Wintertime U.S.A.

I live in the Midwest. For whatever reason some long time ago, people decided that would be a good idea... or at least a very cold one.

Life as a Nazarite

Okay, so I am back living in the United States facing unemployment/underemployment and the single best winter the upper Midwest has ever received. When I am not providing people with far too many drinkable calories, watching Steve Wilkos throw chairs around while sweating on a treadmill, or biking along muddy trails, I spend a lot of time remembering where I have been. I have done a lot really quickly, and this being the first time I am not actively doing some thing massive in my life since I was into death metal; I have a lot to think about.

I went though my massive collection of photos from the research I did in South Africa in 2009; there was not a shortage of them. I looked back at the blog post i did a couple of years ago about my research and it doesn't even justify how important or amazing the work was. So I have decided to post a collection of picture from those months really showing how life changing the experience was for me and how unique and beautiful of a world the Shembe community has created.

I returned to Durban after studying abroad there. With lot of planning and even more help from Prof. Dale Wallace, I immediately starting living with a family of amazing Shembe followers in Musgrave. The family included Gogo, Nuntu, Zahkona, Phiwo, Yoli, Njabulo, Lusanda, and an infinitive rotating amount of cousins so that the tiny two bedroom apartment was never less then 3 people past capacity.

The first month of my time was taken up by library research, adjustments to living, and Sabbath observance. This included going to Elinda in the north of Zululand near the Zulu Royal Family's homestead in Empangeni. There I saw lots of ceremonies, including the wedding ceremony.

In July I moved to eBuhleni in the far reaches of the outer township of Inanda near the Inanda Dam. eBuhleni is the holy city of the Nazarites, and this means that anyone living here must practice the Shembe traditions at all times including never wearing shoes. eBuhleni is a hill, the bottom is the entrance and the rough and thorny walk up to the ceremonial ground is surround by extremely densely packed city. I live in a tent on top of the hill, but my family stayed in a house at the bottom where I spent the majority of my time.

Oh course, the reason I was there was to research the church... and I did. Hours and hours of research. Research from the crack of dawn until the midnight and 2 a.m. mass. I spent time with people dancing, in one of the many services each day, kneeling for hours, going to baptisms, weddings, virginity testing, circumcision, ancestor ceremonies, weddings, puberty rites, and to top it off more kneeling. Seriously, the Nazarites kneel all the time. That is hands down the most impressive thing they do. All while wear heavy clothes in the beating African sun. I went through close 2000 photos of people in white robes to pick out a few great ones.

Of course, Shembe is famous for dancing, and I saw hours and hours of it.

This blog is not about Shembe though, it is about me. I have written a lot on the topic and the amazing people who make up the church. Most importantly, the family who took me in and took care of me is what I would like to share. So here is a picture of my family, one that captures my life for that time, and one of my family and me leaving Ebuhleni.

The Fifth Season

The Midwest in December is not really known much for tourists trying to escape the warm climates of the south. For me personally, it was a bit of a culture and climate shock after Colombia. The Midwest is also not known for being a place of booming industry and job opportunities. I took a few photos from the center of Cedar Rapids. After the flooding of the Cedar River in 2008, most of the area feels forgotten and depressed. As the city expands on the north and south sides, the middle and downtown seems to have been left to the follow the classic story of urban decay that has plagued other cities of the Midwest.

Rainy Daze

The final stop in my never ending tour of South America was the capitol of Colombia. It rained nonstop for the 4 days I was in Bogota. I went to every free museum in the city. In the end crippling poverty, lack of internal heating, and the thought of facing a non-stop onslaught of Gringos can make someone melancholy. That being said, Bogota was a bit of a bummer for me. I still got to see the massive city from the top of the cerro, ride the cable car, see Botero's "huge" collection, and walk around the city.

Chao Sudamerica. Te extraño muchísimo. Teníamos muchos momentos buenos junto. Algún dia, quiero regresar a tu abrazo: para explorar tus cordilleras, nadar en tus mares, amar tus hijas, subir tus volcanes, enseñar con tus niñatos, y vivir en la patagonia. Me has dado tanto. Gracias por los amigos. Gracias por las aventuras. Gracias por la plata, las noches locas, y el aire fresco. No te recordare, y lo se que tu tienes muchos mas secretos que tengo que descubrir. Chao Sudamerica.

Tierra de Paisas

After an eternity in the heat of the jungle and coast, I finally made my way back to my old friend the Andes. I stayed a couple of days in Medellin in the neighborhood of El Poblado. Medellin is hands down South America's most modern city. Far from its recent past as the World's most dangerous city, Medellin is a sparkling jewel of what Latin America is possible of and an example for the future. I spent a day in the village of Guatape and La Piedra near Medellin that supplies 65% of Colombia's power through hydroelectric dams and creates an amazing landscape for Paisas trying to escape the very business oriented Medellin center.

Medellin itself is built in a valley with the Medellin River running through the middle. Most travelers see Medellin's amazing night life and their dorm bed during the day. If you can find time to wake up when the sun is up, Medellin is pretty cool in the light as well. Famous for its drug cartel past, the cable cars that are part of Medellin's public transport system are now safe for a traveler to go and see and amazing views of the city. Also Medellin has parks and cerros that give travelers a unique perspective of the city. I was able to get a private tour of the city from my Paisa friend Ana Maria to see the beautiful urban Medellin landscape along with my friend Sina.

Love in the Time of Festival

While on the Caribbean coast I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera. While the city remains unnamed throughout the novel, it does not take much time in Cartagena de Indias to figure out the novel clearly transpires in one of South America's most important cities. The old port city which once housed the Viceroys of Nueva Granada, fell into almost ruin at the turn of the 20th century when cholera almost whipped out the largely African populations of the city. Today, Cartagena stands as an access port to South America; as sail boat leaving Cartagena is the only option for continued travel to Panama. The city itself is a hot one. With temperatures around 90 degrees during the afternoon and a continual 100 percent humidity, Cartagena is for made for siestas and fiestas. The Cartagena independence celebration started the day I arrived. In between getting sprayed with soap, booming salsa music, and fireworks, Cartagena's soul showed.

Near Cartagena is a mud volcano where one can go to a very natural spa named Volcan de Lodo El Totumo. I had to go take a dip in its muddy depths. Well... it was muddy, but I found the whole messy process a lot of fun.