first crown that the people from Fatima made for Our Lady. In the middle part of the crown was the bullet that entered the body of Pope John Paul ll in the assassination attempt upon his life from the 1980’s. (Just last week, I read in the International Herald Tribune that the Italian authorities had found the Soviet KGB responsible for the plot to kill the Pope). I turned to him and started to ask him “if” and he jumped the response “only one”. So I took three. I consider myself a good Catholic. He said one, so I took three, knowing that at least one of the three would come out good so I believed I was following his demand and I do not feel guilty about it.

The balance of the afternoon was filled with numerous conversations with tourists and photos. I took the bus back to Lisbon and met a woman from Bolivia. Her name was Maribel. She had taken the train all night just to visit Fatima before her return to her country. She was in awe. I offered to take a photo of her and e mail it to her family so she would have it…

Once we arrived at the bus station I met another person who had been at Fatima all day. His name was Ricardo Cesar. He was working on his masters in sociology. We talked all night and into the next day about Fatima….

Lisbon, Portugal

In a small cabin sharing with three other men, it was not an easy task. Train left at 10:30 p.m. and arrived in Lisbon at 8:15 a.m. I did not sleep well. I shared with an American student from Orange County, a circus performer from Canada and a retired pharmacist from Spain. I slept on the top bunk and my feet hung over by three feet or so…I do not know how they expect you to sleep on a train like that…

I checked in with Vanda Dias….she rented me a room. She is bright and very caring. She lives about twenty minutes from Lisbon. Although, I was very sleepy and tired, I ventured in and checked in some of the sites…I came across a young woman named, Vania. She is a student of nursing. We sat along the pier looking at the river and talked for two hours.

As I walked back into town, I came across a young man by the name of Vania. I had asked him if he knew where a shopping mall was... where I could buy an electrical adapter for another electrical adapter (please do not ask me to explain). He not only pointed me in the direction of the store but he went with me to several stores until I found the adapter I needed. It took about an hour and a half. I was overwhelmed and humbled by the fact that someone would take that much time out of his day to help me. I did not know how to show my appreciation. I was in awe of this man. This adaptor would help me in recharging my battery for my camera, lap top and cellular phone…

On Tuesday, I left on the train to Sintra which is about twenty miles north-west of Lisbon, there I toured a castle and walked through some of the ancient city. I met many Americans on that small trip. One was a musician who was a native of Boston and a Red Sox fan….We had an enjoyable conversation until he mentioned baseball. I told him that I was a Dodger fan and he asked me what I thought of the Dodgers firing Paul De De podesta. I asked him what he thought of George W. Bush of being granted the White House in 2000. He said come on, I am serious. I told him, so was I!

I told him that they both recruited to do a job who never had the qualifications to do and and furthermore, the final parties who hired them never had the expe

Lisbon, Portugal March 13,2006

Lisbon, Portugal

In a small cabin sharing with three other men, it was not an easy task. Train left at 10:30 p.m. and arrived in Lisbon at 8:15 a.m. I did not sleep well. I shared with an American student from Orange County, a circus performer from Canada and a retire pharmacist from Spain. I slept on the top bunk and my feet hung over by three feet or so…I do not know how they expect you to sleep on a train like that…

I checked in with Vanda Dias….she rented me a room. She is bright and very caring. She lives about twenty minutes from Lisbon. Although, I was very sleepy and tired, I ventured in and checked in some of the sites…I came across a young woman named, Vania. She is a student of nursing. We sat along the pier looking at the river and talked for two hours.

As I walked back into town, I came across a young man by the name of Ivan. I had asked him if he knew where their might be a large shopping mall where I could buy an electrical adapter for another electrical adapter (please do not ask me to explain). He not only pointed me in the direction of the store but he went with me to several stores until I found the adapter I needed. It took about an hour and a half. I was overwhelmed and humbled by the fact that someone would take that much time out of his day to help me. I did not know how to show my appreciation. I was in awe of this man. This adaptor would help me in recharging my battery for my camera,lap top and cellular phone…

On Tuesday, I left on the train to Sintra which is about twenty miles north-west of Lisbon, there I toured a castle and walked through some of the ancient city. I met many Americans on that small trip. One was a musician who was a native of Boston and a Red Sox fan….We had an enjoyable conversation until he mentioned baseball. I told him that I was a Dodger fan and he asked me what I thought of the Dodgers firing Paul De De Podesta. I asked him what he thought of George W. Bush of being granted the White House in 2000. He said come on, I am serious. I told him, so was I!

I told him that they both recruited to do a job who never had the qualifications to do and and furthermore, the final parties who hired them never had the experience (Frank McCourt and the United States Supreme Court) of recruiting and hiring people in those positions. Nevertheless, after a fall and early winter of panic and worry, it seems that the Dodgers have settled down at least for now….

Vanda and her friend Jose took me to Belem where the president resides. While our presidential residence is called the White House and it is white, the home for the prime minister is pink….that is right….pink! No they do not call it the pink house….Could you imagine? After walking along the river they took me to which is known the world over for their Pasteis de Belem. They were yummy…

I was told that during the 1920 war the clergy and members of the church were expelled from Portugal. Too survive the members made pastries and sold them.

We later went home and Vanda prepared a delicious supper of chicken, potatoes and vegetables.

The kindness of Vania,Ivan and Vanda (sounds like a law firm) leads me to one conclusion about the people of Portugal. They are humble, trusting and loving. That is so important to me. When you are traveling alone and have people open the doors to their house or walk with you UNTIL you get what you are looking for, well they are very special people.

Delay in Portugal

A delay in updating the both this blog and photo blog at this time. Thank you for your interest and patience. Will be updated soon.

Saturday, March 11th with Helena in Toledo, Spain

Helena and I met at the train station to catch our ride in Toledo. The next schedule departure was sold out so we decided to take the bus. In order to do that we would had to take a metro (local train) to get to the bus station.

In our excitement in seeing each other we became so engaged that we missed our stop on the train and we eventually had to back track to right our course. Once on the bus, we were finally on our way to an incredible and an unforgetable day of my trip.

Helena is a bright and beautiful woman. She is the mother of a fourteen year old son and self made powerful Latina woman. She is articulate and very passionate about her cultural and historical roots.

For that day she charted the course for me thus stopping at churches, monuments and archectural bench marks to eduacte me about the history of Toldeo. We took a train tour which took us on on a ride back through history looking at castles, churches, rivers and ancient streets-buildings.

The most significant site was seeing the preservation of the architecural sites that refelcts a community that includes Muslim, Jewsih and Catholic tradition and influence.We ate lunch and dinner and acted llike two sillly school kids.

One photo is a must see photo and it should be up on my blog soon...shows hers displaying her tremendous enthusiasm for the former dictator...Franco. A nasty sign (you go girl). A city of great prominence since the 1500's and the generations to come I am sure.

We caught the bus back to Madrid and arrived at 11:p.m. Helena still had to catch another train to get home just minutes northeast of downtown Madrid. As we said our good bye at the train station we were both sas.

Although we made promises to call each other and write;we both know that their is a possibility that we will never see each other again.

This trip for me was very important in meeting some people that is leaving an impact on me. I hope she will come to Los Angeles to visit like she is planning.

Thank you Helena for worrying about me while I was in Spain and for sharing so much of your time with me. You are truely a marvelous woman.

A day at the Prado and taking in the International Day of the Mujer

Thursday, March 9, 2006

It is Thursday March 9th already and time seems to be passing by. The last few days have been calm and low key. I came down with a bad cold. Every day I would say to myself “slow down” but I haven’t….I think you can understand why…

Tuesday, I got a chance to sit in as a visitor in the Senado (Senate) . About 250 members. The session started at 4:p.m. and they had nine items on the agenda…I was not very impressed. Spain has to main political parties. The United Popular, Socialists and then many smaller parties. The popular party could be seen as the conservative and the socialists are the liberal. The entire debate was not the issue of the agendized item but they spent most of their time throwing mud at each other’s political party. Motions had very little substance…but I had to remember that Spain is a young democracy.

Yesterday, I went walking around downtown and came across an outdoor café. I approached a gentleman by the name of Jack Jamison. He is from Sacramento, California. . He was an American who has lived here with his wife since the 1970’s. He is an English teacher and musician here. I spent about two hours with him in a fantastic conversation. For the first time on this trip I was actually speaking to someone in English who had lived through the end of the Franco period. Little to say the least, he was very interesting and well educated. The contents of the discussion were so important for me so I have documented them off line for my own pleasure.

Let me just say it was a great pleasure to speak to you Mr. Jack Jamison. Your time with me was precious. I got a modern history lesson within a few hours…I hope we keep in contact and hope to meet your wife some day…anyway, please continue voting in our national election. Your vote always makes a difference even when it seems it doesn’t.

I then went over to the National Prado Art Museum. WOW…that is all I could say. This is the first time I really enjoyed myself at an art museum. (Don’t know why? I am gay, I should like these places) maybe it was just the fact that I nothing else to do but dedicate all of my attention to what was in front of me…. Again great! I took some photos and they will be on my photo blog soon, but I could not use my flash. so they are not of great quality…

By now I was really feeling sick. I could not even meet with my friend Helena for coffee. On the way to the metro station, I came across the Woman’s day march which on Atocha Street which was close to the museum. In waiting for the march to commence I started up a chat with a police officer named Alvaro. He is twenty seven years old and a darling. We talked for a long time. He was really interested in Los Angeles and New York. I told him that they would be interested in him too. He blushed. I even told him that he could leave the police force and become a model (Now this is the Richard I used to know) Again he blushed. He said that he would be interested in coming to Los Angeles. I gave him my business card and told him to look me up..
The woman’s day march was large. It was part of the international day of the woman worker. About 3,000 people participated. Very impressive! I spoke to many and told them that we from our organization supported them. They welcomed it!

Went home, worked on the computer a bit and knocked out

That One Special Day Last Week in Bilbao

It’s Friday and I am leaving Bilbao. The sun is out and feels like spring is in the air, but not so fast. As I am leaving my bedroom on my walk to the train station, I hear the weather report on the morning news program. Forecast for today, heavy winds with showers in the afternoon, sometimes strong.

Yesterday, I visited Ronald who works for an HIV/AIDS organization. He has worked there for 4 years and emigrated there from Nigeria. He said that there are four workers; himself who does educational outreach to the black community and two chicas who outreach to the sex workers? Most of the cases of AIDS come from intravenous drug use. He said that the government was very supportive and he referred me to an AIDS hospice up the street when I requested it.

I walked there to visit the Centro de Acosida (AIDS hospice) cared for by the Sisters of Santa Maria Josefa del Corazon de Jesus, which was primarily founded to care for the sick. I went at about 1:p.m. and was not a good time to go since the siesta period had just started. A nun, dressed in a long and more traditional garb appeared and informed me that the mother superior could not talk to me at the time because she was busy. She asked that I speak to her on the house phone and so I did. The mother superior wanted to help me but did not have the time just then, so I offered to return at a more convenient time. I told her that I was leaving the following day. So she suggested if I could return at 5:30 p.m. and I said fine….

Following the conversation I walked across the street to have café con leche and one of the greatest chocolate cookies. Some way to loose weight! I spent an hour taking to one of the sons who runs the local bakery, He was not just good looking but very nice, and when I asked if I could photograph him, he readily obliged.

At 5:30 p.m. I returned to the hospice and met with the Madre Mata. She was a very young but stern and cautious in meeting with me. That is the feeling that I got through out my trip so far. People here shy away from the camera and are very careful what they say…She asked me why I was there and I told her that I was involved with HIV/AIDS in the Latino community in the United States. She again asked me why I was there and I again told her. She then was even more persistent in asking me if I had HIV. I then made it very clear to her that I was not HIV positive but that I was committed to the cause and I had made a commitment to be more active in this cause some time ago. I then choked up a bit, when I told her that I had lost many people to AIDS and that I knew many who are HIV positive. Well that seemed to break the ice…. She finally opened up and I was able to ask many questions and she answered them for me. Centro de Acosida currently has 14 patients although they have a capacity for 24. While the government provides some of the funding for the care of the patients a good portion comes from her congregation. She says that the government takes care of the prescription drugs and some of the social services such mental health and AIDS specialization but that was not clearly enough to take care of all of their needs.
She also contradicted the conversation I just had earlier with Ronald when she said that while many of the cases of AIDS is due to drug use; their are increasing number of new AIDS cases due to sex. When questioned some more about condom use and the church, she made it clear to me that while the official Catholic teaching is recognized throughout Spain, that this country was much different than other south American countries where the people look up to their local priest as a God. Here is where I promised her that I would go off record. While this information is not of press value, it will be published on the Internet so I will keep my promise to her. I asked her if I could take a picture of her and she questioned me if I was a member of the press”? I told her absolutely not. She asked me what I was going to do with the photo. I responded to her that I wanted to share it with my staff, board and community members, she then empathically said no!.

I offered if I could send any data, research on HIV/AIDS or drug information to her and she quickly accepted the offer. I spoke to her about our problem, of crystal meth. She never heard about it but interested in learning more. According to her the biggest problem here was ecstasy. She commented that anything I could do to help with her with any new information that it would very much appreciative.

As she walked me out the door, she asked me if I was or ever had been a priest. I said no, but that one does not have to be a priest to do the work that many of us do…

I walked out of there across the river and went to a small basco gay bar, at 8:p.m. I was the first one there. I talked to the owner Zulo for some time before his regular customers started to walk in. And when they did, it became a chatty place. They were all most gracious. Particularly a young man by the name of Adrian. We spoke about the local scene and about Spain…. he was of most help at the most embarrassing experience on my trip so far. After juggling down three “bas” their brand of Fanta, I felt nature calling me…and so I went to answer the call…there was a toilet but not a flushing mechanism. There was a blue bucket sitting in a large sink…so when I asked Adrian what I was suppose to do…his response to me was “don’t worry about it, I will take care of it”. And so he did…

I walked out of there at 10:15 p.m. I had to get up early for my trip to Madrid in the morning and the smoke from their rolled up cigarettes was a bit too much. Went home, opened my laptop, put on the local television ad watched their local version of late night television.

The people from the Basque area of Spain are some of the most down to earth and wonderful people I have met. Although very nationalistic, they are warm and very gracious. For the most part, they were never too busy to talk to me….

I will always remember the sign on my way out of Zulo’s…it says “when you are here; you are not in Spain nor are you in France but you are in Basque country”. That I will never forget.

Sunday, March 5, 2006

News from Los Angeles

I just heard and sent my congratulations to Maria Elena Durazo who was elected as chief of the L.A. County Federation of Labor. I am happy for her and Los Angeles. She is one great and powerful leader.

Condolences
My deepest sympathy to Tim Towery my friend and our board member who lost his aunt Sharon Harris and his uncle CM Towery who passed away in the same week. There are no words to describe my sympathy to him for his great loss.

Let me also express my condolence to Daniel Cardona of my staff who also lost his father last two weeks ago. Daniel is a fine young man who has given much to his family and community.

Loosing a parent, aunt or uncle is not easy. It is a great experience because it affords us the opportunity to have a sense of spirit. In this modern day of technology we don’t allow ourselves much time to really focus on spirituality. While we will miss the ones that we love very much, it is their spirit that is never lost and death provides the channel to connect and keep that connection with them forever.

I know so well. Later this month will be the anniversary of the death of my mom. It has been six years. Than later this year it will be my dads anniversary. It was not easy for me, but living life that followed the losses was incredible. While I miss them tremendously, I pray never to loose the spirituality that I gained as a result of that experience.

My prayers are with you…..

Father Peter Get Well Soon!
Another great friend and board member of The Wall-Las Memorias Project was hospitalized recently with a viral infection. Sophia his wife recently sent out the news and said that his condition had improved. Please remember him in your thoughts and prayers…..

Friday, March 3rd


I was up early to take the train to Madrid with a change over in Palencia. The ride was fine and I was on board an old train car…with no coffee…dam!

I arrived in Palencia for an hour or so…nice town…got my coffee there. Then on the train to Madrid…I was a typical tourist. A typical tourist, peering out the windows and taking plenty of photos.

I had the pleasure of meeting this beautiful woman by the name of Helena. She is a native born Espanola. We talked for most of the trip and you can see a photo of her on my photo blog. Along the way I got to see some snow and again took plenty of photos. The sky’s here are gorgeous. They are a bright blue and the clouds are clear.

I arrived In Madrid on Friday afternoon and picked this Pension on the Gran Villa…Awful…and It seems that my luck in getting the best places on run out…. The mattress lumped in the middle and both my head and feet stuck up right in the air…

Friday nights sleep was not the greatest. The next day, I found a pension that had everything that I was looking for…. heat, cleanliness, cable television and even Wifi Internet…. right in the middle of Chico…the gay community. I got acclimated for the most of the day on Saturday.

Farewell Bilbao

Thursday, March 2, 2006

It is time to wrap up my brief stay here in Bilbao…. and so I shall reflect on the past few days.
Yesterday, I spent my day for preparation for my trip to Madrid…. I went to the office of Renfe, the national train company and purchased my ticket, did some banking and spent some time looking around downtown. I stumbled across Disney Hall east. That is the way it looks like. It is the La Coleccion Permanente de los Museos Guggenheim. It was designed by Frank Gehry. It is very plain and is built adjacent to the river.

As I was getting ready to shoot my photo, a young and small woman came up to me and asked me in English if I could take a picture of her. I of course obliged. Her English was very broken. Once I snapped the photo, she thanked me and we started some chatter. She asked me what part of Spain I was from. I responded to her that I was from the United States. She said, you mean you are an American and I said yes. Her response was “I am Iranian. Please tell your president not to attack my country. Many in Iran are afraid of an attack. I told her that I could pray that the US does not attack, but trying to write to our president is useless. He is an embarrassment to our country I told her. I followed up and told her that while I am against any type of violence, the fact that Iran has nuclear capability for war was worrisome for me and many other Americans. She said that her own people do not like their government leaders. I told her that we had much in common because neither do many of our people back in the states support our national government leaders. Once we shared the thoughts with one another, she thanked me and walked away.

The fear in her face was genuine. She was really scared about the future of her country. She really felt that I had the opportunity to do something about it. The United States has such a history of being great, and yet the arrogance of the political leaders from the both countries had so much more in common than of their people.

As I walked away, I wondered to myself how scary the world is for many who are truly frighten by the force of United States. No one should ever have that type of fear. No ONE!

February 26, 2006

Welcome to Bilbao----Basque Country


Last night when I arrived at the Renfe train station in Vizcaya, Bilbao, Spain, all I had to do to walk out to the lobby of the train station and asked the local security officer who was more than willing to help. In his attempt to help me, another lad, came by and asked where a pension might be…. the guard responded by saying, well he is looking for one too…why don’t you look together. And so once I made a successful call to the first pension on my list, we were on our way to La Estrella Pension.

Only two long flights of stairs for me and three flights from my new friend Arthur. He also likes being called Arturo. He also He had just arrived from a flight from Moscow. He barely spoke Spanish…and very little English. But he was a very nice man. After, we unpacked our bags we went for a walk around the local neighborhood, which was a bit scary. Arturo kept telling me that his grandparents used to live here, they had died and we were only six years old. Arturo’s language was a bit harsh to say the least…. I could not understand him at all. His voice and annunciation of words reminded me of count Dracula of the old Universal horror films. Arturo’s father is a prominent man. He is a counsel general for Russia in some city in Europe.

What was a bit ironic was that he was here for the same reason that I was here for. That was to find out more about our roots…I do not think it was coincidental that we met and walked over to the same Pension. Not one bit… After walking around for about an hour, we came across the property that he remembers as a child. It was just three blocks away from the place we were staying. Seeing his face was so thrilling. His twenty five year old hockey player’s face was that of a small boy. I told him that I was there too to research my family name in Bilbao and his response was to me “I was six years old when I last saw my grandparents”. “I know

Day 2 at the Monastary

February 25, 2006

Woke up at 5:a.m…. showered…. went to the church for morning prayers and chant…then on to breakfast at 8:30 a.m. The breakfast consisted of toast bread, butter, jam and coffee…where is Dinos Hamburgers when you really want them? In the church for more chants…then with a two-hour break…. I took a stroll around the property…breath taking and magnificent is the site…. it is freezing up here….

Monestir de Montserrat

Friday, February 24, 2006

Today is Friday…and although it did not start off too good, it is becoming a great day.

First of all, never traveling to Europe I thought that the easiest thing to do use my credit-ATM card….well after numerous attempts, I learned that Wells Fargo cut off access to the withdrawal of cash because of wide spread fraud throughout Spain and twenty six other countries. Well, it was now 3:30 and the banks were now closed for the weekend…. All I could do was use credit card….the problem was that in most machines, although they advertised for credit card, they treated it as a check card…so all I had to my name is 43 euros…


Having made arrangements with the a priest to stay at Monestir de Montserrat (Monastery) , I called them and told them I would be late…I bought a round trip train ticket for 12 euros and off I went…the train ride was great but it took about 60 minutes to arrive at one of the first two stops…I then got off at the wrong stop….the one that I had gotten off on was for the sky baskets….and when I approached them, they said that I could be their last customer….looking up at the mountain….and how high it was, I promptly said no thanks! I will wait an hour in the cold for another hour for the train. I did and it took me to the end. I then transferred to a small tram which took me up the mountain. It was now 7:p.m. and the tram took us all the way up to one of the highest mountaintop. As I arrived at the top of the mountain I was completely breathless. Not understanding some of the local language, I went looking for Padre Osperado whom I had an appointment with…I knocked on the door of the rectory several times, but no answer. I then I went up the stairs and saw that they could not be bothered until the completion of vespers…so I waited. Finally I doubled checked that I was at the right location and they confirmed it was ….so I went back and sure enough someone answered the door and asked me who I was. Once I gave him my name, he asked me to come up…and so I did…He asked me to take a seat until he called Father Osperado …

Ten minutes later, the monk walked into the hall and introduced himself…and as he did he took a few looks at my luggage (one large bag) and he asked me why I was here….my response was that “I was an a sabbatical and that I wanted to mediate for a bit and that today was my 16th birthday as a recovering alcoholic and that I wanted to spend some silence with my God”…He then welcomed me and asked that I leave my luggage in an area of the facility so that he could show me the place…He showed me to my room, the bathroom, gave me a key to my room and showed me the schedule for the next two day. I have never been so nervous in my life…

I then had to walk up three flights of stairs, hauling my new Canon camera and my laptop on my shoulder and one huge piece of luggage. Thirty minuets later, I walked out of my room with several other men to the formal dining room. We had to wait outside until we were asked to come in. The monks had to be seated first and once they all filled the dining room, a monk asked us to come in. He asked that each of us be seated per his instructions and we sat at a head table…

We were asked to fill out our name and place it at the table. Then we stood until prayer was said. First came the lentil soup, followed by a salad. We had a bottle of wine and water at our table. When I was offered wine, I refused. For the main course it was baby shrimps and potatoes with bread. I waited with great anticipation about their dessert. At looking at all of the monks….many of them much older, I could not help but wonder, the how the rate of diabetes because the people here eat lots of pastries. Thinking I was going to eat a strawberry shortcake or chocolate mouse I was surprised to have been served an orange marmalade…It was delicious!

Once closing prayers, we retreated to our rooms for about 20 minutes…then at about 9:p.m., my neighbor Carles knocked on my door to remind me about closing prayers in the church. Again we had to wait until the monks entered; once they took their seats, we were asked to sit in the second pew. We were handed the prayer book and copies of the chant, once we finished and recessed I followed my fellow attendees and we visited the shrine of the black Madona. I kissed her feet and walked out. I was in complete awe….I was in a basilca that will be celebrating its 1,000 anniversary in a world famous monastery and I could not even understand half of what was said…

I came to my room to enter into my journal. It is 10:12 p.m. and I have a small window looking out at the square. Although I wanted this day to be special and spiritually fulfilling could not be too focused on God and spirit because I was thrilled. Another dream had come true for me.

Now if you do not understand what feeling I am having and if you are a sports fan, imagine walking onto the field of Yankee Stadium or Wrigley Field. That thrill and excitement was overwhelming for me…so in trying to experience what I wanted to experience, I have to recall the words of my dear friend Ida who usually suggest that I live in that moment. I was experiencing the once in a lifetime dream…. Now I have to sign off…because I have to get up at 5:30 a.m. for prayers…. I cannot believe it…. 5:30 a.m. in the morning!