If you’ve never seen the man, he is down-right impressive. John Ochandorena Descarga, better known as simply Johnny O, is a walking tribute to the Basques, their culture, their history, and his ancestry.  With two arm sleaves, tats up and down his legs and across his chest, Johnny definitely stands out in a crowd.  I had the pleasure of meeting Johnny about 14 years ago at a small festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Gauden Bat, the dance group Johnny was a part of, performed.  Maybe a little intimidating at first, due to the abundance of ink on his body, he was a great guy.  It was a great event overall.

Johnny has sent photos of all of the work he has had done, a project that continues to evolve, most recently including the footprints of his daughter, right in the middle of his chest!  Because of the number of photos, I’ve created a separate gallery for Johnny’s tattoos, and he’s given explanations for each one, with photos from multiple perspectives of each arm and leg.

While such ink is not for everyone, it is still a wonder what Johnny has done.  I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!

Visitors to Buber’s Basque Page likely already know Andy Franco.  Since discovering his Basque roots, he has been very involved in the Boise Basque community.  Owner of Calico Forge and Knife Company, Andy has weaved his Basque heritage into his work.  He made the replica harpoons that were featured in the Boise Basque Museum’s exhibit on Basque whaling and he also created the amazing lauburu that he donated for the 2008 dinner/fundraiser for the Boise Basque Museum and Cultural Center.

His focus more recently has been knives, as evident by his company website.  New Mexico Euskal Etxea asked Andy if he would be interested and able to donate something for our own fundraiser, a Tapas and Wine event to be held on June 19.  Andy seized the opportunity to take his knife-making in a direction he’d been thinking about for some time: kitchen knives.  He made two beautiful knives, pictured below, that he generously donated to NMEE.  He also made an iron stone hunter knife, also pictured (with the rougher-decorated blade).  All three pieces are wonderful.  We thank Andy for his generosity in sharing his amazing skills with us.

A couple of links I’ve been sent or found in wanderings of the web.

First, Louis Arriaga Jr has a fascinating story of misunderstandings and miscarriage of justice (even one of the sentencing judges felt this way, but couldn’t do anything about it).  Clearly, Arriaga is of Basque descent, though his connections to Spain are somewhat distant.  He has a site devoted to his story, but a summary of it can be found in this Phoenix New Times article.

Mugalari means “someone who crosses boarders”, a reference to the smugglers who work across the French-Spanish border.  Mugalari is also the name of a new blog, a blog devoted to showing you “other” aspects of the Basque Country, not necessarily those that would show up in a guide book.  Mugalari has traveled himself extensively and this blog is his attempt to do for the Basque Country what would have been nice for him in other parts of the world.

And speaking of visiting the Basque Country, the region of Debagoiena, which includes the famous University of Onati as well as the shrine Arantzazu, has a website devoted to tourism in the area. This includes guides, photos, and information about hotels and more to help you in your visit to the heart of Gipuzkoa.

I ran into this next site just searching for Basque images on Google.  It is amazing what you find sometimes.  I’ve often been asked, especially by adherents of the Society for Creative Anachronism, what the Basque dress of the Middle Ages was.  It’s hard to find much about that in English, though I guess I would think there is quite a bit in Spanish and Basque.  In any case, this site has quite a few images devoted to the dress of Basques from that era.  Some very interesting images.

Finally, the Basque Country, like the UK and other parts of Europe, was recently hit by some winter weather, and this blog of EiTB captures some of the resulting spectacular scenery, including this image of a snow-covered La Concha.  The Basque Country looks very different in white than it does in the typical green we are more familiar with, though just as striking and beautiful.

The lauburu is such a Basque symbol that most of the tattoos that I’ve received prominently feature it in some way or another.  The two most recent tattoos are no exception.

Megan Etcheberry is a second generation but 100% Basque who lives in Portland, Oregon.  Her tattoo features an encircled lauburu on her back.  Simple, but, as always, elegant.

Colin Farrell isn’t Basque, but spent time in the Basque Country as part of the pro surfing tour and fell in love with the place.  He recently added a lauburu to what I assume was an exisiting tattoo featuring a surf scene.  He writes: “I spent some time in Mundaka and Bilbao in 2007 when I was studying abroad and absolutely fell in love with Euskadi.  Since then I’ve actually written my senior thesis on the influences of Sabino Policarpo de Arana y Giori and have begun to make plans to move there permanently.  I just got the lauburu tattoo about 2 weeks ago at Tattoo Paradise in Washington DC.  The artist, Nikki, is part Basque herself!”

Eskerrik asko Megan and Colin!

A couple of panoramas of Donosti, from Mount Igueldo. Incidentally, I made the panoramas with the software Hugin, which is awesome for stitching photos together.

During my last trip to Euskal Herria, I made a point of traveling from Munitibar, where my dad is from and where I was staying, to Donosti via the coast.  It’s a trip I’ve made several times in the past and well worth the cost of a rental car, but this time I tried to take pictures of the towns along the way.  I started at Ondarroa, passing through Mutriku and Deba, with a small detour to Elorriaga in the mountains, on to Zumaia and Getaria (home of Juan Sebastian de Elcano, the first person to circumnavigate the world), missing Zarautz (I went through Zarautz but because they were having their fiesta, there was no easy place to park for a photo), on through Orio and finally reaching Donosti.  I returned via Mount Igeldo and took a picture of the landscape beyond Igeldo, along a very small and windy road.

These pictures then represent about maybe one third of the Basque coast, missing west of Ondarroa (including Bermeo, Lekeitio, and Portugalete; I’ve been to several, but haven’t done the drive along the coast there) and east of Donosti, into France, again, a route I haven’t driven.

Seth Jordan and Dax Arguello have both sent photos of their new tattoos, both of which prominently feature the lauburu.  Seth’s tattoo, of a big lauburu on his forearm, was done at Tattoo Revolution in Meridian, Idaho.  Dax’s, features a lauburu centered in a bigger design, was done at Guru Tattoo in San Jose, California.  Large versions of these photos can be found in the Tattoo Gallery.  Thanks for sharing guys!

Jeremiah Saiz, whose ancestors are from the Basque Country, is a native New Mexican who has spent many years in Hawaii and is now living in San Francisco.  In a blend of his interests and his heritage, Jeremiah had his new canoe painted in Basque colors.  He also christened his canoe Aidegatxo, which in Lapurdi is a spirt that forms and controls storms.  Jeremiah and Aidegatxo can be found whenever he can get away from school in the San Francisco Bay.  Awesome picture, Jeremiah!  The full size version can be found in this gallery.

Sheep were a big business in southwest Idaho/eastern Oregon/northern Nevada.  As a result, a lot of Basques settled in the high desert of the area.  Sheep brought my dad and my mom’s grandparents to America.  My mom’s aitxitxa, Blas Telleria, and amuma, Ines Eiguren, both settled in Jordan Valley, OR, a small town just on the other side of the Idaho border.  Jordan Valley is full of reminders of the Basque history of the place, most notably the fronton in the center of the town, but also in the names of the streets.  Most recently, the Elorriaga-Goicoechea house has become the home of the Idaho Oregon Nevada Heritage Museum.  Andy Franco was recently there, and took some photos of the Basque momentos which testify to the Basque presence and history of the American West.  The photos can be viewed in this gallery.

Eskerrik asko, Andy!

I’ve been meaning to share this set of links for a while and just thought I’d “dump” them on you before I either forget or they get outdated.

Last.fm, an online music station of sorts, has a channel dedicated to Kortatu and similar artists. I haven’t spent a lot of time with it yet, but if you are looking for some classic Basque rock, tune in here.

OK, this one I’m not sure what to make of… the concept looks intriguing, but I don’t think I understand it well enough.  Baskinbox seems to be a Basque gift box, with information about food, hotels, recreation, etc.  But, I’m not quite sure what is actually included in the box.  Can anyone help me out?

Aimee Eiguren, a very distant cousin of mine on my mom’s side, has a blog of her own, Bowl of Soul.  In her most recent post, she describes her first trip to Euskadi to visit the homes of her ancestors and shares a great recipe for Basque Omelette.

NABO, the North American Basque Organization, tries to help the various Basque clubs in efforts that are too big for any individual club.  This includes organizing summer camps for kids, hosting the national Mus championship, and much more.  On this page, they describe the ongoing effort to create a Basque Studies Consortium, the goal of which is to create a clearing house, of sorts, for Basque Studies, a place people can go and see what the most recent research in areas related to the Basques has uncovered.

The Nevada State Museum recently installed a 1902 Sheepherders Wagon, built for the Campbell Ranch.  According to the site, the first-ever sheepherders wagon was built by James Candlish of Wyoming in 1884, and it soon was adopted by sheepherders all over the American West.

Continuing the historical theme, this article in the Idaho Statesman describes the early history of the Basques in Boise, Idaho.  It focuses on their involvement in the restaurant and hotel businesses.  In particular, they quote an 1893 Stateman article that reported that “Yturraspe & Uberuaga will on Monday, January 1st, take charge of the City Restaurant and lodging house, which they have purchased from Russ Luark.”

This site, which gives a number of images on bordering of different styles, also has a page dedicated to Basque bordering.  I’m not sure how useful these images or these pages would be for one doing this kind of work, but maybe in the least these patterns will inspire.

An interesting little diversion, using a pattern you can download for free from this site, you can create a simple three-dimensional dodecahedron calendar in a number of languages, including Euskara.

The Taller de Artesania Lorratz has a great gallery of images, including paintings, drawings and mosaics.  The drawings, in particular, are of Basque buildings, with baserriak, churches, castles, and even a windmill.  The images are accompanied by the name and location of the building.  There are also some children’s arts and crafts images.

And, finally, for this update at least, NABO recently welcomed a new member to its fold.  Euskaldunak: Association des Basques du Quebec is the latest club to both become part of NABO and put a presence on the web.  The page, in both French and Euskara, seems to be still a work in progress, but there are photos and announcements regarding the group’s recent events.  Zorionak!