So are people. Cactus can be funny, kind of.

Then again, it might be the desert heat metamorphosing into a mild form of hysteria....

Paul and I have been full tilt boogie on the Waterbago. Wind? Que Es? De Donde?? 4 Knots on the nose. 6 knots on the nose. You get the picture. Moving from point A to point B has involved the steady hum of the diesel.

Now we're nestled into Playa Coyote. The next cove over is Playa Buro. We're in the middle of the Bahia Concepcion. It's great because there's no rockin' and rollin' at night, but that means no wind either. So we become geckos, hiding under little bits of shade here and there, laying low and running for water. Right now it is over 100F.

This morning we went for a hike up the side of one of the mountains, on a quest to see petroglyphs. We saw rots and rots of rocks, but didn't quite find the paintings. People around us have also seen whale sharks, we haven't quite caught up to them either. I keep sending out the positive vibes, knowing that whale shark is going to visit me when I least expect it.... Over the past couple of days we've mixed a steady stream of work work with breaks to go snorkeling and cool off. Thus, my startling revelation: Fish are funny. Some of them are very curious, some are very shy. Some are always in pairs, some always alone. Some sit on the bottom and some fly around in the open. Animal behaviorist can predict which fish will exhbit which type of behavior. But when I take off my fins and settle back into my work, I think...hmmm...why can't human behavior be a bit more predictable, like that of my fishy friends?

Apropos of nothing, I noticed the other day that Paul and I kept making analogies between our feeling of the current weather and our childhoods. We grew up in different places and eras, so why was this such a common experience? I think it's not about place or time - it's about freedom. The last time we felt really �"free�" to just BE, if even for a little bit. To stop and absorb the feeling of the wind or the sun against your skin, or to let the water evaporate off of your body, or to lay down and look up to nothing but stars. The safety and freedom of being a kid is what we've been gifted with in this amazing opportunity to stop, sail, motor, hike, swim and generally lollygag through Mexico. We're busy, but we're not bustling.

I'm in the middle of reading Cutting For Stone. Funny this novel should land in my lap at this moment, author Abraham Verghese's description of childhood and the loss of innocence provides a daily analogy. The local kids on the beach here are having a blast. There's a couple boat kids around too, equally pleased with the treasures they've found in feathers and shells and in each other, content to run and swim and play until they pass out in their parents' arms.

My hope for today is that more children and adults around the world can have the opportunity at sometime in their life to experience this feeling of being safe, content, free, and simply, being.

Hasta Luego, Pamela