I love to travel, it's excites me to no end being in the unknown, not knowing the language, how to pronounce or what I'm reading. I order meals by what the locals are after and also what I see. I enjoy walking down the alleys or footpaths or maybe somewhere up in the jungle making my own way outta concrete opt-in to natural?
I like to plan a bit more now traveling around with my son, before it was not knowing and flowing with the feel or sense of what's beyond. Being careful of my environment is being responsible now. Deep into this pandemic although I have been vaxed, my 15yr old son has got his first shot a couple weeks ago. When we left California 8 months ago there were none available for him. , and the death toll has passed of 700,000 Americans. Data showing declines are "very reassuring,” and of course there is no place on Earth that has not been tagged everywhere every place has the virus.
Now here on the (fun side of the border) for a bit ~ return for 2nd and retreat back to .......,?
Traveling from Bali up into Istanbul then to Los Angeles and finally Puerto Vallarta has my whole arm taking new shape and color. Within two weeks I'm pumping myself full of antibiotics and relaxing I can't even go outside in the heat and function well? But the treatment works well enough for me to get back on a plane later.
Learning about other cultures has made an impact and left an appreciation for others on this rock. It shaped me while being in the moment even for the millisecond and impacted me till now. I've traveled more than others and not as much as others. I started long ago breaking my back in two into the night hauling gear for bands. I can't seem to dance or play an instrument correctly so I worked for those that I'd never ever ever be play with in my delusional fantasies. I wasn't a highly skilled tech, but sought out by many because of my detail, integrity, my word and my results. Oh, I also had possible said "party favours" as a side job which of course didn't hurt the cause. So I got to work with the bands that I never be able to play with? It was also an excuse to act wild and perhaps a bit like a badass, I wanted to be just like them?
I understand along with most everyone else not only seeing the worldly /local news but visiting other countries the impact and effect along with the strain on their psyche. Their own personal discovery of how to come to terms on how to deal with this turn of a unfriendly card that has taken not only their houses, jobs, social lives but, loved ones never to return. The rich thrive upon chaos and disorder and profit at everyone's expense. My heart hurts deep and wondering if my presence is welcomed or is my curse sometimes? Of course this is further than the truth as everyone while in Bali has treated us with dignity and respect almost like VIPs.
While Puerto Vallarta here seems like it's a grown up playground here with the discos the bars the selling of just about every drug illegal in America down here they will walk right up to you? But this is a city that grew up quickly and rapidly to accommodate the money coming in. But just as quickly you can be in a beautiful jungles, beautiful mountains, streams, oasis paradises away from the city but I haven't seem to have made my way since my arm got infected and I've been laid down for last couple weeks.
The making of the movie was the event the captured the attention of the world and turned Vallarta into the "in" place to be at that moment. In making of the movie "night of the iguana" just the cast would have been enough to attract the attention of reports, but the inclusion of Elizabeth Taylor in the Vallarta scene, but not in the movie was added bonus for the media. With the widely publicized romance between Liz and Richard and that it started during the filming of "Cleopatra"brought Ms Taylor to Vallarta just to be close to Burton. She bought Casa Kimberly from the Wilson's in Gringo Gulch and settled there~ later Burton bought the property across the street and connected both houses with the famous bridge over Zeragoza Street.
I'm thinking free publicity was not the only directed benefit Vallarta received it during the filming. Local people were employed for the construction of the set, grocery stores increased their sales as they were many extra miles to feed, small boat owners made money transporting materials and food supplies and the few local bars failed to capacity whenever one of the actors came in for a drink.
Soon after, hotels and restaurants begin to spring up everywhere. And now, nearly 40 years later, Puerto Vallarta has grown to the current population of more than 300,000 people. One of the reasons that Puerto Vallarta is fast becoming one of the world's most popular travel destinations is because it offers a new blend of traditional Old Mexico charm mixed with the modern amenities of the cosmopolitan setting. The sound of church bells, roosters crying and the clatter of donkeys hooves on the cobblestones continues to be an everyday occurrence just as it was 150 years ago.
Vallarta has an impressive array of live music bars and clubs open to the wee hours of the morning, let me attest to that that I personally witnessed even up on the hill it going until far more than 5:00 in the morning? Down here we have the restaurant row, the malecon area and you can find nightlife for every taste and age it seems like club rocks he plays live blues and reggae and next door is the American legion with live rock and roll. The Mariachi loco plays arousing live and Mariachi and ranchero bands. Rounding out the options are the El torito sports bar, Amsterdam corner bar (ain't no coffee shops but I bet they got powder?) The Caribana Tropical Salsa club and Señor frogs is another place to party hardy ......oh they got disco at Christine's or the Cactus?
The sunsets here have me hypnotized, it's a kaleidoscope of colors similar to a Peter Max experience and I have to wonder did someone slip something into my drink or if my acid just kicked in 40 years later at the right time? The clouds are very different on the equator and we are parallel to Hawaii as well. I lived in Hawaii for a stint and loved it but I'd never been to Puerto Vallarta, I've been to other points in Mexico but for some reason never here. Within the architecture of the country with diverse personalities in each town and their food and their culture of that place is incredible to say the least?
Many think or dream wish and desire to travel but cannot for various reasons. When I'm writing about this I'm doing it mostly for myself or possibly for my son that will read this later in years. Somehow I don't think he has a clue just how magical this moment is with traveling without the hordes of people and the luxury he's in? This is not to brag, this is not too stroke my own ego, this is not to show people what their lives are not and what mine is~ there is no point to that absolutely! Mine is just a lifestyle choice and my son and I through years of discussions have agreed upon.
My path is always been a roller coaster up and down with peaks and valleys the cast shadows or get burned, right now this time in my life is very good and I'm embracing it for all it's worth. I'm in some awe~ inspiring next level places and rarely are to the same. It's not the things, it's the experiences, the memories, the moments? I'm wanting to collect memories more than anything else because I know I'm in my third quarter and the gate is closer than it was ever before?
I often agitate others that travel with me because I like to take photographs, I love to engage in conversation, to enroll and be enrolled, to experience. I don't want to take snapshots in famous landmarks and loathe tourist traps, I want to go down the alleys. Because the more planning the list of unexpected moments continue to decline of which memories are made of, timing will never be "just right," and now is as good a time as any to get to work on chasing your dreams. When you can break free away from the "chains of normal" that tie you down, then you can get back to being selfish and taking care of your needs and wants. And I can't always make everyone happy but I can do what I feel is correct to make the most out of it for my son and I even if it does upset other people.
Do I always make the right choices? Hell no, does anyone else actually do that with precision and synchronicity, perhaps only a few in the world and I'm not one‼️ I'll make my mistakes, I'll fall down, I'll try and stand up better with dignity and learn..... soon I'm bailing ASAP because what I had "invisoned became clear it would never work down here what so f****** ever? But even with the wrong choices I am experiencing, I am out of the four walls and ceilings and not stuck at a desk job, so once again I understand my blessings and I appreciate the experiences given to me. Time is running out 🙄
Wherever I am my views or any complaints of how things should be have no business, the main reason why I traveled is to experience different culture not to bring mine with me and I loathe the transplant expat groups that sit around drink complain about the locals driving or the trash or the smell or the lack of this or the too much of that. What's a transplant?~It's a person who moves to a place, and then they try to make that place just like the place they left. If I had wanted those things I should probably have stayed where I was? But I've made a commitment and staying to the course I shall, what gets me by is what I've taught my son;
The quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency.
It’s not worth it unless it’s done right. Whatever your goal, do it with probity, and by maintaining your integrity.
