Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
RMH
Stranger Things
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Product Placement
Cosmic Funnies
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"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
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Andulka
Peter Solarz
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Not today Justin
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JBB: An Artblog!
trying on a metaphor
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@templeofhmm
Calama, Atacama Mrs H at the wheel as we chase the sun down to our night's rest in Calama. Tomorrow we drive to San Pedro de Atacama. When I say 'we', I mean she. Someone has to work the Spotify playlist, me entiendes? By the way, we didn't hire a Mr Men car or a large plate of rice. Those afternoon shadows are playing a trick on you.
Pet cemetery, Atacama desert Mum, Dad. It's me, Droopy! Can you come and fetch me? I'm in the middle of the world's driest desert, under some rocks. What happened? I was out front playing with Lulu then I woke up here. It's cold at night and I miss my blankie. I can smell cats. Please come and give me woofles soon. Droops x
Chacabuco, Atacama More pics, including the partially restored theatre.
Chacabuco, Atacama Check this. The same day we shook the limp wrist of James Bond’s droopy space laser, we poached up at this place. Chacabuco. Sat slowly crumbling in the Atacama heat, this sad, beautiful ruin is a former nitrate mining town from the 1920s, later used by Pinochet as a concentration camp for political prisoners. Without the UNESCO heritage honours of other such sites we visited, this was a ghost town in every sense, with its ghoulish past evident at every turn. As with Cuba’s derelict prison Presidio Modelo, the wonder of Chacabuco was that we were given free rein to explore the town and its dilapidated buildings without a guide or any real instruction. Likewise, the visit was bitter sweet — endlessly photogenic and a fascinating experience, but with a tragic history that was hard to stomach.
Paranal Observatory, Atacama Here we are again. Back on track and back at another gleaming space mirror. Perched on a mountain top on the edgeskirts of the Atacama desert, Paranal Observatory is a science factual megalith you might just recognize from the James Bond film ‘James Bond and the Bantam of Wallace’, where Mick Talbot took over the lead role from the enchanted Timothy Dalton. Temple of Hmm refuses to watch such imperialist tat but we hear it's very good, with a notable cameo by Letitia Dean as Bond's greasy bed spar. We were shown around the whole facility with some veg-craving mine workers but felt the experience lacked the personal touch of previous observatory tours. Yes, we saw the underground astronomers' lair. Yes, we saw the fearsome sensor array. Yes, we saw the space car park. But where were the jokes, where were the Bond girls, where were the exploding dog biscuits? An opportunity sadly squandered.
Valle del Elqui, Coquimbo On top of the world, looking down on the valley with misty mountain ridges stretching out towards the Andes on the Argentinian border. Such a beautiful place, but now it's time to leave. Mrs Hmm's foot is healed and we need to stretch our legs again. The Atacama beckons...
Hello old friend. So good to see you again. I appreciate you stopping by. I feel sad that we have lost touch and I have neglected you. I’m sorry. I will do my best to make amends and pick up from where we were. I know you are disappointed in me. I could have tried harder but I got distracted and took you for granted. If you’ll forgive me, I hope we can put this behind us and move on. I still love you so much x
The cacti, the condor...
Valle del Elqui, Coquimbo I walked alone. Nothing stirred but the dust under my feet and the cactus flowers fluttering amid the spines in the hot wind. The path climbed higher and higher into the hillside until the town shrank before me in the valley below… little houses, little cars, little roads. Somewhere amongst them, my invalid wife sat in the observatory kitchen, making tea, filling forms. A voice spoke clearly behind me. I turned around to meet a man from the Bible. His arms were outstretched as if to hug me, but he could not. His head was bleeding and his robe blew open. I pressed on in the dry heat. More cacti, more dust. The course of an ancient river, now barren and sad, snaking its way through the desert. From the summit I looked down upon vultures and a condor silently wheeling in the thermals. Giant birds with simple wishes, spiralling ever upwards. At the observatory, later that night, I dreamt of the Bible man’s beard, shaped into a cave. Inside I found perfect fossils of myself protruding from the rocks. I ran my fingers over the indentations and sneezed.
Alfa Aldea, Vicuña Straight up, Hmmsters, this is no time for flippancy. Alfa Aldea was supposed to be a place to stop for a couple of nights, then move on. Look at the stars, have a relax, nada mas. However, the charms of owner Marco Ruddolfi, the ample wine, the heavenly vistas, the mystical magnetism of the Valle del Elqui, the little cat, the fact that Mrs Hmm needed a screw removed from her foot and the constant sunshine meant that we stayed here for three weeks or so. An amazing experience. We will never forget the time we spent here nor the kindness we were shown by Marco, Nena, Lupita and the children. Above, you can see their wonderful homemade amphitheatre and Chiquitina, one of the perros locos. Very special.
Cerro Tololo Observatory, Valle del Elqui Another day, another journey to the outer reaches of your crumbling brain… this time to Cerro Tololo, just around the corner from Gemini. This observatory is special because it was built in the mid-Sixties, so as well as its beautiful shiny dome it features Moroccan rugs, vile joss sticks and lots of staring into space. Bits of the ageing facility are held together with masking tape, which only adds to the magic. Here, you can see Mrs Hmm taking a ride on the telescope, something neither she nor our guide were quite prepared for.
Gemini Observatory, Valle del Elqui This is the best view you are going to get at Gemini. You do not look through their telescope. It is not a pirate ship. It is one of the world's most powerful space observatories and it records 'data' onto a 'sensor'. Take your hand away from your left eye. The facility is not open to the public, but we were granted special access because our astronomically great mate Marco Rudolffi pulled some strings. An unforgettable day. Thank you Marco.
Gemini Observatory, Valle del Elqui LISTEN. We visited top Chilean cities such as Valparaiso with its street art, funiculars and many dog mucks, and Santiago with its pavements and cars and smogs, but you don't want to hear about that. You want SPACE and you want it BIG. You want gleaming alluminium domes high up in the Andean cordillera. You want nebula, but you want it spelled nebulae. You want a little man in a white coat to blink at you. You want a laser so powerful it can slice through a boiled egg. You want it all and you can have it all, but only at the Temple of Hmm.
La Vendimia, Pichidegua When you want something and you want it real bad then you have to go and get it with all your might. That is what travel is about, not just to go round the world but to make a journey into the centre of a person's heart with love. This man wanted the sheep so much he bid and bid then he won it. But when he fetch it the sheep did not want him so he tugged it home with all his might. That sheep was so stubborn it was funny. I like his red jeans.
Patagonia, Chile Temple of Hmm and the staff of certainty. Temple of Hmm and the branch of pure wisdom and light. Temple of Hmm and the pole of exactitude. Temple of Hmm and the rod of truth. Truth is I haven't got much to say about this pic. It's me holding a stick by a river somewhere in Patagonia. It will never happen again.
Puerto Sanchez, Patagonia A nice photo I took of the Cavernas de Marmol (marble caves) on Lago General Carrera. What, you wanted Reflections #2?
Reflections #1 When we see the world mirrored as a disfraction of true creation, we often envasculate the urge to look purely at the inner self. The sky reflected in a crystal lake is no more a vision of the mind than it is an occlusion of the horizon unbridled through the perception of water, air, fire and sediment. Beckon do the lapping waves and in we wade, cold water rising to our swimming pants, rising to embrace a cradle of being that breaks through nature’s distortion. Yes, we dispel the third dimension facade to welcome unity in the ripple of souls, but we can neither feast upon its divine energy nor retreat from the ascension of perfect thought. Om nom, palta nom. Om nom.