Bocairent and Ontinyent, Valencia

Bocairent by night

El campo recogiendo hierbas

Abandoned blanket factory

El Toro.

Goats. Goodbye.

In light of recent events...

... (and an upcoming MF DOOM concert here in Madrid) I am posting this poem by Charles Bukowski.

Dinosauria, We

Born like this
Into this
As the chalk faces smile
As Mrs. Death laughs
As the elevators break
As political landscapes dissolve
As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
As the sun is masked
We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this
Walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Muted because of this
Castrated
Debauched
Disinherited
Because of this
Fooled by this
Used by this
Pissed on by this
Made crazy and sick by this
Made violent
Made inhuman
By this
The heart is blackened
The fingers reach for the throat
The gun
The knife
The bomb
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
The fingers reach for the bottle
The pill
The powder
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness
We are born into a government 60 years in debt
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
And the banks will burn
Money will be useless
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs
Land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shake the earth
Radiated robot men will stalk each other
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante’s Inferno will be made to look like a children’s playground
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night
Trees will die
All vegetation will die
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The sea will be poisoned
The lakes and rivers will vanish
Rain will be the new gold
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
The petering out of supplies
The natural effect of general decay
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.

Camino de Santiago

In early September I did the Camino de Santiago for six days.  Starting in Tui just several kilometers north of Portugal we spent six days on the Camino Portugués.  If you are unfamiliar with the Camino de Santiago, read up here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James#Routes

Met lots of rad people, and didn't take enough pictures.  Luckily I robbed some from a new friend, so here they are so I can introduce you (my nonexistent reader) to some of the characters from my Camino experience.  Best of all, I have a sweet certificate in Latin from god that forgives me of my sins or something.  More to come.  Hugs and bugs.

David (from Portugal) and Sebastian (from Germany).

Do you know this guy?  He's a poseur.

Did you know there are lions in Portugal?  Well, there are and here they are: David and Miguel.  These dudes rule.

Peacin' out of Pontevedra with Sebastian.

Sebastian and Sonja (sweet Germans).

This little cafe had the terrace shaded by grape vines.  It was the time of the grape harvest in Galicia and the smell of ripe grapes while having a coffee was really pleasant.

This is what you try and avoid on the Camino.

Oops.

Same cafe with the grapes.

The man.

Caceres, Extremadura

Caceres is cool, and not high on the list of tourist destinations.  I went there randomly one weekend in May (I believe), took pictures, walked around, ate Torta del Casar (raw sheep's milk cheese from Caceres that is fucking good) and then went home.  Here's some shit I saw.

Old Jewish part of the city.

Plaza Mayor

Does anyone even read this?  Probably not.  But just in case, hasta lueguito.  Hugs and bugs.

Indignados

Here are some photos from the 15M (15 of May) movement that's taken place throughout Spain.  This particular evening took place in Sol just before the elections on the 15 of May.

The cops.

 La peña.

Segovia

In the old Jewish section of town.

The moat of the Alcázar de Segovia

The Romans were here and they built these.