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A visit to the Central Valleys and the Land of the Ayuuk, southern Mexico.

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Land of the Ayuuk: about 1,800 m. or 5,940 ft. elevation, Sierra Mixe, southern Mexico. Introduction: In recent posts, I wrote about my experience of road travel along the amazing Ruta Panamericana. Until now, I had travelled on segments of it in five countries, the USA, Canada, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Chile!  In this post I will tell you about my latest experience in the sixth country where the Ruta Panamericana goes. It is about travel along this great highway system to the eastern part of the Central Valleys and the highlands of Sierra Mixe in the State of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Incredibly, the Mixe, the indigenous people who inhabit Sierra Mixe, call themselves the Ayuuk, the people who speak the mountain language (Wikipedia)  ( Juan de Dios Gomez Ramirez, 2013) ! For me, this could suggest a  cultural or linguistic  link to the Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) at northwestern BC, Canada. For the ayuukw is central to the culture of the Gitxsan. The ayuukw (also spelled
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Fast train to Frankfurt

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Introduction: Memories of my father's work life sparked my imagination and love for trains. When he was a young man during the early 1950s, he shoveled coal into steam locomotive fireboxes! The steam engines pulled trains for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) through the mountains of northwestern BC. Although trains are not important for tourism in Canada nowadays, trains, have become an important way for me to travel elsewhere in the world. This post will focus on train travel in other countries from 2005-2015. It will emphasize German high speed train travel between Siegburg/Bonn and Frankfurt Airport. My train travel (2005-2015) My love affair with trains was rekindled in 2005-6. CNR passenger service between Ottawa and Montreal was very enjoyable to me as I made my way to the Kyoto Accord Talks. This train travelled at 90-100 km/h, slow in comparison to modern train systems elsewhere. In 2006, through a national aboriginal organization, I had represented Canad
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My Safari to see the earliest human art of East Africa!

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Site B1 at the Kolo sites. June 10, 2014 Tanzania, East Africa You can know the universe Without leaving your house. You can see the ways of heaven Without looking out of your window. The further you go The less you know. The Tao (about 500 BC) Introduction: Indigenous rock paintings appear  in hundreds of  rock caverns around the Kondoa region of central Tanzania.  As a result of Mary Leakey's 1983 book, "Africa's Vanishing Art: the Rock Paintings of Tanzania", the spectacular rock paintings of the Kondoa area became the subject of international attention The rock art portrayed hunter-gatherers of the stone age and wild animals in mainly reddish-brown colours in their paintings. Pastoralists added their paintings later. Their portrayals were cattle herds, tools and weapons, spears and shields, in black and grey colours (Bwasiri 2008). Later, in July 2006, the World Heritage Committee decided that the rock art of Kondoa was truly a World He
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Road trip on Tanzania's TanRoad A7

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Travel date: June 4'14 Route: Dar Es Salaam (Dar in short) to Morogoro Tanroad: A7 Distance: 194 km Goggle Map:  Click here to see a map of the route Travel Time: 2.5 h according to Goggle Maps, however, it takes almost five hours.  Introduction: In early June'14, I was a participant at an international meetings for Africa's indigenous people at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. After the first meeting at Dar Es Salaam, our delegation travelled by bus to Morogoro, 200 km to the west, to meet with Parakuiyo Maasi. As a result, the objective of this post is to provide glimpses of Tanzanian life along Tanroad A7.   The Swahili coast of East Africa: When I was a boy, I had seen and enjoyed names of Africa on maps. My first image of Africa came from Tarzan movies. They gripped me in wonder but terrified me too! Thus, Dar Es Salaam was so exciting and exotic to me! Yet, most visitors today rush past it on their way to Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti. The eq
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"Serengeti of the North" and the Little Serengeti down south: June'14

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Introduction: For years, I had dreamed about a visit to Africa. Finally, in June'14, I lived my dream. The themes for my adventures at East Africa involved eight main events: 1) Visit to Parakuiyo, a Maasai village west of Morogoro (June 5'14); 2) International meeting of Indigenous People of Africa at Morogoro and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (June 2-7); 3) Visits to the rock paintings up to 30,000 years old at Kolo in the Rock Art District of Kondoa, north-central Tanzania; 4) Seeing the incredible diversity of wildlife during Safaris at the Serengeti, Lake Manyara National Park, Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a breakdown of our Land Cruiser near the Olduvai Gorge; 5) Observing the Great Migration of zebra and wildebeest; 6) Losing out on a two-day trip to the white sands and aqua marine sea at Zanzibar: I struggled for two days to regain control of my hi-jacked Apple Mail system at a remote place in Tanzania; 7) Travelin
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Location: Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
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Sea safari to the ancient Haida village, Skedans, Gwaii Haanas National Park, Haida Gwaii (Canada): July 6'14

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14 Skedans sea safari: 200 km (red lines denote the route).  
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Location: Skeena-Queen Charlotte F, BC, Canada
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Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania: June 16'14

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Location: Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
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This Sitka Spruce may soon lose its status as the oldest life form in the Kitimat Valley!

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The top of the tree broke off. It appears it happened sometime during the past five years. To confirm this thought, I will send an email to an official at the Kitimat Municipal Hall for information about it. An official from Kitimat Municipal Hall response to my query does not make sense. The message was that a logging operation used the tree to yard logs from the forest. The top was broken by these activities. However, I saw the tree a few years ago when the top was not he broken. Thus, I will talk to friends during my next visit to Kitimat to see if they know the story about it. Giant spruce more than 500 years old. Information plaque beside the giant spruce. Broken top.
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Location: Kitimat, BC, Canada
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