RAINBOW PEACE CARAVAN sends an S.O.S to its friends

Read this message in Spanish at:
http://www.lacaravana.org/condor/sos_span.html

Greetings to all of you, personal friends and 
supporters from the CARAVANA ARCOIRIS por la PAZ, 
on the beginning of this new gregorian year, 2004.

Hoping to find all of you well, renewed, and full 
of visions for the coming cycle, I have decided 
to send all of you an S.O.S in behalf of this 
project. La Caravana is in its seventh year of 
existence travelling and doing the unique work of 
environmental education, entertainment for peace, 
defence of traditional nations and networking of 
alternatives through the Americas.

The Caravan has crossed borders of thirteen 
different countries, done hundreds of 
presentations, workshops, festivals, conferences, 
audiovisuals and special events in the most 
remote indigenous communities from Central 
America, the Caribbean and South America, in 
rural and urban villages and cities and in most 
capitals from the countries we visited in what is 
now a journey of more than seven years

Some of you may have also heard, that on our way 
to the gathering, on the night of August 24th, we 
had a terrible accident on the mountains near 
Nasca, that fortunately did not cost us any human 
loss, but left us with only one of our two buses. 
The Suenito, the largest one, the one that 
carried most of our crew, the kitchen, the 
theater equipment, and that also pulled the 
trailer with the huge Circus Rainbow Tent was 
totaled in the accident. We had no insurance. A 
lot of our equipment was also destroyed or had to 
be given away, because we did not have the 
possibility to carry it anymore. We also incurred 
in a debt of $5000 US with the owner of a truck 
that was also partially destroyed in the accident 
when our bus was without brakes and hit the truck 
before smashing against the mountain. That saved 
our lives, leaving 10 people bruised and shocked, 
and half of our infrastructure gone in a couple 
of minutes.

With big pains, lots of expenses and work, we 
have been able to reach the north of Chile, and 
are at this moment camped at the city of Iquique, 
trying to figure a way to get back in our wheels 
again to continue our journey, and to continue 
our work in view of the coming international 
Vision Council that will take place in Brasil in 
2005, that we are coordinating with the brasilian 
groups representing many social and spiritual 
movements trying to build a better world and 
future for those to come.

We were able to construct in December a trailer 
that will be our mobile kitchen, equipped with 
the solar panels and batteries to provide energy 
to the whole Caravan, but we need to acquire a 
used vehicle to pull the trailer, and to find a 
second trailer to carry the Circus tent and the 
theater equipment. We also, after more than 7 
years travelling, need to change the engine of 
our second bus to diesel, as the costs of 
gasoline in South America are taking most of our 
earnings. So, at this point, the Caravan is going 
through a mobility crisis, and this is the reason 
we are asking you to help us out, so we can 
continue a work, that few people are doing on the 
planet, and that we feel is worth continuing.

According to the prices of vehicles here in 
Chile, we have calculated that we need to raise 
$30,000 dollars to get back to where we were last 
August, before the accident, and this is the 
reason we are sending this SOS ... in order to 
hear from all of you, receive your advice, your 
donations, your ideas or leads as to how and 
where and to whom we should direct our request to 
get help for that purpose.

We have a bank account, and will be really 
thankful for any donation you can send, if you 
can and if you think the Caravana should continue 
its journey to the Tierra del Fuego, as we 
promised we would in 1996 when we departed from 
our ecovillage in Mexico, Huehuecoyotl.
The account number is: 1199202749 under the name 
of Alberto Ruz Buenfil, BANCOMER, Sucursal 5653, 
Tepoztlan Centro, Morelos-México.
I want to thank you in advance, for your 
interest, for your friendship, for your previous 
and present support, and for the work that you 
are all doing in your own places for the 
Earth.     
                 
All Our Relations
El Subcoyote Alberto Ruz  <subcoyotealberto-/[email protected]>

P.S.
In the coming couple of months, my new book HAY 
TANTOS CAMINOS (So Many Roads) will be published 
in Mexico by Editorial COLOFON. A collection of 
short stories from the first 6 years of the 
journey. Those of you who would like to get a 
copy, please let me know to start making a list 
for the publishers. I would also send a 
complimentary copy to all donors for the 
Caravan's vehicles.