Wandering His Wonders Looking for Horses at Wild Horse Island Posted: 16 Aug 2017 09:34 PM PDT

Wandering His Wonders

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Looking for Horses at Wild Horse Island Posted: 16 Aug 2017 09:34 PM PDT We are finding that there is lots of water in northern Montana, so we have lots of opportunities to use our kayak. After our twenty mile hike a couple days ago, we were looking for an activity that used our arms instead of our legs today. We had read about Wild Horse Island in the nearby Flathead Lake. So we took an hour's drive to the nearest launch point to the island in the tiny town of Dayton, Montana. As we got the kayak in the water, we could see our destination in the smoky distance. It's the second, dimmer island on the left. We launched the kayak onto Flathead Lake, grateful that it wasn't windy. This is the largest natural fresh water lake west of the Mississippi, and it's big enough to stir up some sizable waves in a storm. It took about thirty minutes to paddle to the first island. That meant we had gone halfway, with only a sail boat and 25 more minutes of paddling between us and Wild Horse Island. This island is actually a state park, so it is open to the public. We pulled the boat onto shore, and started one of the trails. We were in the middle of a golden grass meadow with no wildlife in sight. We headed up the biggest hill on the island, hoping for a vantage point to give us some clues on which direction to find these elusive wild horses. There are only 5 horses here, kept mostly for historical purposes. We would also really like to find some of the 150 mountain sheep that call this island home. We deserved a rest in the shade after that climb in the sun. From the top, we had views all the way to the water. It's warm enough that there are no animals ambling about in full sun. So we headed into the forested areas closer to the water.  Using our best tracking skills, we followed an animal trail through the forest. We saw horse poop, and areas of bent grass where a group of animals had bedded down. We finally found a group of mule deer enjoying the shade in the trees. We had hoped for a big horn sheep, but we got a big ear deer instead. This island is bigger than it looks on a map. After we tramped for miles in the forest, we ended up on the beach. We are still enthralled with the clear water we see in the lakes here in northern Montana. We took pictures of the colored rocks on the beach, and we could see them just as clearly when they were covered with water. Sitting on a log on a shady beach was a great place for picnic. We dipped our feet into the cool water and looked out over the blue lagoon of Wild Horse Island. Even though we hiked five miles, we only covered about a third of the island. All those big horn sheep and wild horses were obviously hanging out in the other two-thirds of the island. So this day, the only wild horse we found was on this sign. It was a peaceful trip, and we were satisfied as we put the kayak back in the water for the one-hour paddle back to the car. But as we paddled back past Cromwell Island, we saw a bald eagle land in a tree next to the water. We floated closer to that tree to get a picture. Then we noticed another eagle in a nearby tree. The two eagles seemed to be close to the same age. They have their white tail feathers, but their head feathers are not the solid white of a mature adult. As we kayaked closer to the base of the tree, this second eagle took off right over our heads toward the lake. We watched in amazement as he circled low before he plunged straight down towards the water. That's when we realized he had snagged a fish, and carried it back to a nearby tree. It was fun watching him tear it apart with his beak as he held it in those powerful talons. Our eagle drama made our return paddle last much longer, but we certainly enjoyed our time on Flathead Lake. We didn't find any wild horses, but some times we find the unexpected blessings that are even better.

America and Americans: The people of a country, or a continent? by Ted Campbell What does it mean to be an American, geographically and linguistically? We all know that the internet provides plenty to annoy and offend. Vindictive and ignorant debates rage in the comment sections of nearly any news article, no matter what it’s about. I avoid reading the comments on news stories about Mexico, which inevitably include […] Read more of this post Ted Campbell | August 17, 2

America and Americans: The people of a country, or a continent? by Ted Campbell

What does it mean to be an American, geographically and linguistically? We all know that the internet provides plenty to annoy and offend. Vindictive and ignorant debates rage in the comment sections of nearly any news article, no matter what it’s about. I avoid reading the comments on news stories about Mexico, which inevitably include […]

Read more of this post

Ted Campbell | August 17, 2

← 10 Tips for Adjusting to Life in Mexico

America and Americans: The people of a country, or a continent?

AUG 17

Posted by Ted Campbell

What does it mean to be an American, geographically and linguistically?

We all know that the internet provides plenty to annoy and offend. Vindictive and ignorant debates rage in the comment sections of nearly any news article, no matter what it’s about.

I avoid reading the comments on news stories about Mexico, which inevitably include some variation on “I’d never go to Mexico,” “It’s a failed state,” or the ever-charming “This is why we need to build a wall.”

Statements like those are fodder for multiple blog posts. But in this one, I’d like to address a dispute that seems to come up often: the term America.

One argument is that people from the U.S. call themselves Americans out of disrespect for all the other people who live in the American continent, as if the Chinese called themselves Asians, somehow disregarding all the other people who live in Asia.

Someone brings this up, and the opinions fly. Well, both sides have a point, which is totally determined by their perspective.

As a foreigner who lives in Mexico, teaches English and speaks Spanish, I understand both perspectives, which I’ll explain below. I do this because I find it interesting, but also because it’s a good example of a disagreement that may seem to have a political basis, but is really just a matter of language and geography.

So, in the interest of better understanding between neighbors…

America the continent

As I explained, the complaint is that when people from the United States call themselves Americans, they are somehow disregarding all the other people who come from the continent America: Mexicans, Jamaicans, Bolivians, Brazilians…

The Mexican norteño group Los Tigres del Norte wrote a song about it, “Somos Mas Americanos”—“We are more American”—in which they sing about how, because most Mexicans are of indigenous or mixed descent, while most Americans are not, Mexicans are more American than Americans.

It’s a valid point. I translated the song in this article, and you can see it performed with Zach de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine here:

Well, what is America? Here’s our first problem. People from the United States learn in school that the world has six continents (seven if you include Antarctica): Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/Oceania, North America, and South America.

Ask someone from Mexico (or elsewhere in Latin America, presumably) how many continents there are, and they will tell you five. They’re taught in school that North and South America are one continent, simply America.

I’ve even had people argue with me, saying that of course they’re one continent because it’s one contiguous land mass, connected by Central America. Ok, but what about Europe and Asia?

Bickering about this is pointless. Humans decided what a continent is—apparently there is no universally objective definition of a continent. It’s not like math, in which one plus one is always two. Or other aspects of geography, like how Everest is the highest above-land mountain in the world, no matter where you went to school.

If some humans believe that America is one continent, and some believe it’s two, then neither is wrong or right—these are simply different ways of looking at the world.

Consider this: Plenty of places have different names in Spanish and English. In English it’s the Rio Grande; in Spanish, el Rio Bravo. In English it’s the Gulf of California; in Spanish, El Mar de Cortés (Sea of Cortez.) Who’s right?

But back to continents. Differences in understanding geography create these differences in language.

In English, people from the United States, Mexico, and Jamaica are North Americans. People from Colombia, Bolivia or Brazil are South Americans.

In Spanish, because the continent is America, anyone from the continent is called an americano. The term norteamericano (North American) usually refers to people from the United States.

Unless they’re familiar with the differences in meaning between Spanish and English, most Mexicans would not consider themselves North American. In fact, many believe that North America begins where Mexico ends. I’ve read Mexicans writing in English who use the term “North American” for people from the U.S., probably to avoid using American/americano, although this will confuse English-speaking readers because they understand that North America includes Mexico.

This brings us to another language problem: the term Latin America, a catch-all for most of continental North and South America south of the U.S.-Mexican border. I’m no statistician, but I’m pretty sure that most people who live in Latin America are of mixed or native descent, not Latino, and certainly not Hispanic. But we use these terms out of convenience.

America the country

People in the U.S. call themselves Americans for one main reason: the English language lacks any other adjective for them.

In Spanish, there is the adjective estadounidense, like “United Statesian.” This sounds awful in English, and besides, new words in a language emerge organically—it’s nearly impossible to force people to use them, and they’re often met with strong opposition, as in the case of gender-neutral pronouns like “xe.”

In Spanish, however, estadounidense works just fine. When someone asks, I always use estadounidense to avoid stepping onto a cultural landmine. I never call myself americano in Spanish, and I don’t use norteamericano because in my worldview, as someone educated in the United States, Mexicans are North Americans too.

For these same reasons, in English I avoid using “America” as a noun to describe the country. United States is clear and precise to both English and Spanish speakers. But “American” is the only option for describing the people, other than the convoluted “people from the U.S.,” which I’ll admit to using sometimes.

The good news is that these linguistic pissing matches seem to only take place on the internet. Most people—Mexicans and Americans included—are far too polite and tolerant to squabble about it face-to-face.

So there you go. I hope I’ve made this clear. Now that you know the different meanings of the term American in English and Spanish, please ignore the possible political connotations. People simply use it out of convention, not from a lack respect.

Of course, feel free to disagree in the comments below.

Police give flash-mob mariachi performance Band surprises shoppers at Mexico City shopping center

Police give flash-mob mariachi performance

Band surprises shoppers at Mexico City shopping center

http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/police-give-flash-mob-mariachi-performance/?utm_source=Mexico+News+Daily&utm_campaign=922fc29dd3-august+17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f1536a3787-922fc29dd3-348153685

Mexico News Daily | Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Federal Police officers exchanged arms for instruments this morning for a flash-mob musical performance in Mexico City.

A lone trumpet kicked off the performance of Viva México by the force’s mariachi band at the Plaza Universidad commercial center.

More than a dozen musicians and a singer emerged from stores to entertain shoppers who stopped what they were doing to enjoy the music, dance a few steps with some of the players, sing along and film the event.

The flash mob was part of a federal campaign under the hashtag #SoyHechoEnMéxico (“I am made in Mexico”) designed to promote pride in being Mexican and encourage tolerance.

Similar mobs surprised shoppers at malls in Veracruz last week when Navy bands gave impromptu performances.

Airport running late, over budget: deputy Mexico City’s new airport is adhering to the standards of most big infrastructure projects: it is behind schedule and over budget. FULL STORY

Airport running late, over budget: deputy

Mexico City’s new airport is adhering to the standards of most big infrastructure projects: it is behind schedule and over budget. FULL STORY

Mexico News Daily | Thursday, August 17, 2017

Mexico City’s new airport is adhering to the standards of most big infrastructure projects: it is behind schedule and over budget.

A federal deputy who presides over the legislative commission that is monitoring the project says the airport might not open until three years after the target date of October 2020.

Rafael Hernández Soriano said the information came from Adriana de Almeida Lobo, director of World Resources Institute Mexico and an advisor to the firm in charge of construction, Mexico City Airport Group (GACM).

“It’s first-hand information she has because she works with GACM,” said Hernández.

A timetable delivered by the firm to the Chamber of Deputies indicated that the outfitting of the construction site would be concluded in the three first months of this year, but the newspaper Reforma reports that the work remains unfinished.

Deputy Hernández also noted that the cost of the project has increased from 169 billion pesos to 186 billion.

“Costs are increasing not only due to [a rise in the price of] supplies,” he said, “but also due to the peso-U.S. dollar exchange rate and the credits acquired by GACM.”

Hernández said the firm reports the airport is currently 35% complete.

“Preliminary works are 100% finished, executive projects are at 90% completion, runways 2 and 3 at 45% and will be finished in 2018, while excavation and foundation work for runway 6 is starting,” said the legislator.

Completion of the airport, which will be one of the world’s largest, has already been delayed once. It was initially scheduled for completion by next year but the last official announcement made by the federal government gave 2020 as a partial completion date.