How to procrastinate

I'm supposed to be working on my Final Report for Fulbright so I can get the last disbursement, which I need badly. However, I can't remember my username (I have the hardest time with those) so I started reading some of the blogs that I check out regularly. I'm sure I'm not the only person who hits the next blog button - otherwise why would they have that button. I've also found some interesting blogs by linking from other blogs. One that is really interesting is Tuk to the Road by two young women from England who are driving a tuk (a three wheeled vehicle that is used as a taxi in Thailand and India and maybe other places) from Thailand to England to raise money for a mental health organization. They are having great adventures - they are currently in China and are seeing parts of that country few foreigners ever do.

Anyway, I linked from one blog to another and then found this site where they have things you can put on your blog, include those clever little tests. So I did the "What kind of pie are you?" test since I really like pie (or pay here). Here are the results:

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth Those who like you give into their impulses

What Kind of Pie Are You?

There's another site I found called Stumble Upon that creates a button and when you click the button it takes you to a random site - you choose various topics you might want to see - that has been voted good by other Stumble Upon users. Really a time waster.

OK, now I have to do something useful. They still have not emailed me my username for the Fulbright report so I guess I'll go make coffee and continue packing.

Saludos.

It's hard to believe . . . . .

It's hard to believe a lot of things, but here are a few:

• that it has been nearly 2 1/2 months since I last posted to this blog. I have probably lost my three loyal readers.
  
• that I am going home in 2 days 13 hours after living 10 months in Caracas
• that people here - in a country who not only did not send a team to the World Cup but probably never has - are so crazy about this tournament. You can't go anywhere without a TV tuned into the games. This includes the beauty shop, restaurants, the universities, and yes, even the archives.
• that I am so lucky. I am blessed in so many ways. I have wonderful friends scattered out around the US and now South America. I had the opportunity to live in another country, which is something everyone should experience at least once in their lives. I get to do something I really love - study history - and someday I will get to teach it, which will be really fun.

OK - enough of the list. I really have been busy these past two months. The end of April I went to Quito for a week for a Fulbright Student Enhancement program. That was fun and I got to meet other Fulbrighters from Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. There are a lot of people doing interesting things out there. In addition to our meetings in Quito we went down to a little town called Baños and another little town on the edge of the rain forest called Puyo. I also took the weekend to do some sightseeing around the are. Saturday, Joy, another Fulbrighter from Colombia, and I visited La mitad del mundo - otherwise known as the equator. Ecuador does a pretty good job of turning something like the equator into a toursit destination. But it was fun and I took the requisite picture of my feet standing on top of the equator - a painted yellow line in this case. Sunday I rode on the teleférico (cable car) to the top of the mountain outside of Quito. It was quite beautiful but the clouds descended while I was there and the mountain was quickly covered in fog.

When I got back to Caracas I was sick for almost two weeks. First I had a cough and cold. The Monday I returned was International Workers Day (Labor Day for the rest of the world except the US) but I went in to the archives on Tuesday. I was coughing so much that one of the women told me to go home and not come back until I was healthy! But I toughed it out, just went to another archive. But then Saturday I got this stomach thing. My roommate in Quito had something similar and maybe that's where that come from. It was too bad because I started not feeling well during the birthday party for Gloria's mom - she turned 80 in May - and had to leave early. I was up all night being sick and called Gloria to come help me Sunday morning. I ended up going to a clinic and getting an IV of saline solution. That did make me feel better. But I still couldn't leave the house (couldn't get too far away from the bathroom) until Friday. So I lost some work time there.

The last week in May Betsy, an old friend from high school (by old I mean I've known her a long time, since she's only a couple of months older than me!) came to visit. We went down to Ciudad Bolívar and from there went to Canaima (a national park) and Angel Falls (the tallest waterfall in the world). It was amazing and lots of fun. I'll have another post in which I describe the trip with pictures, but in the meantime, here's a preview of the falls. The rest of the time that Betsy was here we hung around Caracas doing a little sightseeing.

So, that leaves June, which has been a really busy month. I had a little panic that I didn't have enough material yet, so I've been working long hours collecting digital photos of documents. I was asked to give two talks last week. One (in Spanish) was to a group of history students at UCV (the Central University of Venezuela) and the other was to a group of English teachers at CVA (Centro Venezolano Americano), a school for English. There were both fun, but the one at the university was a bit stressful due to poor commnication on the part of the student organizing it and the resulting poor preparation on my part. But I survived. The weekends have been somewhat busy also, though the only place I went outside of Caracas was to Colonia Tovar, which is a town that had been settled by Germans. It resembles a German village in the mountains and is quite picturesque. Pictures later. It seems my friends from here are leaving Caracas when I do. Actually, Leslie left on Sunday. Jan is leaving the Monday after I leave, and Gloria is coming to the States (actually Albuquerque) on July 4. Caracas will just not be the same.

I am excited to go home and see my friends (I hope to go to Indiana in August to see friends and family there) and Indy the dog. I hope he remembers me. Of course I'm not too sure where I'll be living, but I'm working on it. I'm sure all will be fine. I also need a job - I'm working on that too, but I may end up working at Starbucks or something similar. ¿Quien sabe?

Well, I think that brings me up to the present moment. I have been packing and getting the apartment ready to move. Today was my last day working in the archive. Tomorrow I go to CanTV to cancel internet (hopefully it will be faster than the installation) and to Super Cable to cancel cable TV and then finish packing. I sold my TV and washing maching, but I still have to figure out what to do with the desk. I have been shopping - that started when Betsy was here and hasn't stopped yet. Tomorrow I'm moving down the street to Gloria's apartment for a couple of days. Friday I clean the apartment and hopefully meet with the landlord to return the key. Actually it will be his wife, since he is in Florida. I tried calling her this evening to arrange a time, but had to leave a message. Then I leave for the airport at 5:30am on Saturday. That is probably too early, but one never knows. That's allowing two hours to get there, but it may only be an hour, in which case I'll have lots of time to drink my last Venezuelan coffee (it is sooo good) and check out the wireless internet at the airport. I get back to Albuquerque around 4:45pm local time!

Well, I guess that's enough for this post. I'll do all those trips individually, but I'm not sure if they will all get done by tomorrow. I know, I could have been doing them all along rather than waiting until the last minute.

Holy Week in Caracas

As I said in my last post, this has been Holy Week. Since most everything - well, schools and the archives at least - were closed for the week, a friend and I took the opportunity to check out some of the sights around the city. A week ago Saturday we took the bus to El Hatillo, a little tourist town outside of Caracas. I had been there before (there are some pictures from there in a previous post), but it's a charming place and I was happy to go again. Then on Monday we took the teleferico (cable car) to the top of Avila and then took a Jeep ride partially down the other side of the mountain to a little town called Galipan. There wasn't much there except some vendors selling jams and flowers and a couple of restaurants. The things to eat there are pernil and fresas con crema (pork and strawberries with cream). Yum! There is also not much at the top of Avila. There are a couple of restaurants and a few food booths and a couple of stores. There is also an ice skating rink called Avila Magica. And there is an old hotel called Humboldt Hotel, named after Alexander von Humboldt, a German baron/scientist/geographer who traveled around Venezuela and other places in Central and South America between 1799 and 1804. The hotel is not in use; however, for 5.000Bs ($2.33) you can tour part of it. We did not do that. Instead we went back down the mountain and visited Quinta de Anauco or the Caracas Museum of Colonial Art. But here's what the hotel - which can be seen from anywhere in the city - looks like. We also got lucky and the clouds drifted away enough so that we could see a little bit of the Caribbean from the top of Avila. If you look closely in the picture you can see a little bit of blue ocean through the clouds.

Quinta de Anauco is a house that was built in 1797 and donated to Venezuela in 1958 with the proviso that it would forever serve as the headquarters of the Museum of Colonial Art of Caracas. The house was restored and furnished with 18th century art and furniture. As you can imagine - I thought this was a wonderful place. It is the best museum I've seen in Caracas and is way better than the casa natal or birthplace of Simon Bolivar. Here's a couple of pictures just to give you a feel for the place. One of the interesting things about the house is that it is representative of the period that I am studying - late colonial and early independence. For example, in the dining room were cups from the hacienda where coffee was served for the first time in the valley of Caracas. Following the wars of independence the economy of Caracas shifted from a reliance on cacao to one where coffee played a much more important role because during the wars the cacao fields had been nearly destroyed and coffee trees produce fruit much faster after planting than do cacao trees. There was also a mural rom with frescoes from 1828 with scenes from the new republic.

Well, I'll fill in the rest of the week tomorrow. It's getting late and I need to be up and on the metro early tomorrow morning. I found out this afternoon that Wednesday is another holiday - I'll have to find out more about that.

saludos de Caracas.

I'm Back! or What's been going on?

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, but I don't have any good excuses for not posting anything sooner. I guess I've just been caught up in the minutia of my mundane day-to-day existence. You know, things like the stupid refrigerator (I've had technicos to my apartment at least 7 times now and have spent over $100 on this old fridge and have finally developed a method of dealing with it, even though it is not working properly), figuring out what to do about taxes, playing Sudoku, and reading lots of other people's blogs, especially about Venezuela. Except for this week, which is holy week, I've been working as long hours as possible in the archives. I have two and a half months left in Venezuela, which is just amazing to me. So I'm starting to panic a little that I won't get everything done. But I'm focused and I'm sure I'll get enough information to put together a decent dissertation. The truth is I could be working in the archives here for a couple of years. The end result would certainly be different, but not necessarily better - or so I tell myself. Like I said above, a lot of the time in front of my computer seems to be taken up with either playing Sudoku (I've become addicted) or reading either newspapers or blogs on or about Venezuela. Although this week has been pretty quiet - I guess because it's holy week - there was in the previous weeks lots of stuff going on. So, for all of you who don't keep up with Venezuela - I can't imagine why - here's the highlights.

The viaduct on the way to the airport from Caracas finally fell completely. Here's what it looks like now.

The really sad thing that happened a couple of weeks ago was the discovery of the bodies of three brothers (ages 17, 13, and 12) and their driver. They were kidnapped and had been missing for more than a month. It is really sad to think about what their family has had to go through for the past couple of months. The announcement of this discovery along with the death of an businessman the prior week launched a couple days of demonstrations about security and at one of these demonstrations a journalist was killed. These deaths were covered in various Venezuelan and foreign press articles. El Universal (English), Reuters, and Miami Herald are some of them and they provide at least an understandable picture of what went on.

April 11 was the anniversary of the 2004 overthrow - or coup - which removed Chavez from power for about 2 days. Although he claims that this was a CIA sponsored coup, I'm not aware of any proof to that claim. On the other hand, the US was quick to recognized the new president - who was in power for less than 48 hours. You can read about it in BBC online.

Relations between the US and Venezuela seem to be continuing on their consistently deteriorating course. Last week Ambassador Brownfield was in a poor neighborhood of Caracas distributing baseball equipment for the kids there when his car was attacked by people throwing food and stuff at it. The US, of course, issued a statement that this was unacceptable. Chavez replied that Brownfield had not informed them he was going there, that possibly he had been spying, and that maybe he would just kick Brownfield out of the country. US and British press covered it as well as the Venezuelan press.

Well, I guess that's enough of a news update for now. In case you can't tell, I'm really glad to have learned how to do those links rather than just pasting in the URL. I probably got a little carried away.

One more thing before I close for now, though I'm planning another post this evening with pictures since I've been playing tourist this week. Some of my friends ask me my thoughts about Chavez and the situation in Venezuela. I am trying to learn more so that I can have an intelligent opinion. As I said, I've been reading blogs about Venezuela, and there are quite a few in English. One of the best is Caracas Chronicles. One of the links on the site is titled Hugo Chavez FAQ and I think it's worth looking at if you are at all interested in learning more about him. The Wikipedia entry for Hugo Chavez is also pretty interesting.

OK, well I'm off to visit a friend for a bit and then I promise a post that's more about what I've been doing and less a press coverage report.

Saludos from Caracas.

What does it mean to study Venezuela - or did someone say "Patriot Act?"

It has been an interesting week to be a scholar studying Venezuela. First I received this forwarded email:

Estimado/as Colegas,

I write to inform you that yesterday during my office hours (Tuesday 2:30 -4:30) I was visited by two agents of the LA County Sherrifs/FBI Joint Task Force on Terrorism (JTFT). The arrived at about 2:40-2:45 pm sat out side my office while attended to a students, and then asked to see me. They had with them a copy of my profile from the Pomona Web page, and other materials I could not see.
After identifying themselves, they proceeded to ask about my relation to Venezuela, the government, the community, my scholarship, my politics. They were especially interested in whether or not I had been approached by anyone in the Venezuelan government or embassy to speak up on Venezuelan related matters. In addition, they raised a whole host of other troubling questions, too long to summarize here.
They also indicated that the visit to my office was part of a larger effort to interview academics in the area. I do not know if this is happening at other schools.
After they departed, the three or four students who were outside my office informed me that these individuals had asked them about my background, my classes, what I taught, my politics and they even wrote down the cartoons that are on my door.
I consider this to be an attempt at intimidation and cast a pall on matters of academic freedom.
I am planning a response, and I am open to your comments.

Saludos

Miguel

The professor who wrote this is at Ponoma College and is a US citizen even though he was born in Venezuela. His web site is here.

Then I received a copy of this email from the president of Ponoma College:

To the Pomona College community:

On Tuesday, March 7, Miguel Tinker Salas, Arango Professor of Latin American History and Chicano Studies, was visited in his Pearsons Hall office by two men from the Los Angeles County Sheriff/FBI Joint Task Force on Terrorism. To avoid rumors, I wanted the Pomona College community to be aware of the facts.

The agents asked Professor Tinker Salas a number of personal questions as well as questions about the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan community in the U.S. During the meeting, they told him that he was not a subject of investigation. The tone and content of the questioning, however, troubled him deeply. He was also troubled by the fact that the agents reportedly questioned some of the students outside his office while waiting to see him.

Miguel, as all of you know, is a superb Wig Award winning teacher and a fine scholar on Latin American history, politics, and culture who is sometimes asked by the news media to comment on topics related to his research, including Venezuelan politics. The College supports him and his scholarly work without reservation.

I am extremely concerned about the chilling effect this kind of intrusive government interest could have on free scholarly and political discourse.
I am also concerned about the negative message it sends to students who are considering the pursuit of important areas of international study, in which they may now feel exposed to unwarranted official scrutiny.

The College is currently consulting with legal advisors about the most effective way to register a strong official protest about this intrusion into our scholarly and educational activities, and we will take appropriate action as soon as their advice is received. We are also asking for their help in assuring that all members of the College community are fully informed about their rights and their options in such situations.

David Oxtoby
President Pomona College

Evidently the FBI has since issued a statement that it was a misunderstanding and that they certainly didn't mean to create such an uproar. There are a number of news sources that have written about this, though most of them are in Spanish. Reuters had an article.


Gives one pause. It's beginning to feel like Joe McCarthy has risen from the dead.

Saludos de Venezuela.

What's in a flag?

Yesterday was flag day here in Venezuela and to celebrate the occasion President Chavez introduced a new flag. He made two changes. The Venezuela flag since 1863 has been three stripes - yellow on the top, blue in the middle, and red on the bottom, with seven stars white stars on the blue stripe, and the coat of arms in the upper left corner. Here's the old flag:


What he did was add another star and change the coat of arms. Now the horse, which was looking back over his right shoulder, is now looking to the left. Here's the new one:


Now, lots of people are very upset about this. There were marches yesterday to protest the changes, with some fights breaking out. The star supposedly is to recognize the role of the province of Guyana in the independence movement and to carry out what Simon Bolivar wanted. The horse is now supposed to be looking forward rather than backward. Of course, he is looking left, which some people see as a metaphor for Chavez's left-leaning politics.

Here's what CNN said about it.

What have I been doing?

That is a good question - what have I been doing? I complain that life is pretty boring down here, but I do manage to stay busy. I've been trying to watch less television, but that translates into spending more time online doing who knows what. During the week I go to the archives, though last week I took a couple of days at home to get more organized. I am beginning to realize that my time here is growing short and I need to try to make sure that I'm focusing on what's most important. It's strange. When I first got here it felt like I would be here forever, and now the time is rushing by. For example, I was amazed when I logged on here and saw that it had been over two weeks since I had posted something. It seems like it was just last week. I'm sure there's some kind of scientific principle that explains this phenomenon - something to do with Einstein I'm sure - but it's real, that's for sure.

Yesterday I went with a couple of friends to see Brokeback Mountain. I really liked the film. The acting was amazing and the story was very moving. My only complaint was the audience - they were obnoxious. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the film more in the US than here, with an apparently homophobic crowd. Saturday I went to see a couple of museums here in Caracas. The Museum of Natural History was disappointing and many of the displays were blatently political. I know that sounds nearly impossible, but nevertheless, true. The Museum of Art (Bellas Artes) was better. We then walked to an area known as La Candelaria, which is known for its Spanish restaurants and had a very nice tapas lunch at a tasca. Then, being absolutely stuffed, we walked all the way back - about 5 metro stops.

The weekend before I went with my friend and her mother to El parque de los chorros (chorros are streams or small water falls). It is a pretty little park at the foot of Avila. From the parking lot you walk down quite a ways (via stairs) to get to the park. There is a waterfall (see picture), though of course, nothing significant here in the land of the world's largest waterfall (Angel Falls - more on that later after I visit there!). But pretty. The stream then continues through the park, rippling over the rocks, etc.

US and Venezuela are at it again

Here's an article from the BBC site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4747828.stm) outlining the latest in the squabbling between the US and Venezuela. Sigh. I hope I have some way of getting home when it's time.

Venezuela cuts US airline flights

Continental Airlines flights from Houston are likely to be affected

Venezuela is cutting flights by US airlines as relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate.

From 1 March, flights by Delta and Continental Airlines will be cut by up to 70%, and American Airlines flights will also be affected, officials say.

They accuse the US - which imposed a similar ban on Venezuela 10 years ago - of failing to give Venezuelan carriers equal access to American soil.

Relations between the two countries have long been strained.

They have hit new lows in recent weeks after a tit-for-tat expulsion row over allegations of spying, and a fierce exchange of words between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Safety issue

Continental Airlines has been running a daily service from Venezuela to Houston, and weekly flights to New York. Delta Airlines currently flies daily to Atlanta, and American Airlines to Puerto Rico and Miami.

Venezuela's National Aviation Institute said in a statement: "We have exhausted all avenues with the US aeronautical authority.

"We have been forced to reduce the frequency of flights of US airline companies from the US."

The institute accused the US aviation authorities of failing "to give Venezuelan airlines the rights they deserve under bilateral agreements".

The US Federal Aviation Administration restricted Venezuelan carriers into the US in 1996 ruling that their airline safety procedures needed to be tightened.

Venezuelan officials say their safety standards have improved since then.

Wonder what it will be next?

The Liberator and other aspects of Venezuelan life

I had an interesting afternoon today, even though I didn't get as much work done as I should have. When I went to the archive this morning there was a young man working there who looked familiar, but I do tend to see some of the some people in the archives without really knowing there. Anyway, he asked me if I was working on slaves and I affirmed that I was. He told me he was also and asked if I wanted to get coffee later and talk about our work. I said sure (well, I actually said "como no". So when the archive closed we set out for coffee. He headed over to the museum in the cathedral; howerver, the coffee shop there was closed. I commented that I had not been to that museum. He looked surprised and asked if I had been to la casa Bolivar and I confessed that I had not made it there yet either. La casa Bolivar is the home where Simon Bolivar - liberator of South America - was born. So we headed over to first the museum and then the house. It was quite interesting and I learned some stuff about Bolivar. I know, you are now all saying "Oh no, not another history lesson!" Well, what can I say. It's what I do. I won't bore you all with the life of Simon Bolivar. But you should understant that he is a very important figure here. In every city in Venezuela there must be a Plaza Bolivar complete with the requisite statue. So, here are some of the things I picked up today. Bolivar was a Venezuelan born Spaniard who traveled to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Europe before returning to Venezuela to start the independence movement from Spain. He issued his proclamation of independence from Jamaica, and wrote it in both Spanish and English. He married in Spain, but his wife died, who was something like 19 when they married, died a few years later and he never remarried. (He did have a lover though, whose name I forget, but lived with him in la quinta Bolivar, which I visited in Bogota). He led the movement for independence from Venezuela to Colombia then Bolivia and Ecuador and finally to Peru, where he met up with the southern liberator San Martin. Bolivia, obviously, took his name for their country. OK, end of history lesson. Anyway, why this young man wanted to spend the afternoon with a gringa old enough to be his mother I don't know, but we finally made it to a coffee shop and sat there talking about politics, Venezuelan and North American, culture, the influence of the church, corruption and lack of respect for law, and other aspects of life in Venezuela until they closed the coffee shop. All in all, a very nice afternoon. The other big thing in the past week was the refigerator problem, which I am grateful to report is fixed after two visits by the repairmen, a new fan, several bags of ice, loss of some food, and a wasted day and a half on my part. But not as frustrating as the electric company, and overall proof that you can get good service here. These guys came out on a Saturday, which was the following day from when I called them.

Things seem to have settled down after the trading of insults between Chavez and the US and the mutual expulsion of diplomats. Last week or so, (maybe more, I've lost track of time) Dick Cheney compared Chavez to Hitler. Nice. In return Chavez said the US was ruled by a crazy man and called Bush the Hitler of North America. Then, Chavez said one of the guys from the embassy had to leave Venezuela because he was a spy. (a spy in the embassy - surely not) The next day the US forced a Venezuelan diplomat to leave the US while claiming it was not retaliation. Then Chavez started insulting Tony Blair, calling him a puppet of the US and worse, I guess. If it didn't have the potential to develop into serious stuff, I'd feel like saying "boys, learn to play together nicely."

I just had the perfect view outside my window of fireworks. I don't know why, but from time to time there are fireworks in my neighborhood. Being on the seventh floor, I have a great perspective.

A new telenovela started last week here, so I decided to try one from the beginning. I really am not a fan of soap operas in any language, but it's a good way to practice my Spanish and the telenovelas here are really a cross between our soaps and series like ER or Desperate Housewives. They are an hour and are on every week night. This one is not too bad, but I'm still working on who all the people are and what their relationship with each other is. I also try to catch apretty well known Spanish program called Aqui no hay quien viva. It's a weekly comedy program about the neighbors in a building. The Spain Spanish is more difficult for me, but it's a pretty good program. Of course, with cable I get many of the same programs as in the states, just a few weeks later. And lots of reruns.

An update to my previous post - los leones won the Caribbean Series, as I can attest to by the fireworks and shouting outside my window at 1:00 in the morning. I figure that's when the fans returned from Valencia to Caracas.

OK, enough for now.

The pictures are from one of the beaches in the state of Vargas. It is the same area that had the terrible mudslides in December 1999 in which thousands of people died and many homes were lost. The picture was actually taken in Summer 2004, when I was here the first time, from the window of my friend's apartment.

Saludos from Caracas.

sports - north and south

I'm not an avid sports person and football (American) is really not one of my favorite sports. However, I was interested to note that today (Sunday 5 February) is Super Bowl at home. It struck me as strange because Venezuela is hosting the Caribbean World Series in baseball. Baseball is a big sport here - probably even bigger than fútbol though Venezuela does have a soccer team, Vino Tinto. Anyway, los leones (the Lions), one of the Caracas teams, has been doing well and is leading the series. Last night they defeated the team from the Dominican Republic. The four teams involved in the series are Venezuela, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico (los Venados de Mazatlán de México, Gigantes de Carolina de Puerto Rico, Tigres del Licey de República Dominicana y Leones del Caracas de Venezuela). I've learned that this series was started in 1946 with teams from Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, and the US. In 1960 Cuba withdrew, thereby terminating the series until 1970 when Mexico entered. The individual team with the most wins is the Tigers from Licey, Dominican Republic. The Dominican is also the country with the most titles (15) followed by Puerto Rico with 14, and 5 each for Venezuela and Mexico. A trivia fact: Latin America sends lots of baseball players north (the Venezuelans were ecstatic when White Sox coached by an Venezuelan won the World Series), but one of the stars of the Leones is California native Harold Eckert.

la mariposa de la muerte

One morning last week I got up and, as usual, headed for the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror, I saw hanging on my wall, near the ceiling, a huge brown and black moth. (see picture) I totally freaked. The wing span on the thing was at least 8". It was just sitting there perfectly still. Being somewhat of a wimp around bugs I got the broom and started poking at him, hoping to encourage him to fly out the window, which of course is in a different room. The only direction he wanted to fly was toward the mirrors. I could hear his wings flapping - they were not wispy little things. He'd flap around for a bit and then I guess he'd be tired because he'd stop, perched somewhere. The whole time I'm not exactly shouting, but loudly encouraging this guy to leave, telling him "you have to go out" and "no, this way." If my neighbor heard me she probably thought I was losing it entirely - la loca norteamericana. After three or four attempts, he came to rest on the soap dish. I summoned up all my courage, got a plastic bowl with a lid, trapped him in it and released him out the window. Whew - that was over. So I thought. A couple of evenings later, I'm sitting there watching TV with the wondow open (you have to understand that no one has screens on their windows here) and in flies another giant moth. This time he's closer to the window so the broom trick worked. I ushered him out and shut the window. In between these two visits I had seen one of these moths hanging on the building where my friend lives. I asked her about them and she said yes, they do sometimes come inside, but she didn't know anything else about them.
Although by this time I had decided that these things were harmless, I wanted to find out what they were. So I started searching the internet and discovered that they are called the black witch moth in English and la mariposa de la muerte in Spanish and are common from Brazil as far north as Texas and Arizona. They are completely harmless and prone to flying inside building, attracted by the light. The Spanish name (butterfly of death) comes from a legend that if there is illness in the house and the moth flies in, someone dies. There are other fables surrounding this moth, which may be the largest species of moth in the world. (source: http://texasento.net/witch.htm) Since I had never seen one before about a week ago and now I've seen several (I've also seen some in the building where one of the archives is located) I'm thinking that it must a seasonal thing. They migrate, so maybe it's migration season here. The reports I read said that they have been seen in New Mexico as well as Texas and Arizona, but this is my first time. I think I've taken care of the problem by opening my windows less wide from both sides rather than just from one side (they slide sideways). What is ironic is that I've been struggling with the open window issue because of mosquitos and didn't realize I had a much bigger problem!