If you’re going to go to Mexico, you have to know about the dogs.
These are not the dogs, like the anthromorphized puppies of Yaletown in Vancouver; dogs that get birthday cakes and special outfits and fancy blinged-up collars.
No, these are more like the dogs my dad would have grown up with on the farm.
Just. Dogs.
As such, these animals are not automatically brought in at night to sleep on special organic mattreses.
Nope. Some of them stay on the rooftops and in the streets and they bark.
This is not so bad.
They stop at various times, and last night, my first night in my new home at Arquetopia, I found if I focused on really following the sound and tried to get deeply into it…voila, I was asleep.
And maybe all that doggie foggy-mountain- breakdown got through and blew out some of my mental resistance, because today, I did what I came here to do.
I wrote.
For hours and hours. And it was fun.
Can’t wait to go to the dogs tonight.
Well done! The barkings of the dogs are obviously a source of inspiration. Follow them, mingle in their wild dreams and creativity will happen.
I like your phrase ‘mingle in their wild dreams’. It sounds fabulous. Inward and Onward. Thanks Catherine!
I’ve always thought a calendar of “The Dogs Of Guatemala” would be fun and to that end somewhere have shots of mangy, not always four-legged beauts in doorways and on streets, asleep curled around a chimney, looking beseechingly up through that one good eye…
Sarah, a Dogs of Guatemala calendar would be pretty cool, probably a little more appreciated than my idea of Toilets of the World coffee table book. I somehow think that people, whilst nibbling on tortilla chips and black-bean dip, wouldn’t want to look at big colour photos of some of the squats I’ve subjected myself to. It’s just a guess, but I think the Doggie book might be a better sell.
Fantastic .. it sounds like you’re fitting right into the Mexico zone. Strangely enough my home here doesn’t have any nightime barking dogs this year and the rooster has figured out to begin crowing at 6:00 am rather than all-night as he used to. So it’s quiet– I haven’t had to use my noise cancelling headphones once ;). Stock up on Benedryl though, there’s a surge of scorpions in Oaxaca this season. I did battle with one a few days ago.
Eek! Scorpions? I don’t like the sounds of that at all. Right now the noise is so loud from the thundering rain that I feel like I’m in a drum and submerged in a waterfall. Wow. It’s Holy Magnificent…kind of takes over the veins and thrums in the blood.
But now I’ve got to hope it doesn’t flood out any scorpions. I am so not into that plan.
I am pleased to hear the rooster has slowed down on his alarming tendencies and that you’re barking-free. Seems rather timely for my imminent arrival. Gotta like that.
What are you doing THERE? It is bizarre seeing photos of the Coast forest one day and Mexico the next… what wanderlust. I love the soundscape you made here – we get so focused on controlling every aspect of our ‘environment’ sometimes that it completely dominates the creative spirit, doesn’t it? More and more I work to give over to what is actually in my life instead of trying to mangle it into submission – to the point that I sleep through the snores of my beloved and our pugs, and can nap in the middle of a busy room. Never thought the day would come. Oh, wait, I don’t think I’m supposed to be napping…
Laurie, I’m not really sure what I’m doing here either. Trust me, before I was actually leaving I was having dirge-like thoughts and thinking why the hell don’t I just stay home? It’s so much easier!
But then, here I am and I’m loving it.
As for the doggie-soundscape, you’re right, I’m tired of thinking things should, or need to be, other than what they actually are. No more ‘mangling it into submission’ (love that!)
So. Right now, I’ve decided I am loving the clarinet practise in the next studio…yes I am.
Congratulations! I hope the rest of your stay is both productive and fun.
Thanks Sharry. I’ve adopted AA thinking, which I believe is some of the smartest thinking out there and I’m just being with each day and doing what I can when I can. Not bad eh? Don’t I sound positively Zen-ish? It’s funny, I don’t have a burning desire to go see everything either. Just doing a few walks and getting the lay of the town, but then coming back here and getting down to writing again. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic!