Scott Bernard Flying Carpet Articles

Spinning Caps in Ekelbhatti
Scott Bernard introduces a new child's game to the Jomosom region of Nepal. [Read on]
Added on January 20, 2004

My Journey with Anna Maria
by Scott Bernard
Three hours above the suspension bridge over the Urabamba River on Peru’s Inca Trail, we stopped at Huayllabamba, a village of a few scattered houses. The porters had set up camp in front of the one room stone school on a rough dirt patch used by the children for play, and I set up my tent among the others. Throughout dinner a woman watched from the shadows at the corner of the school building, stepping forward, then retreating. When everyone was finished with hot chocolate, she crept from the shadows, crossed the black gap between two worlds, and entered the camp light, stepping carefully. She said something quietly and rubbed a finger up and down her forearm.

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Added on September 07, 2003

The Protest of Señor Sapo

Rubbing my hand twice across the wooden slats of the bench to sweep off the water, I sat, immediately realizing the impotence of the gesture as my pants and back ribbed with damp. The rain had been short and uncommitted, simply glistening the dark grass and gilding the walkway pavers and the cobbled streets surrounding the Plaza de Armas with reflected gold from streetlights, shop windows and the fairytale twin spires of the cathedral. Carmen sat next to me with a smile and no concern for the wet. She had been one of my first customers and my partner most every evening for two weeks. She was seven and spent her days selling chewy candy, two for one sole or three for one sole or "A special price just for my friend," four for one sole, to the tourists that haggled. Tucking her cardboard box inside her coat knowing she would sell no candy to me, Carmen looked at the clock on the cathedral and said, "It’s almost time."

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Added on May 12, 2003