Halfway along our life’s path. Lost in a dark wood.
Unable to find the right way….

– PARADISO –

“CANTO I”

“Yeti mystery resolved with DNA testing!” Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, set out to collect and test “yeti” hair samples of two unknown animals, one found in the Western Himalayan region of Ladakh and the other from Bhutan, 800 miles apart, to find out which species they came from. After the more advanced DNA tests available these days Professor Sykes found he had a 100% match with a sample from an ancient polar bear jawbone found in Svalbard, Norway, that dates back at least 40,000 years. Professor Sykes believes the animals could be a cross between a polar bear and a brown bear, both species known to interbreed where their territories overlap.

Yetis, also known as the “Abominable Snowman” or “Bigfoot”, have been recorded for centuries in the Himalayas, with local people and mountaineers claiming to have come face-to-face with hairy, ape-like creatures. Legendary Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who became the first man to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, has studied yetis since he had a terrifying encounter with a mysterious creature in Tibet in 1986. Professor Sykes said, “This is a completely unexpected result but more work needs to be done on interpreting the findings.” His book detailing his research “The Yeti Enigma: A DNA Detective Story” is to be published next spring and his investigations have been featured in the UK in a new threepart Channel 4 documentary series “Bigfoot Files”.

“CANTO II”

Bogota. Colombia. The prison beauty contest for the title of ‘Reina Madre’ (Queen Mother) – the prison “Buen Pastor”, in the Colombian capital that houses more than 2000 women has been organising events like this for the past 18 years with TV and music celebrities as the invited competition judges. The beauty contest is held every year on the feast of the Virgin of Mercy, patron saint of prisoners. Most of the detainees have been found guilty of drug trafficking and are waiting to be sentenced. The competition this year required the contestants to parade first in traditional folk dress and then in elegant evening wear. And it seems that age is not an issue as Maria Cristina Villareal, 56 year-old mother of three with nine grandchildren, was one of the six contestants vying for the title in the final.“Even if they’re in prison it doesn’t mean they’ve lost their femininity” said Maria Virginia Camacho, the organiser of this year’s event.

We could not agree more…

“CANTO III”

The Yemen. It could be renamed “Singles go on strike!”. This is the demonstration organised in the Taiz district, 250 km south of Sanaa, by young males looking for a bride to demand a reduction in the symbolic “gift” that each aspiring son-inlaws has to give to the family of his proposed future wife. The Yemen is not immune to the economic downturn so unemployment has risen dramatically, and the young husbands-to-be, if not in possession of a substantial bank account, can’t afford the increased demands from future in-laws that vary from US$500 up to $40.000 for the hand of any girl of marriageable age. The girls have no say in the choice of their future husband and often end up marrying old men as they are the only ones who can afford the required amount. For this reason many young men from Al-Jarf in the Taiz asked the patriarchs to sign an agreement capping the price to 200.000 Yemen rials (equal to US$1000 ) per daughter; otherwise all the girls could find themselves left on the shelf. And there is no worse nightmare for a Yemeni family than to have one of their daughters pass the age of 25 because then she is considered a spinster.

 

PURGATORIO

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INFERNO

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To what other terraces of doom and pain, dear Virgil, will you accompany me… next time….