Winter in Baja Day 62: The traveler’s dilemma

Mangroves north of San Carlos //

After enjoying a bit of conversation with our friends over coffee and tea, I spend the rest of the morning inside the camper booking new work for the year and connecting via video call with a group of dear friends that are spread out all across the States.  Oh the beauty of 21st century technology. It’s amazing how I can do these things from just about anywhere.

I try to not work all day but this particular campsite doesn’t offer a whole lot in terms of entertainment or stimulation.  This is the problem when you spend weeks camping on beaches where whale sightings are as common as seagulls.  The bar gets set high.  Though the pure silence here is hardly unappreciated.  

At one point in the day I find myself longing for some things back home.  And yet at the same time there are things in Mexico I’m most definitely not ready to give up.  This is the traveler’s dilemma.  Every place in the world has its pros and cons.  The more places you go, the more things you discover that you love, that you never would have known about had you not stepped outside your circle and tried something new.  It’s exciting and wildly satisfying to make these discoveries, not to mention form relationships with people you never otherwise would have met.  The downside is when you realize that there’s no place in the world that contains all the people and all the things you love, instead they’re scattered all over the country, or for some, the world.  

So today, as I long for what is at home, I remind myself that I currently have things here in Mexico that I’ll inevitably long for months from now when we’re back in the States.  There’s no such thing as having it all.  The way to make peace with this dilemma is to focus on what I have, not what’s lacking. 

Anytime we can do that, no matter the situation, life instantly gets a bit brighter, a bit easier.