Danny is from near my hometown, just outside Chicago, but we met sitting on top of a 125 foot stone temple that peeks out of thick jungle. I asked what he'd take away from his trip to Guatemala ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
Danny highly recommends that you visit El Remate, Guatemala.
“Did not Columbus himself set sail because he had read Marco Polo’s narrative?”
Sune takes care of a Mayan ceremonial site on a tiny lake in Guatemala that's ringed by volcanoes. A famed spiritual energy there attracts hippies, tourists, local faithful, and other seekers. We spoke, by chance, in Copenhagen, where he summers. Since I've been to those fire rings in Lago de Atitlán too, I asked what the coincidence of our meeting in Denmark could mean ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“Amo el amor de los marineros que besan y se van ...”
Dakota was intentionally trying to get lost at the Art Institute of Chicago. I asked what he looked like ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“One of us will talk, the other will listen.”
Patxi ran with the bulls, and I caught up with him near Iruña Cafe, where Hemingway used to write. I asked a very special guest to translate his side of our conversation ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.”
Amin was a trance DJ from Singapore, until he traveled to Sri Lanka for his last show. I asked how Austria brought him closer to his faith ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“I hope the leaving is joyful, and I hope never to return.”
Some links to music included in this episode:
112 beat masher by Bauchamp
Gating technique supersaw waveform by DJNebula
Alnitaque & Moon Shot - EURO (Extended Mix) by Moon Shot
Janusz made a movie in Namibia. He claims to look like a neanderthal. I asked how it felt to escape communist Poland ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“The most unhappy eyes in the world are those that can not flow tears.”
Michal needs funds to repair his time machine and get back to the 1960s. I asked what we can do to help ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“So ... be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to great places!”
Jaey is in the process of moving from Seoul to Barcelona by way of South America. We met in a blustery corner of Chile, where he told three beautiful stories from his trip. I asked why he's not allowed into the most famous soccer stadium in Buenos Aires ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“We are for the most part lonely when we go abroad.”
Part 2 of our special 50th Episode celebration!
We look back at some of the stories that resonated this year and what their sum could mean. At the end I tell the story of the man in Burma who made me hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. And a very special thanks to Dave for stepping in to host again this week.
“Where we are is who we are.”
Part 1 of our special 50th Episode mile marker!
A friend helped me lift the hood to look into the engine of this podcast. Inside we found a Yeats poem, the story of the coin Primo Levi brought back from Auschwitz, and why his is the path I most want to follow. And of course, as always, I hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. And to Allison for taking this photo. And a very special thanks to Dave for stepping in to host this week and share W.B. Yeats's fitting "The Song of Wandering Aengus."
“Any careful word may suggest a route, may begin a strand of metaphor or event out of which much, or all, will develop.”
Elio and I met in a cwm, a mountain valley carved by a glacier. What he said there led me to reflect on the sublime ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“What is wonderful always goes together with a sense of dismay.”
Andes has to get a letter from the office of labor in Bonn, so that he can extend his stay in Berlin, before returning to Sweden to continue his studies, before ultimately, maybe, one day returning to Indonesia. I went with him to the post office ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“What I hear most often as I travel the country are five words that never, ever fail to touch my heart, that’s ‘I am praying for you.’”
Binta took her very first trip alone at a very young age. Looking back, she wonders if maybe she might have been too trusting. We asked why she's traveling alone still ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“All my days I have longed equally to travel the right road and to take my own errant path.”
Kaveesh grew up in Toronto and wonders what he might have been had he only ever stayed there rather than study in London. We asked who's on the other path that diverged from the one he chose ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“I know you must hold secrets, such a long way from home. Some day you won’t be so alone. Some day you’ll be where you should go.”
Silas works at Harding University in Greece, an overseas program where students spend a semester just outside Athens. A former attendee himself, he now leads the trips around the Mediterranean that made such a big impact on his life. I asked whether he could put into words what this kind of experience does to a young person ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“The mere exercise of attention—eyes wide, ears pricked, heart open—is not a bad way to move through the world.”
Helkin moved to Chicago from Venezuela to study English, with dreams of big city life and plans to return to the company that gave him time off. He ended up falling in love and getting married. I asked why he came out ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“Trembling knees and an unrelenting sense of failure is one way forward.”
Bertrand shared a traditional Italian drink with us from a wooden, six-spouted pot—called La Grolla—one evening in his home in Bordeaux with his girlfriend Anna. We had no idea how rich a story he would tell when we asked what his tattoo means ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“It seemed to me beyond the realms of possibility that I should travel so far.”
Anna was once a stewardess and did something unexpected on her regular route to Kenya, but that's just one small part of her story. She met her boyfriend Bertrand in Australia, when she moved there from Italy because of a tragedy. And we met them when we stayed in their apartment in Bordeaux, France through Airbnb. Nearly every night, they cooked a special dish for us since they're chefs. We couldn't believe our good fortune, asking excitedly how all these travels changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“As often happens with the most beautiful adventures in life, this journey began by chance.”
Tomek visited Frida Kahlo's Blue House in Mexico City, little knowing that I would interview him while we stood in line. I asked him to describe one of her paintings ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“As a matter of fact, there is just as much that is interesting, strange, mysterious, and wonderful; just as much to be learned that is edifying, broadening, and refining in a cabbage as there is in a page of Latin.”
Hamou did not want to share his story with me. This is the first anniversary of The Observer Effect. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé.
“Great eloquence may seem to be inarticulate.”
