I got a weird comment this week which I thought I’d share in the spirit of trying to understand why people come to my page to look for negativity. Do you suppose we should offer this lost soul a group hug?
Anonymous said.........I just keep thinking about all those blanket platitudes about this and that...it's almost as if one keeps dwelling on the positive none of the negativity will appear. There has to be opposites, it's the way of the universe (think gravity) and if everything was good then if wouldn't be so good anymore as there is no quantification. I wish I had not lost so much...maybe you got all of my good.
yes, it's me again
There is one other van on the beach with us this week and they plan to leave on Thursday and be home in New Mexico by Saturday because the woman has a job to go to on Monday. (The male half is retired). We have no appointments or obligations. I feel privileged. Santa Fe by Saturday sounds like a journey that should be planned by NASA such is the ambition.
I was messing around on the beach at sunset struggling to capture the mood of an expansive endless sunset, and failing of course when Rusty started burbling and grumbling at a Mexican family in the distance. I walked him back to the van because he would not stop growling at the intruders. He set off the dogs from the other van, two huge mastiffs not trained for best behavior and it was a symphony of dogs. The mood was broken and I was annoyed.
An elderly van showed up on the beach with a pretty funny couple of long time Mexican visitors. They bought the machine for two grand and drive it down from Minnesota to their winter home near the town of Tequila and then drive around visiting campsites. It is a van of it’s time not able to operate very efficiently off the grid but they make great use of it as a touring machine plugging in at RV parks then as a picnic vehicle for day trips at the beach. I admired their firm grasp of what they enjoy and their ability to make retirement work for them. You don’t need to be complicated and all in like us to enjoy the road.
The security patrol came by to make sure the off beach areas are safe, evidence of the ongoing land dispute at Tenacatita. The driver of the car said he’d always wanted a camper van so I invited him over for a look. Jorge broke into fluent English and said he’d lived and worked in Chicago and he missed it. One assumes family obligations forced him to leave but it would have been indelicate to ask. The guards have a job to do and they do it efficiently. No one wanders onto the disputed land ( except me by accident!) but it must be boring work. I don’t envy him.
Layne calculated our expenses last week and the bill to live came in somewhere around $205 to sit on the beach and order fresh fish lunches. Our water tank is down to around 13 gallons from full capacity of 35. Electricity is draining faster than the solar panels (400 watts on the roof) can charge them. We run the engine an hour a day when Layne cooks to keep a decent charge. We are running out of pesos but a Canadian beach goer gave us a good lead on a reliable ATM at the military base (!) in Melaque. We are out of spray-on sunscreen so we walk around smeared with white unguent designed to protect our noses and pressed into service as body spray. Things are getting desperate but not yet critical.
I take a couple of Tylenol before bed as the sea lice are itching but we have no mosquitoes. I’m struggling to find negatives here but every day is another featureless day at the beach. Sheer bliss. Cool at night hot and sunny by day I have time to read Martha Gellhorn’s stories of reporting war from around the world in the 20th century (THE FACE OF WAR). I do some crosswords (offline to save bandwidth just like Kindle) and wonder if, after we do some shopping and driving to recharge the batteries might we come back here? Quite possibly. Leave Friday and return Monday maybe.
I can’t make stuff up, I lack the imagination. There is not much drama on an empty beach. I do wish Ron was here as I miss the companionship of a seasoned traveler to share impressions rather than prices. Ron’s wry sense of humor kept us laughing but he too is on his way home to work.
This is the retirement wished for all those years sitting at my desk listening to office drama of no consequence in between moments of real consequence on 911. I’ve left all that behind and I’m sorry if my retirement lacks drama or intrigue. But this is how it unfolds.
I’m looking forward to South America but random land closures mean we won’t start down to Colombia until this time next year when we hope to be shipping GANNET2 out of Panama next January. Peru’s land borders will be closed at least until August this year and who knows after that? Peru is the land bridge between the northern countries and the southern half of that continent.
The banana bread lady didn’t come by yesterday. Not exactly earth shattering news but that’s all I’ve got. Mexico is a great place to visit though I’m not sure I want to live here full time. Even if I wasn’t envisioning years of travel ahead, settling down here might be hard with random rules and strategic enforcement to make my head spin. Driving through Mexico’s magical realism is easy as a tourist.
So the news for the malcontents hiding behind anonymity is not much good. I don’t do clickbait as I don’t earn a living here so droning on is the order of the day. Platitudes will abound as long as life here is platitudinous and I wish you well in pursuit of your own happiness whatever exciting form that takes. Big hug everyone, but I’ve got to decide what to have for lunch today as Mrs B says I can’t have breaded fish two days in a row (stamps his foot in petulant rage). Shock - horror- beach drama as food order goes awry.
