Tonight at story time, E told me she wanted to tell C and I a story as well. Of course, I obliged and I was actually delighted to hear what creative story she might come up with.
The following is a paraphrase of the story and it's missing some details, but I will give it my best.
I have entitled it: The Saddest Story Ever Told
There was once a baby panda that "lost its mother to a tiger". The baby panda was very sad.
The baby panda climbed to the top of a hill that had one "lonely tree" at the top of the hill. "Actually, it was an ant hill" and a giant ant came out of the hill and killed the panda.
In the summer of 2014 I taught a short-term study abroad program to Peru. Here is my fourth post of fragments on the trip. Here was Part III.
After the wonderful dinner and star-gazing from the night before, we were all a little slow to rise. Plans were hatching that would split our crew up into two groups. One group wanted to go back to Cuzco and attempt to attend the Inti Reyma. We had planned on this being a possibility but had not been able to score tickets. This is the annual event that celebrates the sun and it would be a great opportunity for all of us.
We were told that tickets to the event were sold out and that the cheapest ticket would have to be bought from scalpers at over a hundred bucks! Plus, we would have to take the hour-plus trip back to Cuzco. I was torn but I really didn't want to pay money for an unknown. Even if we got tickets, I had no idea what the seats would be with. Plus,sitting in the sun all day in large crowd sounded unappealing. I just had a bad feeling about the whole endeavor. Besides, I had an plan for us back in Ollantanytambo. I loved the "small town" atmosphere and knew we were going back to Cuzco later in the trip anyway.
After a nice quiet breakfast at the hotel, the two groups parted ways. The group that went back to Cuzco was comprised of only students. I am sure this broke a rule or violated some ethical study abroad guidelines, but hear me out. The three students that went were well equipped for their adventure. One was an 34-year old US military vet and a well-worn world traveler (she was unafraid of just about any situation) and another was a Spanish speaker. It seemed a perfect match.
Our group rode one of the motos down to the bus stop and took a taxi to back to Ollantanytambo. We planned going up the trail El Camino a Pinkuylluna. This was a path up the mountain that was opposite of the Sun Temple that we had been at the day before. On the mountain there were several granaries that stored food for the Inca community. Because it was higher elevation and kept at a cooler temperature, the food was sure to last longer. Most of the store-houses were about the size of a small apartment or home but we made our goal of the day to make it to the largest structure on the mountain.
Our first problem was finding the path! The trail-head was extremely difficult to find and was not well-marked at all. Maybe we were just oblivious, but if you're looking for the entrance, keep your eyes open! The travel book I had with me was unclear and even asking a few locals, we still couldn't find it (although we got a good tour of the city). After an hour, we finally found that we had walked right past it earlier in our journey! Doh!
This was the street that Pinkuylluna is on. Cool little cobblestone road.
Even though there was a skull and cross bones, that just made the whole climb feel more fun. I can't recommend this hike enough. It's free and you are free explore as you wish. I heard online some folks paid a guide and that's completely not necessary. Just start climbing, and have fun! At least on the day we went, it was pretty empty as well. One of these days, someone will do something stupid and they won't allow people to roam free on and around the ruins. It almost felt like you were getting away with something.
One of our members was a little out of shape, while the rest of us were moderately "in shape". The climb starts pretty steep, so we had to watch our step and our hands. My colleague managed to get a cactus needle in his hand while he was trying to take a picture. After about 40-60 minutes into our climb, our out- of-shape student said we could move forward without her. While we encouraged her to come with us, I think we were all relieved about her decision. She hung out in one of the old granaries all by her lonesome, but at least she had a heck of a view of the valley.
Every few minutes we would climb to a new ridge and find another granary to explore. There were multiple paths as well that offered too many choices. I instantly regretted the time we wasted finding the trail and thought it would have been even better to leave earlier in the morning to have more time to explore. Something got into me as we made our ascent. During our climb I started climbing ahead of the other two, just climbing crazy, like a mad man. We had the trails pretty much to ourselves, so it just felt like my own mountain. It was great.
This was about as high as I would go. We decided to veer to our left (the photo's right) to get to the largest granary, plus we needed to plan for climbing back down, eating lunch and catching a ride back to Urubamba.
Look, I'm getting all 21st century on ya with the first selfie of the blog!
This had been our goal, the largest granary on the mountain. Years ago, I had seen pictures of these very store house online in my early research of our program. I had even forgotten about it, until the path turned around the bend and there it was. It was other-worldly.
The afternoon sun made the rocks gleam as if they were made of gold. I waited for C and the other student to arrive. I took it all in and enjoyed the moment alone. On a group trip like this, alone time is at a premium. Having an ancient Incan ruin to yourself is pretty darn sweet.
I took a few pictures and then I did something that while inappropriate, it was completely necessary inside the granary. Don't judge me! It wasn't a holy site and the granary afforded me the privacy that was necessary. Besides, it would be another two hours before I could find a proper bathroom.
I find doorways without doors are pretty cool.
After a short rest and more photography at this granary, we headed back down the mountain. We had some solid sandwiches at Hearts Cafe. I had the hummus and tomato sandwich- thumbs up for me. There is good food to be had at this little place and a nice second story to people watch in the town below. They also had wifi, and that's always nice. It was one of those late lunches that only means you'll skip dinner and later be starving at 10 o'clock.
We caught a taxi back to Urabamba but for some crazy reason we walked from the bus station back to our hotel. We stopped by a local park and riverside and the river was nice - if you didn't look down at the trash. We continued our walk but we realized how silly it was given how tired we were. We discussed hailing a taxi or moto but never did and it made less and less sense the closer we got. We stopped at a convenience store for ice cream and finally, after an hour of walking from the bust station, we came upon our hotel, exhausted.
One of the motos in Ollanta. Baby Jesus and Mary above the tiger with wings, inside a Bat-Man symbol, surrounded by reversed Nike swooshes. Could this get any cooler? Also, Ying-Yang symbol on the mud flaps. Sweet.
There was a bit of drama as we hadn't heard from the other team. But after a strange text and a short phone call, we found out they were on their way back. They arrived at 9 or 10 and we had "class" by exchanging stories of our day. Apparently, they had a great adventure as well and their tickets and seats were great! Our class time got a little heated, as C had them talking about peace and conflict and well, conflict happened. It was our first sign of strain on the group but it all worked out in the end.
I think I snacked a little on my snack reserve, knowing I could enjoy a big breakfast at the hotel in the morning. I had packed crackers, dried banana chips, Cliff bars, peanuts, etc. for just this kinda thing. Also in my backpack: AAA batteries, tissue, hand sanitizer, band aides and of course pens and pencils. Just call me a boy scout.
One last look at our hotel.
The next morning we had a nice leisurely breakfast before we were moving up in elevation once again. This time we drove to our highest peak of the Sacred Valley, (12,100 ft.), Misminay. It was a nice drive up sloping mountains and our drives were always quiet and relaxing. Usually on these bus trips I would occasionally look down below and wonder, "Wow, if the driver had a brain aneurysm, we would all die".
Misminay is a village that embraces tourism as a way to make their lives better. It was great. I had seen this quick BBC video clip about the village before we left for the trip.
I had mixed feelings soon after we arrived. They did they a little welcome as they did in the video above. It felt slightly forced and it felt slightly exploitative. On the other hand, it was tourists like me that helped keep their way of life and beliefs intact (I hope) and allowed them to make their lives easier. I mean, I felt exploited later when they started to hawk their stuff. I dunno, capitalism....this is what it does.
Although some of it felt like a show, it felt like there were some "real" moments as well (???). We shucked some corn with the villagers and then shared a blessing ceremony to Pachamama with coca leaves and chicha. The chicha is traditionally fermented with spit and I wondered if this was the case with this batch. We were offered each a sip and I felt as thought I couldn't refuse. It wasn't as sweet as I was expecting but hey, I've never tasted corn juice fermented by spit.
Blessing and prayer to Pachamama
The village was an amazing display of the strength of the indigenous faith and belief system. I was under the impression that the mestizo culture and the Catholic Church had over-run or incorporated indigenous belief into it's own system. However, what I was finding out was that for many indigenous peoples, the belief systems weren't mixed. The two systems existed as two concurrent systems that didn't contradict one another but complimented one other. Offer a prayer and blessing to Pachamama, then go to church later that day. What seemed like contradiction to us, seemed logical to the people.
After the blessing, we had a home-cooked meal, which was pretty good with some serious, kick-ass chili peppers (it looked like pico de gallo but much spicier). Then the women of the village showed us how the women clean the wool, dye the wool and spin the wool of alpacas. Of course, when showtime was over, they started selling items.
After it was over, it was time to head back down to Ollantanytambo on a long bus ride back. We had a train to catch to a little place called Machu Picchu!!
Getting crazy on the blog - two art posts in a row! I was called to duty last night to produce a birthday poster for my son's H birthday party.
It will also double as a "Pin the Eyeball on Mike" game as well. It was taken from a composite of two different models I selected of Mike that I found online. The perspective is a little screwy but it was already too late for me to change it. Anyway, I am pretty happy with it, considering all of it was done free hand and I spent all of ten minutes penciling it and then tracing it with a sharpie.
As usual, it was painted with acrylic paint while the lettering was done with map pencils because I'm lazy.
I was flying back home from a conference in October of last year when I started drawing triangles. Lots and lots of triangles. Triangles with different designs and shapes inside. Some designs were connected within larger triangles, others were contained.
It was fun and I was jamming out with some tunes, wasting time until I got home.
Then I started writing random numbers inside of them and I found myself lazily trying to create a code of some importance using math or combinations of numbers with letters, etc. We were starting to land, so I figured I would expand on this idea and create a proper self portrait. After a week or so of drawing a few triangles a night, here was the result:
The page was too big for my scanner so the edges are little blurry. Oh well.
Some triangles are homage to beloved pop culture items/people (you'll find Spider-Man, Kermit, references to Spurs, Weezer, etc.) Other triangles relate to religious iconography, verses, concepts, etc. including Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. There are also a few philosophical concepts and questions taking up space. Of course there are personal coded messages from my past, including initials of people or events, years of note, etc. This includes relationships, friends, jobs, trips and events. Finally, there are the symbols and pictographs, many of which are symbolic and obvious, some symbols are not-so-obvious and others are, well, just designs or silly pictures that have no meaning whatsoever. If you like you could label them "red herrings".
There are "quadrants" (ironic in a picture of triangles to use that term) that are roughly (very roughly) set up chronologically around my life. So for example, most of my early and middle childhood memories are at the top. The caveat to that is that there are many triangles out of order but I figured that's a lot like our brains anyway. Our lives often are narratives that are pieced together out of tangled synapses and wrinkles.
The main message is that triangles are cool, man. Real cool.
Okay, technically I am starting with David Robinson's first year, 1989-90. I hope you'll forgive my indulgence but it wouldn't feel right to group the 1989-90 season with the 1980's.
The 1989-90 season was one of those magical turn-around seasons. You know the type. It's when a team that has been terrible for eternity break out with a star rookie and take their respective league by storm (for a 12 year old, 4 seasons is almost eternity).
San Antonio had David Robinson fever so bad they actually telecast preseason games. Yes, I still remember watching a preseason game against the brand-new Minnesota Timberwolves.
My dad manged to get us tickets to the regular season opener against the Lakers. I was thrilled to say the least and just like the 1988, the Spurs pulled off the upset. David was impressive with 23 points, 17 boards and 3 blocks. I don't have specific memories of the game, other than where our seats were and being really excited. For some reason, I remember my Aunt Nancy was in town, so when we got home, we told her all about the game.
Back in college I was getting rid of my old sports cards and came across this ticket. I had assumed it had just be lost in the sands of time. Although it's pretty banged up, I am happy to say I still have it.
The 89-90 season was wonderful. The Spurs ended up with the NBA record for best single season turn-around (which would be broken by the 1997-1998 Spurs team and later (I think) the Celtics in 2008. I watched or listened to probably every game that was possible. Back in the day, only about half the games were on tv (maybe even less), so that meant a lot of time sitting over a radio like it was the 1920's. I remember eagerly waiting for the sports on the 10 o'clock news so I could watch the highlights. Back then, if you saw a good play - you'd maybe see it twice in highlights in the next 24 hours and then (unless it was a buzzer beater or something really memorable) never again.
Just look at this. David was an athletic freak. It's weird to think the first few seasons of Robinson's career he wasn't perceived as soft. Until the playoff losses starting mounting....
Either in the 1989-90 season or the next season I called into a local sports talk show - I was very nervous but I had something to say (exactly what I have no idea). I remember Jay Howard (voice of the Spurs until 2000) being very nice and patient with a 12 or 13 year-old kid calling into the show.
The Spurs ended up winning the Midwest Division title that year, one game over the (already) hated Utah Jazz and it felt like a big deal. I remember the players celebrating in the locker room like they won a championship. At the time it felt so normal but now it seems pathetic. Now besides the obvious title championship, teams can only celebrate conference championships and even that should be a muted affair or you will turned into a gif and made fun of on Deadspin.
The 2nd seeded Spurs breezed past the Nuggets in the first round and then faced another up-and-coming team, the Portland Trailblazers. It was a classic series. Both teams dominated their home games in the first four games. Each of the four games were basically blowouts and the series tied up 2-2.
Here are some highlights from game 3. David was incredible: 28 points, 8 boards and 8 blocks. Also, watching this clip I forgot how much I loved that baby blue court. Check out a young - 40ish Coach Pop at the very end as well.
Anyway, there was the classic double overtime game 5 that the Spurs lost, followed by a Spurs blowout at home and then the first "Worst Moment in Modern Spurs History" happened. Of course this moment would be be up-ended 3 times in the future, but this was the first of four in my lifetime thus far. Each one getting progressively more painful and dramatic.
Ya know, first world problems suck, I tried embedding this from 26:44 but it didn't work, so you can find the beginning of the disaster at around the 26:44 mark.
This might actually be the first time I am seeing "the pass" in almost 25 years. It was that painful that I practically avoided it until now. I remember seeing a picture of it in the paper the next day and that image was burned into my brain (whether or not that actually happened, I'm not sure).
As we were watching the game, my family was packing up to go to visit family out of town, so the whole 4th quarter my parents were packing up (and if we were packing up for trip, they were probably fighting). Anyway, my Dad was pissed and was like, "Let's go!" after the pass and of course, I was like "No, Dad, maybe something will happen, we gotta stay!!" Well, there were no miracles and a long depressing trip to Corpus followed.
2015 reflections on "The Pass":
The pass isn't as bad as I thought it would be or remembered it.
Sean probably should have cut to the basket.
This is something Manu would do.
The "breakaway" foul called on Strickland on the other end was HORRID and utter BS.
All this is to say, it was still a very stupid thing to do.
After thinking about that breakaway call, I started to remember that I felt like Portland got all the calls in the game and basically got what they wanted in Portland the whole series....hmmm...(goes to basketball reference.com)....
Free Throws Attempted for the series:
Game 1 - Portland - 45 SA - 15 NOT A TYPO - +30
Game 2 - Portland - 43 SA - 23 (a little better but STILL)
Game 3 - Portland - 38 SA - 33
Game 4 - Portland - 34 - SA - 22
Game 5 - Portland - 45 - SA - 42 (one of the only two close games)
Game 6 - Portland - 27 - SA - 34 (the only time SA had more attempts)
Game 7 - Portland - 40 - SA - 31
Portland + 72 for the series on FTA, Adjusting for the first two games, it's still +22 which isn't that bad at all. Look, that Blazers team was great and we were a very young team. Portland had home court and were even missing Duckworth most of the series. They deserved to win. Finally, I would actually need to watch these games again to get a real sense of what was happening. As with all free throws, it's important to note when they happen rather than raw quantity. Lots of BS can be hidden by just looking at the stats.
At the time, I thought, this was only the beginning of many great things to come but it's strange to think this was the second closest David would get to the Finals until Timmy arrived (of course the Spurs made conference finals in 1995).
When you think about it....outside the 2 minute meltdown in game seven, they could have been in good shape to have a shot at the title. The Suns were next up in the conference finals, and while they were a good team, very beatable (Spurs won the season series 3-1). I don't think they would have beat the Pistons but stranger things have happened and the Hemisphere would have been crazy for games 3-4 (and possibly 5). At least it would have been fun and maybe changed Strickland and Larry Brown's future in SA (two keys as to why the Spurs got worse after both left town).
The following season was the regression to what would be "the norm" - perennial disappointment. Every season ended in defeat in the early rounds. Usually, we didn't even make it close.
This is the pocket schedule for 90-91. They STILL give them out at gas stations and restaurants in town. This is the oldest one I own. I am such a pack rat.
The next season the Spurs lost in the first round to the 7th seeded Warriors. In 1992 Robinson was injured then they were swept by the Suns (I had totally forgotten about this one). In 1993 they ended up beating the Blazers (it felt good but it was a different team than 90). Finally, in 93 they lost in the second round in six to the Suns with the famous buzzer-beater by Barkley that shut down the old Hemisphere Arena. When you think about it, the only inexcusable loss was to the Warriors and that was back when it was a 5 game series. I wonder if things would have been different if it was seven games....
At the time, it felt like the gods of basketball were just not smiling on San Antonio. However, upon reflection it was simple why the Spurs couldn't win. They had no consistency with the roster, especially with point guard or with the head coach. Besides Larry Brown, the coaches the Spurs did hire were a joke (Bob Bass filled in for a bit in 92) Jerry Tarkanian, Jerry Lucas and Bob Hill.
Although Robinson's peak would come in 1994 (not his 9' MVP season - more on this later), he was still an absolute marvel in terms of raw athleticism.
In the video above Robinson puts up 34 points, 14 boards, 7 assists and 8 blocks. Just watch it. A few other notes of interest in the video is that it takes place in the old Phoenix arena, which I loved the white ceiling, like a school classroom. Also, it's Greg Simmons on color - that's just a sin.
As an adolescent, I had quite a temper (sometimes it still
comes out) so when the Spurs lost, sometimes, things got broken. Including one
time I threw my radio, breaking off the antenna.
I remember late nights, watching the West coast games with
my Dad. Especially as I got older, he was the first to give up and go to bed
first; especially if the Spurs were losing (he’s still this way).
One Sunday night in 1990 or 1991, my sister was at the local bowling alley
(Bandera Bowl for those scoring at home).She called the house and told us David Robinson was there bowling and
that people were going up to him, asking for his autograph.I knew what I had to do.I begged my Dad to take me down there, and to
my surprise, he said yes.We got down
there as soon as we could and David was bowling with (I think) his mother and a
few other folks. I slowly made my way down the stairs to get to Robinson, who
was sitting at the scoring table.
I remember thinking his knees came up to my chest and
realizing just how tall he was.I was
pretty nervous, but this guy was my hero, so there was no backing down.Of course he was gracious and I remember telling
him “Good luck against the Wolves” as that was the next team they were playing.
He was surprised and said thanks.
For a many years, this was my most prized possession.
We would go to 2-5 games a year, depending on how many free
tickets we fell into.On Shaquille O’
Neal’s first visit to SA, our church youth group went along with hundreds of
other youth groups from around town.We
were near the “obstructed” view in Hemisphere and it was like a cave back
there.After the game, we were led down
to the lower level and Robinson, David Wood and maybe even Antonie Carr spoke. I say maybe because I have his autograph on the back of the half time stats sheet that I had found on the floor but I don't have any memory of his specifically speaking. I also got David Wood's autograph! Holy cow, David Wood has a highlight reel on Youtube. The internet is so full of win. I got a few more autographs along the way in the 90's.
During training camp of 1990, I saw TonyMassenburg and Steve Bardo at the Rivercenter Mall Footlocker. Massenburg had
beenthe Spurs 2nd round pick
in 1990 and he was shocked I recognized him. But as a 13 year-old, when I wasn't dreaming of girls, I was thinking about the Spurs, recognizing Tony was no biggie. I didn't
recognize Steve Bardo (as he was an invited camp player) but he gave me his autograph anyway. Massenburg would tie the NBA record for most teams played on (12) and would later be part of the 2005 championship team.
I have Dwayne Schintzius' autograph but have no memory of how I
got it. I think it might have been an HEB promotional event.
RIP Dwayne and that amazing mullet. He died a few years ago at age 43.
Sometime in the late 90’s I also went to an event at a mall
and got Avery Johnson’s autograph on a basketball card. So, I imagine my autograph
collection might be worth a whole nickel.
I loved the Spurs, I had a Spurs poster and for awhile, two David Robinson posters in my room. One of my posters is up in my garage!
In the summer of 1994, the Spurs made a big splash, and
traded fan favorite, Sean Elliott to the Pistons for Dennis Rodman, the Spurs
would never be the same.
