I just got back from a week-long sailing trip in Mexico. Here are some thoughts about it:
1. Sailing is very fun. I had never really been on a boat for an extended period of time before this trip (unless you count the three day 'cruise' I did on the Nile, which I'm not sure I would). We were taught to sail by a weathered man in his forties who had moved to San Carlos 23 years ago from Arizona. He was an excellent teacher, aside from his inability to give any kind of straight answer to a question. Once we asked him, "What do you do when a big storm hits suddenly?" and he replied with a detailed synopsis of the book he was reading. I suppose there are some things you can't learn until you have to do it.
2. We saw a whale. If that's not a spiritual experience, I don't know what is.
3. 'Developing countries' are places where people live out their lives. They go to work, they make dinner, they hang out with their families, they have barbecues, they philosophize, they sit around in their chones watching TV on Sundays, they fall in love, they make art. These countries aren't sinkholes devoid of humanity. But don't think you won't get robbed. You very well might.
4. I swam with dolphins and I heard them talking underwater. I hope it was about me.
5. I got a tattoo from a guy who was drinking Jack Daniels when we walked into his 'studio'/bedroom. No, really, he had a bed in the room where I got the tattoo and I can't imagine he didn't live there. But he showed me that the needle was sealed in autoclave paper and I had three dudes with me (one of whom also got a tattoo), so I felt good enough about the experience. In fact, I would have it no other way.
6. I spent most afternoons reading the new Dan Brown book called Inferno in my hammock on the roof of the house we were staying in (that overlooked the marina, I might add), and I probably relate too much to the villain of the story. He believes that the central problem contributing to global climate change, ecosystem destruction, starvation, etc is overpopulation and that the only solution is a massive plague to wipe out billions of people. This persuasion conflicts directly with the line of work I've chosen, which is to heal people and prevent disease. More on this later.
1. Sailing is very fun. I had never really been on a boat for an extended period of time before this trip (unless you count the three day 'cruise' I did on the Nile, which I'm not sure I would). We were taught to sail by a weathered man in his forties who had moved to San Carlos 23 years ago from Arizona. He was an excellent teacher, aside from his inability to give any kind of straight answer to a question. Once we asked him, "What do you do when a big storm hits suddenly?" and he replied with a detailed synopsis of the book he was reading. I suppose there are some things you can't learn until you have to do it.
2. We saw a whale. If that's not a spiritual experience, I don't know what is.
3. 'Developing countries' are places where people live out their lives. They go to work, they make dinner, they hang out with their families, they have barbecues, they philosophize, they sit around in their chones watching TV on Sundays, they fall in love, they make art. These countries aren't sinkholes devoid of humanity. But don't think you won't get robbed. You very well might.
4. I swam with dolphins and I heard them talking underwater. I hope it was about me.
5. I got a tattoo from a guy who was drinking Jack Daniels when we walked into his 'studio'/bedroom. No, really, he had a bed in the room where I got the tattoo and I can't imagine he didn't live there. But he showed me that the needle was sealed in autoclave paper and I had three dudes with me (one of whom also got a tattoo), so I felt good enough about the experience. In fact, I would have it no other way.
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