Kyle's page
Wow, I didn't think that Belize would have this much snow in it.
No, no, actually this photo was taken along Highway 97 mere moments before Mace tackled me into the drift. We have been asked to write a bit about why we chose to come along on this journey. My reasons are myriad, though probably first and foremost among them is that I embarked upon a similar bus trip with a few of these same people a few years back and had a great time, and knew that this trip would be fun too. My need to be a traveler and to see new landscapes, meet new people, and experience new experiences are good reasons to list as well.
My main focus of this trip is to try out some saltwater flats fishing for the first time. I did not even know what bonefishing was until my fishing buddy Rick mentioned it to me on a drive to the Deschutes earlier this spring. But after leafing through a Patagonia catalog or two, wading through many fly fishing magazines, and reading Bone fishing with a Fly I knew that I had to experience flats fishing for myself. I am not really an accomplished fly angler, and can not really even accurately cast yet. Hopefully I will have enough time to learn on this trip. And hopefully I will catch some fish.
Some other things I hope to pursue are some birding in the tropical climes, some wildlife viewing, and checking out as many Mayan ruins as possible. I also brought some snorkel gear along to view the underwater world along the second longest reef system on our amazing world.
A lot of fun traveling for me is seeing the sights along the way. This morning waking up in Arizona and going for a run helped spark my interest in desert landscapes and environs. There is a very austere beauty in the sparseness of the desert. Erica and I stopped along the run to see if we could deduce a bit more about our surrounding topography by looking at the rocks. Seemed like lots of old weathered granite and quartz lying around, and also muddy metamorphic rocks making up the basin/range around us.
Bird list of Mexico, Belize
Great Tailed Grackle, Cattle Egret, Brown Pelican, Royal Tern, Orange Oriole, Yucatan Jay, Groove Billed Ani
Sabado, 8 Deciembre
Southward on we continue. Hurtling ourselves through the desert landscape. After camping out under the halogen glow at a truck stop/tollbooth outside of Torreon this morning we continued on, dropping out of the highland we had entered during hours of darkness. The landscape unfolds as tilted folded beds of some ancient somethingorother.
Lunes, 10 Deciembre
I just experienced my first bandera, a drink consisting of a shot of tequila, which is held momentarily in the mouth, then to it is added a bit of fresh lime juice, that mixture is then consumed, (note to readers, I have now consumed my second bandera, even before I could describe the experience of the first) and then a chaser of tomato juice with a dash of hot sauce is chased. Today was a day of errands and leisure pursuit. We headed into the town of
(many days later... Sorry I never finished the thoughts above.)
Tourists Glam-Traveling
We people travel for many different reasons. Some to see and do new things, some to experience others' cultures. We travel for adventure and excitement, for activity or leisure pursuits, to see wildlife and environments that may disappear soon. Humans have always traveled for myriad reasons, food, shelter, climate; I just learned that travel for leisure's' sake is called tourism. Tourists can be lulled by the glossy pretty pictures of tropical destinations sold to us by our culture, whether they are reading Outside, Blue, or just flipping through a Patagonia catalog. These publications market a lifestyle, and they glamorize this lifestyle to quite an extent. But those of us who have traveled and avoided, nay eschewed the first world amenities of destination resorts, know that travel is not always, sometimes never glamorous. Anyone who has dealt with the immediacy of an impending bowel movement due to Montezuma's Revenge in a local urine-soaked toilet seat-less baņo while a cockroach crawls up the wall mere inches from their nose may know what I mean.
Traveling is difficult. It can be stressful. Being in a foreign land, not knowing the customs, the language, it takes us out of our sphere of comfort. Staying within our budgets while trying to convert different currencies can confound even those who have adequate arithmetic skills. Often our sense of personal space is invaded from being in close quarters with people. I often feel that I am conspicuous in my wealth, even though I do not wear jewelry or expensive watches, and my income in my own country is well below poverty level. Feeling too wealthy may cause stress as it may make one feel as if they might be targeted for crime. None of us want to be a victim of robbery or god forbid violence. Traveling can be urine-citronella-mildew scented, rain-sweat-sunscreen soaked, tacky skinned, insect-bitten itchy, lethargic attituded hell.
Traveling is rewarding. Perseverance through difficult tasks may fill one with a sense of accomplishment not easily obtained through other activities.