Michelle's Place

New: A Thousand Words a Day

My blog on typepad.com turns 2 years old today! Wow. Thanks to my two feed subscribers, my friends, and my grandmother for reading it consistently! :)

New for 2008 is the just-launched "Daily Photo" section, modeled off Heather Armstrong's feature of the same name. I thought it might be nice to have a separate section for my newest hobby, and I can get back to using this blog for more important musings (ha!).

Will I really take a photo for each of the next 363 days? I don't know... if it stops being fun for me, I'll stop. But I think it might be great to finish 2008 with a year's worth of quality photos, or at least a timeline of my learning curve.

For instance, today's photo includes my disastrous attempt to photograph the sunrise outside my home. I failed miserably. I thought maybe I wouldn't post it, but I figured that eventually, when I learn how to properly expose a sunrise, this will serve as a triumphant retrospective.

So happy 2008--happy photographing!

My Unabashed Endorsement

Good news!

2007 Year in Pictures

Part of my pursuit of photography has to do with a love of capturing significant images, you know, all those cliché things we say about how our lives are shaped by our memories and moments and visual remembrances. The NYT commemorative piece, 2007 Year in Pictures, pays tribute to the pros who capture the moments we all remember.

Accompanying each section of the piece is a voiceover by a photographer, who gives some insight into his or her personal style. My favorite is photojournalist Todd Heisler, whose honesty about the combination of emotions and journalistic impulse make his photographs more personal to me.

As for me and my own photography skills, well of course, they don't compare. In fact, looking at these, nothing makes me feel more like some random hack with a camera. But seeing them and hearing the voices of the photographers reaffirms my love for photography, reminds me of the possibilities, and inspires me to work harder to create something meaningful with my work.

Image © 2007 Michael Kamber for the New York Times.

Merry Christmas

YES!

It's finally here, the camera I've been dreaming about for a year now! I am the new owner of a Nikon D80 DSLR--the possibilities are endless! Here's to lots of happy photographing!

You Can Be Happy Again

The holidays are tough for those who have recently lost loved ones. Making it especially difficult is that, for Americans at least, we live in a suck-it-up culture that encourages you to move on and quit making other people uncomfortable with your sadness. One of my personal grief outlets was an atrociously designed webpage I built in the summer of 2000. It might not be a super-beautiful webpage, but it was meaningful and therapeutic for me. I can't login to edit it now, so it lives on in cyberspace... I'm not sure about sharing the link yet. Maybe later.

Anyway, all this comes up because of an article I saw this week on msnbc.com. Don't worry, you're not by yourself if you feel the world should stop, or you wish you could wear black for a year. You can be happy again.

Awesome Girl

On Tuesday afternoon, I lay by the pool waiting for the Novocain to wear off, and I was finally starting to relax and preparing to enjoy the rest of my vacation. My non-traditional house/hotel was kind of communal, and after I came out of my shell I met some nice people who were friendly and sympathetic, especially when I explained the reason for my twisty-looking mouth. We were chatting and I realized how I came across to them.

Listening to myself describe my job, my interests, and defining "ethnomusicology," I could see myself as the "weird girl" that everyone knows about, the hippie that travels around the world and listens to weird music and is kind of flighty. Like the character "Lynn" on Girlfriends. I never thought of myself as adventurous and certainly not flighty. But from their white bread, married, retired, see-the-world-on-unlimited-budget perspective, I could see how this would apply to me. For me though, I never set out to be adventurous; this is just my life as I see it.

I thought about this for a while when another hotel guest, who kept referring to black people as "colored" (oh, good grief!), and made it a point to tell me how weird I was for traveling alone. He had the good fortune of saying this just as the Novocain was wearing off. 

This guy was honestly kind of a jerk and I shouldn't have let him get to me, but I ended up having one of my "what am I doing here?!" moments, where I thought, "hey, maybe I am kind of a nut. I am in pain, here by myself, and why would anyone do that?"

A quick call to a friend back home reassured me. The nice couple told me unexpectedly that they admired me for what I was doing. And I started to feel better. By the next morning, I felt better and realized that it really is kind of exciting and that I really can handle solo travel.

Later, when I was back in Texas, I met a family on my same flight home from PVR. They had two teenagers with them. We chatted about each other's vacations, and the lady asked me, "Are you by yourself?" And I said, "yep." The teenage girl, who hadn't appeared to be listening, suddenly piped up and said, "Wow, that's awesome!" And I think it kind of is! It's always amusing to be considered "awesome" by a teenager, and I'll never forget the admiration on her face. Ha! Me, awesome!

Último día

So, today was the last day for me in beautiful Puerto Vallarta. This trip wasn't the total vacation I dreamt off all those months ago, but I think it evolved into something better and more meaningful. Despite everything, I think I would do it again.

Yesterday the tourists descended, and ever since they arrived (they all seemed to get here at once), the atmosphere changed a bit and was more hurried and tense. They arrived in big tour groups, large groups of 20 or 25 people with cameras. Some even wore name tags of the names of their cruise ship or whatever, and others had fluorescent-colored wrist bracelets, required for entry into the all-inclusive resorts. I was embarrassed for them. Many brought their young, screaming children, and I was especially embarrassed for them--the kids here in Mexico are much better behaved.

In the streets, I witnessed the first traffic jam since I got here and saw some aggressive driving, complicated, no doubt, by all the Ameri/Canadians in their rented (or driven!) cars, the confused pedestrians, and especially by the tourists from places like México, D.F., who were responsible for all the honking horns I heard. I have been to México D.F. and have seen the driving there--if you see a driver with Distrito Federal license, plates, you'd better get out of his way! I almost found this out the hard way.

And I saw some other tourists, who were older people. There's nothing wrong with being old; hell, I want to be old someday! But some of them were in wheelchairs and too tired and sick to do much. I imagine that some of them just want to come here and relax. But what about the others, the ones that worked their whole lives so that they could retire and then see the world? And now they can't really see it? I realized that I don't want to do that, I want to see the world while I am able to enjoy and experience it. Maybe the inconvenience of missing a few days of work over the years is worth the exhilaration of travel.

By this point in the trip I have formed some relationships. My "routine" involves walking along some of the same streets every morning, and people recognize me and say "hi!" It's such a great feeling! There's Carla, who owns the restaurant across the street, and the girl from the Internet place and the two ladies at Baskin-Robbins, where I ate stomach-calming ice cream almost daily.

I spent this morning at the beach. I got there early, like around 9am--no tourists. I sat by the water, took some final photos and sent a text message to my family and friends--"Happy Thanksgiving from the beach!" I got a chance to say goodbye to some of the people I met--including some very nice Canadian tourists at Casa Dulce Vida, where I stayed, and headed for the airport. And that ends my adventure!--although its effects on me will last a long time, I think.

By the way, I highly recommend, if at all possible, to fly on Thanksgiving Day. It was easily my most pleasant airport experience in the past four or five years. No delays at all, no trouble, the flight was completely empty (only about 12 people, I'm surprised they didn't cancel it!). Customs was a complete breeze, no waiting times, and all the officers were in a good mood (although their guns still scare me). Easy traffic. It was great!

I am still posting pictures of my trip, so please stay tuned to my PVR set as I will be adding them shortly.

Second to Last Sunrise

This morning I woke up and realized that there will be only one more sunrise for me during this trip. What a shame that it took this long to get used to being in Mexico in the first place!

I have swung all over the spectrum on this trip, from feeling excited to being devastatingly lonely to being exhilarated and proud of myself for coming here in the first place. Today I started reading Without Reservations, a book about solo travel that was painfully trite at times but seemed to apply to me in many ways, particularly the extension of yourself that is required when you are in a foreign place, by yourself. But I have discovered that I feel less alone here in Puerto Vallarta than I do living alone in Dallas. There are probably a million reasons for that.

I do seem to have a routine here. I brought a little speaker system to go with my mp3 player, but I don't listen to music as much anymore. Instead, I wake up in the morning to the sounds of the roosters and the neighbors and their music playing, and I get dressed and go down the hill to take pictures. I walk around the city in the morning, sometimes toward the beach, trying to find things to eat or whatever, talking to people along the way. When it gets hot I stop into the Internet cafe and then back to the hotel, where I lounge by the pool for a few hours. Then, around sunset, I get up, go out around the city to find things to eat (or find the dentist, whichever :) and return at night. Who can complain about that? Today, my routine was no different, except that I went out to take sunset pictures this evening. The last sunset! Oh no! I'll have to come back to finish the trip, I think.

Smiling in Vallarta

So I found a dentist. Yesterday I actually spoke with two dentists.

First was Old Dentist, on calle Juarez. He was very nice, but his office was super old. I only went there because he was walking distance and took me immediately, and looked at my tooth as soon as I walked in. But when he showed me the cavities on a diagram that looked like it came from a 1965 World Book Encyclopedia, I freaked out and decided to call a more modern dentist.

I felt bad about this choice--I try hard to defy the "whiny American tourist" stereotype. But I guess I am susceptible when I am in pain. I couldn't imagine trusting any part of me to this guy and his one antiquated dental chair. Oh yeah, and I also found out later that he gave me prescriptions and sent me to the most expensive pharmacist in the city. :(

So, yesterday I called Smiles at Vallarta, recommended via TripAdvisor. Dr. Hernandez could take me today, a national holiday, no less!

Fortunately last night I treated myself to a wonderful dinner at the Agave Grill, because I knew that I wouldn't be chewing much for the rest of the vacation. The restaurant was wonderful, and the food was excellent. I chose them in part because they participated in the annual Gourmet Festival held here every November, and I arrived too late to participate. Still, they had their Festival menu ready and I had the fajitas con carne de res and for dessert, banana mouse & cinnamon ice cream. Everyone was wonderful. Here is a shot of the waiter making salsa from scratch, using a molcahete.

This morning, I went to the Revolution Day parade and tried to distract myself there, and and it was nice, but I was full of dread.

Finally I went to the dentist. The service was incredible--he took me within 5 minutes of my arrival, no other patients, no full waiting room, no bureaucracy. The x-rays were developed in 5 minutes. He just worked hard (2 1/2 hours straight!), explained everything, was wonderfully calming (as was his assitant) and reasonably priced. I have never been less afraid of the dentist and now I know why people come to MX to get their dental work done! Turns out I didn't need a root canal, but still sufficient work that Novocain was required.

I asserted that Dr. Hernandez was now part of my vacation and insisted on a picture, and he happily obliged. That's me, after all the dental work--frizzy hair and no makeup, and a paralyzed mouth! I can't complain--after the appointment I had mango ice cream and waited by the pool for the novocain to wear off! That's dental work in paradise!