Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba, Pata pata

Somebody very... mmmh... "important", over here in Italy, as for example Berlusconi, could describe her, as an obituary, for example as a woman that distinguishes for her wonderful suntan, as it's obvious it is, after all, since she came from a "happy country" where they use to spend their time as lazies, collecting coconuts and singing and dancing on the beach around the fire. Infact it looks like it's scientifically prooved that men and women of "suntanned race" have in their blood the sense of rithm!

I prefer to remember Miriam Makeba as the mother of struggle against Apartheid, born in 1932 ub South Africa and dead yesterday, in Italy, symbolically singing against Mafia and racism.

The song in this video, "Pata pata", is very popular also in Hawai'i islands, at the other side of the world, because a local band made a very popular cover. Sometimes music arrives where other languages have problems to. I wonder if Miriam succeeded in make Berlusconi dance on her songs too!

Yes, we are different! / 2

Yes
We are different!
We are not racist!
Free minds against racismo
Subscribe you too

The initiative that i told you about in my previous post is spreading out very quickly. Some newspapers are already taking it in consideration (only two, to tell the truth, among which one is a local newspaper and the other is L'Unit&agreve; - a national one - but only at page 35 of yesterday edition, in a tiny tiny article, but it's already a beginning).

I don't know how to compute the number of people that subscribe to this idea, but i have the impression that it is a very big number. Not that i really like to participate to huge numbers, but in this case it's obvious the advantage of joining the voices of a lot of people.

To give an idea i insert here an uncomplete list of the links to the posts of some blogger dedicated to this subject. If i miss somebody i apologize. Please put as a comment the link and i promise i will insert it.

• 2+2=5
• 31 canzoni
• Antologia di un paese degradato
• Arimondi
• Autrefois
• Back on the corner
• Carta straccia
• Dario's blog
• Detti e RiDetti
• Cronache Cittadine
• Come il pane a colazione
• Fake glasses
• Il cammino
• Il Russo
• Il testamento di un buffone
• Libertà di essere liberi
• Madison fallen
• Maria Rubini
• Miss Kappa
• Non pianeta, ma Stella
• Nothing is real
• Occhioclinico
• Schiavi o liberi
• Siltal... storia di un buco
• Stafinendo
• Un mare dentro

Yes, we are different!

The Idiot

The first Afro-American President of the United States has been elected.
Yesterday Berlusconi, unfortunately the Italian Prime Minister, during an official journey at Moscow was asked in a press conference what he thinks about Obama. The idiot answer was "He is young, handsome and suntanned".

This statement is racist, but not only. This statement is absolutely disrespectful of the role of the United States and their President. Moreover, the tone of gratuitous derision is drastically amplified by the official character of the situation, that would have demanded a totally different code of conduct.

The deplorable behavior of Berlusconi, as one can imagine, immediately turned around the world, and the Italian People, that some way he arrogates the right to represent, has to suffer the shame.
Not at all intentioned to apologize for the unpopular quip, he laid it on thicker defining his own words "a compliment".
Today an American journalist in a press conference asked him if it wouldn't be the case to apologize with Obama, and the arrogant and angry answer by Berlusconi was "Please... please! You should apologize with Italy instead!", offending once again.

Well, i don't believe that this man could ever arrogate himself the right to represent me and many other Italians in front of the rest of the world. It can also be elected democratically, but his own behavior discharges him, atleast morally.

And for this reason i subscribe with pleasure the initiative thought by the blog friend Silvano and born in this discussion at Il Russo's blog, which goal is to diffuse to some international media a message of dissociation from the "compliments" of Berlusconi.

A blog had been created in order to organize the practical details of the initiative, and to collect subscription at this address:

http://yeswearedifferentit.blogspot.com

Yes, Berlusconi is an Idiot.
I am different.

Barack Hussein Obama

Barack Hussein Obama

I wanted not to blog about the election of the president of the United States, but... i am not exempt from the enthusiasm that is overwhelming everybody.
My American friends for sure would be surprised noticing how much interest we have, on this side of the ocean, about the election of the American Presitent.
I believe that the citizens of the United States are more involved by a possible change about the big subjects of the internal politics, education, health care, public safety, on which i don't dwell upon, admitting my ignorance about them.

For us, instead, these elections deal about the role of the United States as the dominators of the world.

Nevertheless i believe that the President of the United Stats is not the one that really has the power. World economy is an interest much bigger than American democracy, and it's exactly this interest that determines the world order.
This raises to me doubts about Obama, as a possible renewer of the world politics. If there will eventually be a significant social change worldwide, it will be due by the achievement of an interest of the big multinational companies. And about this i fear that the will of the President doesn't have a big influence.
Even less the one of the electors.

Anyway, i like Obama. More than McCain. Infinitely more than Bush. I like Obama because he's black, and i hope that this feature of his will give a shake to all the consciousness of the world, especially over here in Italy, agains any type of racism. I like Obama because he has the image of a pacifit and environmentalist, although i believe that about these themes the image doesn't match with the real programs. I like Obama because of his human face, that doesn't work to hide his tears behind a plastic smile. In conclusion, i like Obama not because for a trust in a real change, but because he reflects a hope in a change that comes from the deep of the consciousness of the common man. A change towards a more imparcial, more peaceful, more environmentalist, more human society.

A change, in a society like ours, can happen only if it comes from the "high" of who handles the levers of the world capitalism. But a line on the sand that shows the direction of a change towards a more moral world order could be drawn only by the consciousness of the common man. And the image of Obama is a reflection of it.

Today i love the American People for having the courage to choose for that change.

Mount Tesoro

Mr. Bentley

view along the path

There it goes another weekend as a single guy (R. went for a period to her homeland). Saturday it was a cloudy day, and i used it to make some shopping and some works in the house, which maybe i will tell you about in another post. Ah, and i also planned some other works for the day after.
Yesterday morning i woke up early enough and, as a first thing, i looked out of the window. It was still a little dark, but i could see the sky completely clear, in the crisp air. I decided for a change of program, and all of the sudden i called a family meeting.
"Pack mates, did you see what a beautiful day? What about a hike up to the mountains?" - Mr. Bentley started jumping enthusiastically left and right, and with his baritone voice: "Oh yes, Fajah..." (Mr. Bentley and Maddie call me "Fajah" because... Well, let's not start with digressions... maybe i will tell you about this story another time). "Oh yes, Fajah, let's go hiking, you and me, and leave home the stupid girls. We are boys and we always gotta stick together. Then we could also stop for a beer someplace..." (Mr. Bentley is a little male-chauvinist, actually...) Maddie instead doesn't take me seriously, and, irritatedly swinging her eyes goes: "You are really dumb, Mr. Bentley, Fajah is not serious... Majah is not here, and everybody knows you stupid boys give up soon for laziness and you stay all day with your butts on the couch and a beer can in your hands watching the soccer match." (Majah, obviously, is R.).

Maddie at the peak of the mountain

So i took the floor to clarify. "No, no, i am very serious" i reassured Maddie, who begun to wag her tail: "Fo... fo... for really?!?" "For really!" I tell her, and then, to Mr. Bentley: "we ALL go to make a hike... as for the beer, maybe we can speak about it later". Mr. Bentley, a little deluded, but still excited for the hike: "Mmmmh... mmmmh... stupid girls... okay, Fajah"

So, i decide to give up with the home works, backpack on my shoulders, full water bottle, hiking boots, hiking sticks, GPS and photo camera (Mr. Bentley and Maddie, who go much lighter, always look to me with curiosity in this preparatory stage), and go, for a short excursion, just ten minutes by car from home.

Olginate and Garlate lakes
(bulges of the Como lake, at south of Lecco)

With R. and Maddie (Mr. Bentley was not born yet!) i already made this excursion in a snowy day, following then for a much longer distance on a path that, from south, approaches the southern slope of mount Resegone. This time, with the pack, we were happy with the ascent till the little chapel at the top of Mount Tesoro. In my memory the path was longer, maybe the snow did make it much more difficult.
Walking in the snow is really very nice, and it gives a strong sense of silence and peace. In the fall, instead, colors are really touching, from deep green to yellow and red of the leaves, to the brown of the undergrowth, in contrast to the limpid blue of the sky. This path, following the ridge, has views both on the Adda river valley of Lecco, on one side, and Orobie Alps of Bergamo on the other.

It is impossible get lost. The car can be parked in a little lot next to the hairpin bend (shown on the map). The path to take is well marked with arrows to "Monte Tesoro". After a couple of hundreds yards there is a fork on a mule path. This is the only tricky point (in fact we took the wrong way, ending up at a private property). A left must be taken, but just after the fork there is the start point of the path, a little hidden, towards right. The path is partially in the woods, partially on the rocks, til a first peak, where there is the stick for a flag, then it goes down for few feet and then up again till a higher peak with the little chapel of the Alpine soldiers, the war memorial, a little cemetery and a little heliport for the alpine aids. Time for some photos and back at once by the same way.
At noon we were already back home, and in the afternoon i also managed to make all the works i planned. Efficient eh?

other views of the path

• Total time: 1:42 (about half an hour of walk uphill and twenty minutes downhill plus the rest break)
• Covered distance: 3.94km [2.45mi] (round trip)
• Difference of level: 115m [377feet] (214m [702feet] uphill, 99m [325feet] downhill)
• Altitude: from 1301m [4268feet] to 1416m [4646feet]

GPS track
A: parking at the hairpin bend; B: peack of Mount Tesoro; C: Olginate lake; D: Garlate lake

One year

10/10/2007

Strada Régia

View on the lake

Here is another path we hiked some times ago.
On one side i liked it a lot, because it is in the forest and it offest here and there some suggestive lookouts on the Lake of Come (of the best part of it!).
On the other side i don't like the fact that it can be very busy. We didn't actually found a big lot of people, but it is clear that the path, also for the easyness, it is very popular.
We had tried it already some months before, but for some back-ache of mine, we gave up.

Como funicolar railway station can be easily reached by train. We went by car. A suggestion is to leave the car at the parking next to the "Fontanone" (it's a big pitoresque fountain). The fee for that parking is much less than the other parkings of the area (with few euros one can leave the car for the whole day).
It is forbidden, in Brunate municipality, to drive on SUV cars, but i would suggest not to go even with small cars. The roads are very narrow, but the main problem is the parking.
The funicular consists of two wagons that leave contemporarily one from Brunate and the other from Como, at every hours and halves. Their path is, for both of the wagons, on the same rail, which double in the middle to allow them to cross each other.

Pietra Pendula

When arrived to Brunate you walk on the road that, from the steps of the station, goes towards right. After few hundreds yards, after a left turn well signed, you arrive to the ground and finally, after coasting it, there is the start point of the hiking path named "Strada Regia" (="Royal Path").
The path is well kept by the local volunteer service and it doesn't have any big difficulties. It is almost completely downhill, and anyway the slope is never too steep, but it is very long. On the left of the path, from Brunate all the way to Montepiatto, you can enjoy a lot of views on the lake.
About at the half to the path there is a little church, where some benches offer a good occasion for a break.
Once reached Montepiatto follow the indications for the Church, which little square looks like a balcony, hundreds of feet on the lake. All around the square there is a little path to Pietra Pendula, a weird rock that looks like a contest to the gravity forces.
At Montepiatto it begins the descent, kind of steep (and so a little hard), even if on a path well settled with steps. This path takes you to the town of Torno, where you can go back to Como by bus or by boat. We preferred this last option, really more suggestive. The boat stops about every half an hour (the exact time schedule can also be found at the funicular station) and, from Torno, after a couple of stops, you reach Como pier, not far from the funicolar station.

More infos on this path at R's blog

• Time taken: 4:11 (except the boat ride).
• Difference of level (from Brunate to the lake): 581m [1906feet] (the lake is at 143m [469feet] altitude above sea level)
• Covered distance: 28.3km [17.6mi] (excluded the boat ride).

GPS track:
in green the part on the funicolar, in read the hike, in yellow the navigation.
A: Como funicolar station; B: Brunate funicolar station; C: "Strada Regia" path start point; D: Chapel for the break; E: Montepiatto church; F: Pietra Pendula; G: Start of the last steep descent; H: Torno pier; I: Como pier