Be astonished

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention
Be astonished
Tell about it
–Mary Oliver

We have seen such radical changes in geography in this trip, from the rocky, forested islands of the North Channel of Lake Huron; to the pastoral hills of Upstate New York; to the marshes of the Carolina lowlands. We’ve hacked through tropical jungle rainforest, and hiked in the cool mountain air of Guatemala. We’ve seen desert, a bit, in the Bahamas and southern Mexico; but now, we’re in what most Americans think of when they say desert: cactus, scrub, rocks and sand; clear air and clear skies; tiny desert flowers of shocking intensity; wind that pulls the moisture right out from your skin. I have almost no experience with this kind of climate, and the new sights are like a balm.

Michu finally recovered enough for a shore excursion, before we had to push on towards La Paz. 

Remember in Lake Michigan, when I was considering an all-lighthouse blog? Changing to all-cactus.

I remember holding Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire in my hands when I was sorting books, and thinking, nah—no room for this. I may have even left it in a Little Free Library. Why, Me of the Past? How did you not anticipate this landscape? 

We are only a few days in to this area, and I can’t stop being thrilled with the change. I remember the crossing from Jamaica to Panama, and how the densely forested hills and howler monkeys around Portobelo were so incredibly different from everything else we’d seen. It takes time for the brain to acclimate, to accept new surrounding, and until things have become a bit dull by familiarity, I’m reveling in this arid place. Even the light around the inside of the boat has a new quality…despite staring very closely at these walls for a the past two years, they seem changed, glowing.

We are ready to explore.

“One final paragraph of advice: […] It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here.

So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.

Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”

~ Edward Abbey