It was a humid morning in Tropical Paradise. Three members of the Miami Silat Group were meeting at a park to practice, train, exchange, and most importantly, laugh. Bruno Cruicchi was up first. His silat was Raja Sterlak that he learned in the far east during one of his many adventures. I described Bruno in the following paragraph for Marc Denny of the Dogbrothers, who had invited him to teach the legendary warriors of rattan.

"Bruno Cruicchi has been doing martial arts for over 40 years. He is Italian/Armenian and born in Cairo. He lives in Caracas, Venezuela, and Miami, Florida. We met through a silat email list several years ago and have been friends ever since. He is the mentor to our Miami based training group. He teaches many arts but focuses on the Venezeulan ones with our group. Personally he and I discuss blade and silat. His training is in Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, Venezuelan, Chinese, Indian and Euro or Western arts. His primary focus is Venezuelan, Filipino, Indo, and TaiChi (Chen). His is a textbook of international travel, martial arts, styles and people. He knew Don Draeger and lives a similar lifestyle. He can root out the oddest sources of martial arts from Stick Lickin’ in the Islands to Portuguese Staffwork, to African Testa. He can give you an outline and a story about the instructor as well. Bruno makes his living as a linguist and speak 8 languages fluently,,, probably many more if pushed. He can start with the story of training in Indian Weaponry with his Silat instructor, or his entry into a French LaCanne Tournament using Venezuelan methods or his honeymoon trip to Paris and his meeting with the Adityo Hanafi of the Sumatran Tiger Silat Clan,,,,,… but you will have to buy the coffee or beer,… It will be a long night and you will tire before him. He is of course,.. The International Man of Mystery."

Next up was Santiago Dobles. Musician, healer, writer, and Silat man. Santi expounded on the use of Tiga, Sliwa, Djuru, Langkah, Sambut. Then we expanded into the use of Pisau, and Tongkat. Santi’s expertise does not end there. You might like his music. His guitar abilities are other-wordly. Go to www.myspace.com/santiagodobles and listen to "Black Sail". I asked him how he wrote this and when. He told me, " I just basically hit the record button and played!"

The subject matter ranged from biomechanics to concrete conflict, prison systems, yoga, palero, Djinn, Southeast Asian politics, and Indian Martial Arts. We had viewers of course. The occasional jogger, hiker, or group of summer camp bound children. There were of course the elements that make life in paradise interesting. We were viewed from afar by a team of Trustee’s doing lawn work. They seemed to be interested in the Cimande Silat and application of langkah via sapu, beset, kenjit, and puter kepala. You have to ask yourself, "Where are all the new 52 Blocks techniques coming from?".  Also in the mix of fans were our favorite reptiles. At least six to ten Iguanas decided to close in and see what was going on with the humans.

I have to say,…. Life in Paradise is never boring!

For further information on Silat in Miami,.. go to,..SILAT