Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

Posted on July 9, 2009 - by MG

Dreaming of Lake Bacalar

Dreaming of Lake Bacalar

Originally uploaded by mgharris (Photo taken by David Harris)

There’s a freshwater lagoon in the south of Quintana Roo state in Mexico, that is twenty-seven kilometres long and boasts water of seven shades of blue, from aqua to midnight blue. The lagoon of Bacalar, or Lake Bacalar as it is also known, is mostly a wildlife reserve on one side, with limited development on the other.

I visited the lake with my family in Oct 2007 whilst travelling in the QR and Campeche region, collecting photos and sampling locations for ‘The Joshua Files’. At that time I’d written the first two books but not yet visited Becan or Chetumal, both of which feature in ‘Invisible City’.

Our day at the lake was particularly delicious. The water is like a giant freshwater pool, crystal clear water and a sandy base. We ate ceviche and fish tacos at the lakeside restaurant. The next day we came back with my cousin Oscar Raul, who I hadn’t seen for years. In the meantime he’d turned from a cheerful wannabe rock drummer college freshman into a chic geek with eyes on a European doctoral position. As the first serious geek in the family I had long ago recognised Oscar Raul as One Of Us. My sister Pili (BA geology MA theology, angling to do a doctorate too) and I frankly had been waiting many years for him to join us.

So, a happy reunion.

We drank Dos Equis lager and watched the sun go down. I stayed in the lake until dark with my two daughters. All day long I wished fervently that there was some way that I could write Lake Bacalar into ‘Joshua Files’. Lakeside houses, speedboats, jet skis…what’s not to love?

Well, in Joshua Files 3, ZERO MOMENT (out spring 2010in the UK) I found a way to set something pretty important to the plot in Bacalar. The story takes a turn in that direction in Joshua Files 4 too.

I have around 17,000 left to write of Joshua 4 and then *sob* there’ll only be one left.

Joshua 4 also features another incredible location that we visited on that amazing 2007 Mexico trip. More anon…
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Posted on May 2, 2009 - by MG

Wish I was here

Wish I was here

Originally uploaded by mgharris

I am blogging this lying in bed and typing on my BlackBerry, for the simple reason that I can’t face another minute at my computer which is anyway turned off.

The photo is of some frozen daiquiris at the bar at Bali’s Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua. I have been missing the bar every night since leaving. Many was the evening we enjoyed there with my sister and her family, watching the sun set over the Indian ocean.

Going on holiday to places like that is exquisitely painful in that it gives you a temporary but still ridiculous sense of entitlement to a lifestyle of luxury.

Then comes the inevitable readjustment when you get home…(not that I’m complaining, it’s a nice home…)

My Australian brother-in-law, who as a biotech entrepreneur is at least partly on track to serious wealth, would scoff at my lack of confidence that we’ll always be able to afford to meet in Bali. In fact, in his worldview he and my sister will one day end up living like that every day…

He’s a biotech entrepreneur! Only the optimistic ones survive. Cheerful at having rescued his company from a funding crisis due to the markets current apathy, Paul was in a great mood. And of course so was I. Joshua Files is doing well, and I have some lovely author events coming up.

Yet I can still make myself prematurely nostalgic for evenings in a hotel bar in Bali. Will I one day look back, perhaps as an aged and lonely widow whose children never call, and realise that those nights in Bali were our golden time, never to return?

Or will we still be there, my sisters and brother, their spouses and us, and will we still sip daiquiris until the end of our days?

Gosh, I hope so.
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Posted on April 16, 2009 - by MG

Ubud-ists

Ubud-ists
We’re in the Holy Spring temple in the monkey sanctuary in Ubud.
Don’t stare the macaque monkeys in the eyes! (or they can get aggressive) Don’t feed them bananas! (they will snatch them out of your hands and woe betide if you keep some food in your pockets, they’ll jump on you and grab for it).

Originally uploaded by mgharris

Ubud-ists are wonderful artisans. So many painters, stone carvers, makers of gorgeous things.

This delicious sojourn is almost over. *sigh*
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Posted on April 13, 2009 - by MG

Easter in Bali

Easter in Bali

Originally uploaded by mgharris

The hotel very kindly left us a basket of choccie eggs in case we felt homesick…meanwhile the Easter bunny left a trail of brightly-coloured foil-covered treats that our kids and their cousins hunted down in the early morning. We didn’t have long…they were already melting.
How come the Easter bunny knew to leave eggs in the hotel, our little girl asked. Yup, a good question. Will there be an unharvested trail of eggs back in our garden in Oxford? And anyway how does Fr Christmas get around the world in one night?

Meanwhile Bali is providing me with more pampering and luxury than anyone has a right to expect. The fact that it’s so undeserved only makes me enjoy it all the more. If we only enjoyed things we truly deserved in life then how could we enjoy anything nice? Its like the parable of the vineyard, I’m like the last worker to arrive at the vineyard, being paid as much as the ones who got there in the morning. And it feels pretty, pretty good!

That isn’t ‘Catholic guilt’, btw, that’s just plain old hedonism.
MG Harris

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Posted on March 21, 2009 - by MG

Best. Rueda. Ever.

I think, after spending quite some time on YouTube looking for it, I have unearthed a vid of the best rueda ever.

Filmed in one of those shabby, dilapidated-yet-once-grand Havana buildings, it’s easy to miss how great this is (if you didn’t read the title), because of the lack of an audience and the very plain dress of the dancers – just crisp white cotton dresses for women and shirts and trousers for guys.

But watch for more than a minute and you’ll see what I mean. Unbelievably cool, stylish Cuban dancers full of AZUCAR! and SABOR! and incredble choreography.

Watching this, frankly, makes me feel like:
a) I have basically wasted my life so far by not being able to dance like this, with people like this.
b) The rest of my life will be wasted if I don’t drop everything so that I can dance like this, with people like this.

Not saying I HAVE wasted my life, or that I am about to drop anything. I’m just saying how it makes me feel.

If you adore Cuban salsa, you will understand. Also how badly it makes me want to go back to Cuba. WAHHH!