Lady is the Tramp

As I walk along the empty beach under the cover of night, two beach dogs come running and barking at me, its dark so I hesitate, then I smile, they’re my two little four legged neighbours. They don’t know that I will be leaving soon, that I will not be walking along the sea with them as the sunsets in the horizon, talking to them as I avoid the plastic bottles left carelessly in the sand. Sometimes we just walk; other times we sit closely getting lost in the horizon. Tonight as I write I give them extra attention, extra love, extra cuddles and company. 

Lady and Manchas with their dog friend Shark

They are stray dogs, the luckiest stray dogs in the Yucutan, stray dogs with local and international friends, strong stray dogs with names and great personalities. Manchas is the youngest and the most energetic comes around jumping, ready to play, wanting that imaginary bone, wanting some energetic play time, we have tried some running and I let him win every time!! Lady sits, lets the boyo have his playtime and, then follows me closely, as if she is happy merely with my presence.

These Mexican perros have become my two greatest friends in Progreso, they come everyday spontaneously unannounced without a set time, or without booking an appointment simply to say hello and then run freely. From the time the fishermen leave to the sea as the sunrises, until my daily walk as the sun disappears they’re always about.

One of my favourite things about travelling has always been the friends I make along the way, the ones I share a little especial moment with, with a “Hello I am here” smile, truly they are the ones that keep me coming back for more, feeding my addiction and expanding my horizons.

The five minutes that could have been days or weeks of liquid cultural adrenaline, the five minutes learning about a life at sea, the same five minutes that made me want to get onboard and experience that life even if it was for one day, (truly I was hoping I would get to see the sunrises everyday, but instead got rocked to sleep far later than what my body had initially requested… I am a bit short on beauty sleeps!!).  The five minutes of randomness listen to a friend playing guitar while I my slowly closed my happy eyes on the cold floor of a bus station. The five minutes when I learned about freedom through the lips of a Gerry, a former convict in USA who on his first day of freedom after years in the jail bumped into me (how lucky was he right?!). The five minutes of a walk in Paris with strangers laughing till tears of pain run through our faces. The five-minute ritual of grabbing some Cevapcici, sit and smell the Adriatic, with a friend from Down Under on a Sunday afternoon. And I could go on talking about all these 5 minutes of doubts, secrets, surprises, instant friendship by dumping a security guard on the sea and peddling as fast as you can, but then I would ruin the future materials for The Blog!

There is this crazy surprising mix of people out in this great planet, and that is what makes travel worth it, is getting out of your safety, of your control zone and let the vulnerability kick in with, as The Gift say “five minutes of everything”. Course there are also these people that drive me insane at work, who do not read the repeated emails, reply by asking me something I already gave them the answer to (thank God for copy and paste), with whom I wish I could spend five minutes trying to figure out if they suffer from some sort of Aphasia! (Luckily the paste seems to do the trick).

Perfect Sunsets

Today my last five minutes go to the Manchas and his friend Lady, the Tramps of Puerto Progreso beach: _________________(non distinguishable audible sounds)!!!