Ok. Most of you can stop reading right now. I have an afternoon to kill in Tuxtla Gutierrez before catching an evening bus, and I'm going to attempt to bring some of my terrible culture into your lives. Get ready.
So recently, I just finished a couple of books about expeditions into the Amazon and started working on Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed". As I'm approaching a few days on the beach, I realized that I probably need some more light reading. I love my science and travel books, but you can only read about population density and ancient farming techniques for so long. As part of my spanish studies, I picked up a copy of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" in spanish (El Principito), hoping that a book aimed at children would be right about my comprehension level. Unfortunately, it was way over my head. If anyone at home hasn't read it, and happens to speak fluent spanish, boy do I have a book for you. Also probably worth picking up in English if you have $5 and an afternoon to kill...
In that same vein, I finally started reading "The Alchemist". I know, the hippy/traveler community would kick me out if they knew I hadn't already read it, so it's about time. It's another book that could be knocked out in an afternoon, and I'm trying to pace myself. I'm finding it strangely applicable to my life and current situation though, and it's hard to put down.
Switching gears, I've noticed that when I'm traveling, I am a lot more aware of those moments where everything just seems to fall into place perfectly. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't have any real responsibilities, and my mind doesn't always have to be running in the background. I'm not thinking of work, or what I'm going to be doing later, or even of friends & family. I can just sit and take in everything that is going on, and enjoy it. A few hours ago, I sat down to grab a snack, and from my seat, I had a perfect view of the crosswalk out in front of the comedor. The angle was such that I had a perfect view of each person's face as they crossed the street for just a second, and I could just sit and imagine what they were doing and where they were going. I had nowhere else to be, and nothing that I had to do but sit and watch the world go by. Charles and Tom summed it up pretty well here. Sorry to be a youtube linker, but I told you to stop reading at the beginning...
I'm not much of one for thinking about the past, and one of my favorite things about traveling is that I can be totally removed from anything that was going on at home. I have no phone, no expectation of internet access, and I'm probably not going to run into anyone I know (except for bumping into a friend from high school in a 7/11 in Bangkok once). I don't usually even have the desire to listen to the music that I enjoy at home. Being in a new place with new sights, sounds, and smells is enough to keep me entertained. Every once in a while though, I do feel the need to go revisit some things. Not sure why, but these always bring me back to somewhere.
- I'm not much of a dance fan. Especially interpretive dance. But here you go.
- For some reason this one always grabs me. Probably not appropriate for work. Unless your work is ok with seeing Shia LaBeouf naked.
- And just becase, another one of my favorites.
Oh, and to round things out, I finished the new season of Arrested Development last night. I won't state my full thoughts here, but well...
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