log 48

Now as I started working in New York sector I also needed a proper visa. I needed to apply for this in my country of citizenship (Netherlands as you know) so what would be a better time to go to Europe than the time of the Summer Retreat. Apply before the retreat and pick it up after, all time perfectly utilised :-) As it was also Ananda Marga's 50th anniversary the program was big and blissful.

As soon as the program was over, my (5 year) visa was ready and I was on my way back to Mexico. There we had organised a program under the banner of SSAC (Spiritual Sport and Adventure Club). It was definitely an adventure full of challenges and learning. We climbed Parikutin one or the 7 natural wonders of the world. It's a very young volcano, only born 50 years ago. It's birth was violent as is usual for volcanoes but no one died even tough all buildings were lost. All? No, and maybe that's the wonder, the lava proceeded up to the church, damaged part but the altar was saved. The whole building surrounded by 4 meters of lava.

The walk up is normally already a challenge but this time the sun disappeared and we got heavy rain with no were to hide. The rain turned in to big hail stones. Naturally such things can't stop us... We found shelter under some of the sharp rocks and continued when the worst was over. Most of us made it to the top. Though the purpose of the tour was to challenge ourself and get to know ourself in difficult situations. So with or without reaching the top it was successful.


Before and after a competition of the vigorous Tandava dance. I love his facial expression! If I remember correctly he did win :-) I think it was in Mexico... It could have been in Germany... It was August, that I do know.


Not a mushroom but a 38m high Stalagmite in a 92m hight cave. This was near Cuernavaca, Mexico. They say it's the Worlds biggest cave and I surely believe it. You could build a city for 1,000,000 people in it.	A beautiful owl, back in Missouri, a 'small' jump for RDS the quarterly meetings for all the Dada's and Didi's in NY Sector


Back to Mexico, with the beautiful mountains and skies just near Monterrey. The vastness is hard to capture.


Further down, Morelia, continuing on the dome. We should get sponsorship from Disney Land... Micky Mouse is easy to recognise. Oops, they may charge us royaltie


More down, I weird and wonderful coloured spider near Guatamala City. An other program organised by SSAC.


All the margiis and Acaryas with a volcano in the background	Recently solidified lava, still too hot to be comfortable!


Can't go so near a living volcanoe and not climb it. We had a free afternoon so Dada Moksheshvarananda and myself went up. Easier than Paricutin but not less rewarding.


An other big jump. It's November and time for the yearly India tour. My usual cheap RTW ticket had some extra sectors that I could use or lose... I did use them! A two day visit to Ayers rock in the middle of Australia. No wonder it's a sacred place for the Aboriginals of Australia. Few photo's can't really do justice!


Last jump (on this ticket) from Australia back to New Zealand. The dome started the year before in Grey Town was looking great.

Also hard to describe or capture, the majesty of the Kaori trees

From Guatamala to New Zealand took only 10 days... Super fast but full of precious experience. Next stop is the India tour... no... not this time...There were not enough people confirmed (though there would have been enough), the Calearth dome in South India also didn't go ahead but and other project came up last moment. Three weeks in Pakistan to help train people to build domes after the earthquake. I already wrote about it with some detail in earlier News Letter but did not have the photo's ready... So this is coming tomorrow in the next News letter.

Also all photo's are available in high resolution of 1600x1200 or higher and free to use for non-commercial purposes.


Birthday cake for Ananda Marga for few hundred people	The joy of photography


Cultural expressions outside and inside, by young and a little older


The hail stones up to 1 cm. Not deadly but surely painful...	Mangoes on the way down. (we brought them all the way up first...)


And... as many people bring their garbage only one way, we thought we bring it back.. We collected many many bags full of empty bottles and other things people had thrown just everywhere. We hope the clean(er) trail will inspire others to also leave things a bit cleaner than they found it.


Next day was more a outing, though it took many many stairs to reach this beautiful waterfall. Meditation is also great as there is so much vital energy in these places. And making photo's is always fun, especially the more embarrassing ones...