The Detail of the Thing or also known as The Serial Killer Instinct

Oct 29, 2009,
Salento, Colombia
Elevation 1900m

It is always the little tiny miniscule details that get to me. Irrespective to how many markets I have been to, it is always that moment when I see a detail of a thing and that would be what sticks in my mind and that is what get to me...just a little. Sometimes it is that single drop of blood on the floor, the eyelash that is left on the eyeball, the mole that is on the peeled off face or the tiny whiskers that is on the muzzel. It is never the whole carcass, it is never death in its fullness. It is always these tiny moments.

It reminds me the show "Dexter" or of detective novels where it is always the little things. It is always these moments that the author focuse in on, it is always these little details the character, albeit the Serial Killer or the Detectives obsess over. Is it because it is not death that bothers us but the details that reminds us of the life that once was? Or is it because death is too vast to comprehend so our brain focus in on the miniscule so that we don´t freak out?

"One death is a tragedy, a million is statistics." Is our reaction and focus on the details another reflection of the same sentiment?

Market Day in Silvia

Oct 27, 2009
Silvia, Colombia
Elevation 2647m

Silvia is the center of the Guambiano region. The Guambianos are considered one of the most traditional indigenous group in Colombia and every Tuesday they come into the town of Silvia for market day to trade and socialize. This is the first indigenous markets I have seen and photographed in Colombia. Colombia does not have a high indigenous population but as I travel further south and close to Ecuador, indigenous cultures are starting to appear.

This market day was beautiful. The town square is filled with Guambianos in traditional grabs, the women walk around the town with a spindle in one hand spinning yarn as they mill about. The vendors in the market is a mixture of Guambianos and Colombians. There are Guambianos selling fruits and vegetables but all the butchers at the market appears to be Colombian. I suspect it would be harder for the Guambianos to come into Silvia and sell meat and such as there would be more complicated logistics involved, such as the transporation of the animials and a location for slaugher. Or it could also be possible that Guambianos regularly slaugher animals in their own village so when they come into Silvia, their need for meat is limited.

What stands out from market day here at Silvia are the little details:
- Guambianos couple wearing matching work boots with same color shoe laces.

- A guy walking around the market demonstrating a chain saw, turning on the motor and making the children cry while the crowd gathers and the price of the chain saw is excitedly whispered through the crowd.

- The unique features and faces of the Guambianos.

- How the town square is colored with the blue of the Guambiano garb and they sit about and have visits with each other and the Colombian town folks of Silvia. There is no seperation and distinction.

- How the Guambianos line up outside of post office or other buildings of official nature so that they can take care of whatever modern life logistics that needs to be taken care of. This contrast between the effort to hold on to the tradition but also giving in to the demands of the modern world.

The Level of Danger

Oct 23, 2009
Manizales, Colombia
Elevation 2094m

Alexandro offered to take me to the main market here in Manizales today. He thought that it is not safe for me to go by myself. The market was amazing. Today, for the first time I got to see an entire pig butchered and seperated into smaller parts. An entire pig disappeared into smaller geometeric shapes right in front of me in under 20 minutes. The speed and the skill of the butchery is amazing.

Nothing is wasted here. Everything is used for something. I watched butchers labouriously take off the skin on a cow´s head, pick off whatever bits of meat there is on the head along with cataledge and whatnot for what Alexandro describes as a meat jello like dish.

Here in Colombia, everytime I ask someone about the market, where it is or how I can get there, they look at me and tell me that its not really safe to go. I go anyways. I have never felt unsafe or sketchy when I am in the market, surrounded by butchers, carcass, vegetables and fruit sellers. The most profound and basic thing happens here in these markets and my danger alarm never has gone off. I am uncertain as to why the constant warnings. Perhaps I am not seeing the danger, perhaps I am being a little too naive, or perhaps these nice Colombians just don´t want anything to happen to me and end up with a negative impression of their beloved country.

Alexandro was really excited that he got to take me to the market today and show me around. Towards the end of the morning, he asked me what I thought of it and why do I like it so much. I told him that I like the market because it exists without my gringo dollars. The market happens irrespective to what the flow of tourism is or isn´t. It is authentic and it is real and it is life at its most basic, independent of backpackers or how wildly visted a country is.

*I had some amazing pictures for you but I lost my blackberry (where the pictures are stored on) on the bus ride out of Manizales...so I am afraid that you will have to wait until the end of December when the website gets overhauled with all the new images from Latin America.

Coffee Facts

Oct 22, 2009
Manizalea, Colombia
Elevation 2094m

I went to a coffee farm today for a tour as I am in the Zona Cafetera region of Colombia. Our guide´s name is Alexandro and this is what I learned:

- a 10 kilo bag of raw beans sells from $1.25-$2 USD depending on the harvest and market demand.

- a 10 kilo bag of raw beans will yeild approx 3 kilos after roasting.

- this particular coffee farm has 20-30 works on staff but will add another 50-80 seasonal worker for the harvest season.

- the seasonal harvest workers vary in age, anywhere between 13-70 and there used to be a lot more women 10-15 years ago than now.

- the climate change is effecting the harvest and the crop. previously they were getting 80% of their harvest to be of export quality where as now they are only getting 30% that are good enough for export.

- export quality beans look and tasts vastly different than that of domestic consumptn. domestic consumption are of inferior beans are burnt and often infested with worms. the same quality of beans are what is used in the likes of Folgers or instant coffee.

- harvest workers are paid by the kilos, 400COP (approx $.50) per kilo. if the harvest is good, they can pick as much as 100 kilos a day

- a coffee tree can produce berries for 5 years then its dormiate for 2 years. every 7 years modifications needs to be made to the tree, such as trimming it back, in order for it to produce berries again in another 5 plus 2 year cycle.

- during harvest season, the prices for goods in surrounding towns fluctuate depending on the quality of the harvest. if its a good year, food and goods are more expensive as the workers have more money to spent. where as if its a bad harvest season, things are cheaper.

Alexandro said that he loves giving tours for the coffee farms as coffee is such an important part of the region and his culture that he feels like he is sharing a part of himself with us, "showing us himself" as he says.

An Honest Killing

Oct 20, 2009
Medellin, Colombia
Elevation 1494m

I photographed Plaza Minorista Jose Maria Villa this morning. It is a large covered market just west of the Center. The most interesting thing about this market is the meat section. There are refrigerated display cases up front with various cuts of meat, just behind the counter there are large sides of carcass dangling from hooks and then behind that is a large walk-in refrigerator, some with windows for you to look into and see the butchering in progress. It is almost the best of both worlds; the honesty of what meat is combined with the technology and modernity of the 21st Century.
Charlie Grosso
www.charliegrosso.com
310-592-0895

The W for backpackers

Oct 20, 2009
Medellin, Colombia
Elevation 1494m

There is a small network of hostels in Colombia and they all work together to recommend each other. From my experiences in the last 3 cities, these hostels are by far the best and most well run ones here in Colombia. For Medellin, the first hostel recommendation is Casa Kiwi.

Casa Kiwi is like no other hostel I have ever been at before. It has just undergone renovation and it is like a the "W" hotel for backpackers. It is modern, it is slick, it has beautifully tiled bathrooms that would not be out of place in a $400 per night hotel room in NYC. There is a pool table, a fully stocked open kitchen, a movie room with terraced seating, a large deck looking out onto the street below and a roof top pool that is not quiet complete yet. Casa Kiwi is certainly in a class of its own.

Ironically, the degree of luxury that is offered by Casa Kiwi only highlight some of the things that I have grown tired of from the backpackers crowd. The constant partying, the bit of decadence that is part of the easy life even though we are all traveling on a budget, and mostly the lack of engagement with the world. How can one engage in the world when one is a tourist and moves from city to city, country to country. When one's biggest adjustment is the changing currency and the brand of beer that is preferred?

Once upon a time I thought that I would want to be able to take off for 6 months, for a year at a time and travel long term like many who I have meet on the road. Yet as I meet more and more backpackers, their stories are all becoming more and more the same. Maybe this all goes back to that idea of FREE and what it means to be FREE (see blog entry July 2009).

What I am interested in is how to engage more profoundly with a place, with the people. What I want to know is how can I add an extra layer to the experience. An extra layer of uniqueness to a new country, of a new place, to get what makes it tick and makes it unlike any other. For that, I am thankful for the existence of "Wok the Dog" yet I want more. I want to learn more, connect deeper, understand better. Any suggestions?

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

Their Eyes are Watching...

Oct 16, 2009
San Gil, Colombia
Elevation 1100m

The market here at San Gil is the first market that I have been to in Colombia that is of interest. The markets in Cartagena were difficult and challenging and not in a good way. It has taken me a while to finally get to another town and start to move through Colombia, but that is another story for another time.

I usually relie a bit on the fact that the vendors would be busy doing their thing while I am at the market. There is a certain annoymous factor involved here that enables me to walk about and shoot as I do. However, this morning at San Gil, all the vendors takes a note of me, wants to say hello, wants to know where I am from, wants to tell me that I am pretty, wants to know what I think of Colombia. I could not walk about unnoticed. As I wonder through, I repeated hear the words, "China," "Californina," shouted through out the market in addition to whatever else is being said in Spanish. I must say that the Colombian´s friendliness is unparalled in any Latin America country that I have traveled through so far. However, this amount of attention is a huge change from the norm and I can´t help but wonder how that will effect the shooting and the images I will be able to get from Colombia.

We are so well prepared, too bad we are not sleeping in the woods

Oct 12, 2009
Parque Nacional Tayrona

Yesterday a strange foursome of travelers head into Parque Nacional Tayrona, some are wanting to layout on the beach while others are looking to do a little trekking and escape the Colombians on holiday.

Not knowing exactly what we would be getting ourselves into and assuming that all food and water would be expensive and perhaps hard to come by in the park, Caps and I pack 3 liters of water each in addition to snacks in anticipation of a day of isolation and trekking. All the while, Victoria and Klas have pack minimal water and a bag of saltines. We walk into the park on an easy trail for about 50 minutes before we arrived at the first beach site, Arrecifes. It is a beautiful sight to behold. The sea is luscious and the sand pristine, but the currents are strong and swimming is not advisable here. There is also 3 large campsites here and all of them are fill to the brim with people. We move on to the next stop, La Piscina, 20 minutes away and its a beautiful blue cove perfect for swimming but of course, it is filled with people. Victoria and Klas are wanting to stay while Caps and I are wanting to keep on going. Caps and I stay there for about an hour before we decide to head out to Cabo San Juan where we are supposed to stay the night.

Cabo San Juan looked like the site of a major music festival. There are tents pitched in every spare inch on the grass, the line waiting for food is long and exhausting and the hammocks for rent are lined up one next to the other only meters apart. I conjured an image of what night would look like with all the hammocks filled with people and that mental picture filled me with horror and expediency to get out of Cabo.

Caps and I have lunch at Cabo and we both agree that we should keep on going to Pubelito, an archaeological site high in the Sierra Nevadas and away from the beach. Our plan was to hike up to Pubelito and then back down again to Playa Breva and hope that it is not filled with Colombians and Gringos. At the beginning of the trail there is a sign that says it is 2.5 miles to Pubeltio and that you should not head out past 1pm. It is 3:45pm and Caps and I are confident that we would be able to manage 2.5 miles in an hour. After all, we are pretty quick on our feet.
The next 2.5 miles are filled with giant boulders and an elevation gain that is steep and rapid. We are out of breath every few minutes and every bit of water we consume is immediately poured out of our pores. Yet as we are soaking wet standing on top of a giant boulder looking back towards the Caribbean and the jungle spread out in front of us, we smile and think its all worth it.

The sky is darkening and we hustle on through as we still have another 2.5 miles+ before we would reach Playa Breva where we can spend the night. The guide book describes the trail to Playa Breva as junglely and not very well marked. We arrive at a fork in the road, one of them go up while the other goes down. We opt for the trail that goes down since in theory we should be losing elevation as we trek towards sea level. 10 minutes down this trail and we wonder if we are on the right trail or if it is a trail at all that we are on. Yes, it is poorly marked and its definitely junglely but to what degree are we interpreting the directions here? Caps climbs over this fallen tree and yells back at me," there is kinda a trail here." " Which way kind of?" I ask, "kinda of a trail or kinda of not a trail?" "Kinds of not having been used in a long time trail." Ok, time to turn back and try the other trail.

This trail is much better marked comparatively and we hustle our way through all the flat part at a speed that is something faster than a power walk but not quiet a run. It is getting darker by the second and I pull out 2 headlamps and we start to trek in the dark. All the mean while, we joke about having to sleep in the dark, in the woods, that we still have enough water, peanuts and cookies to get us through the night, not to mention 98% DEET to keep the bugs away. This trail is also poorly marked and it is definitely junglely but we are blessed by the fact that we can't see well enough to see the drop off on the other side of the trail or how steep of a decent we were actually doing. Got to love it when adrenaline takes over and all fears are none-existent, only the will and physical endurance to get you through the task at hand.

Every minute in the dark in the jungle feels like an hour, every fraction of a mile we hike feels like ten. We finally come to this barbed wired fence and Caps thinks that we should walk around the fence as we can hear the ocean straight ahead. But the fence goes from end of end and there is no way around it. I think I saw a path we had just missed so we give that a try. Just on the other side of the path is a hut and our destination!!! Yay! "Too bad we didn't have to sleep in the woods, we were so well prepared" Caps says to me upon our arrival.

We have some chicken for dinner and spend a night in a hammock with only one other couple around. The difference between Playa Breva and Cabo is incomparable. We wake up in the morning to an empty beach, blue sky, green hills that rolls down the cliff to meet the beach. This is paradise!

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

In The Giant Termite Mounde

Oct 9, 2009
Cartagena, Colombia
Elevation 2m

I went out to Volcan de Lodo el Totumo today with some friends. At first I was recluctant to go, but then curosity, a slight bit of bordem and a lot of why the hell not got the better of me and so off I went. The first sentence in the Lonley Planet guid says ¨No, its no the world´s largest termite mound.¨ Well....having reading that, my first sight of this ¨volcano¨made my burst out laughing. It really does look like the world´s largest termite mound.

Its about 15m tall and the opening on top its about 8 feet by 15 feet and it is fill with mud the consistency of pudding or clotted cream (take your pick of thick dairy based substance). You climb down a few steps and a local guys indicates that you lay down in the mud on your back. As you float on top of this incredibly dense mud, he cover you with it and then pushes you to the side so that you can wait in line to be massaged by another local guy. There is a bit of assembly line quality to what is happening in this tiny mud pit. You get massages for about 5 minutes by the guy then he pushes you again off to another side to make room for more incomings.

As I ¨wallow¨in mud in this giant terminte mound, I can´t help but be reminded of the children´s book, Ïn the Night Kitchen¨ by Murice Sendak and the part of the boy falling into milk or cake batter or something. Only difference being that I am in mud and I don´t think there is a chance that I would get baked into a cake. What is the most bizzard is that you can stand up in the mud. It is so dense that although you are kinda standing on ¨nothing¨ you are afloat and not sinking.

If you are ever curious about what would be like to float in a tub of clotted cream, come to Cartagena and visit Volcan de Lodo el Totumo.

*Picture to come

Thank you Mr Penn

Oct 9, 2009
Cartagena, Colombia
Elevation 2m

I had a moment this morning to read through the headlines from these last couple of days and to my surprise, I found out that Mr Irving Penn had passed away on Wednesday at the age of 92. He is one of my favorit photographers from that generation and also the last surviving one. Both Mr Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton passed away in these past couple of years.

I once asked my friend Jay Maisel if he has ever had a chance to meet Mr Penn, Jay being a famous photographer in his own right. Jay said that his path and Mr Penn has never really crossed but they both know of one another and have had several phone conversations. He said in one of his conversations with Mr Penn, Jay expressed a desire to meet. Mr Penn then told him that he was not recieving guests as there is still so much photographs that he wants to take and he has so little time left.

Mr Penn´s dedication made me speechless.

There is a nice article about Mr Iriving Penn´s life and works in the New York Times if you are interested.

A home away from home

Oct 7, 2009

Cartagena, Colombia



My wondering of these last 10 months has finally gotten the best of me. I am in Cartagena and I cannot for the life of me convince myself to get out of bed this morning to head out to the market.

No matter how much I try to convince myself that my purpose here is to shoot, hence, I must get up, I do not want to. All I want to is stay in bed and stare at the white ceiling above with the molding and watch the ceiling fan circle around. All I want to do is lay in this little room of mine, where no one knows me, needs nothing from me, expect nothing from me, demands nothing of me. At least just for a little while longer, at least just for a day. A home for me, even if its only at 18000 COP per night, for the moment, this little white room is mine, all mine, a home away from home.



I know myself well enough to know that if I just give in to moments like this the feeling will resolve itself. Once I have had my fill, I will get sick of the stillness, and be ready for another chicken bus, be ready for another adventure.



I did manage to get up and head to the market for a very uninspired morning of shooting. Only to find my way back to my little white room a little while later and lay down to admire the ceiling, the consistency of the fan. It is now nearly 4pm and I have spent most of the day hiding in my room, listening to the world go by outside. I am almost ready to participate again, I am almost ready for you, Cartagena.



Now, only if I could stop sweating...

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

Spontaneous Yellow Fever Vaccination

Oct 5, 2009

Cartagena, Colombia

At sea level



I arrived in Cartagena, Colombia today and as I was waiting in line at immigration, I make friends with these 2 girls who were traveling alone as well. Victoria, who will be on the road for 4 months through South America and Lesile who will be traveling for 6 months but first she is doing a 3 week language school in Cartagena.



Victoria and I shared a taxi into town and are staying at the same hostel. She wanted to get her yellow fever vaccination taken care of and somehow I ended up on this errand with her. We go over to Casa Viena where the owner Hans is a wealth of information. He tells us where to go to get the vaccination and we head in that direction. While I am standing at the vaccination office and listening to Victoria asking the nurses what area she cannot go to without the vaccination, I decided that I should get mine as well. Hey, I am here already.



I have not had any vaccinations since I was a child and the last time I got a shot of any sort was 15 years ago for rabies and tetanus after our dog had taken a bit out of me. I know that some might think I am foolish for traveling the world as I do without any vaccinations, but in my defense, I have always planned on getting them when I head out to the likes of Africa and India.



$27 dollars and a very spontaneous decision later, I now have my yellow fever vaccination. My left arms hurts so much that I can't quiet left it over my head nor can I sleep on my left side. However, I am now yellow fever proof. Now let's just hope that all the other diseases that I am not vaccinated against does not find me.

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895