The Hammock Book

I figure its about time i read James A. Michener's Caribbean.
With his typically well researched style of mega historical based fiction, i am looking forward to reading this 806 page saga about this part of the tropical world.

Research Hammock

More Stately Neighbors

Leaf Light 2

Leaf Light

I have been marveling at the way palm leaves deflect the early morning light here. These photos are poor imitations of lively green light dancing within the shadows.

Old Bahamian Houses

Built to stand the strongest Caribbean hurricane these old stone bahamian houses built in the 1930's are majestic neighbors.

cool pool 2

Swimming Cool Art

The aesthetic of a swimming pool, without humans.

The Mary Helena

Amidst the glitzy crome, fibre glass & steel ocean crafts that adorn marinas all over the Caribbean i am always on the lookout for classic old wooden boats that have a special presence in the water. The Mary Helena is superb 60 foot boat build in the 1930's and is moored in the Royal Nassau Yacht Club.

If you don't see it , it ain't there

Interesting story that is reported in perception studies, is that indigenous cultures in the Caribbean ( and probably other places in the Pacific) prior to Europeans showing up didn't have any concept of big boats appearing on the horizon. So they didn't see them. Until of course the Condo-Questadors landed on the beach to plunder real estate in their row boats. Then it was too late to prepare Not for Sale Signs.

A very important Sign

Leaves of light

Bags packed Airborne again

Parrots of the Caribbean 25°3'N, Longitude: 77°28'W

Nassau The Bahamas.

Back on the beach

Guanajuato mission complete, i am back on the coast. The tropics includes many eco niches on this planet, mountains, volcanoes, rain forests, and some amazing towns, i guess for me though, its always going to be the ocean, palm trees, a beach house... next week i am off to the pirate islands The Bahamas.

Saint Expresso

I always thought that good expresso was a gift from God.Painting in a cafe in San Miguel Allende.

Lilies

How can you not smile when you see a vase of lilies outside a shop. And another warm greeting from my room and on the terrace of my hotel The Truco 7 in Guanajuato.

Agent M photographed.

For some time i have been looking at this photo on my desktop, taken of my shadow quite by accident one day while i was out walking the streets of Guanajuato. It occured to me this morning after my swim here in Playa that images are suspended, frozen representations of movement. An eternal flow of light and shadow that is constantly changing. Photography connects you with the play of light & shadow within this movement , and seems to be a symbol for me at least, of our existence. Solidity is only a perception, like a photograph a fleeting representation of something that has not existed in any permanent sense at all. Like this shadow it is not really me.

Travel Agents

The traveler is truely blessed who finds generous hospitable guides along the way. Agents MJ & agent A from Leon, made this trip an absolutely wonderful experience by sharing their part of Guanajuato state with me. Muchas gracias mis amigos para todo!

Guanajuato

Guanajuato has a rich history not just because of its silver mines that made the state into one of the most prosperous in Mexico , but also because the Independence movement began in this area in 1810. Considering its mixed origins of rebellious revolution & precious mineral mania , this town has to be one of the happiest peaceful prettiest places i have ever visited.

A thriving university supplies a lively fraternity of students who take part in the annual Cervantino Festival. This festival honours the work of Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes and has become one of the foremost arts exchange extravaganzas in Mexico with artists musicians & street theatre performers coming from all over the world. It is a gorgeous little town of about 70,000, enjoying a wonderful climate at an elevation of 2017m. Worth more than a visit. I am going back.

the streets of San Miguel

The pleasures of El Camino , every turn a photograph.

Street Collages information art

I look at these information boards as Public Collages random events of printed materials, these are from Guanajuato & San Miguel Allende.

Traveling Manuscripts

If there are Traveling Books ( see previous post) there are traveling manuscripts, i always love an author who adds a post script as to where he or she actually wrote the book. I begin the umteenth attempt at a new novel in a new cafe. Pic the afore mentioned edition of THE SHELTERING SKY & a copy of WHAT AM I DOING HERE essays by Bruce Chatwin (found in my hotel library) these writers spent some time in cafes thats for sure.

Tourists v Travelers

Paul Bowles in his wonderful 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky talks of the difference between a traveler and a tourist.I quote from Chapter 2 page 6 of the Vintage International Edition 1977. This great book made into a film by Bernardo Bertolucci met me onceagain on the road in a book shop in Guanojuato.

" He did not think of himself as a tourist, he was a traveler.The difference is partly one of time, he would explain.Where as the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than the nex, moves slowly, over a period of years, from one part of the earth to another."

"For as he claimed, another important difference between tourist and traveler is tat the former accepts his own civilization without question, not so the traveler, who compares it with others, and rejects those elements he finds not to his liking."

Image/ traveling through space & time some where over the Gulf Of Mexico.

Two nudes by Diego Rivera

From Diego's house/museum in Guanojuato.Two nudes, lithographs, one of Lola Olmedo & of Frida Kahlo circa 1930.