A new facade for Atlantis Books
Painting this mural was our contribution to keep making this one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world. A wonderful and rewarding shared experience.
Bicycle explosions
Two atoms of Al grasping to each other with theoretical forces as the vacuum of energy between them lengthens. Once their gap expands to a certain distance their relationship changes, and the possibility for new relationships opens. A stray molecule of NaCl winks shyly as he passes. Bond. The failed Al relationship causes a schism in the community; neighboring Al families likewise begin to unwed, first a few, then thousands, billions. A threshold is reached and the microcosm instantly becomes macroscopic, and a sound emits into the calm morning air.
The 18-year-old Edco hubs of our Argos tandem spontaneously disintegrated with help—it has been suggested—from the salt air. These failings could have occurred at any point during our 3000km journey, but mysteriously failed post-trip, while the bike was resting. Are aged hubs and salt air suspect enough—or should we think ghosts?
We have new hubs and are in search of a wheel builder in the Greek arcipelago.
Update: Everything was fixed. We are very happy and ready for our next trip.
Santorini
Our 2012 destination was Santorini, where we were due for a visit with Craig at Atlantis Books and to do an eight-week shamatha and vipaśyanā retreat. These things we did, and were done most pleasantly so. Our retreat location was in Tholos, a house of a friend who was away and Rosy the little monster/dog we kept for our stay. This island is filled with remarkable friends, whom we spent far too little time with; we shall return soon I hope to sit properly with you all.
Snowstorm at Karma Berchen Ling
Karma Berchen Ling is a Diamond Way Tibetan Buddhist center high in the mountains of the Peloponnese. We stayed for a couple nights and befriended the wonderful couple managing the place. Striking vistas and a surprise snowstorm made for a fantastic 30km descent with a lunch of goat soup and depositing us right back to the warm sea.
It was a nice little retreat, there’s a cave and a stupa. The only inconvenience was the cold weather and that we caught a cold.
There are group retreats taking place there year long, so if you live in Greece and want to learn meditation in the traditional buddhist tantric way, this might be the place for you.
An anatomy of a bike tour
A view inside our bicycle tour from Spain to Greece. Each image represents an aspect unique to most cycling tours: eating, sleeping, life on the road. Click here and here.
