Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Cows and Bulls

Growing up in Missouri I had a childhood in which I was exposed to rural America every so often. Just drive 10 minutes out of the St. Louis city limits on any highway and out both sides of the car you will see vast cornfields, beat up barns, and grazing cattle. Sometimes we took weekend trips out of the city to find peace and quiet, but more so to be educated about the undeveloped land that surrounds us. Being in the country in the wilderness, on farms, was not out of the ordinary at all.

So I find it incredibly ironic that I had to travel all the way to the south of Ecuador to learn that some cows have horns. It seemed a bit odd that every time I saw a herd of cattle, none of them seemed to be cows-they all had horns. But I had never seen a cow with horns in Missouri. Cows with horns are bulls. Bulls have horns.

But as I finished up a 4-hour hike I assure you that my tired and delirious eyes did not deceive me. Off to my right was a PASTURE full of cows with horns. There were two hornless babies and both were nursing on whom I thought up to the very moment of utter-sucking were bulls. So unless these baby cows were orally pleasuring their fathers, I now know that some cows just have horns.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Organic Food and Lots of Farts

It's great to be back in the Andean paradise of Vilcabamba, Ecuador. It seemed like only days, but in fact it had been over a month. A period in which I saw most of Ecuador, the beach, the jungle, the biggest cities, and all the mountains inbetween.

In that month away I didn't once forgot what organic food tasted like. How pure it feels entering your system. You feel nothing but clear headed and healthy. Wow did I miss it!

But what I did fail to remember is what it does to you hours later. The pressing gas bubbles it forms in your stomache. The farts. The smelly room. The farts. The smelly sheets. More farts.

But farts aside, organic food is the future. I mean just think about the environment, our bodies, the land.

In conclusion, I'm willing to continue eating organic food at the price of a plethera of unbearably bitter farts each night.