So what have I been up to? I've been spending time with Liz talking about the nature of the universe and discussing our personal patterns and processes, while taking in some sunshine, and doing everything we can that is virtually free (which isn't much since this place is a tourist trap). So we spend our days in the market buying fresh produce and fish that comes cheap, and window shopping for all the things we would buy if we actually had money. On a few occasions I've haggled with vendors and talked them down as much as 50% and bought some items, still feeling I've been taken for a ride on the price.

Last week we decided to get out of Puerto Vallarta yet again this time to Yelapa, a small town just down the coast by boat. There is no way to get there by car and the town only got electricity six years ago. So it's pretty much a virgin of high-maintenance tourists and fancy storefronts. The town is a maze of small cobblestone and concrete walkways between buildings built from the land or concrete brought in by boat. Mostly the homes are palapa style open to the ocean breeze and the elements. We rented a small place with two friends who came to visit from Denver and from there we explored, played cards, or just hung out in hammocks.

The pace of Yelapa is completely in line with my view of how reality could be. It's a vision of a world without cars and the speed the technology brings with it. In Yelapa you still see trim healthy boys carting stuff across town with wheel barrows, older men leading donkeys loaded with concrete, women baking bread while their ten year old daughters care for the babies. Back at our palapa we cook in a open air kitchen, have to clean and put everything away for fear of racoons, lizards, and who knows what else.. and then lay in a hammock reading by a sparse arrangement of lights.

This place seems to be a favorite for fire spinning artist poet hermit types from around the world as we met quite a few during our short stay. They have ample people to entertain as the water taxis run all day bringing in Carne Fresca (fresh meat..ie tourists) for day trips.. but all in all it's mostly just free-ky people trying to get some solace from their daily lives back in wherever it is they've come from.

Liz and I are talking about going back for a few days if we can swing it before she leaves.. I'd like to do some actually filming there and maybe even an interview or two about the merits of living without car cares.

peace,d