Leaving FAO and Rome

I’m sure that justifying the rational behind quitting a well paid job diplomatic job for life with all sorts of perks, that allowed me to do all the research I wanted, while living in Rome, arguably one of the most beautiful and important cities in history would be quite difficult... even for me, that i just did that....

Where to start?

I have looked up with admiration at the FAO logo, since I was trained by a programme from the Fisheries Department as an 18 years old fisherman.

That training gave me good knowledge, but most importantly, incentives.... it allowed me to start a path, which since then, has taken my life beyond any expectation I ever had.

Being chosen for a job here, to replace one of those who trained me so many years ago, was like closing a dream circle... I don’t know if FAO changes the world, but definitively changes people’s lives, it did it twice for me.

Rome is just unique... drowned in history and fantastic food, great weather and inner city parks and treasures... she is very charming in its own way... but she asks a price out of you... if you are happy to pay it.... then she is all yours forever.

FAO FI is a good old solid boat, she is the one and only of its kind, but as any boat, it needs some refitting, new engines... she spend to much fuel just to stay afloat, ergo she can’t put much into doing its job... she has a lot of very good crew, but as well some people that past their use by date....

And again, as in any boat... the ultimate responsibility lies in the skipper, for good or bad. The skipper should have done something long time ago.

FAO is sailing in rough waters and rocky bottom, and I really hope that the skipper (or anew one) can find his course to better grounds.

In any case FAO is a great employer, working there has perks that have disappeared in the rest of the world ages ago (just as one example: sugar rations!), plus good tax free salaries and the right to a minimal pension after only 5 years work.... In combination with Rome, is not hard to see why people stay there for ever...

Diving into that world is at first a culture shock, that varies in intensity depending of where you come from... but as every one tells you... you get used to it...

I absolutely see why some people would not change it for anything else, most cities of the world offer way less than FAO/Rome in any way you like to compare it, from security o weather... ergo attracting from african to scandinavians...

So why I quit after a year and a bit of work, after being chosen among over 100 candidates?

I guess is no other answer than because I’m Francisco.... A couple of things bugged me.

I’m a village boy, and having the option, I like my children to grow up in a small place too, walking down the beach after school, having lots of places to run around school for free, knowing that if they have a problem, 99% of the people that may get in touch with, will really try to help them...

Life in a big city is way different.... and even if you are in the position I was; good money, diplomatic status, medical coverage, influences, etc. Something in my guts was telling me it was not right for them.

Hopefully life does not prove me wrong, but i believe no money can’t buy the goodness of been in a beautiful and safe place when you are a kid. I had that opportunity and, what is even better, i have the chance to offer that even scarcer luxury today to my children.

Italy... even if by working at the UN you are in some sort of island absent from political realities, the place is quite fucked up... just read the newspapers in terms of economic performance, birth rate, migration policies, etc, etc... from the prime minister (particularly him) all the way down the chain... there is a massive contempt for the law and the basic rights from people... no one on the top really gives a shit about anyone or anything below them...

Mussolini said: governing italians is not impossible, is just useless. Some of the things that happen there... do not happen anywhere else in Europe, Saviano’s Gomorra best seller and movie are just an example...

Yeaah... well, may be charming for a while, but I grow up in a society like that... where your personal efforts alone don’t cut the cake, but rather “who” you know and the “connections” you have, where politicians and other powerful types live above the rules that apply to the rest of mortals... where exterior looks are way more important that what you really do.

And I really despised that, I grow up in rebellion to that. for example: I remember spending 4 years working as a scientist for Argentina's national fisheries institute with a cleaner’s contract (and salary) while less qualified people, got way higher post because they had a “uncle” in some ministry. I remember being constantly tag by whoever security idiot was in charge of any place, because my dreads... but overall the frustration of knowing that you could really don’t do anything against it...

And while we (Vib and I) will manage to fend off some of those influences on my children... I really don’t want them to grow up in a place like this if I have an option...

And I’ll repeat my already cliche argument about NZ... nowhere else a 29 years old guy with 300 USD as its life saving would be able to start a new life like I did... Never I was asked which political party I was, which private school I went, who “recommends” me... do you job, do it right and you get ahead... those are the values I want them to know still exist in some places.

So yeap... there it is... partly family... partly me...

Did I get positives away from FAO? Yes definitively, and I believe I wrote about them before

At professional level, I interacted with some real “popes” in very specific fields of fisheries, I worked with some VERY clever people and having those contacts would help me all my life.

At social level, well... I found my tribe.... transient, border-less, with twisted racial origins, doing for a living things that most of people don’t even think that someone does... I made instant friends... that I going to miss dearly.

But finally I think my biggest gain is at personal level... I got to work with the UN!

May not mean a lot for most people, but means a lot to me. I did not (neither anyone else around me) had big expectation about my life , and somehow I achieved what for many would not even be dare to dream. I got a VERY good recommendation from my bosses and a open door to come back.

But most importantly, it confirmed that you can achieve things under you own rules, if you are consistent and respectful. It somehow makes me change my opinion that sometimes, even if you never wear a tie, speak very diplomatically or do not have powerful “recommenders”, you still make it... and if just that is the outcome of my time at FAO, well... thank you and my respect forever.

by the way... below is a picture from the beach at home

about the future and food

Not going to talk about xmas or new year... neither fish... (rather strange coming from me)... In any case it has been a while since the last posting, I have been mostly based on Roma, working from the office on some policy and forecasting issues from the fisheries point of view but in perspective to food availability in general, this is an expansion of my usual work and has been quite revealing..

A bit more than a year at the UN, has given me a good inside view on this massive organization and exposed me to the "really big picture". I guess the main impact of this job on my life is to really see things of a “trully” global perspective... I’m have to deal with technical issues at community, regional and at maximum country level... but here the job is the world...

And while I can remember there always been “apocalyptic” type challenges that never totally eventuate (tribute to our environment resilience?), I see trough my work here some real challenges...

Without trying to provide a complete account of them, some of the most key challenges in the discussion table are:

The key (for me) is that world population is projected to grow from 6.5 billion in 2005 to nearly 9.2 billion by 2050... to feed a population of more than 9 billion free from hunger, global food production must nearly double by 2050... today’s figure of people living below 2 USD/day is 58% of the world population...

The entire population growth will take place in developing countries and it will occur wholly in urban areas, which will swell by 3.2 billion people as rural populations contract. That means that a shrinking rural work force will have to be much more productive and deliver more output from fewer resources.

Higher productivity requires more investment in agriculture, more machinery, more implements, tractors, water pumps, combine harvesters, etc., as well as more skilled and better-trained farmers and better functioning supply chains.

This means that fewer farmers will have to feed a more populous world with fewer resources and minimal access to credit under the present crisis.

One way would be for world agriculture to expand its land basis and use some of the nearly 4.2 billion hectares potentially available for rain-fed crop production (only 1.5 billion ha are currently in use). But that would not be possible without further environmental damage and increased greenhouse gas emission.

Another avenue would be to tap into yet-unused yield-enhancing resources, which could double productivity for many crops in many countries. However, such potential can only be realized if farmers have improved access to inputs, apply better fertilizers in more abundance, make use of better seeds, improve their farming and management skills and expand land under irrigation. These as well are measures that have serious socio-economical and environmental consequences.


In addition to rising resource scarcity, global agriculture will have to cope with the burden of climate change.

The IPCC has documented the likely impact of climate change on agriculture in great detail. If temperatures rise by more than 2C, global food production potential is expected to contract severely and yields of major crops may fall globally. The declines will be particularly pronounced in lower-latitude regions. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, for instance, yields could decline by 20-40%.

In addition, severe weather occurrences such as droughts and floods are likely to intensify and cause greater crop and livestock losses.

Rapidly rising energy prices have created an added challenge for global food supplies. Rising fossil energy prices mean that agriculture will become increasingly important as a supplier to the energy market.

Important here is to understand that the potential demand from the energy market is so large that it has the potential to change the world’s traditional agricultural market systems completely.

However, for me in the short term, even more critical is likely to be the impact of the financial crisis on the availability of credit, which is widely recognized as one of the major constraints to agriculture development in the developing countries, the rationing of which is likely to be more serious than any interest rate effects.

The combination of falling agricultural prices and reduced access to credit may have a knock off impact on agricultural production, with very serious implications for the global food security.

For instance, a cutback in grain plantings against the background of continuing low grain stocks, which have not been rebuilt since the high food price episode, would increase the risk of global food crisis if harvests turn out to be poor, especially if countries cannot access credit for food imports.

As a father, and perhaps just as basically a human... the future kind of scares me... these are not “predictions” of scare far fetched “greenes”... this are people I respect (albeit at different levels).

I guess this basically means that “we all” have a lot of issues to be dealt with ahead of us... but my usual optimism is quite dented... (all the hard data, figures and expansion on this issues can be found here

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Perhaps related but not... I decided leave the UN in March 2009, basically for quality of life reasons... We haven’t gel with Italy... So no point to stay.... Luxury for me is not to be a UN diplomat and getting paid good money and live in a trendy roman suburb surrounded by 5 million people... Luxury for me is that Felix and Kika can walk to school and get to an empty beach at their will... Not even if I’m the secretary general of the UN I could do that here... in any case the common agreement i got with my bosses is that the working relation is not going to change, just the logistics of it (from employee to consultant, basically)

Jamaica

Back in your youth when you are lost and trying to find identity either internally or externally, different people find different things and those things change over time, either in their nature or intensity... some people find sport, god, some type of music... I don’t know I guess it's some sort of posture that separates you from some and unites you with others.

At the time, I found the water (swimming, rowing, sailing - not yet surfing) and Jamaican music...

Which per se had an evolution... from Peter Tosh, Bob Marley and the Wailers, to Augustus Pablo to Dub... and the evolution of Dub... but basically those images of a music made by a composite of superseding rhythms involved in a laid back philosophy and a lot of dope, coolie weed, ganja, pot, maglione or what ever you choose to call marihuana... but perhaps the whole package of troubled/beautiful island in the Caribbean with that soundtrack associated to it that managed to develop it own cultural identity and exported revolutionary coolness in a way that perhaps only Brazil has done...

And that liking of its music and its pot association has lasted until my present.

So being offered a mission in Jamaica warmed my soul and expanded my smile... even if I would have loved to be there 25 years earlier...

I could write about the day to day shit... but going to focus on a few moments of the trip because those are the ones that I will remember the most.

Slaving and surf

One thing that struck me from the 1st day was the bodies and athleticism of most people... their bodies are sculptural...

As soon as I arrived I went for a small trip down to the south-east... among rural poor towns and every 3rd person looked like an olympic athlete or a model....

I stayed in a small hotel looking out to the open ocean... the kid of the owner told me that he goes surfing down at the beach and had an old long board if I wanted... the conditions weren’t so good... but then I hadn't been on a board for a long time...

The track down to the beatiful beach followed at some stage an old (very old) fort type place... once in the water I got a better perspective on its size and fortifications.... quite a scary looking place... the kid told me that it used to be a slave distribution warehouse... they used to arrive there and from there were distributed over the island... so I just floated there... looking at it... not even able to imagine the fucking horror and suffering that those today tree tacked walls have witnessed... it was really chilling... and a sensation I cannot remove from me...

Then the Darwinist coin fell... only the fittest of all could have survived the trip under those conditions.... and then life would have been as bad in the sugar plantations... so perhaps the strongest (and most beautiful?) had survived and they are the base of today’s population... it is just terrible to think like that... but I just cannot stop wondering if there is a awful truth in that... they are truly beautiful and cool people.

Augustus Pablo Rockers International

Not gonna go a lot into details on the guy, see wikipedia for that, but he and his brother Garth, kept a mythical record shack store going on Orange Street in Kingston... I went there... I was overwhelmed by stack after stack of small 9 and 12 inch vinyl... I just stared at them... knowing that it would take me days of indecision and a lot of weed to buy even one... so I did not buy anything and just sat there talking to an old Rasta about fishing while listening to unknown music.


Even fisheries inspectors are cool in Jamaica

Kingston middle class are initially “kind of embarrassed” about the reggae/ganja subculture... there is more to Jamaica then just that... as well as that, they are cynical about the Jamaica that the Americans get to know in the all inclusive resorts of the north coast (Montego Bay and places like that), but they were kind of puzzled by my knowledge of Jamaican dub labels and producers as well as my collection of music from Studio One...

So one night after they had a few beers I found my self sitting in between some old inspectors and laughing my head off, while these guys tried in disbelieve to enlighten a guy from Belgium who insisted in being explained what the steps are to dance reggae! I learned how to dance samba, so there must be steps for reggae...

And the inspectors were like.... no man (in the coolest accent)... there are no steps... you just follow the groove... u knaw... rent a tile in da floor... close your eyes... and just groove...

Of course... he did not get it... but these guys where so funny and telling me: ya man... explain him... dat u knaw... finally they told him off and we stay discussing the fisherman song of “the Congos” and why they respect (respect is “BIG word” in Jamaica) the NZ cricket players.

Rae Town in Kingston

It is obvious that Kingston has seen better days... when you see that the hospital has barbed wired fences and looks more like a prison... you know things ain’t cool... the ghettos are dangerous places to be no doubt...

But there is one day a week when there are no incidents... at least on a few blocks...

Every night there is a free street party in some neighbourhood in Kingston... each has its particular scene... and the local gang bosses make sure that nothing happens on their own or each other parties... and one thing that you need to do in Kingston is to go to a sound system, to any of the classic street parties... is really safe and hassle free.

How it works... A few blocks of a street are closed off. A DJ sets up a bank or two -- or three -- of giant loudspeakers. And the tunes roll. These days, sound system DJs mostly spin dancehall, heavy stripped-down beats with a rapper or a toaster chanting over the top.

But each Sunday in the neighborhood of Rae Town, you can go back in time.


Rae Town has been putting on this sound system for more than twenty years... it doesn't really get started until about one in the morning, the crowd grows slowly up to perhaps 1000 people.

Towers of speakers line the back of the sidewalk at key points, and people stand in front of the speakers but with their backs to them. This means there are two thick rows of people facing each other across the street, being blasted in the face and back by speakers playing music. Which in this case means everything from funk, to rocksteady and dub.

Teenagers to people in the 70s just dances or shuffle their feet on both sides of the street like heaving crowds at a parade.

There are no rules. People dress up or they dress down. Everyone is smoking and the rastas go around with the bags for sale and long sticks of buds at the equivalent of 1€.

Along the road is always someone with a cooler of Red Stripe beer, water and soft drinks.

Everyone is just having fun...

After my first half joint I’m in sensory overload.

Clothing styles are wide-ranging but definitely have not much upper limit on the flashy side, and some enormous dreadlock crowns.

A nice thing about the scene is the number of older people dancing –something I rarely see. I'm particularly taken with the older men with dreadlocks piled high and beards, standing and swinging, eyes shut, bending their knees and rocking out to the beat in a way I would love to do as good as he does.

The place is not flashy at all... open sewers, cables overhead and the homes are either covered with corrugated zinc sheeting, or surrounded by it.... but Rae Town is working class... not a slum.

And you do feel the community's solidarity... this is their party... and they are (and should be) dam proud of it.

I was by far the only white guy there... (a couple of girls with some semi locals cruised around)... and at any time anyone hassled me... the guys around me offered me fire for my joints... and I was dancing in my own heaven... a guy from St Lucia came and told me that he liked my dancing for a big white guy... with I appreciated and we had a beer and a chat...

Then the nicest thing happen... a local neighbour on his 50’s came and touched my arm and said something like... man... we turn this off in 20 minutes... so if you wanna get a taxi back home... this would be a good time...

I thank him... and went back to my uptown hotel with the biggest smile... feeling again blessed by life... feeling that I have been in one of the coolest events I would ever experience (under the way my brain works) and seen how far into good can we go... it was just music and people.... you don’t need more than that sometimes...

Some bad shit happens in Jamaica (like in the rest of the world), but some awesome stuff too... and Rae Town saved my youth fantasies and lighted my present.

Maximum Respect to the place

Montevideo... do not offend nor I fear

I always liked Montevideo

It has its own identity and character, with is even more remarkable considering that has a monster like Buenos Aires very close.
Perhaps to the non discerning eye, the culture on both sides of the “Rio de la Plata” is quite similar... which is true in a sense...

However Montevideo remains much more herself, with a mixture of provincial town, big city culture, massive port, bohemia, tango, Spanish colonial architecture, just awesome meat grills, and an enormous waterfront “rambla” that never finish...

People is quite informal and friendly, not up to them selves... while being professional and effective.
Uruguayan music is very good and alive; there must be at least 20 theatres and 50 venues where life music always takes place, which is amazing for a city of 1.5 million people...

A quite unique style out of there is the “murga” ... which is a form of popular musical theatre... that is performed by a group of a maximum of 17 people, usually men dressed up with very elaborated costumes and each group will prepare a musical play consisting of a suite of songs and recitado (heightened speech) lasting around 40-45 minutes. This suite will be performed on popular stages in the various neighbourhoods, known as tablados.


Content is based on a particular theme, chosen by the group, which serves to provide commentary on events in Uruguay or elsewhere over the preceding year. Consequently, murga lends itself well to being used as a form of popular resistance.

The names are fantastic... but don’t traduce very well... my favorite: “the mushrooms tanners”... (curtidores de hongos)

Besides that, Montevideo maintained a strong African population in its “Barrio Sur” and is very common to see people just taking the streets on a Sunday with the drums and having a go while some old mamas have a dance... just for the fun of it... truly cool.


In any case, I love Montevideo, and really would love to live there for a while... and I love what is written in their cote of arms...
“con libertad no ofendo ni temo” ... “with Freedom I do not offend nor I fear”



see more pictures here

3 ports of India

A lot of people I know have spent time in India... I cannot say that... for me India seems to be a universe of universes... each state is like a different country... I did not travel around as most I just spent 14 days in 3 ports and a day in Mumbai, over all this period I was only with locals (only seen non-Indians at airports), which was perhaps the coolest part of the trip.

Dhamara
This is literally the end of he road, true rural poverty... Orissa is one of the poorest states in India... Dhamara was done in the late 70’s to help the development of the area... a fishing port at the end of a 1 lane road along rice fields.

The main change since them is that there is a lot more of people now... (and they put a missile base in the near).

Getting there is a 4 hour trip from Bushaneswar... the trip confronted me with a whole new concept in anti-road safety. Motorways with everything from trucks to bicycles going against the traffic anywhere anytime, cows wandering around, busses with staggering amounts of cargo and people... absolutely incredible... beyond anything I have seen so far...

Dharama fishing port has been setup for a modification and working on that was my job there. Once there life takes another pace... the port is off season... so is the village/slum surrounding it... i stay at the port administration house inside the port (which is the only place to stay) and was a good way to see the day and night life of the place... the landings, the supplies, the shipyard...


The big event of the day was my morning run along rural roads along mud huts, people looking at you as if you were a alien... (why would someone run for sake of it?).

There is me, with my ipod and gear that is worth their annual income, running along paths in the mud, avoiding the poo of people along it... (no toilets, a BIG problem)

I could see death lurking around many of the people looking at me... Is not an easy feeling when you look into the eyes of misery...

Mumbai
I never took coke and acid at once... but I imagine that must be like my hours walk around Mumbai... I never been anywhere soooo busy. It beats Mexico DF (the busiest city I have been) by miles... is a whole new level!

The density of Singapore is 6500 people/sq Km... Mumbai as a whole has 18000... and in some areas goes up to 45000... (that must have been where I was)... It is a constant stream of people, three-wheelers, taxis, and more people, processions, drums, and a constant car horns... I just could not deal with it... I was feeling like a giant fist gripped my soul... I just went back to the hotel and waited for my flight to leave



Mangrol
Mangrol (in guyarat) is a true shit-hole... I really cannot say anything good about it... a fishing port designed for 200 boats in the 80s that now crams 900... what can you do? (except hoping it burns). Lowest standards in terms of fishing cosmos I have seen anywhere...

Diu
Here is a surprise... I always had “a thing” for former Portuguese colonies, they make interesting places (not always for the right reasons) but cools places anyhow. (think Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cabo Verde, Macao, Timor, and so on).
Goa was the only I knew about in India... but here is Diu... which has a MASIVE fort and very laid back feeling about it... no one is in a hurry... in some areas you could be in Lisbon (before the EU revamp)... see the pictures on a link below... fishing wise... not much

The food the people
I was travelling with 2 Indian local colleagues, very cool people and vegetarians... so I spend the 2 weeks eating with them...
I had things I have no idea what it was, and in places I would have not know existed without locals... and the food always was fantastic (the first week a bit to much of rice and dhal, that is all).


So... I didn’t see any worthwhile tourist attraction... but then I seen a slice of that universe called India that most not Indian would never grasp by living and dealing only with locals and it was a worthwhile experience.

For some of the pictures I took with my new Nikon D40x (I’m very happy about that) see this link


The sad note, on my last day in India... Vibeke’s father died back in Holland after a sad disease that melted him down... he went peacefully with Vib on his side...

Somehow Karachi

Somehow I have always been hesitant to come to Pakistan... not a rational thing... Angola, El Salvador or the US are as dangerous (for different reasons perhaps), but anyway... I’m in Karachi, and if it is an organization to come with here, it has to be the UN, they take care after their own... every night I have a call from the security officer to see if I’m OK!

Seems that the more “worrying” the country, the more hospitable the people... it happen to me in Iran already... as here amazingly hospitable people.

My host is he director of the Marine Fisheries Department, a former Navy Captain that retired years ago to do a Masters in Public Policy, and you can see that he is strait as a stick, very unusual in the fisheries world.... he took the job 5 months ago, and actually he is the 1st one to admit he does not know much about fisheries, but he knows how to run public organizations... needles to say liked the guy immediately.

So far I have been hanging around boats in the fishing harbour.... Perhaps the most chaotic, polluted, filthy but as well active, crazy, and vibrant port I ever been (and I have been in a few).

How to explain.... put equal parts of a circus, a food safety expert worst nightmare, a ant colony, a really busy shipyard, a tea house, a polio+amputee+psychiatric hospital, a constant traffic jam, a 60’s psychedelic art studio, an orphanage, a truck workshop, plus other many things I fail to express, garnish with a LOT of dust... shake for 50 years of non maintenance... and try to imagine the result...

Roaming around with a camera would be quite stupid and dangerous... so sorry... only phone camera pictures...


The security situation is really rough.... for first time in my life I have followed the advice of not going to the streets alone... I even broke my golden rule of not eating in big hotels...

Getting into the hotel (that had already a big suicide bombing) feels a bit like one of those Iraqi road-checks you see on TV.
I commented to my host that I was quite surprised to see a big jail in the middle of town, but even more about the fact that was well painted... only to be respond with a huge laughter by him and the driver... whom w/out stopping giggling explain to me that in fact was the US consulate!

I was taken for 3-hour tour of the outskirts and the Old city... it must have been an outstanding city.... but that was many years ago...

Reality today is VERY grim in many parts of Karachi, many places look like the images we see from Afghanistan, Gaza or Baghdad, except that there was no war here... dust, open sewage, overcrowding, serious violence, and so on...

The road to the Karangi (another town near) fishing harbour, meanders along mangroves/rubbish dumps covered with crows and small children and fisherman living in the some of the worst conditions I have seen in my life anywhere... i felt out of breath, as normally I'm an optimist... but I really struggle to find any hope the situation they are... most of us (all of you and me) are truly fortunate fortunate people... incredibly fortunate...

It makes me understand fundamentalism better... If what I see, is your everyday reality... Then anything is better that that... When your days are so unkind, you just have nothing to loose, hence any promise of a better place, anything that takes your head out of reality... is a good one...

Therefore the security is more present than ever before for me... the good thing about working at this organization is that we all have blackberrys and get messages like the one below from the local security guy, that helps when you moving around.

Sent: Fri 3/14/2008 5:12 AM
To: Blaha, Francisco
Subject: Advisory for 14th March 2008

Dear All

Security Update:
A shutter down strike call has been given by Sunni Tehreek today to force the Government to expel the Danish Ambassador from Pakistan. Jammat Islami has also called for protest after Jumma Prayer on the same issue. The business community may join. Protest Marches are expected outside major mosques and at Numaish, Shah Faisal Colony, Saddar. No Significant violence anticipated. Cautious movement advised. All to avoid areas.

the day before

Sent: Thu 3/13/2008 8:14 AM
To: Blaha, Francisco
Subject: Advisory for 13th March 208

Dear All

Several Motorcyclists have been run over by a Bus at PNS Karsaz Shahrah eFaisal. In reaction angry mobs burnt that bus which caused traffic Jam and panic in the area. Staff advised to avoid general area.

This incident later on degenerated in looting and the burning of 2 government cars (just like the one I go around with)... and I guess as everyone is in the verge... things get completely out of control VERY fast

Every one I talked along the society says that General/President Pervez Musharraf should go... they are feed up with him and with his closeness to the US...

Everyone love talking politics... a well off guy a the sauna (a perk of staying at big hotels) told me: ... “the common factor of terrorism is the USA, see all he countries where there is terrorist attacks... they all have American troops on them... if the USA wants to win the –war on terror- they just have to stay home and stop messing around into others peoples countries”... I could not agree more.

But then all this security stuff is so incongruent with some of the views I also have of families in parks, the better off in clubs or in my hotel... the (at least for me) beautiful call to pray for the mosques, the unfortunately not well know gentility of Islam, the honest amiability of the people I meet... it puzzles me big time...

The real aesthetic treat... is the art in the buses, trucks and some fishing boats ... is just incredible.... I would love to buy one just to expose it... or get my car here to customize it... the guys take so much care in the paintings and layers after layers of adornments on it... the attention to detail is magnificent... no part is spare... man...painting the rims... fantastic... See the pics








In any case... this place is so vibrant but at the same time so looming that I cannot stop being fascinated by it.

The UN and Rome are not built in a day

Taking a job at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) was kind of always on the cards... but never seriously... (they get an average of 120 applications per job)... so when i was offered a senior position there, we had a “mature” talk with Vibeke... and went for it... I wanted to try for professional an non professional reasons (back in 1988 I did a FAO run training that opened unimaginable doors in my future life, and my first job in development was consultancy for them).

I finish paying my mortgage back in NZ so i was ready for some change, Vib wanted to be closer to her sick dad, and we think would be good for the children to live in a big city for while... ergo... here we are

Rome:

Feels like Buenos Aires, which shows me the HUGE influence that Italians have over the city.

Of course... there are things 3500 years older and cars are tiny and new... but I can not stop relating them in my mind… I see a small car crash… and it was so similar... the stone paved street… the old trees… the gestures… the thumb that joins with the four fingers to form a pyramid while the hand rises up and down… the moccasinos, the jeans, the stripy shirt, the gelled hair back... the other cars passing for the side… the bus going off with the horn… the bystanders... the punters in the corner‘s cafe (there is one in every corner) chatting among them and adhering its comments (of course without moving their bums off the chair).

The city and its histories stacked above each other… literally… in many places the foundations are of a long past century and 200 years later the place was transformed with stones removed of other ruins, and later reconstructed again in the medieval period… and then it finalises reconstruction 100 yeas ago tto what you see today… at times is like to walk in a museum where lives people, with many pizzerias, cafes and ice cream parlours.

The great difference is that in Buenos Aires you have the city in a grid, and Rome is a spaghetti of streets that only locals understand… things change once you leave the walls of the old city and the world of the monoblocks begins which is quite depressive (as everywhere I imagine) that is where inhabit the remainder of the people that cannot pay the exorbitance of the prices of the city.

But the fact that I am going to work walking a street in which 3000 years ago another bloke like me, also walked to to face his day… is full on… from my office I see the termas of caracalla… I have my macchiato looking toward the circus maximus, the coliseum and the Roman forum… quite cool i have to admit…

Food:

Impressive and excellent… everyone knows about food… for example the bloke that came to install the phone... i asked him how you say kumara (sweet potato) in italian... and of course he knew, as well where and the best season to buy... the conversation stop because he got a phone call... one of many actually... he was home from 11 till 4.30 pm! and most of the time on it mobile... but now we have 20mb fast internet

Remarkably the city is full of small food business, salumerias, butchers, dairies, bakeries, stores that are of the size of a garage and they subsist based on the loyal clientele… there are supermarkets… but the percentage per capita is the lowest of Europe... you need to leave the city to see a big supermarket

Already I have an adopted family… they are the guys of the pizzeria around the corner… a cubicle where you eat standing up…" angeli and diavoli" … masters…. to do pizza at home never will be the same…

Work:

Uh… forms, hierarchies, image, e-mails, PCs, permissions, entry cards, index, forms (yes again), coffee in the eighth floor, salary, subsidy, UN passport, etc… all this is new for me… many times claustrophobic…

For example: my category is P4 s9 (they go from P1a P5 and of s1 to s12), so I have the right to a large desk with formica cover and 2 chairs without armrest, a library and a coat hanger, if i was P5 then my equally serious desk will have a wood cover and the chairs would have armrest… the P3 and P2 has the right to smaller desks, 1 chair (without armrest) and they do not have access to coat stands!

Outside those idiocies... I’m learning a lot of… there are always interesting courses around (climate change, property rights, sustainability indicators, and so on) and my work while similar to what i did before is in a wider spectrum… and i manage to mix managing programmes and being a foot soldier

The people… as everywhere i guess…. crappie people, some conceited and useless, but also many cool and efficient people with fascinating backgrounds, Norwegian that grow up in Ecuador and is married to a girl of Ivory Coast... Swedish that grow up in Liberia, a Chinese bloke that is completely Italian, Portuguese American that lived in Wellington, and so on… professionally you have the whole spectrum, some are like me that came for the experience and to see what’s up... to others whose ambition of life It is to do career in the system of the UN.

i pass from feeling like a martian, to be among peers several times during the work day. I suppose that I will get used to it… but so far I really do not I see my self being part of the system.

Said so, coming to Rome was a family decision, and so far I believe my family has adapted remarkably well (better than me perhaps). Felix is flourishing at school, Kika shines at Kindy, and Vibeke seem full of plans and enthusiasm... even so we all miss our little island in NZ.

See Vib's blogg (The sack of Rome) on our life in Rome for a more day to day perspective

last 10 months

I know... I’m a terrible blooger... I just don’t have really big excuses... besides being busy, but overall procrastinating...

Has been along time... and some massive changes.... I don’t even live in my beloved NZ anymore!
So where to start...

Chronologically I been I a few places... spend most of the time in Malaysia which while fascinating in its diversity... but the somehow bland... and very bureaucratic! Not gonna write much about it... see the pictures...

Some short trips to Mauritius (very cool little nation), United Arab Emirates (suxs), Fiji+PNG (I like them with all its goods and bads and I have friends there), Jakarta Fishing Port (I had a good time mostly because I know people there), Vietnam (has lost its appeal to me), and Chile, which I really like.

Here are some random pictures.

The Absence and Mexico

Well... plenty of excuses on why I have not updated the blog in long time... been very tired, busy, procrastinating, etc, etc...

Since September I went back to Ecuador, 3 times to Malaysia (I’m here now) and Fiji... While I owe Malaysia one blog (coming soon), the one on Fiji under coup will wait tom me been back there...

However I spend time in Mexico until last week... and Mexico kind of picked up my slack on writing again...



Mexico it always been appealing to me, so I jump on the opportunity for a job there.
Besides that I have a good friend living there, Alejandro whom I work in the Philippines (see earlier blogs) so it was great to stay at his place and see the city with his eyes...

You see, when you grow up in Latin America there are traditionally two cultural (movies, music, writers, dance, etc) poles, Argentina and Mexico.

Brazil is a odd case as it generates perhaps more than the other 2 combined, but the fact that they don’t speack Spanish makes a big deal of difference... but they are their own cultural market and they “export” a lot of it ... over he last few years Chile has raised its profiles by the hand of economical stability.

But Mexico is culturally so powerful that it has generated its own kind of universe, and you don’t see a lot outside Mexico and Latin America to a lesser extent. The recent “outings” of the Mexican movies and directors (Amores Perros, Y tu mama tambien, Nicotina, Babel, Charlote’s web, etc) is a welcome change, but even so... who in the non Spanish-speaking world has not heard about México?

And I guess that that exposure is as many things in Mexico part of the love-hate relationship with their northern neighbour... the US.

Mexican history is so amazing that it is almost bizarre... not going to elaborate... but as tastefull sample... how many places in the world can go from astonishing aboriginal cultures (and many of them!) to being briefly part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, via indigenous uprisings, revolutions, courtship with the French, and bloody scuffles with the “Gringos” (That have not finished yet!).

Mexico is so varied that I struggle on how to keep going...
Just think on Mexico City... “el DF”... at least 18 million people (and not just people... 18 million Mexicans!) all living in one place

Crossing the city on a good traffic day via the motorways takes 3 to 4 hours.

It generates (and consumes so much) so much that is just like being in a “tripping” constantly... the place just doesn’t stop...

What you want? Flying Indians, ranchero hiphopers, glam rockers doing bolero covers, dwarf mariachis, Tijuana electronic dance music... just to name a few that I had access... is all there... and there is way more that I have not seen for lack of time and/or cowardly excuses!

Is chaotic but it works... is madness but somehow is organised... and realising that trough the experience of being there is fascinating... and the best thing is that there is a constant soundtrack! There is always music... wherever you are! Is like being in a movie... but in reality... wherever you stop... you hear some music coming from somewhere... is just fantastic...

The job was cool but frenetic... I had to give seminars on Market Access Requirements and Sustainability in 7 cities in 7 days... with no much time in between them but was cool enough to give an idea of the idiosyncrasies of each state (Mexico is officially called “Estados Unidos Mexicanos”) and a good sample of the food... (Which comes second to the history in terms of variety and bizarreness...)

At the end of the day, besides the amiability of the people and in particular of my mate Alejandro, two things got branded in my mind

One is the Colour... it is just so much colour everywhere everything they do has (and needs colour)... I inundated my family with presents from Catholic Virgins frame in motorbike chains to full on bags with strident images)

The other one, which is more fascinating for me is that “repellent symbiosis” that they have with the USA...

Their lives and economies are so intertwined as their dislike for each other... the music, the arts reflect that so strongly... that impossible to ignore... The “Gringo go home... and take me with you” is such a present paradox...

While being such a proud and hardcore people (I saw a guy with a huge tattoo in Spanish meaning “Praises to good because I’m Mexican”) on the other side everyone has some one on the “other side”...

And for many to get there is to “having done it”... then there is two roads... denial of your origin by adapting your names and forgetting your roots (many names like Mick Rey where original Miguel Rey and so on).

Or a fight for rights and a “re-conquer” the culture there before the Grigos took their land (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas where all Mexican territory. And of course the “racism” by the American redneckism that wants them out... even if that means that Indians or (oh my god!) African Americans would have to do the jobs.

On the other side... there is a whole generation of “Gringo” kids growing up under the care of Mexican nannies... so it will be an interesting future... In terms of understanding about the other side.

The one thing that strikes me negatively... was the total love of “provincial Mexicans” with HUUUUUGGGGGGEEEE American pick ups (utes) and I mean really BIG... I was driven around on a F-250 double cab 4x4 6liter V8 monster... and there where many...

No surprise I had empty blank looks when I talked of environmental considerations, sustainability.... but blunt disbelieve when big bloke like me talked about pansy things like the carbon footprint that air freighted product has and the impact on consumer choice...

I guess having lived for so long with Europeans made me a bit soft in their eyes!

Quito... (in Vib's eyes)

Take it easy when in Quito.

One week after we arrived in Guayaquil where Francisco was figuring in an Aquaculture conference, we had all these plans for the weekend. We’d get to Quito after a short flight, Francisco would do an offical type meeting with a European Union representative and then we would check out the beautiful old city of Quito and have pizza at night.
We would go to Otavalo the next day and the day after that we would take a bus over the Andes or something adventurous and that’s how we’d get back to Guayaquil.

But we forgot.. that Quito is pretty high (in altitude) and that, when you get to Quito, your body has to get used to coping with less oxygen and that makes you feel.. very…tired. That’s all fair enough and easily explained, but when you’re four and a half years old, when you’re very.. tired.., stuff just doesn’t really run smoothly anymore in your brain and melt downs happen.

When parents are very tired as well, they don’t always realize straight away that four and a half year old brains with low oxygen supply need to be taken very seriously. Do not attempt to visit the Florence of South America with a very tired four and a half year old. (Imagine Stendhal syndrome mixed with altitude sickness) Give it some time to let things adjust.

We cut back on things to do and didn’t take busses over the Andes, we just hung out at the pool of our lovely sixties style hotel (Hotel Quito), had breakfast in it’s restaurant, called El techo del Mundo (the roof of the world)

We saw the smog build every morning over the city, did just a day trip to Otavalo and stayed another night in the old city and went to every single church in Quito Antiguo (Centro Historico – a UNESCO World Heritage Site). We chased pigeons on the 1590’s square of San Francisco and took a ride in a horse carrier. We went out after dark against the advice of the Lonely Planet and had dinner in a restaurant where music was provided by a trio of blind musicians.

Inside one of the countless churches in Quito Viejo, me and the kids watched a family celebrating the 15th birthday of a girl clad in a cloud of pink. They were celebrating her ‘Quince’ and all her girlfriends were dressed in lilac. Ave Maria creaked through the stereo. Behind us a family lined up for another celebration, something for two year old girls dressed in clouds of white. Kika was of course very interested in these little girls. I tried to imagine her dressed up head to toe in white fluff and lace. HAHA that wouldn’t last very long!

Outside the same church we watched this lady getting ready to mount the motorbikes with her baby on her back. Now safety standards in traffic (and anywhere else) are something else in South America, but more about that later. That she’s carrying her baby is traditional however in Ecuador.

In Ecuador we got many many stares and even comments because we carry our children in slings when we need to, in a similar fashion. Actually the most common way I’ve seen women do it is in a longer cloth, rebozo style I think it is, so the baby sits up on the back with the cloth tied criss-cross across the front of your body (will have to find you some pics to illustrate it). But all the women who do wear their babies are indigenous and if you’re anywhere near middle class in Ecuador you’re not supposed to do this anymore (I’ve heard the same in Mozambique). I think it’s seen as ‘country’, or worse because a lot of the street people, asking for money, seem to be babywearers. Not the best social stigma you can have for the product. That foreigners like me would wear their baby (or toddler because Kika is almost two and not small) is a new concept.
In Quito we met a girl with her partner and their 6 month old baby who stood there with sore arms from holding the baby at a dance/music performance (she had a stroller but the baby obviously didn’t want to be there) and he told her: YOU SEE! You shouldn’t be embarrassed! Then Francisco broke the news to them that people pay more than 50 dollars for dulce&zoet slings in New Zealand. Of course that’s just plain hilarious!

You need a four wheel drive at Lagunas de Mojanda!

We went to Otavalo to buy some touristy stuff and see something of the country side. Someone in Guayaquil who Francisco worked with new someone in Quito who sometimes takes tourists in his car for trips. So after some calling around Ricardo showed up in his white car, of which he was very proud. Sorry for complying with any stereotype you might have of girls and cars, but of course I only remember that it was white, and not what type it was.

Francisco makes it a habit not to take the same road twice and had spotted a lake in a guide which would make the perfect detour. Without a map or a sign, after some asking around we found the road up the mountain and climbed all the way to cold laguna de Mojanda.



The road got gradually worse however and then it got bumpy and we got ourselves stuck a few times and it got very dusty and Ricardo became very nervous, but he just kept going.

Then a few more bumps and me and Francisco started wondering if Ricardo really knew what he was doing, or if we really knew what we were doing. In the end Francisco had to climb out of the car and coach a very nervous Ricardo out of a few precarious situations and it took some time for him to recover his nerves. Enough already we said! I didn’t feel like getting stuck next to a desolate Andean lake on an unsignposted road in a country where nobody bothers to put up roadsigns or warnings that say: Four wheel drive only.

That’s why I’m telling you now, if you want to go to Lagunas de Mojanda, take a 4 wheel drive. Oh and a warm top. And something to drink and to eat. We turned around and went all the way down the mountain again.. the same road. Ricardo then made this classic comment: I feel like I’ve been having an affair with a woman on the side but it didn’t work out and now I have to go back to the wife with my tail between my legs. Haha. That’s straying of the beaten path in Ecuador.

We did see a lot of roses along the way! And had bizcochos with dulce de leche. Returning to Quito we got stuck in 6 pm Friday afternoon traffic in Quito in the rain. A very claustrophobic situation, but a great adventure nonetheless.

This is all for now as this blog needs to be published before our trip to South America is over. I haven’t even told you about Halloween in Chile and finding out I’m not even married to Francisco in Argentina. (Is Maxima even married to Willem Alexander in that case?)