open your eyes....

As we all know art is in the eyes of the beholder.  If you disagree with the beauty in something that others find astounding, then that is as it should be.  I seek beauty in so many spaces and places, but I am looking for the artistic element in everything because that really is my nature.

Today we hopped the bus to El Centro in search of art supplies.  I think that I mentioned that I picked up the wrong box at home and brought incorrect materials to Mazatlan...but , that really doesn't matter.  Half the fun of being in a country where you don't speak the language is discovering how to find the things that you want and , even better, how to ask for them.  That, in and of itself, is an art

El Centro is not aesthetic, so to speak, but hey, if you want the ordinary, the clean, the organized, the mundane, then you can find that almost anywhere. I kind of like the element of surprise, the tad gritty and the challenge of the game. Sometimes you sneak around the corner and find a vendor on the street that has displayed his meager goods in such an artistic manner that it is inspiring. You weave your way around Nationals doing their everyday shopping and then you listen, in hopes of picking up just a bit of the language, and, guess what, you do!!  Simple things seep into your pours and make you a better tourist. 

Please don't get me wrong.  I still yearn for the solitude and softness of sitting at a quite cafe, lingering over a  drink and lunch and teasing the locals.  These moments make you feel as if you are in another world, or maybe even another dimension.....and you are, because you are outside your normal realm....you have extended your horizons.  

It is muggy, it is hot, you have shopped, conversed, translated and walked  miles, but you know at the end of the day, you will sit in a lovely cafe, sip a margarita, have some lunch and maybe walk across the courtyard to buy a book by a local author.....lazy days, but rewarding in so many ways.  Art is more then paintings, etc. it is life at its best......one only needs to stop and look around at all the things that surround us and make life enchanting. Each day we open our eyes and ask ourselves.."what shall today bring?" ....today will bring us art, even if we do nothing more then smell a flower or look at a smile of another human.

Today I share the beauty of art as applied to a "caro".....just looking and see what I found.