Before the Trip – October 6, 2022
Back in March of this year, I watched “The Shawskank Redemption” again one night on TV. And there came my answer to a something I’d been thinking about for some time. I wanted an adventure to a foreign country; someplace inexpensive, someplace near the ocean, someplace where I would stay for a year, maybe. And there it was – Tim Robbins escapes to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where at the end you see him building a boat on the beach, free as a bird, with the ocean waves and sun as a backdrop. And it came to me — that’s it — Mexico!! It”s close by, I could maybe find a place on the ocean, and it’s relatively inexpensive! I asked my good friend and fellow photographer Rob Palmer whether he’d like to go with me, and he said, “Um, Mexico, eh? Hmmm… um… uh… sure, why not?!” That’s one thing I like about Rob – he’s always up for an adventure!
And finally it’s happening! We’re leaving on Monday, God willing, after spending months preparing, packing up most of the house, giving away lots of stuff, selling some more in order to rent my house to pay for the rent down in Mx, plus figuring out visas and driving routes and property management companies, etc., etc. We’re going to San Pancho (San Francisco on the map), in the province of Nayarit, for 6 months, from mid-October to mid-April, coming back just before the summer heat and rains set in down there. We’ll be an hour’s drive NW of Puerta Vallarta, and have rented a small apartment on the 2nd floor, about a 10 minute walk from the beach. Ah, the beach… the waves are big enough there for surfers to dot the water, and the beach is beautiful. San Pancho also has a lagoon with snowy egrets and other shorebirds, just on the other side of the beach; a place Rob and I can often go to look for birds to photograph,