Tuesday, August 07, 2007

This weekend

Imagine this: a twenty minute hike through rainforest carrying our goods; there is a tent folded up on one arm, a back pack, blankets, and a cooler of food; this is followed by a small hike across the most magnificent landscape known to man; followed by a resting place found in the middle of nowhere, where time waits for no man.

I’m not a spiritual man most of the time. In fact, I hardly have time to think because my world moves so fast. If you strip all that away, leave me with nature and I can paint the most amazing stories.

I can take you back to that night. It is a night where we are camping on mystic beach surrounded by forest on one side and ocean on the other. There is no escaping what we have found. You can either move a few meters in one direction and meet waves, or a few meters opposite and start traversing the forest. There is no in between and we now realize that we are in a realm of our own.

I can see a few things occurring all at once, around me, that is. The tide is moving out, which is a good sign since the waves were nearing our post. The backdrop is full of tree-clad hills, rocks, and mist as far as the eye can see. A waterfall is about thirty meters down the beach, falling from a rugged and worn hillside. Everything is blue and amazing, and all I want to do is live on the shoreline for the rest of my life.

Yes, we lack visibility. Yes, we are alone minus a few like minded people, and yes, I am very happy. And I don’t even have to question that anymore. Happiness, that is. I know it when I curl up in my sleeping bag and listen to nature.

The neighbors are obviously on drugs. After borrowing an axe and making our campfire, we can hear the screams, roars of laughter, and the fire in the distance. “I’M SO FUCKING WASTED”, one girl yells. “WOOOOOTTTTT”.

I can see their massive flash light swerving in and out of reality. At one point it’s being turned off and on, and at other points, it’s not walking a straight lie, it’s veering from side to side while we see its target – the ocean – in the distance. I can see the three of them clearly now, they are huddled around a fire with a blanket stretched out. A male – who is the caretaker – and his two female companions.

I can tell you it was interesting. We paid a short visit to our neighbors a little later in the night. They were a bit too much at times but I laughed quite a bit. It progressed from meeting two boys, 13 and 15 buying pot for their parents, and then us lecturing them on good music.

“Sonic Youth, man. You have to look them up. No more of that Chemical Romance shit!” I yelled at them. Their eyes are fixated on the lot of us. I think they are amused and at the same time thinking they will never end up like us.

“Courtney Love is the devil,” screamed our new camping buddy. To be honest, she kind of resembles Courtney but we all know that she is a diehard Nirvana fan at heart. We play some trivia with them and take off.

I think the most gratifying part of the night though is when I’m laying in the tent and listening to the ocean. Sometimes you forget how powerful it really is. This massive body of water that can both create, destroy, increase, and diminish; it is an unstoppable force.

All I can hear are the large waves bringing a variety of different sensations, different noises, and finally when it hits the shore the sound of pebbles being eroded slowly. When it hits the shore we know that if it came just a few meters closer, it could drag us and everything else around us back into its body. I appreciate, and I can admit to being humbled by its majestic and long life.

The world is magic. The world and its beauty is everything I ever wanted and more. It reminds me that I am just a man, and that I am small when compared to everything we as humans take for granted and fail to understand. I can only ask permission to use it, and pray that it treats me well, for I have no control over it and it has my life in its balance.
How can I ever measure up to it?