Get depressed globally; Live locally

It just takes a few minutes of CNN on TV to get me down from La La Land to realize the world keeps spinning even if I’m not paying attention or worrying about it. But worry about it I must, at least for the few minutes a week that I watch the news on TV. Our president had his last State of the Union address of his presidency and this makes seven that I missed. In a way I’m glad I missed this one because things didn’t sound overwhelmingly exciting back home and I’m not sure the president was persuasive enough to give people fuzzy feelings about the future either.

I know that at some point I’m going to have to end my “temporary retirement”, but when I hear the news about the global economy and how it may be affected by the US economy, the AARP bones start to shiver. And worse yet, some of the local economies in the US are doing worse than others and Miami seems to be on the bad camp of that equation. That combined with my AARP status, I’m sure that the next phase of our lives is going to be challenging. I may be forced to take the “temporary” part out of my retirement, now, that would be a pity. Enough worrying about this for the time being, I just have to take it, one Taco Bell at a time.

Keeping things downbeat, Santiago is mostly good, but there are a couple of things that we have noticed that may be some of the negatives of being such a progressive city. There seems to be at lot more cigarette smoking in the general population, although smokers for the most part respect the indoors and seem to pick after themselves. Also, maybe related to the existence of Taco Bells, there seems to be a little or should I say a larger girth around the waists of the general population. Maybe not only due to Taco Bell but because of the availability of a lot of cars and buses for easy transport. Lastly, maybe also related to the number of vehicles running on fossil fuel, there seems to be a haze or smog that keeps the views of the gorgeous mountains that surround the city out of sight. It could be some other environmental factor, but I have a feeling the burning of fuel plays at least a contributory factor on that.

I know my two (or is it three?) readers don’t want to read about such depressive topics, otherwise they’d simply turn their own CNN, so I’ll try to keep this blog on the lighter side of life to keep their interest and loyalty.

One way my son and I are “keeping it real”, is by watching reruns of the Simpsons on DVDs. I am learning that The Simpsons are only “good” from Seasons 5 to 11, and that beyond Season 12 the shows started to go down hill –Did you know that?-- And then there is Seinfeld. They did manage to end the show at their peak, so all seasons available are good, or is it “bad” or “phat”, I don’t know, this is definitely not AARP lingo, I’m just trying to get more hip (read: less AARP) to keep up with present company.

Nevertheless, I don’t need to mention where lunch is going to be today, and one of us is not going to be all that happy unless they have fish tacos. We’ll see.

Sir, step away from the source!

This card-holding AARP is feeling a lot better now after a couple of days of G.I. squishiness which I thought I could blame on my AARP status, but more than likely is just paying the consequences of getting just a tad closer to “the source” than I needed to be. One step back for mankind, but the struggle must continue.

Traveling is indeed a curious life experience. It’s like a little drug that enhances many of the human emotions. But it does that to both the good ones and the bad ones. We often tell our friends that are considering marriage, that you can learn more about your partner and your likelihood to survive a long-term relationship, by traveling together for just a couple of weeks. If you wanted to test whether you can compromise on the type of food you’re having for your next meal, the time of the day that that meal should become available and at what price, then what better opportunity to test for that three times a day, for fourteen days in a row? Then there is the, “I want to go to a museum” and your partner prefers “shopping”. Or you are a nature freak and your partner is a city-dweller. Or how about you are an early riser and your partner loves sleeping in, specially on vacation. The opportunities to test your flexibility and ability to compromise are endless.

Like most things in life, it’s all about your expectations. And if you expect your few weekend days to be fun-filled and your partner decides to get a G.I. bug just as the weekend begins, well, that just adds to the test of your flexibility and compromising abilities. Chile has not being immune to that tension for us, but luckily having so much experience surviving these tense episodes in the past, we managed to readjust our expectations and did not end up ruining the rest of the trip. And the advice to others thinking about a long-term relationship is still valid: plan a vacation trip even before you invest in that engagement ring. It’ll be worth it either way.

Son and I are finding Santiago to be more like another city in an industrialized European country than what we expected as a capital city in South America. Santiago is so clean --less litter than on Emerald Isle trails-- and quiet –hardly any car horns are heard-- that you forget that this is not a national park but a city of 6 million. Pedestrians are respected to such a degree that you can almost jump blindly on to the streets without any fears; where else can you do that without ending in the E.R.? The public transportation is reliable, fast, safe and inexpensive. People are polite and courteous. Of course, is probably easier if you speak Spanish, but I’m sure they’d be the same to tourists from anywhere. And one of the best things, according to my son, is that we found a Taco Bell, in a mall nearby. We weren’t hungry when we found it, but I hope they do fish tacos otherwise my search for the fish source has come to a major halt starting today.

This collage shows some of the sights from Santiago. The LED sign with the 0452 indicates the number of parking spaces available in real time –what a concept?-

Exposure to the non-AARP way of thinking

One of the “privileges” of male AARP membership seems to be the reduced production of testosterone to a level that allows us to think freely about something other than sex and women. It’s not coming as a surprise to me but this week of bonding with my son on the streets of Lima and Santiago has become a vivid reminder that in our twenties, reproduction, and the process that lead to that, is a huge part of what motivates us to live and breath. I’m not admitting here that I’m dead, or anything like that (don’t worry Mom). God knows that I still show a pulse every day of the week, but this new freedom has allowed me to explore other interests in life, work, hobbies and maybe even now to express myself through blogging.

So, which city has the most beautiful (young) women? The jury is still out –and diligently working, as if life on earth depended on it— but I’m sure we’ll toil this week at answering that puzzling dilemma of all ages. I do have a working hypothesis however, something to do with “beauty being on the eye of the beholder”. After two years in the wilderness of Cusco, my companion is mesmerized with the diversity of sights in the big city and being the middle of summer, the revealing and enticing fashions leave even the most testosterone depleted AARP male, vulnerable to dangerously elevated heart-rates. And what is a father to do? Keep my shades on but DO NOT TURN my head in any way, shape or form even if told that the one walking by happens to be “the most beautiful” woman yet.

I know that with my new testosterone levels I’ll have no trouble focusing on more AARP-type of endeavors. And Chile having over 1,000 miles of coastline, seafood is probably even more important than it is in Peru. So, I’ll continue searching for those that control the fish in the Pacific Ocean to learn from them and share experiences. The Santiago Central Market today had endless stalls of fresh fish that we viewed as we walked by, and then sat down at a nearby restaurant to sample some of Chilean-style seafood preparations.

Getting closer to the (fish) source

This week we are “hanging out” with our youngest son Erick in Lima (Peru). So, while the Mom works, Dad and son are spending good quality time during the day.

Most of our day is spent searching for the finest --not necessarily the most expensive-- source of ceviche and the many other expressions of the Peruvian cuisine. The main ingredient of ceviche being fresh fish –I was going to say “raw” fish but Erick corrected me to say “fish cooked with the acids of lime juice”--, knowing that the flesh was just recently a twitching fish muscle, makes me feel even more in touch with the source itself. The main ingredient of ceviche is indeed ‘fresh’ fish, mixed with finely cut red onions, chiles, cilantro and lots of lime juice. The end product is ceviche*, which is a delicious, tender, spicy concoction that makes your eyes tear with the experience. The liquid part they called ‘leche de tigre’ (tiger’s milk) and is sometimes served separately in a small cup by the side. Bottom line, if you don't like "fish flavors" no need to apply.

Ceviche is quite an important part of the local diet and as you can see from the pictures, we’re not having any trouble finding new outlets of this finest of feasts. My counterparts in the Pacific Ocean are doing a darn good job at keeping their fish under control, and it shows.

Erick has been living the "single guy in his twenties" life in Cusco for the last two years and is enjoying himself so much that we don’t see a way to entice him to return closer to home any time soon. Can’t say that I blame him. I give him credit for his resourcefulness and ability to create the life he has chosen for himself. And at the same time he is building his own repertoire of skills (Peruvian cuisine, sales, Spanish, thriftiness), which will come in handy as he approaches his AARP years. In one of our conversations he expressed his feeling of satisfaction and sense of worth when his employer (SAS travel) has come to rely on his services and abilities to make an impact in the local economy. Isn’t that what we all want? To be appreciated and to feel that our contributions make a difference? If all employers could figure this out, they’d have a much happier and stable workforce.

We left Emerald Isle during the middle of winter and are now in the middle of summer in the Southern hemisphere. Even though the air temperature is not higher than in the 80s, it feels quite warm in comparison. The only consolation is to look at the Yahoo Weather Website to keep reminding me that bicycle trips to the post office would be rather painful this time of the year. Still, we’ll continue on the search of the best ceviche in town and if we fail to succeed, at least the lining of our stomachs would not have suffered in vain.

*NOTE: The Godfather asked what's in the picture of the ceviche pictured at the top? Clockwise from the piece of line: Seaweed, fried fish, scallop showing some of the leche de tigre", brownish kernels, fried green plaintain, sweet potato (orange), more plaintain, yellow/white kernel. In the center of the plate is more of the seaweed covering the main event, the Ceviche. The second picture shows another rendition of the ceviche. The four "sticks" to the right are pieces of yucca and the four sticks to the left are of sweet potato.

Welcome to the Atlantic Lake

I started writing yesterday outlining my arguments for a proposal to change the name of the Atlantic Ocean into the Atlantic Lake. It was just so peaceful and calmed that if it wasn’t for the fact that you couldn’t see an end on the horizon, it could have easily be confused with any big lake. Who could have thought that this lovely and peaceful body of water could do harm to anyone or any property anywhere? It was peaceful enough to cuddle with. Well, this morning I stand corrected. The Atlantic OCEAN is back with the same attitude that it wakes up most mornings. A body of water that feels as if it was tied by heavy ropes and that was always trying and wishing to break it’s boundaries. It’s just there beyond the sand, roaring and frothing with the desire of becoming larger and overtaking the land just beyond its reach. After all, we call this planet Earth, even though more than 70% of the globe is covered by OCEAN. I bet you it resents that. Hopefully it’s threats will not be rewarded, even with the help of global warming.

We are almost back to our routines after the trip to Norfolk and after spending time with friends over the weekend. Having Susan, from Hendersonville, NC, with us even beyond the weekend was refreshing as we were able to converse at length about so many topics that this multi-faceted friend brings along and also able to include her in our walks to the post office and other aspects of our busy beach life. She promised to become the 4th reader but only time will tell.

Normalcy however has a way of not staying long enough for us to really get used to it, and as it is normal for us, we are in the midst of packing for our next trip out of town. I have to admit that I’ve failing miserably at my responsibility of ‘controlling all the fish in the Atlantic Ocean’. I’m sure, they must be going completely wild by now.

When you stop to think about it, packing is an activity that forces you to reduce your ‘stuff’ to what really matters most to you. As I’m preparing for our next three-week trip, I’m thinking of all the stuff that I would likely miss. Originally I had about two suitcases worth of stuff, but as I only want to deal with a carry-on, I have been forced to leave a lot behind. Amazingly, the laptop and my camera are making the cut. They have become part of the essential stuff that I’m willing to go through hoops to have by my side. I realize that this is probably not an AARP-approved behavior but I hope my three readers appreciate that I’ll be lugging them along.

A beach town on steroids

From the comments written by visitors to this site, I have become aware of a potential third reader to my blog. In theory this should be a positive development but it makes me realize that I may have been targeting my writings to the subgroup of the population that is aware of what I mean by the AARP lifestyle. Trying to be more inclusive, I’ll spell out my definitions of the different groups of people according to their AARP status.

• Super-AARP – Individuals with at least 15 years of AARP experience and that exhibit a pulse on at least 5 days of the week.
• Card-holding-AARP – Individuals 50 or above that embrace being 50.Other finer definitions may subdivide this group from the “cheap-skate AARP” which includes card-holding members that are only looking for the AARP discounts but keeping the AARP cards in their closets.
• AARP-in-denial – Individuals that fully qualify for card-holding status but lie to themselves and friends about having ever received a membership invitation.
• AARP-in-training – Individuals 46 y.o. or above that can already see the lights of the train-wreck that is about to happen. They often require and appreciate help from a more senior member on proper AARP behaviors.
• Future-AARP – Individuals that when asked the meaning of AARP have no clue about what it stands for or the significance of it’s meaning. This is really the bulk of the population, but who’s counting.

This may not be exhaustive but hopefully it could give my new (Future-AARP) reader some level of understanding since everything in this blog is written from my (AARP-approved) point of view.

This week has been another unusual week in that we decided to drive to Norfolk, VA for a two-day business meeting. Well, at least the AARP-in-training amongst us had business to do there; the other one went for the ride. It was a very AARP-qualified trip in that I only drove on small secondary roads and only during daylight hours with no rush-hour traffic in sight. One of the highlights of the trip was able to stop in several northeastern North Carolina towns such as Edenton, Washington, New Bern and able to see the sights, walk the streets in front of their historic waterfront homes and renovated buildings.

The whole area of Norfolk, Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton and Virginia Beach is not unlike our own Emerald Isle area but with about 200 more years of development and military investment. It felt as a beach town on steroids. Everything that we have here is there but kicked up to the 10^th degree, the F/A 18 Hortnet jets from the Oceana Naval Air Base roared through the sky more often and more imposing than our Harrier Jets, the boats around the bay were aircraft carriers, the bridges and tunnels around the city made for a more involved trip to the Post Office. Virginia Beach was also a lot more than the name implies but at this time of the year it seemed just as empty as Emerald Isle. The Virginia Beach Boardwalk was like our bicycle path but so much bigger that it even had separate lanes for bikes and walkers. What a luxury!

Still, it was good to return home. Maybe to detoxify ourselves from the big city environment, and even though we had driven right in front of the E.I. Post Office on our way home, we got home, unpacked and got back on our bicycles to quietly pick up our mail and assess the litter situation on the trails before turning in for the evening. This is definitely more AARP-like.

Getting used to our new home

This thing about Global Warming cannot be all that bad, at least in the short term. We’re on the beginning of January and this week the weather has been in the 70s instead of the normal 30s. It’s been so nice that I’ve come up with all kinds of outdoor projects to do that I have even neglected to write anything since the beginning of the year. And then there are the obligatory bicycle expeditions to the Post Office, one to check for mail and a second one for sending mail out. You just have to maximize the opportunities for being outside as much as possible.

Last weekend we had a visit from Mike (brother-in-law) and his wife from Durham, NC. Compared to the New Year’s day visit last weekend, this was a rather quiet and peaceful visit. Since they are both card-holding AARP members, the conversations usually turn to things AARP. The topic this weekend was about WHERE to spend the next phase of life. That seems to be a favorite topic of conversation of many of our AARP visitors. It usually evolves by remarking on our beautiful setting overlooking the ocean, and then the topic moves into defining other features that would be important during the retirement years and then we spend hours comparing the different cities, towns and villages, in the US and other countries, where we could potentially spend the sunset years of our lives.

It’s hard to beat being at the beach everyday of our lives. Just lifting my eyes away from my laptop offers the breathtaking view of the sandy beach close by and beyond that, the potential reward of seeing schools of dolphins surfacing for air or flocks of birds diving in for their next meal. ….sorry, I got distracted.

But, is this enough? We humans have an intriguing ability to get used to everything around us. Be it bad or good, the body and the mind have a way of becoming familiar with our surroundings to the point that one is not as impressed, or as upset, with anything that one sees on a daily basis. The key might be to have as much variation in your life as possible. We have been here for just about three months, but with so many trips in between, regular weekend visitors, and the fact that our beach environment changes almost hourly, we still feel the novelty of our new home place. Maybe is also the fact that this is not our final destination. Life here has a finite duration and its end maybe even sooner than previously intended. So, if we don’t allow our bodies to settle down and are always aware that even this will not last forever, we have a good chance of continuing to appreciate our setting until it’s time to pack up again. Meanwhile, I'll be outside enjoying this unusual weather because I know it's not going to last forever either.

An almost perfect New Years Day

I don’t believe in a lot of things. I don’t believe in magic, I don’t believe in horoscopes or the aligning of the stars, but I do have one little tradition that, even thought I try to deny it every year, makes me behave a certain way the first day of every new year. It is the notion that whatever one does during the first twenty-four hours of the day, come to reflect on how the year will likely fair. So, even thought my scientific mind tells me otherwise, I become very conscious of what happens and what I do during this one day and hope it comes true, or false, depending on where I find myself at the end of the day.

The weekend was different from the beginning by the fact that we had a full house of friends that came to celebrate the New Year with us. The weather rewarded those that drove many hours to be here with a couple of spring-like gorgeous days that were more appropriate for walks on the beach than cuddling by a fireplace anywhere. There was an unusual amount of people walking, bicycling and enjoying the beach, and even some brave surfers and sea kayakers could be seen from time to time. Another difference from previous years was that the meals at home were assigned to different couples so we were treated all weekend long by delicious meals at all times of the day. Did I already said that I ate too much?

Spending an extended amount of time with friends that we have known for years, makes even introverts like me feel somewhat at ease. And being able to hide in my bedroom from time to time, and no one feeling offended by this, makes it even more special. There were many opportunities for sitting around to talk and I noticed a lot of curiosity about our life on the beach and especially about how relaxed I am about being retired, and not doing anything about it. I managed to put in a plug for my blog to anyone that would listen but I’m afraid my readership is not bound to increase since everyone is just so busy in their daily lives and careers that they are afraid my blog would just relax them so much that their pulse may just drop out of the detection limits. Nevertheless, I’ll continue preaching the values of the AARP lifestyle. They’ll get around to it eventually.

Below are some of the activities on which I participated during the first day of 2008 (and what they may be predicting for the rest of the year):

1) Woke up bright and early without any hangover and fully aware of my surroundings right by my wife's side (Good health and likelihood of remaining happily married).
2) Read an Inc. magazine article about financial scams and followed it up on the Web (Reading and challenging the intellect)
3) Assisted the designated breakfast-chefs on what to do with eggs and corn tortillas to come up with a half decent breakfast. (Helping others in need).
4) Worked on my online classes and replaced a few deck boards from the waterfront deck that were showing heavy wear. (Self-employment and lots of home repair projects).
5) Bicycled about four miles for no reason at all. (Time for exercise, travel and leisure activities).

6) Was involved in the preparation of the three meals I had. (Will continue to be closely associated with the kitchen, will continue to overeat).
7) Went on a short walk on the beach with Michelle, and picked up some litter on my way back. (Time for friends and for helping Mother Earth)
8) Took pictures of the first sunset of the year (Appreciation of nature and time for hobbies – photography).
9) Early evening sitting around the table with group of friends. (May all my future interactions be with good friendly people)
10) Quietly sneaked out of the conversation and went to bed early. (Continue being a wonderful host. Continue to build up on my recently acquired AARP behaviors).

Other of my favorite activities (fishing, watching dolphins and the early-morning walk with my wife) I couldn’t squeeze in, which made the day less than perfect. But hopefully there will be no negative implications for not being able to fit them in.

May my two readers, and any other new visitors have a Perfect 2008!