Author: drewwfaust@gmail.com

We took another day trip, this time up/over/through the Atlas Mountains to the edge of the Sahara desert. Some views from the drive.

Our first town was Ouarzazate, the “Door to the Desert” and home to the largest movie studios in Morocco. We toured Atlas Studios. Everything is fake! Here’s Leena, driving a “chariot.”

They even have animals on the lot. Sadly, and not unexpectedly, they don’t seem very happy.

Our second stop was the Berber village of Ait Ben Haddou.

We could have taken a road with a bridge into town, but our guide thought crossing the river on a series of makeshift steps was a good idea. It wasn’t. After a bit of unexpected wading, we made it across soaked from the waist down. Oh well, at least the phones survived.

We toured a house in the village and climbed our way to the top.

It’s Election Day back in the US and I want to get a bunch of jumbled thoughts out and see if I can make some semblance of sense from them.

The US is a very flawed democracy.

This isn’t a statement on current affairs. But the present state of things has exacerbated the flaws. I want to talk about these and float some of the ideas I’ve read about to address them. I may even have a few ideas of my own. I find it therapeutic to think about tangible ways to make things better.

Anyone who knows me knows my politics run very left. Call me a liberal or a progressive if you need a label. But I don’t think any of this is a partisan argument per se, though the proposed remedies would undoubtedly benefit the Democrats. But when a minority party controls all three branches of government, I’m left wondering, well, how did we get here?

FLAWS

1. The Electoral College. In a true democracy, the popular vote winner would win the presidency.

2. The Senate. States do not have equal populations, yet are represented equally in the Senate. This is, frankly, one of the least democratic institutions in any democracy.

3. The House of Representatives. While much more representative of the population than the Senate, there are still problems.

• Every state gets a representative for each senator, so while it’s not nearly the skew of the senate, it’s not truly representative of the population.
• We have US citizens without voting representation in the House.
• The process for drawing districts can be controlled by partisan legislatures who can intentionally gerrymander districts. And though both parties do this, the right has been, uh, better at it. Put it all together and there’s currently about a 5% advantage for Republicans. That’s a VERY significant advantage. (This is on top of a natural gerrymander effect stemming from the reality that urban centers with concentrated populations are highly liberal. Splitting these areas up leads to very unnatural districts.)

4. Voter Registration and Election Day. So many problems!

• Inconsistent and incomplete voter registrations
• Voter registration targeted purges
• Unequal distribution of Election Day resources (e.g. long lines at polling places, difficult travel to polling places, etc.)
• Voting held on a traditional work day
• Lack of an comprehensive and auditable paper trail for ballots (e.g. electronic voting)
• Potential for electoral voting system hacking

5. The Supreme Court. To me, the current process is too far abstracted from the democratic will of the people.

FIXES

What can be done? Well, I’d like to focus on processes and not outcomes. If we come up with more democratic processes, we should get more democratic outcomes.

1. Either eliminate the Electoral College or render it obsolete. I like the National Popular Vote initiative. It bothers me that in Oregon, currently a pretty solid blue state, my vote doesn’t matter. Why not? Well, if Oregon were a toss-up state, the election would already by lost. We’d be having a Republican landslide election.

2. Reduce the role of the Senate. I’ve read a few articles about the Senate recently, including one with the provocative headline about abolishing it (see below). But it’s enshrined in the Constitution in a way that would make it nearly impossible to actually abolish. I like the idea of reducing its role.

Further reading:

The Senate represents states, not people. That’s the problem.

Abolish the Senate

The Case for Abolishing the Senate

3. We should:

• Make the House of Representatives strictly related to population. Take away the “+2” electoral votes each state gets which again skews things towards smaller, rural (and red) states.
• Use non-partisan commissions to draw districts.
• Make Puerto Rico and Washington DC states. Make representatives of territories voting members of Congress.

4. Let’s make the process of voting EASY. The outcome should be MUCH higher participation in our democracy, which makes for a stronger democracy.

(I realize that HOW all of the following are done could be complex, but it’s worth finding workable solutions and making adjustments as needed to reach these goals.)

• Automatic voter registration when you turn 18. Allow registration on Election Day. National standards for registration and election roll updates (e.g. name changes, moves, etc.). National standards for voting rights of convicted criminals. (I think specific crimes may make you ineligible to vote, but I don’t think we should take away rights from everyone, and everyone should have rights restored at the end of the sentence.)
• Make Election Day a national holiday. How about voting on Veterans Day?
• National ballot standards. Auditable paper trails, standardized election forms (i.e. no “butterfly ballots”), etc.
• Non-partisan Secretaries of States. (What’s happening in Georgia is unconscionable. You shouldn’t have the Secretary of State running for the highest office on the ticket. It’s such a blatant conflict of interest.) Equitable distribution of polling centers and Election Day resources. Let’s not have long lines to vote.
• Implement vote by mail nationally.

There’s a lot in this area. I’m sure there’s more to be done. I am convinced that voter SUPPRESSION is a huge story of recent elections. And fraudulent voting is currently a complete non-issue (the volume of documented cases is so low as to be completely insignificant). We need to swing the pendulum in the other direction, and if fraudulent voting actually becomes an issue, we can come up with remedies for that as well.

5. One idea I’ve heard for the Supreme Court is for the Democrats to expand it to 11 seats. And though I’ve wanted to focus on process and stay non-partisan, I like this idea as a way to unskew the current undemocratic nature of the Court.

I don’t like the lifetime appointments; I don’t like that justices are incentivized to “hang on” as they age to have their preferred party in the Presidency to fill their seat. Do you put in a 10-year (or 11-year?) term limit? Outside of impeachments and deaths, you’d then be selecting a new justice each year. Now, coupled with a four-year presidency, you could have a party naming all justices for four (or eight, or twelve, etc.) straight years. Perhaps you return to a 60-vote threshold for confirmation in the Senate to ensure at least some level of bi-partisan approval. I suppose a party could obstruct all nominations until they held the presidency, so you could look to overcome this with a ranked-choice voting system. I’m just thinking out loud here! Maybe you move the confirmation process to the House – a more democratic institution. This might not be easy or even feasible since the current process is embedded in the Constitution, but I’d like to at least see the idea explored.

OK. I’m sure I have a ton of the details wrong. I’m sure I’ve missed lots and lots of other flaws and potential fixes. But I’d sure like to see some candidates start to campaign on a platform of improving/restoring/fixing our democracy. What do you think?

The last stop on our Andulisan road trip is Córdoba. We had noticed many similarities between the cities on our tour, and then Leena found this comic.

This pretty much nails it! So, much of the same sights in Córdoba. Some Roman-era ruins.

The cathedral, viewed along the lovely bridge across the river.

We went up a tower (of course) and had a view of a horse ring.

We liked this topiary made to look like a turret.

We toured Medina Azahara, a city set in the hill just west of Córdoba. It dates to the 10th century. They had a great 20-minute film presentation of the city that included renderings of what the ruins looked like in their day.

The arches of the main entrance to the city.

We drove about an hour north from Málaga to hike the Caminito del Rey trail. I linked to the Wiki page if you’re interested in the details behind the trail. In brief, it was a trail built as a shortcut for workers between two hydroelectric power plants. The river runs through two narrow slot canyons and the trail was built with steel beams bolted to the canyon walls and topped with concrete. The path was built between 1901 and 1905.

After nearly a century, the trail had fallen into disrepair, and after several people died in accidents in 1999 and 2000, the trail was officially closed. Intrepid hikers would still dare to hike “the most dangerous path in the world” leading to additional deaths. In 2011, regional governments agreed to rebuild the trail. This was a 3-year effort. Don’t worry, our walk was quite safe!

The region had heavy rains in the weeks before our scheduled hike (you have to purchase a pass ahead of time) and we lucked out: it opened on the day of our hike for the first time in two weeks. The river was so high that it was spilling over the hydroelectric dam.

As we looked down the trail, we could see the first slot canyon.

The river rushes into the canyon. Trust me, it was thunderous.

I may need some tips on how to wear the helmet. Helmets were provided to all hikers to protect us from any falling rocks.

A look back at the first slot canyon.

A look downstream as we exited the first canyon.

Another look back at the first slot canyon.

Even as we walked between the slot canyons, portions of the trail were bolted to a steep face.

A look down. The trail is about 100m above the river.

The valley between the canyons. The gap in the horizon is the second slot canyon.

A railroad line runs down the far side of the canyon. Note the green rail bridge in the center of the picture.

The entrance to the second slot canyon. The far canyon wall has “three roofs” carved out by the wind.

Here’s a look back up the river across the valley between the canyons.

The new trail is the top track, built above the original trail.

A look across at the rail line that’s mostly tunneled through the cliff on the other side of the river.

The bridge for the old path is in the (relative) foreground. The new path has a suspension bridge (which hikers are on).

Some views in the second slot canyon.

Leena takes a look down past her feet.

A view back. Another rail bridge is in the foreground, and you can see the path along the wall in the right hand side of the frame. Where it disappears is the exit of the second slot canyon. It’s so narrow it’s hard to see!

We hiked the Caminito del Rey today and I’ll get a post up soon with pictures of the amazing “trail”. It’s a series of balconies set about 100m above the floor of a couple of slot canyons. In the meantime, I have another fun story of driving a rental car in a foreign country.

According to maps.me (a great solution for using GPS and a map without data or WiFi; you just need to download the map area ahead of time), we had about a 25 minute drive from the trailhead to our B&B in the Valle de Abdalajis (northwest of Málaga). We soon left a town center and were directed onto a dirt road. We came to a fork in the road and went right. After about half a kilometer, it was clear we should have gone left. We turn around and take the left. The map says we have about 4 kilometers to go. A slight rain has started. Cue ominous music.

The road has a few small mud patches that I pretty easily plow through. One of the keys is to have a bit of speed to ensure you don’t get stuck. And they’re small – not even the length of the car. You can see fresh tire treads, so you know somebody’s made it through recently. It’s rained a lot here in the last two weeks, and we presently come to a small creek overflowing across the road. But it’s only a step wide and we go through with no trouble.

Did I mention that we rented one of those tiny Fiat’s? Yeah, not a great car for off reading.

We’re down to about 2 kilometers to go when we come to a larger mud patch. It’s four or five car lengths, but has plenty of recent tracks. I take it on. Mistake. We completely bog down a bit short of the half way mark. The main problem is the car’s clearance. Once the underside of the car stopped clearing the mud we were stuck. I get out and find some pretty large rocks and do my best to wedge them under the front tires. This doesn’t work. After a few adjustments it’s clear we can’t get the car out. Leena doesn’t drive a manual, so I can’t be outside pushing.

Leena sets off to walk the last 2k to the B&B to call a tow truck. I wait in the car. I got the good end of the deal. Leena calls the B&B host (Greg) and describes the house she sees at the top of the hill. It matches the description of his house, so Leena heads up the (very muddy) hill. But it’s not the right house, and nobody is home. She calls him, but it’s hard to describe where you are when you’re on a dirt road with a lone house. But she can see the town, and Greg realizes we’re completely on the wrong side of the valley. He sets out to find Leena. Leena hikes through to a paved road and calls Greg with the name of the dirt road (thankfully there’s a handmade sign). She waits on the side of the road in the rain. Greg pulls up, parks, and they hike back to the car.

I see them come over the rise about two hours after Leena left, and I’m thinking, huh, that’s not a tow truck. Greg thinks we can get it out. He thinks nothing of wading into the ankle-deep mud to lean on the hood while I give it another try. We try forward, backwards, etc. It’s not even rocking really in its rut.

Greg asks if he can give a try, and that makes sense. I’m younger and quite a bit bigger. I lean into as best I can. It’s pretty hard to get footing in slick mud. Greg’s a wizard with the gears. We get it rocking just a bit and I sink deep enough to get some footholds and really lean into it. There’s hope. After about five minutes, it finally moves out of its rut and back a few feet, but it bogs down again. I’m thinking if we can pull that off a couple of more times we’ll be out of the deep stuff and get it out.

Greg has other ideas. He later tells me that he’s never been up this road before, but he’s determined to get the car out FORWARD so we can drive through to the main road where his car is parked and on to the B&B. Having hiked it, he knows this is the worst patch and that we can make it through the rest. So he slams it back forward, down into the rut, up the other side, and damn if he doesn’t float that thing all the way through, spinning the tires like a madman the whole time. It’s out!

Greg just went to the top of the list of greatest hosts ever. We’re at the B&B now. His wife made us some coffee (remember, while I sat in a car that could warm me up any time, Leena trudged around in the rain and mud and 10 degree (C) weather for two hours). Greg even suggested I could clean the car up tomorrow with a hose. No need to return a car with a belly full of mud and have questions to answer.

All of this on Halloween no less!

UPDATE: We asked for a restaurant recommendation, but they warned that the river is getting very high and were worried that we could get caught in town on the wrong side of the river. So they’ve invited us to join them for their dinner of Andalusian stew. These are the nicest people ever.

From Ronda we drove to Málaga for a couple of days on the Mediterranean Sea. We arrived in the afternoon, checked in to our AirBnB, walked around and had dinner.

The next day it rained. Hard. All day. We went out a bit for food and such, and got completely soaked. We put our sneakers in the dryer that night, and even though we put it on “Delicate”, it ran pretty hot. The shoes shrank some and were quite a squeeze to get into the next day. Fortunately they basically stretched back out.

We toured the castle on top of the hill. Great views.

The cathedral in Málaga only has one of the two towers completed.

Some lady photobombed this one.

The bull fighting ring now appears to be a parking lot…

Ronda was our third stop on our road trip through Andalucía, a mountain village a little under two hours by car east of Cádiz. Ronda’s one of the region’s many pueblos blancos (white villages) called so because the houses are almost all painted white.

The setting is surreal, and unlike any town we’ve ever seen. The town is set on both sides of the El Tejo canyon carved by the Guadalevín river. The canyon is over 100m deep. The town’s most dramatic features are the three bridges across the canyon. The largest and highest is the Puente Nuevo (new bridge), which is in fact the newest bridge, though it was built between 1751 and 1793.

Here’s a view looking to the east (up the river) from the Puente Nuevo. The river is 120m below.

Here’s a look to the west from the same bridge.

We walked west along the south side of the river to get our first look back at the bridge.

A view of the valley to the north and west of Ronda.

We took a trail down the canyon and were oh so brave to continue (so did everyone else).

Like I said, it’s a surreal visual.

Here’s the Puente Viejo (old bridge) located east of the Puente Nuevo.

Here’s a couple of looks at the bridge from the upstream side. The town has a series of terraced gardens set into the north side of the canyon between the Puente Viejo and Puente Nuevo bridges.

A view of the valley west of the town.

The bridge is lit at night.

We hiked down a bit further into the canyon on the morning we departed.

The drive from Ronda east to Málaga was an amazing mountain road. Since we drove it on a Sunday, there were plenty of folks out for a drive. We were passed by packs of motorcycles and some fancy sports cars and racers. We pulled off a few times to take in the views.

Here’s one of our first looks at the Mediterranean Sea. Oh yeah, there are some golf courses in the foreground.

We rented a car on our last day in Seville to take on a road trip around the southern province of Andalusia. We headed south (and a bit west) for our first stop, the coastal city of Cádiz. We stayed in the Old Town section, and it really is old. Cádiz is regarded as the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe.

Every city here has a prominent cathedral. A picture from the plaza.

The view is also pretty great from the other side, and you can see the blend of different architectural styles.

The city is set on a spit of sand surrounded by the ocean, and thus has very few tall buildings. It’s famous for its towers though, as residents of the coastal town needed to keep tabs on shipping traffic off the ocean. The tallest of these is the Tavira Tower at just 45 meters. We went up to take in the view.

Oh, and here’s a castle; it was unfortunately closed when we went by.

On to Spain! We took a bus from the Algarve to Seville and spent a couple of days exploring the city. We started with a visit to the amazing Plaza de España. It was built in 1928 for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition.

It’s immense! The building is a large half circle going around moats and a fountain.

Each end has a tower.

There are tiled alcoves along the base of the building for lots of cities in Spain.

After the Plaza, we headed to the Guadalquivir River. We came to the Torre del Oro, a military watchtower on the river constructed in the 13th century. We took an hour-long river cruise, then went up the tower (free on Mondays, lucky us).

The Seville skyline from the tower, featuring the Cathedral.

We headed to the Cathedral next but didn’t brave the line to go inside.

We spent the evening on a food and walking tour of Seville. We sampled lots of tapas staples – olives, jamón, cheese (manchego drizzled with olive oil), salted cod, and more. These were paired with some not-so-common drinks. First was fortified wine (like Port), then some wine that was fortified with orange liqueur. The bar serving the “orange wine” is the only place it is sold; there’s just one producer. It’s an old and very popular place.

We went by some columns from the Roman era and learned that landowners in Seville rarely dig. If you dig up some history, it must be preserved.

The food tour concluded with a sit-down dinner with some traditional wine. There were three or four dishes. The lamb stew won the night.

Before heading to the airport to rent a car for a road trip around Andalusia we went to the Metropol Parasol in Plaza Mayor. Completed in 2011, it’s a wooden rooftop canopy over the plaza that claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. The locals call it Las Setas de Encarnación (Incarnation’s Mushrooms). A view towards the Cathedral from the top.

We rented a car and drove a couple of hours to the southern province of Portugal, The Algarve. We stayed in the small beach town of Burgau. Just minutes from our AirBnB we took a cliff top walk along the ocean.

The view from the beach in Burgau. It’s a quarter-mile long beach bracketed by rocky cliffs.

We made a few stops at the Beach Bar to enjoy some vinho verde.

A half-hour drive west to Sagres took us to the southwest corner of the European continent. We first visited the Sagres Fortress which dates from the 16th century (though it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1755 and rebuilt in the mid 20th century).

We each enjoyed the “last bratwurst before America” (OK, I had two) before hiking around Cape St. Vincent.

Looking north along the rugged and beautiful coast.

Cape St. Vincent lighthouse.

Back in Burgau, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from the cliff above town.

We drove 15 minutes east to Lagos the following day and walked the cliffs above the ocean in an area called The Grotto.

We took a late afternoon boat ride to catch the views from the water.

So long Portugal! We really enjoyed our three weeks exploring the country. The Portuguese are very nice and welcoming, and though language was occasionally a challenge, it’s not too hard. Everyone makes the effort to understand and help you.