Feliz Año Nuevo – Happy New Year 2025. New Year’s is an important holiday in Ecuador and other parts of the world. The tradition is for Ecuadoreans to say goodbye to the past year’s misfortunes, and make plans for the New Year by burning monigotes at midnight, symbolizing the past year. Monigotes are large dolls […]
Ecuador 2 – Pase del Niño Viajero 2024
Pase del Niño is considered the largest parade in Latin America, depicting the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. This year, it was estimated that 200,000 viewers watched from the sidewalks, rooftops and balconies, with as many as 50,000 participants. At the start of the day, there was a mass on the morning of […]
Honolulu – Shinnyo Lantern Festival 2024
The 2024 Shinnyo Lantern Floating Festival is an enlightened ceremony that honors our fallen soldiers and loved ones lost. It brings closure for family members regarding friends who recently passed. We will never forget our own friends Wayne Spencer from Oregon, Frank Grillo from Ecuador, and several other close friends who have passed recently. The […]
India 14 – Kawant Fair, Gujarat
Three days following the end of the Holi Festival is the Kwant Gair Fair held in the village of Kawant. The Rahtwa tribal fair is a wild and exhuberant celebration. Bhil and Koli tribes come together from the region to celebrate the harvest, and where matchmaking is sometimes formalized. The Rathwa Bhils are considered the […]
Hawaii 1 – Celebration and Hilo
Sunset at the Lava Lava Beach Club in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii (above). The last time we were on the Big Island was over 50 years ago, so it was interesting to see the changes. There were a lot more resort communities and restaurants. Saddle Road, formerly a dirt road connecting Kailua-Kona with Hilo has transformed […]
Floating Lantern Festival Hawaii 2023
After 3 years of absence due to Covid restrictions, the annual Shinnyo Lantern Floating festival returned to Oahu, Hawaii this Memorial Day again. Shinnyo-en is an international Buddhist community and teaches “reality, or the true nature of all things”. The red lanterns provide light and guide the souls of the deceased toward peace. The light […]
Bolivia 6 – Parade & Finale
The Republic of Bolivia was founded in 1825. Although Spanish is the official language, there are also 36 Indigenous languages that are officially recognized. The indigenous people felt they were being ignored by the country’s political leaders, and it is estimated there are between 40-70% of the 12 million population are indigenous and minorities. In […]
Christmas 2022 in Cuenca
The Christmas Eve Pase del Niño Viajero parade used to be massive, lasting for 8 hours and involving at least 20% of the city’s citizens. COVID put a sudden and unexpected stop to the continued growth of this parade in 2019, with the parade being forbidden in both 2019 and 2020. Last year, in 2021, […]
Cuenca Soup Kitchen Christmas 2022
Last year, in 2021, we volunteered at the Cuenca Soup Kitchen by offering professional portraits of all the kids they help, to give to their parents. We came back to Cuenca this year just in time to do it again. The Cuenca Soup Kitchen has grown to support some 250 families, and we ended up […]
Lunar Eclipse Honolulu 2022
There was a total Lunar Eclipse here in Honolulu starting Monday night, November 7th-8th. At totality, it transforms into the Blood Moon, a reddish-orange color cast from the light of sunrises and sunsets, seen at the top of the above composite. A lunar eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon align, and will be […]