Thursday, September 12, 2013

Castaway

Wilsoooooooon!!!! 

Haha, indeed I am a castaway these days, living on a secluded beach, building fires, spearing my own fish, growing my beard long, but unlike Tom Hanks in the movie I am not plotting my exit strategy - I like it here. Gonna stay a while. Check me out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv2qo2TnNag

 Hope you enjoyed the video! I was definitely more confident in front of the camera than in my first attempt but still its tough to focus on being poised and speaking clearly, while at the same time being authentic and hitting on all the points you wanted to make in a free-flowing manner. Super fun though, and I'm excited to continue with these, as I think they'll be cool to look back on in the future, and really be able to tap into the vibe I was in at the time.

Ok so let me expand on a couple of the points I made in the video. The first would be my decision to alter the course of my trip in order to stay where I'm at a bit longer. This was kind of a tough decision, as it potentially means giving up on making it all the way down to Argentina, on this trip at least. At the end of the month I'll have roughly another 2 1/2 months to travel before heading home for Christmas which isn't a whole lot of time, especially considering I like to take my time when traveling, settling down at places for a few weeks at a time. I'll have time to do Colombia / Peru / Equador but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it much further than that, unless of course I decide to keep traveling through the end of the year which is not completely out of the question. In honor of the start of football season, I figured I'd make this quick analogy - this decision was like calling an audible at the line of scrimmage - instead of sticking with the predetermined play, which was to be on my way to Colombia at this point, I scanned the field and read what the defense (life) was giving me and adjusted the gameplan accordingly.

 Secondly, and something I've been thinking about a lot lately, is the point I made about seemingly random sequences of events unfolding in order to lead us into the right situations. This is something I've experienced a lot on my trip and while yes it could all just be coincidental, I believe there is something to it. I think that when we begin moving our lives in a direction that suits us, we'll be more keen on picking up on the subtle cues or positive affirmations that are leading us in the right direction. Maybe it is so obvious to me because for the first time in a long time I feel like I am moving with the current, rather than stubbornly trying to resist it. This is a topic that I quickly wanted to touch on for now, but believe I'll talk more at length about in the future.

And lastly, if you've been thinking about taking a quick vacation, come visit! Seriously. I've had some people say they want to come meet up at a certain point and this would be an awesome opportunity to do so in a beautiful location with a free place to stay. It's super laid back and peacefull where I'm at, but theres a thriving nightlife scene a quick shuttle ride into town if thats what you're into :)

Anyway, I'm finishing up this post from my little front porch you saw in the video - listening to the waves, feeling the cool ocean breeze, and smelling the salt in the air. Looking out over what is essentially my own private beach, a beautiful little cove in the southern tip of Nicaragua's Pacific coast - easily the most picturesque place I've been in my travels so far. A place where my daily attire is often nothing more than a pair of boardshorts, with the occasional tank top when I need to go business casual. When the waves are good I surf. When conditions aren't great I read, practice my spanish, and blog. When I crave fish I grab a spear gun. When I need groceries, internet, or feel like socializing I hop on the $3 shuttle (the back of an old pickup truck) and ride into San Juan Del Sur. If I stay too late I get a $5 bed at one of the many hostels in town and meet travelers from all over the world. Rough life.

Alright thats all for now, thanks again for checking out the post. And let me know what you thought of my second video blog attempt - comments / suggestions always welcome!

Ross