JIM CONRAD'S NATURALIST NEWSLETTER Issued from Hacienda Komchén de Los Pájaros just outside Dzemul, Yucatán, Mexico February 6, 2005
***** THE BUS TO TELCHAC PUERTO Monday was the last day here for Karen from Mississippi so it was a good day for us to take the 9:30 AM bus to Telchac Puerto, about twenty minutes northeast of here, on the coast. The bus was an old rattletrap, and therefore much more fun than the newer ones. Hot air gushed into open windows as we lumbered down the narrow highway edged with low thornforest and big henequen plantations. The bus stopped for everyone, anyplace, and when a campesino entered taking off his sombrero, scratching his head and smiling through his deep wrinkles, he found his friends and neighbors among the passengers. On these old buses there's plenty of room for the driver, and he's free to decorate his domain as he wishes. In the very center of the ample windshield hovered a large image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, with love and hope radiating from the entire length of her body like silvery feathers. Decals were stuck all over -- more Virgin of Guadalupes, Mexican flags and pennants, and soccer emblems. The rear-view mirror was framed in pink fuzz, and small pompom-like affairs of various colors dangled from the beat-up fan over the driver's left shoulder. The driver himself smelled as mightily of aftershave as the old bus did of disinfectant. At midday Telchac Puerto was sunburned, windblown, dusty, somnolent and friendly. The 2002 hurricane, Isador, swept away most of the beach so that now the remains of house foundations extended clear to the water's edge. All buildings previously right on the beach were severely damaged, or obliterated. Lots of once-fancy structures a little more inland had been abandoned. It's something to stand at the water's edge imagining what it must have been like exactly right there during the hurricane's peak. And you can't keep from reflecting on how very deceptive are those long periods of any kind of peace which by nature are very rarely, very briefly but inevitably interrupted by outbreaks of outrageous violence. more at http://www.backyardnature.net/n/05/050206.htm ***** Best wishes to all Newsletter subscribers, Jim All back issues of this Newsletter are archived at www.backyardnature.net/n/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Dying to be thin? Anorexia. Narrated by Julianne Moore . http://us.click.yahoo.com/Dtf6vA/gsnJAA/d1hLAA/0NYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Apply for Commercial Real Estate loans online and submit your deal to dozens of hungry lenders in just minutes. Loan programs for all types of business and commercial real estate. Apply anytime at http://realestatezoo.com b i s e x u a l =============== a bifem.net publication Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bisexual Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bisexual/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
