The Blind Man Society

I took the elevator to the lobby and grabbed a soda and fruit juice.  I only had dollars, and nothing was open yet.  So, I paid generous prices – but to be honest, I didn’t give a damn.

I walked out into the labyrinth of streets.  I didn’t know where I was, nobody spoke English and I just wandered and smoked – making mental maps as I went.  To be honest, since my phone was not international, and I left so fast, I didn’t even know the day of the week or the time.

I was following the sunrise – East I guess, and it led me to the town square.  I sat on a bench, and pigeons and other birds kept me company while I took it all in.  A few cigarettes later, I realized I was running out of smokes and had very little cash left.

I wandered, looking for a bank.  I found a walk-in ATM and popped my card in.  And, it didn’t accept my Visa card.  Some, might consider this to be a problem.  Me too.

I found a food store, and used the pesos that I gotten back from dollars at the hotel to buy bread, juice and a pack of Marlboros.  To put it politely, I stuck out like a sore thumb.

Ever widening circles from the city center I made mental maps of where I was.  I found cambios and banks, food stores and a plethora of hotels. Nothing was open, it was near noon and I realized it was Sunday. I had to wait a day to get anything.

It was, and is a very beautiful city. I found a park and sat in the heat of the day. Music wafted through the blast furnace hot air and I continually reminded myself that I was back on the road at last. Everything was speedbumps, nothing was THAT big a problem, and I had all the time in the world.

Its all about prioritizing, I think. It wasn’t long and I was seeing some scorchingly beautiful women out to walk and shop. If I didn’t look so terrible from no shower that morning – well, it could have been trouble.

I walked down the railroad tracks and came to a park. I pulled out my double flute and just played my heart out on that sunny day. It was great. Dogs that were barking stopped, and traffic slowly driving by saw me sitting there. It was FUN.

It took two days. None of the ATMs would take my card. But, the hotel did. And, I found a 711 there that took my card. So, I was often to be found sitting at the shaded picnic tables out front with bread, fruit juice and cigarettes while I wrote my stories, and played my flute.

After, I went to a local coffee place and it was very refreshing to write there. I don’t speak much Spanish but between hand puppeting and winging it – I got what I was after.

I’ll leave it here for the second installment. It is going to be weeks to get all this written, but thank you for reading so far – there is plenty of good stuff to come. Have a great day out there, wherever you may be in the world and please feel free to leave a comment in the box below!