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TheJewelryGypsy.com now LIVE!!!

I am excited to announce that TheJewelryGypsy.com was succesfully launched and is now active.

There are so many websites littering the world wide web that its easy to think of one as insignifigant. But after pouring myself into this for weeks, photographing, uploading images, figuring out shopping carts, configuring links, etc... i can't begin to tell how pumped and relieved i am at having launched this.

Of course it still has a lot of work ahead. There is still a lot of inventory to photograph, still a mountain of images to load and link, and still wrinkles to iron out. But its still time to celebrate!!! Check out the site here

The Jewelry Gypsy Website

Under Construction... Almost Finished!!!
Website will be launched This Monday (05/02/11)

Preview of new site: TheJewelryGypsy.com
The new site will provide you with:

• Gallery of Jewelry w/ Paypal Shopping Cart



• Custom Orders- Design jewelry just how you like



• Schedule of Instructional Classes offered by The Jewelry Gypsy



• Detailed information on most popular Gemstones and Crystals

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California Bound

With dreams of the potential opportunity looming in our minds, Ashley and I drive west into the sunset. We are bound for California, for the fall harvest season.

I assumed many things about the upcoming adventure. As the days and state lines passed us by, ideas and inspirations ramble through my skull. The mind painting a perfect picture of how the months will unfold. But then things changed.

And that's what happens when you assume. Upon arrival, work contacts fell through, and our plans went to the wayside. I slowly began to recognize that my dreams weren't matching the reality i was experiencing...

Ashley, Willee, and I after a Kali Puja ceremony
In a strange place with collapsed plans. We were now in the mercy of "California" and its people. Luckily the only one we know, was the right one, "Willee" a buddy i worked with in the Bolivian Amazon. With a big head of hair and even bigger heart, i knew we were in good hands.

Playing some music on the porch of the van
With enthusiasm we were invited in to Willee's community, and made to feel both comfortable and apreciated.

What began as a work trip, became a season of tourism and jewelry making peppered with occasional work stints in odd places with even more odd bosses.

Cooking it up on the side porch (downtown Berkely, Ca)
And as odd as some of the places and faces have been, As different as it could be from what i had imagined this trip to look like. It is perfect. It is the road. I am a gypsy. I am in great company. And it is the beautiful manifestation of my life right here, and right now

Ashley walking over the salt flats


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Culture Shock and Re-integrating

Since returning home i've found myslef struggling. My mind buzzing with conflicting realities.

While away, i made decisions and decided who i was and what i stood for. ideas grounded in consumption, excess, and waste, were all tied directly with first hand experiences with sustainability, hunger, poverty and untainted happiness.

On arrival my loved ones called it culture shock. I didn't believe them, because culture shock is temporary; meaning i'll get over it. I don't want to get over it. I don't want to assimilate. My eyes have been opened and my heart tells me whats right. Little of what i am seeing here in the states fit my new ideals, and i found myself irritated at my loved ones for not understanding, for living in such excess.

My experience away has slowly morphed from something that defined and molded me, into something little more than a dream. Its amazing that a year can be blurred into little more than faint memories when contrasted with my life here.


Was i really there? Did i see those places with my own eyes, did i really smell the mango trees, or get nauseous walking through an old meat market? Did i really hear Denis fuss over me like a mother hen?

Weeks go by, and i am no longer appalled at my fellow americans, i slowly become more and more comfortable with the way things are. Watching someone dump a plate of food into the trash no longer disgusts me. Answering the cell phone- which i swore i'd never own- doesn't even phase me.

But in those dark hours before sleep, all the luxuries i enjoy make me feel guilty. Because i remember Gustavo, Denis, Cebastio, and others giving so much when they really had nothing to give. Yes it may seem like a dream. But i will remember.

Arriving to the states

After just a few short hours flying over the caribean i made it to florida. A few days later, my brother picked me up and i was doing barbeque with his family.


After struggling for so long to get home, it seemed unreal, too easy. But if that was easy, getting accustomed to the high life was even easier, at least after getting over some culture shock.


Showing the neices how to find coconut milk

Bailout Plans

During the last few years the term ¨Bailout Plan¨ has become a familiar term. I don´t know much about politics, but i do know these bailout plans involve aiding various organizations get out of a sticky situation for better or worse. (see following illustrations).

I`m excited to tell you my family has offered me a bailout plan. With the help of my friends Jon and Kathy, i found a flight to the states for $80 US. Of course they tack on a rediculous amount of taxes and fees, but it was still the best deal around.

And so thats it. The experiment is over, and i couldn´t be happier about it.

In my time of frustration and hopelessness with the boats i find it hard to believe that i´m actually going home.

I´m less than 10 weeks short of a year. It doesn´t sound that long, but it hasn´t been a year of Piña Coladas on the beach. By and large its been great, but i´ve faced challenges that leave me exhausted and ready to see this journeys end.

And so this week they load me on a plane and i am now really, directly homeward bound. I´ll be hanging out with family in a week!

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Angry. Bitter. Depressed.

Its been nearly two weeks and i´ve had mud for luck on the boats. Three seperate captains told me that if I had boobs, they´d bring me along. I can´t believe its that cut and dry, so conditional.

One captain asks me if i have a girlfriend, I tell him i´m travelling solo.
¨Just find a Colombian honey with a passport, she´s your ticket¨ He says.

I´m disgusted by these shallow ass skippers. Not willing to help, but if there´s something for their pleasure…

I find that somone has ripped down my sign on the message board.

Last night i got rained on while sleeping at the beach. All my stuff is wet. including a bunch of dyed seeds that are now bleading colors.

Today I went to my backpack to get some of my jewelry. (i left It at a restaurant for safe keeping so i don´t have to haul it all day) I was unnerved when it wasn´t in the office, but pulled out of the janitors closet, unlocked and available to anyone.

When opening the bag I was surprised to see my spare underwear on top. I have been missing these for weeks and assumed them lost.

My nerves ring out, I know that my stuff has been seriously ransacked. After going trhough my things i´m first irritated, and then furious to discover the things stolen.

- My most intricate stone-set bracelets and necklaces

- A grocery sack of various bracelets

- A handful of necklaces

These items represent weeks and weeks of work, my heart sinks, and my stomach comes into my throat. The hours and hours i´d spent weaving these strings.

I also find that my sack of gemstones is ruffled. I´m actually surprised that they left me a handfull. Jade, turquoise, opal, agate, quartz and a slew of others i´d seen only here in S. America. Kilos of stones i´d bought with my last US Dollars. I´d been cursing the weight, but now? The list of pretty things stolen goes on.

I´m furious

I find the owner and ask him where my things are, he says he has no idea, and I want to believe him, I do. I curse him out, i curse columbia and i stomp out, my bag lighter than i remember. I Walk. I can´t think, but I can walk.

I need a drink, I need a dozen. I need to get trashed, stoned, and blow my mind. I need…

I walk. And I walk some more. I settle for a 10 pack of cigarettes and a grape soda, and call my dad. God bless family.

I chain smoke, and drink my soda. I go eat some greasy fried food, and i´ve got my chemical fix. I still want to get trashed, but this will do for today. One day at a time.

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The Coast!!!

One,
two,
skip a few.
Ninety nine,
one hell of a ride.

I´m way behind on posting. Rather than bore you with the mundane details of travelling, i´ll skip a few posts and tell you-

Many days, many miles, and lots of jewelry have passed by. I made the ecuador border. A few weeks later i made the Colombian border.

And give it a few more weeks, and many friendly faces, here i am on the coast. Cartagena, Columbia.


Ver mapa más grande

After some struggles finding the port, I began asking for boats heading my way- Panama.

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Homeward Bound

I´m excited to announce that i´ve completed my objectives for the trip and am now en route home without any more detours.

Of course its not just a hop, skip and plane ride over the ocean. Working as a jewelry gypsy, i intend to thumb my way through Ecuador to the coast of Colombia.

From Colombia the plan is to hitch a boat to Panama, where I hope to catch another boat to florida where my brother is working.


Ver mapa más grande
I´ve mentioned this plan to a few people and they´re not sure weather you can acutally thumb a boat. I originally heard about the idea from some french friends of mine and they have crossed one ocean to another. I guess its time to find out.

I can´t wait to get back and spend time with my loved ones. Wish me luck!

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