A black friend

It is the first of May and six more weeks will be spend in Mexico but often the mind wanders to the time that is to come.
That will be spend first in the USA and after in Europe.
Again a time of living in rooms of family, friends and hotels.
Moving all the time, crossing borders, visiting buildings, entering houses, sleeping beds.

Never has there a been a situation that was felt forever.
To come to a place, to settle in knowing that moving will never be necessary ever again.
To plant a tree to see it grow the rest of the life.
To be there to see the shadow of that tree become so big that the own grave eventually will fit.

But the thirst for new experiences and impressions, the need for the consciousness to enlarge, the urgency to fuel the process of completeness, it all results in buying a new plane ticket.

The time before to go soon returns though to get all attention again.
It is too precious to spend daydreaming of the days to come.
Right here are plenty of trees planted by others that inspire no matter how big their shadows.

Like the African American, now settled in La Paz, Mexico, who is met almost daily in Café Exquisito where we use the internet and phone.
After the first conversation, in which some jokes were cracked, he said:
"You are funny for a white man".
A remark that has several dimensions.
We may wonder what happens if the white man says to the African American:
"You are funny for a black man".
Somehow that doesn't sound right.
But the new friend, whose roots are in Africa that were cut off cruelly for white man's interests and gains, can say such a thing and it is experienced as a huge compliment.
Like being selected for the basket ball team.

Yesterday the white man confirmed his basket ball skills.
Entering Café Exquisito, the African American was already pounding the keys of the board sending his messages god knows to where.
And about what.
As opening line this was chosen:
"How are you today, my friend?"
He is of course not really a friend but it sounds truly nice in the concept we have developed and draped around us.
He replied with his sonore, bariton-like but certainly beautiful voice:
"Faaaaantasticccc… And how about yourself?"
To remain in his high esteem an answer had to be thought off and quickly as for that, to remain in the favour and flavour.
"Look, my friend… I can't help it but if you feel fantastic, and I can see you speak the truth, I feel therefore fantastic as well".
His loud laugh filled the space because obviously we were a little bit brothers more than before.
But the best laugh was when leaving.
He said:
"Now you take care of yourself".
And the reply was:
"Forever".
He looked in the eyes of the white man and there was this slightly too long moment in which obviously deeper thinking took place but then he bursted out laughing.
And that is a sweet and beautiful memory.
Forgetting flying in six weeks.




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Yummy the tummy

To fish or not to fish, that is now the question.

Some years ago the fanatic and successfull surf fisherman became sentimental.
To see the many caught fish struggle to remain in the water.
To feel the fish fight the nylon line not to die.
To eventually die unavoidably on the beach.

It was all too much for the fisherman who had turned sentimental.
It woke up too many emotions.
Of concern for animals.
Of desire to want to be in total harmony with creation.
To live and let live.
Even by not bothering a simple fish.

So far so good.
A human being can develop these kinds of sentiments and emotions, right?
And is not bothering anybody by doing so, correct?
To the pleasure of the fish, is it not?
Another pearl in the crown of creation, thank you Mam.

But in this whole attitude was a terrible flaw.
When eating in a restaurant, as a matter of fact, never meat was eaten.
But almost every time a well prepared and cooked fish.

And recently at El Triple on the Pacific Ocean.
Walking on the beach with a big mouth shouting that no aniumal cruelty was committed by not fishing.
But when Mexican friend and neighbour Juaquin came and offered fresh fish he caught that morning, it was prepared in a delicious way and eaten as a gourmet.

This, fervent and loyal blog readers, we call hypocrisy.
To be sentimental and unable to catch fish and make them die.
But, on the other hand, to fill the mouth and yummy the tummy with those same fish.

Unfortunately, some people have a hard time to live in hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is like a continuous crisis to them.
It makes feel uneasy.
Uncomfortable.
Disrupting.
Disturbing.
Depressing even.

Therefore, as things are in constant movement and development in a vivid consciousness, the decision was made to move out of this horrorlike situation of permanent hypocrisy.
It was realized that a decision should be made.
Either one fishes and eats fish.
Or one does not fish and consequently does not eat fish either.
No more crocodile tears over killing fish while eating them.

A decision has been made.
Life without eating fish altogether, and meat as well, would be hardly possible when living like a pioneering photographer travelling the world.
Soon serious physical trouble would develop due to lack of proteins.
Besides, and let's be honest, fish when well prepared is delicious.

The decision has been made therefore to fish again.
A decision with three sides.
First and foremost, hypocrisy has disappeared.
Second, fish can be eaten with a clear and clean consciousness.
Third, the activity of fishing has become again an option.

In the past all the equipment needed to fish was on board the Fuso Szulc.
Poles, reels, lines, hooks and lures that were given away to a member of the Gonzales family years ago.
In La Paz now a shop has been discovered where fishing equipment is sold of high quality.
And somehow they have mispriced it.
They have put wrong price stickers on it.
Offering the opportunity to purchase the best fishing gear for a ridiculous low price.

Next week is a return to El Triple on the Pacific Ocean.
The fish there better watch.




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A shoe in the neck

Having run out of supplies, the trip has been made from El Triple at the Pacific Ocean to La Paz at the Sea of Cortez.
A city with friends, markets and diesel.

And suddenly the weather has changed.
Warmer in La Paz first but then a morning of dark clouds and high humidity.

A dinner in a small Mexican restaurant with no clientele but a running fountain.
Starting with ceviche, then a traditional spicy Mexican soup followed by grilled cabrilla fish with rice and vegetables.
Accompanied by two Pacifico beers and the owner wanted 110 Mexican pesos. ( € 6,70 / $ 9 )
Who turned out to be a man of erudition with who a long conversation developed about the similarities between Europeans and Mexicans.
And what was so good about the fact that the currency markets not only had the American dollar anymore but a strong Euro as well.

The night in La Paz was also different.
Because of a new pillow.
An anti-allergic one, extra firm with a cotton cover bought at La Paz' Wall*Mart for 95 Mexican pesos. ( $ 7,72 / € 5,80 )

Before, an awkward shaped Tempur-Pedic pillow had been used but over the last weeks strange pains raged in the neck and left shoulder.
The Tempur-Pedic pillow came under suspicion and now, with the Wall*Mart pillow, it will be found out who is guilty.

At the only trailer park still available in La Paz a large motorhome was spotted in which eight persons.
Involved in a project called "Walk a thousand miles in their shoes".
A guy from the UK called Ben has the intention to walk from the south of the peninsula Baja California, from the town of Cabo San Lucas, to the very north, to the city of Tijuana.
That's a thousand miles more or less and a couple of shoes.
Along the way he plans to get involved in helping the unfortunates by spending money on local social projects.
Money he hopes to raise from a website reporting about his walking trip.

The men and women in the motorhome are Ben's back-up team.
In shifts they walk with him to put on video how it is all going to show on the website.

By now Ben has reached La Paz from Cabo San Lucas: that took him 5 days.
They expect to reach Tijuana in a few months.

It is a challenge to walk to Tijuana from La Paz.
Very long stretches are through the desert and over the mountains with no people around for hundreds of miles.
Then there is the heat and the strong northwestern wind blowing in the face forcefully.

But the weakest point may turn out to be the back up team.
They are volunteers.
Some from Europe: two Spaniards and a girl from Lille in France.
Obviously they are involved because they believe in the project.
And are supposed to remain involved for several months.
Without pay.
But the particular aspect of believing, powering involvement, is that it can grow strong and it can evaporate.
A not so good sign is that from the website reporting on the walking trip, intended to raise money to spend on social projects along the way, not much is coming in.
Until now the way the whole project is set up is not working very well.

For Ben it might be an extraordinary experience to walk from Cabo San Lucas to Tijuana.
Something he will never forget in his life.
But the dressing around his personal ambition, the back up team, have less fruits to pick.
How long will his charisma and enthusiasm be strong and effective enough to keep the team together?
Is that already causing him sleepless nights?

There were more pillows to buy in La Paz' Wal*Mart.
To stop pain in the necks.
This Ben might want to get one.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Project "Walk a thousand miles in their shoes": see www.theirshoes.org



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Caught between two oranges

Oranges are magical things.
They contain orange juice and keep this for us fresh and vital for weeks at a time.

Another magical thing happened last night.
At about 7 pm the sun went down.
Round and red like an orange.
But that was not the full treatment of magic.

In the east, at the very same time, the full moon came up.
Round and red like an orange also.

The world, as it appeared here at El Triple in Baja California, Mexico was caught between two reddish round objects in the sky.
One in the west, one in the east.
Us in between oranges.

Giving an instant inspiration to meditate about transcendency.
How we are caught as human beings in dualism.
Male and female.
Good and bad.
Black and white.
Moon and sun.

While we know that the amoeba is male nor female.
Nor are our cells male or female.
They reproduce a-sexually.

And God too.
In spite of what religions tell us and showed us in images: God is not a man nor a woman.
God is above gender.
And free of dualism.

In fact, the concept of God, the concept of eternity, the concept of origin, all these things are beyond our capability of thinking.
They are things that do not fit into our mind .

We are caught between two oranges.



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The bee that can't be forgiven

Living near the ocean in a subtropical climate in wintermode approaching spring and warmer temparatures results in observing changes in nature.
The beach is widening as sand is being transported by the waves due to new currents.
The sun rising earlier and earlier and going down later and later.

And the insects come to life.
All winter months they have been hibernating or were not born yet, but now they are coming!

First attack was from the bees.
Already last week a queen of bees and her entourage had attached themselves to the rocks nearby.
Thousands and thousands of bees crawling on what looked like a black ball very much alive.

But yesterday they came to the Fuso Szulc.
Circling around the expedition vehicle and any person coming outside was attacked.
Getting into the hair of the humans and any opening of the clothes.
This is how the driver of the Fuso Szulc was bitten by a bee.
In a place of which the management has decided it is so intimate and private, the exact location can't be revealed to a public audience on the internet.

After the bite, immediately protection and shelter was found inside the Fuso Szulc and with a piece of cotton 85 % alcohol was gently applied.
Gently because of the particular location of the bite.

There was no other way of dealing with the bee situation than like in the film "The Birds" by the English film maker Alfred Hitchcock.
Hiding inside and hoping for the best.
That one day the bees would go away.

They did.
But now where the bee had its bite, the pain is gone to be replaced by serious itching.
Making scandalous situations and how lucky no other people are around.



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To make ice of the body

In the past at El Triple, Baja California, Mexico, for washing the body a solar shower was used.
A large, black, plastic bag with on the top a wide opening to fill and on the bottom a hose with a shower head.
In the morning the solar shower is filled with ocean water and the bag is put in the sunshine away from the wind.
Late in the afternoon the water inside the solar shower is nice and warm.
The bag is hanged from a rock higher than the length of the person taking the shower.
And conveniently the body can be washed with comfortable warm water.

This is not exactly a luxury.
The temperature of the water of the Pacific Ocean these days is very, very low.
In fact, it is freezing the fragile body that was in the warm temperatures of 26º C /79º F outside the water.

The reason the Pacific Ocean is still that cold is the current.
In wintertime along the Baja California coast is a north to south current.
Cold waters from Alaska are brought all the way down.
But in Spring, a current starts to push warm water from Central America to the north.

This reverse of currents has not happened yet.
Still cold water is coming down from the north making swimming and bathing a cold enterprise.

But local fisherman Juaquin tells that any week now the reverse can take place.
So that the ocean water will become drastically warmer.

Are the inhabitants of the Fuso Szulc, located at El Triple next to the Pacific Ocean, therefore taking daily showers from the solar heated water system?
Or are they the bravest in the world demonstrating courage and toughness by diving in the high and strong waves of the ice cold Pacific Ocean daily?




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In the heart forever

Friends.
We all have friends.

Because friends are vital to have a happy life.
To have somebody who is close and with who much can be shared.
To have somebody for who we are always available when the friend is in need.

One of the oldest friends is a film director from France.
The first time he was met was on a canal boat in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1986.
Immediately there was a special connection and soon after the friendship continued during long stays in Paris, France.

This friendship has lasted now for over forty years.
And although there have been intervals that there were no meetings in person for quite some time, each new opportunity of getting together instantly this special connection existed again.

It combined with the birthday when there was a new and long conversation very recently.
One friend in a hotel room in Montreal, Canada and the other friend in a camper in Mexico.
Communicating from laptop computers with Skype on the Internet.

And in spite of the modern but rather superficial technique of communication, immediately there was a closeness and intimacy again as if the meeting was in one room.

It is indescribable the joy and happiness that is felt to learn the long time friend is healthy, happy and doing very well.
And to be able to inform the friend that the conditions on the own side are absolutely the same.
The joy and happiness to realize that 40 years have gone by and that both of the comrades are still doing well and continue to be in warm friendship.
That they have not fallen into any kind of serious and fatal suffering.

During the conversation, seeing each other on the computer screen, a silence occurred.
A silence that lasted that long that it obtained a very special meaning.
A silence that opened the way to feel something extraordinary:
the deep realization that the long time friend has been and will be in the heart forever.



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Purity only found inside life

When living where ocean meets the land, things can be found.
Washed ashore from the world of men and animals.
Brought by the waves to land on the sand of the beach.

This is metaphorical but today we don't go into mysticism.
It is about the concrete things that end up on the beach.

Yesterday this was a dolphin.
A beautiful animal that somehow had died and was washed ashore.

Already in the early morning, from the fabulous vantage point of the Fuso Szulc, two coyotes had been spotted ripping at an object washed ashore.
Later, when making the morning walk, it was discovered it was an adult dolphin.

Already the belly had been ripped open by the coyotes and many of the intestines eaten by the vultures.

It was decided to move the dolphin higher up on the beach close to the dunes.
To give it a more decent place and honor it with a last sign of respect and appreciation for its ended existence.

It needed the force of two persons to move the heavy sea creature higher on the beach.
But while moving it something was noticed.
From the open belly an object was seen inside the body.
First it was assumed it was the liver or something.
But then it was noticed that when pushing on the belly, this object slightly came out.

An effort was made to accomplish a total delivery and shocking was the surprise to see it was a baby dolphin.
The dolphin had been pregnant.
The mother who died for unknown reasons, washed ashore and had the baby end the life with her.

It was of a morbid beauty.
This baby dolphin.
Like still being with the angels.
Of a purity found only inside life.











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Received this message

Once a year we celebrate with stupid hats and plastic plates,
the fact that you were able to make another trip around the sun.
And the whole clan gathers round' gifts and laughter too will bound,
we let out a joyful sound and sing that stupid song.

Happy Birthday, now your one year older.
Happy Birthday, your life still isn't over.
Happy Birthday, you did not accomplish much.
But you didn't die this year i guess that's good enough.

So lets drink to your fading health, and hope you don't remind yourself
your chance of finding fame and wealth decrease with every year.
Dose it feel like your doing laps, and eating food and taking naps,
and hoping that some day, perhaps, your life will hold some cheer.

Happy Birthday, what have you done that matters?
Happy Birthday, your starting to get fatter.
Happy Birthday, it's downhill from now on.
Try not to remind yourself your best years are all gone.

If cryogenics were all free then you could live like Walt Disney and live
for all eternity inside a block of ice.
But instead your time is set this is the only life you get,
and though it hasn't ended yet some times you wish it MIGHT!

Happy Birthday, you wish you had more money.
Happy Birthday, your lives so sad it's funny.
Happy Birthday, how much more can you take?
But your friends are hungry so just cut the stupid cake.

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Dear Michel..




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Zbigniew Szulc Krzyzanowski

The lonely women in this world

Last night the movie theatre in the Fuso Szulc had a show.
It was a documentary film about a day in the life of a family.
Made with a simple camera by the grandfather.

We saw how the mother woke up the two children, had them dressed, served them a hearty breakfast and had them go to school.
How the father woke up and had breakfast to go on his bike to his atelier where he worked as a sculptor.
The mother who washed the dishes and made up the beds.

There were also scenes of the two children at the Steiner school and the mother going to visit the husband in his atelier.
After which she went singing in a choir.

Later the children returned home and the whole family had dinner together.
To go peacefully to sleep.

The documentary was made for private use and can't be seen by the public.
Only the persons involved in this video have a copy.

One major thing can be noticed for an objective viewer.
Which is the role of the mother.
She has to work really hard.
To have the family live properly and effectively.
The mother is the axle and the centre around which everything turns.
Every day it is the same procedure, waking up the children, getting them dressed, serving them breakfast, getting them to school and if she could not have this devotion and discipline, things would get completely out of hand.

But what is probably the hardest part for the mother is that she shows absolute interest in the children and the husband.
How was it in school today?
What did you learn?
How was the meeting in your atelier?
And no one, not the husband and not the children, ask: and, mother, how was your day?
And no one, not the husband and not the children, say: what a delicious food did you cook for us tonight.
And no one, not the husband and not the children, say: thank you for taking so good care of us.

The woman works hard and gives herself completely to her husband and her children and gets very little back in return.

The video then shows how she plays the piano when the husband and the children are away and she is alone at home.
She plays the piano very well and it is a work by Eric Satie we hear.
The camera travels to the view of the garden from the window and shows a weeping willow and a blossoming laburnum tree.
The viewer is caught in a feeling of sadness for this woman who has made everybody close to her a total priority in her life.
But she is alone.



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Dreams made true

Many friends have been made along the way life has travelled and one from Paris who was met in 1969 always made an extraordinary claim.
He said that he never dreamt.
Sleeping for him was as normal as anybody else but never would he wake up realizing he had experienced any dreams.

It is a statement hard to believe but the long time friend is totally sincere and therefore it must be believed.

Dream experts say though that everyone of us actually dreams.
They say that some of us simply don't remember their dreams.
Because when these people claiming not to dream are brought into a sleep lab and awakened when they experience the part of the sleep called the REM (Rapid Eye Movement), they report they have been dreaming.
Much to their surprise.

Of course people that can't remember their dreams do not suffer of this.
Because they don't know what they are missing.

However, the dreamers among us know better.
They know from experience that dreaming can be spectacular.
Especially for the ones among us that dream in a visual way.
Who can clearly remember visually what they have seen in the dream.
Remembering like a story of H.P. Lovecraft.

And there we hit on something truly amazing.
When a dreamer remembers for example that he is dreaming that he walks through a city, the streets and the buildings can be clearly remembered as if it has been a holiday trip.
But we know that those streets and those buildings do not represent a city that exists in reality.
The city in the dream, every street and every building, has been designed and constructed by the subconscious.
The mind as an architect and set builder.
Streets and houses designed from memories and impressions.
The subconscious generating a fantasy world with realistic elements like a complex design soft ware program on a sophisticated computer.

How great would it be if a machine was developed that could make pictures of the scenes we see in our dreams.
To be able to print what exactly the subconscious comes up with concerning landscapes, cityscapes and even the persons in our dreams.
Dreams made true.


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Become a storming shooter

There are not many photographers anymore that use analog cameras.
Most have switched to digital cameras.
More easy, more options, more economic.

But as always, not everything of what we call progress is that good.
One of the characteristics of a digital camera is that on the back there is a monitor.
A small LCD screen where the photographer can see the results.
Instantly.

This is why that most photographers, after they have taken a picture, immediately look to the back of their camera.
To see on the screen the result.
To check if it is technically OK.
To decide if it is a good or a bad picture.

That is all very fine but besides the huge advantages of having a digital camera there are at least two major disadvantages of this option of seeing instantly the image on a screen on the back of the camera.

One is that the creative process of shooting images is interrupted.
With an analog camera there is nothing to see on the back.
No LCD screen.
Therefore, the photographer takes a picture, possibly looks at the subject, thinks, is creative and shoots again.
And this goes on for maximum 36 images.
However, with a digital camera, the photographer shoots, turns the camera down 45º, studies the result as seen on the LCD screen, turns the camera back in an angle of 90º and pays again attention to the subject.
Hence, for the time the photographer studies the image on the LCD screen, he loses total contact with the subject.
Now imagine the subject is a person.
Each time after taking a picture, the model is left totally alone by the photographer.
Who shifts completely the priorities, the attention and the interaction.
The photographer is going in and out of a relationship.
From being one with the model to being one with the photography.
Most models will not appreciate this approach and way of working.
The model is made a puppet more than ever.

The second vital aspect comparing analog cameras with digital cameras is that with analog cameras no assessment can be made of the pictures that are made until the film is developed and prints are made.
Hence, the photographer shoots left and right knowing that the editing will take place much later.
With this method during the creative process of making pictures no selecting between good and bad takes place.
A lot is made.
Everything is tried.
And later it becomes clear if a successful and convincing picture has been made.

With a digital camera a photographer makes a picture and looks immediately at the LCD screen and gets into the position of an editor.
Who will decide if the picture is good or not good.
We may wonder if editing during a shooting is the best time to do this precarious job.
Is the photographer at that moment cool and objective enough to truly be able to decide if an image is good or bad?
And is it effective to be one moment a photographer and the next moment an editor to return back to being a photographer?
Is that stimulating the creative process?

The approach that is recommended here is to switch off the LCD screen of the digital camera.
And to photograph like it was an orgy by letting go of everything to decide later, after the shooting, what is good and what is bad.
It keeps the photographer in continuing close contact with the model or the subject.
And it makes the photographer a storming shooter.



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Save the whales

Dear President Obama,

America has led the international fight to stop the cruel, unnecessary commercial slaughter of whales for decades.

Since championing passage of the international ban on commercial whaling in 1986, every American President has reasserted our nation’s strong leadership role in the fight to save whales already threatened as never before by pollution, ship strikes, entanglement, climate change and other perils.

Today, disturbing reports indicate that your administration may support an international agreement permitting Japan and others to resume commercial whaling.
We respectfully ask that you act immediately to stop this sellout, and instruct U.S. representatives to the International Whaling Commission to instead act to end all
commercial whaling worldwide.
Honor your promise.
As a candidate you said:

“As President, I will ensure the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international
wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling.
Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable.” (3/16/08)

Over 75% of the American public agrees and opposes commercial whaling.
Scientists and environmental groups worldwide object to this unseemly, back-room
deal to reward Japan for decades of illegal whaling under the guise of scientific research.
Surely, Mr. President, these gentle, intelligent creatures deserve better from us than a long and painful death just to show up on the menu in some overpriced restaurant?
Please President Obama, honor your promise:
Stop the sellout.
Save the Whales.

****************************************************

You can help! Text IFAW to 30644
or visit www.ifaw.org/stopthesellout



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We are conquered!

Right above the bed on the ceiling in the Fuso Szulc a small clock is mounted.
So that the person laying in bed can see what is the time.
And the date and the temperature.



Then, this morning the conversation developed that we see the time on a digital clock while we have no clue how technically the device works.
And that this goes for many machines, tools and gadgets we use in these modern times.

Somehow the time is shown on a display.
Somehow an iPod contains hours of music.
Somehow a digital camera shoots brilliant pictures that are in focus and bright of colour.
Somehow a software program on a computer changes a tilted landscape to being exactly horizontal.

There has been a time that people knew how things worked.
But that is long ago.
Now, a simple non-technical person is surrounded day and night by machines of which the working is not understood.

Some years ago a nuclear power plant was photographed in Japan.
More particularly the activities of one nuclear engineer who worked in the control room.
It was amazing to hear him say that not one person in the nuclear power plant was completely aware how it was working.
Every engineer knew only a part of how the nuclear power plant worked.

And this may be the characteristic of the advancing technology.
It is becoming more and more independent.
An entity by itself.
Created by humans but having become that complex that everybody experiences that it works but that less and less people know how it works.

Science fiction writers have predicted long time ago that eventually technology will become our master.
And we humans their servants and slaves.

But one thing we know for sure.
No machine ever can write a blog like this.

From alone to together

Spending time these days at El Triple, Baja California, Mexico is different than it was before.
It used to be a place where hardly anybody came and true solitude could be found.
But when the whole area was bought from the Mexican owner Francisco Xavier Cadena by an American developer, things drastically changed.



To the north of El Triple, a few miles away, was an abandoned rancho and a waterhole.
There, a large metal shed was built and an old motorhome parked in which Leonardo is living who is hired by the American developer as a guardsman.

Opposite from the location where the Fuso Szulc is parked is the result of the building activities of the American developer.
Activities until now because the economic crisis is also noticeable at El Triple.
The American developer has run out of money and the construction of the resort has been halted.


Next to it is an old Terry trailer in which Juaquin is living.
Who is the guardsman there.





Unfortunately both Leonardo and Juaquin also suffer of the economic crisis and the American developer running out of money .
For four months now they have not been paid and they experience serious financial hardship.
They continue to be on duty but this is more to keep their legal rights.

Having Juaquin and Leonardo close by changes the situation at El Triple compared as to how it used to be.
The two guys have become friends and infrequently there are get togethers.
But the main aspect of their presence near the Fuso Szulc is that El triple has become a place that is shared.
From solitary to communal.

In the past, being completely alone at El Triple, there was always the knowledge that if something serious would happen, like a bite by a big rattlesnake, life would end there and then.
But now there are Juaquin and Leonardo.
Who are ready to come to the rescue if an emergency happens.

This was the case last year.
The modem of the Motosat Datastorm satellite system died and access to the Internet was not possible anymore.
Juaquin has a mobile phone and when he puts himself on the roof of the resort building he can get a weak but usually fair signal.
With Juaquin's phone good friend Alonso was called in La Paz who called the Queen of Dreams in Europe to explain why internet communication was failing.

And this time the Fuso Szulc was low on water.
Hence, Juaquin and his friend filled the water tank no problem.



Now, the question is, was it better in the past being in total solitude, or is it nicer now being with the Queen of Dreams and having Juaquin and Leonardo as neighbours?

The answer is that at the time, in solitude, it was very nice.
And now, in community, it is wonderful also.




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Beachchange

One of the reasons that so much time has been spent at El Triple, Baja California, Mexico was the wide beach.
At low tide the width of the beach was many, many meters offering the possibility to create images on what looked like an endless surface.

But something has changed.
Now, returned to El Triple, the wide beach has completely disappeared.
The ocean at high tide comes as high as the sand dunes and takes them away.
At low tide hardly any beach is open and dry.

Why this is?
One may say it is the climate change and the rising sea levels.
Someone else may say this is because of Springtime storms.

September 2007

April 2010


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To completeness

The days at El Triple now.
A place where is the Pacific Ocean, the beach, the desert and the sky.
And the only thing else is the person being there.

By being there the location becomes one big mirror.
And the image that is seen is of an extreme clarity.
Nothing can hide anymore the true self.

This time it is not a solitary presence at El Triple.
It is together with the Queen of Dreams.
Who is deeply loved.
And it has become clear that the mirror of El Triple is able to reflect not only the two individuals but the two together as well.

A mirror is a neutral thing.
It will show whatever that needs to be reflected.
The things that are beautiful.
The things that are dark and fearful.

The good thing of being with a mirror is that at least things can be seen.
And that El Triple has a harmony that allows a person to truly realize what is seen in the mirror.
To accept peacefully the confrontation without getting upset or insulted or annoyed or defensive.
And use what is seen to become more complete.



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The Long El Triple Goodbye

Returned to El Triple in Baja California, Mexico.



The long beach where as of 1979 so many weeks and months have been spent.


Until 1985 to make sequences.
Followed in the years after by VISTA images, videos and the PS series.



Visits and stays at El Triple last year and now are not to make new pictures.
This is explained in an interview by journalist Mick Davidson for AG photomagazin in the UK.
To be published in july 2010.

Mick Davidson:

How will your work evolve in the future?


Michel Szulc Krzyzanowski:

This is an invitation to speculation.

Right now I am most interested in my autonous photo documentary work.
And am working on different projects with great pleasure and good results.
However, concerning the autonomous conceptual photography, I believe that this is a field where no innovation is possible anymore.
Anything that is made in that field is a repetition or a variation on what has already been made.
I believe that autonomous conceptual photography has been researched and explored to the most far ends and that nothing truly original can be discovered there anymore.
As I am not interested in persiflage, copying, imitating and making variations and therefore being mediocre, I have left this field of autonomous conceptual photography and enjoy myself deeply with my projects in the field of autonous photo documentary work.
And expect to continue in this way.

Staying at El Triple now is like a long goodbye.
Of the days of autonomous conceptual photography.
And of the desolateness of the location.
Of the fabulous view of the Pacific Ocean.
And the violent northwestern wind that tortures frequently.





To create an opening for moving to another location.
Probably somewhere in the mountains.





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Pesos polka

Prices in Mexico.

1 liter of diesel: 8 Pesos
€ 0,48 = $ 0.65

1 liter of fruit juice: 10 Pesos
€ 0,60 = $ 0.82

1 kilo of avocados: 28,90 Pesos
€ 1,74 = $ 2,37

1 kilo of apples: 32,90 Pesos
€ 1,98 = $ 2,69

1 coconut: 9,90 Pesos
€ 0,59 = $ 0.80

1 kilo of carrots: 7,90 Pesos
€ 0,47 = $ 0.64

1 cauliflower: 17,90 Pesos
€ 1,08 = $ 1.47

1 kilo of bananas: 13,90 Pesos
€ 0,84 = $ 0,65

1 kilo of pears: 28,90 Pesos
€ 1,74 = $ 2.37

1 kilo of melon: 19,90 Pesos
€ 1,20 = $ 1.63

1 kilo of lemons: 13,90 Pesos
€ 0,84 = $ 1,14

1 kilo of grapefruits: 8,90 Pesos
€ 0,54 = $ 0.74

1 kilo of broccoli: 16,90 Pesos
€ 1,02 = $ 1.39

1 kilo of papaya: 15,90 Pesos
€ 0,96 = $ 1.31

1 kilo of guayabas: 20,90 Pesos
€ 1,26 = $ 1.71

1 kilo of mangoes: 14,90 Pesos
€ 0,90 = $ 1.22

1 kilo of tomatoes: 19,90 Pesos
€ 1,20 = $ 1.63

1 kilo of kiwis: 59,90 Pesos
€ 3,61 = $ 4.91



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