Walking on The Left

People in San Pedro generally step to the left to pass oncoming pedestrians. It is something that is easy to notice after repeated awkward moments in the street, trying to get out of the way. Today I finally embraced it and actually started to pace out the way to the gym on the left, and I found it very liberating. Perhaps it was only because it was different, but it seemed better over there, until... ´round about the time I encountered some travelers like myself. What a mess then! We didn´t know what to do. I mean, I was going left, they always go right. I was bumping into this whole crowd of tourists. The whole thing was awkward. But give it a try sometime. Go to the mall and walk on the left side of the median and see what happens.

Salsa lessons tonight followed a somewhat predictable format. I should tread lightly, but I probably will not know how: The, eh hem, shorter men from around here know how to dance but it just does not work with a girl who is a foot taller, and the taller men are generally other travelers and do not really know what they are doing. So I mostly watched tonight as some seasoned salsa dancers lit up the place. It is a whole different language out there on the dance floor, and they were fluent. Some day maybe... at least I can dream.

Last night I watched The Motorcycle Diaries about Che Guevara´s life. I saw the film a few years ago on a frigid evening up in Telluride, Colorado and remembered loving it. This time, I enjoyed it in a whole new way. The scenery in South America is stunning and lures me south, but not this time around. I was saddened and enraged by his encounter of the same old story that we see all over the world: indigenous people being kicked off of their land and treated in inexcusable ways. The capacity for humanity´s cruelty is disheartening, but we can at least be inspired to combat these inequities in our own lives, no matter how small the impact is.

I´ve booked the thermal pools for a group of us who are hiking the San Pedro volcano 

Saturday. We will begin ascend the 4,500 feet up the volcano at 6 am and return before lunch. The warm pools are solar heated and cost less than $5 for as much time as you want to spend in them gazing out at the lake (and the volcano). Tomorrow I am also going to try out the yoga class down on the lakefront at 9 am, so I need to go rest up. I stayed up too late swaying in the hammock last night because it was one of the first really warm evenings here.