April 15, 2013

Monday

Tax Day. I arrive at the post office five minutes before they open. We wait in a civilized line in front of the gate, filing in like animals after they open. While waiting in line, a man yells at the lone woman working behind the postal counter, "Can we get someone else out here?" I guess he doesn't feel he deserves to wait that long.

It is so cold and windy that during our brisk walk through the park, I fear the sunlight will blow away too.

In the evening I drive the five blocks to Safeway, to avoid the cold and I judge myself as a wimp. I am so spoiled, that I have not shopped regularly at Safeway in years. As I walk through the crowded-after-work-shopping aisles with bad Pop music booming through the speakers, I begin to smile. Suddenly, I am so happy to be out amongst ordinary people.  I can't stop smiling. I see the beauty in their ordinariness, the elderly lady, the yippie guy on his cell phone, the black lady with her solemn kids, the Mexican guy in his construction clothes. You may get all politically correct and say I am stereotyping, but I am not, I am just recounting what I saw. I see humanity and its beauty, and we are all part of it, no matter who we are or what we are or where we came from. I felt like I belonged.

In the self-check out line, which is so long it is almost to the doors, I am a little surprised at the length of the line. What surprises me even more is the lack of surprise of anyone else. Each party takes their place at the back of the line like it were any other day and no one yells, "Can we get someone else out here?"

People in Puerto Vallarta

Its Leap Day, I just had to say that. When I was a little girl I asked for a globe of the world, which I received for Christmas or my birthday, I can't remember which. I loved looking at the globe, wondering about all the different places and what they were like. To this day, I still love looking at maps, with more knowledge of the people, countries, cultures and my mouth waters at the thought of traveling somewhere new.

When I travel and take pictures, most of my images are of landscapes and buildings, but rarely of people. I have discovered that some of my favorite images are of people and I have become kind of bored with one landscape after another. I am tired of being frustrated with people "getting in my picture". So, I decided to make a point of photographing people, as a way of capturing a sense of a place, in Puerto Vallarta.

Yes, sometimes I feel like it is a bit of an intrusion on people's private lives, but I remind myself it is not spying, it is out of appreciation and an attempt at understanding more than just buildings and scenery. It was a rewarding experience. I liked seeing people going about their daily lives and how it is different or the same as my own. I posted a collection of more than 90 photographs of people doing normal things in Puerto Vallarta on Flickr. If you would like to see all of them, including their captions explaining a little more about the image please visit my People in Puerto Vallarta set on Flickr. In these photographs I feel like it tells the tale of adventure of ordinary life - in Puerto Vallarta.

Here is a sample of some of those photos:

In addition to the many candid photographs, I also took some portraits as part of my 100 Strangers Project on Flickr. Here are some of my favorite portraits that I took in Mexico as part of that project. Please click on the link for each stranger to read the write up for each encounter.

Stranger #46

Stranger #51

Stranger #50

I'll leave you with one of my favorite photograph's from Mexico:

Stranger #52

ADVENTURE #2: The Inspirational Duck

I had today's "adventure" planned out. But now I realize there is something wrong about that statement. Somehow I don't think "adventure" and "planned" are really supposed to be used in the same sentence. But, oh well, I did.

I decided to go for a six mile hike after work. The hike was supposed to take me through old, sun-dappled oak groves; along calm and sparkling waters; up lush, green hillsides, through cool, shaded forests; down and around dry, lizard-littered brush; through grassy, mountain pastures and finally along a mountain ridge trail with amazing views of the whole valley as far as the eye can see. Sound nice? Well, that isn't exactly what I did.

I park my car and start out. It is very nice and quiet and peaceful along the fire road that parallels a narrow creek through the woods. The forest breaks and the trail starts up a steep hill. At the top of the hill is the lovely water; calm and sparkling with a circumference of trees and mountains.

Sigh. This is when the peacefulness part ends. There is a shooting range way across the lake and you can hear the never-ending sound of gunshots reverberating through the small valley. At first I do a good job of ignoring it, especially as I travel along the perimeter of the water and discover a new crop of wildflowers to be enjoyed.

I take my time observing the wildflowers before continuing on.

The trail breaks from the perimeter of the water and heads into a beautiful, elegant, oak grove. It is the kind of tree grove that you can't help noticing. You just can't. If you were thinking about something else when you enter this grove, you immediately stop. The serenity here wakes you, in the gentlest of ways, to a more beautiful waking dream then you could have had while asleep. There are small pockets of magical places on earth. This is one of them.

I exit the grove and the trail begins to climb deeper into the forest and up the hillside. Everything turns a glowing, emerald green. But by now, the time I had allotted for this hike has really come to an end. I took so long and I had only gone a 1/4 of the way! This is when my mind becomes my worst enemy and I berate myself for not completing what I set out to do. This goes on for a time and I get more and more pissed off for not having gone further. In this competitive world we live in, isn't that what everyone is trying to do? To have more, get more, do more, go faster? How is this relatively short hike an adventure or a break from ordinary life? Give me a break! Hmm... Maybe that is exactly what I need to do, give myself a break. This is supposed to be FUN! And, well, it is! As soon as my mind gets involved it stops being fun.

So I stop. I look around. I take in all that is around me. The quiet, the forest noises (intermingled with gun shot sounds, unfortunately), it has a calming factor like cool water on a blazing, hot day. When you walk (or run or bike or whatever) through a forest, things, such as birds and animals, run from you. But when you stop and are still, new things emerge. The forest becomes alive as the animals, birds, insects come out of hiding. You are not alone in the woods, there is life all around you. Energizing.

Reluctantly, I make my way back. Of course, my mind interjects its negativity again at every opportunity. I do my best to continue to enjoy my surroundings but it gets harder and harder as I get closer and closer to the end of the trail. By the time I reach the end, I am back in my superbly negative state. In a desperate attempt to not leave in such a bad mood, I stop along the bridge that leads to my car. I hear the creek running below and I know that running water always seems to have a calming affect. I look over the tall rail, down at the shallow creek and, to my surprise, I find a there is a lone duck in the creek.

I have seen plenty of ducks in ponds and lakes, but never in running water. He seems to be looking for and eating something out of the creek. The duck looks at peace with its surroundings; at peace with its current activity in life. At peace with wherever it is and whatever it is doing at that moment. Maybe that is the key, not to plan adventures, but to find it in every day things. The adventures of swimming in a creek and looking for food. Maybe, because we have become so insulated from the world around us in our jobs, homes, etc., our lives have become sterile and we no longer venture out. Maybe that is where adventure takes place. The duck inspires me to live life with peace, the adventure of my everyday, ordinary life.

Adding Adventure to an Ordinary Life

I am looking for adventure. I swear it is out there to be found, but I have an ordinary life. So I ask myself, "How is it that I am here, at this place in my life?" It baffles me, depresses me, and amazes me all at the same time. My life is certainly not terrible, in fact, there are many things that are pretty terrific, but I can't shake that sense that there is something that I am missing, that there is more to it then THIS.

So what is THIS? I live in a city. I get in a car and drive an hour to work. There, I sit in a cubicle and do work all day long. Then, I drive an hour home. When I get home I make something to eat for dinner and then eat it. By then it is kind of late. I do a few things (hobbies mostly) and then go to bed. I have been married for a year and a half. I am in my early thirties. I don't have kids.

That brings me to adventure. In order to add some flavor, color, texture, variety to my life I am going hunting for adventure. Since I am not on vacation or on a safari all the time, my challenge is to find adventures possible in ordinary life. They may be small or large, risky or less so, but they all should overcome the inertia of homeostasis, or "the usual". In other words I am going to get off my butt and try to experience new, unusual and non-routine things.