We took a day off in Purmamarca - just laying in the grass, smelling the goodness of the earth ...doing and thinking nothing. The sky, the whole body expanding into the atmosphere, the breath: easy, the air gentle, soft, full of oxygen and LIFE. This is what we take for granted every single day. Yes, we all know there are other places on earth without the richness of what a human needs, but we don't feel it. Knowing and feeling are entirely different experiences. We are rich by being able to breath and feel. So there!
All a piece of cake from here......even the headwinds didn't bother us. Clear shut to Jujuy and on to Salta where we have been enjoying tall people, good food, greenery and not being stared at. The crusty, burned skin on my ears is healing, the dry, split fingertips and fingers are on their way to looking normal again, what remains are the extra wrinkles on my face which I have earned and am proud of. Wrinkles of labor that show that I have been somewhere, done something different while and besides aging..exposed to the elements laughing, crying, relaxing, working, dreaming, denying ...I guess we all do that, even if we don't go places, but I do think I earned some extra. So there, again!
Salta, Argentina - I could have made it up, but we are sitting at the Plaza shaded by giant trees at a -kind of a- fancy but reasonably priced restaurant...pedestrian zone..no cars, summer, sun, warm with a little breeze out of the west. Shoeshiners running around looking to clean somebodies shoes...girls laughing, sitting on a bench....somebody walking his dog...kids running around, singing, eating ice cream....tourists looking lost. This could be a scene in Europe, France, Germany, Spain, Italy....
I enjoy not being a cyclist, blending in and yet I feel like I have a secret: I rode my bike all the way here....one petal stroke at a time. James and I -still at home, a year and a half ago- were thinking of this trip as eating an elephant: one bite at a time...all the way....from north to south...one petal push at a time....what a giant thing to do.....
Now the elephant is almost eaten.....only one leg left to devour. What seemed so enormous is now "manageable".
