Kitten Heels in Kathmandu, the Adventures of a Female Vagabond (Friends and Family Version) http://www.bitmenu.com/widget/offer.html?offerId=2619
Van Halen Made Me Cry
I was sitting on a chicken bus in Guatemala over the 2nd set of tires, the only white girl on the bus again. My fellow passengers: real Guatemalans, the ones who were born here and may not know Van Halen personally but he was blasting out of the bus speakers, “Go ahead and jump!”
I hadn’t heard Western music for 5 months and here I was on a local bus on my way to Antigua to do a photo shoot; happy and free with a deep sense of well being. Crying and laughing at the same time. I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Now I didn’t feel that way on the following 3 buses when I was crammed into a seat with 2 other people – one butt cheek kept slipping off into the aisle.
This is my life and it is a happy and simple life. Van Halen may never know how profoundly he affected me. I wanted to dance in the aisles but I didn’t and next thing you know Thriller by Michael Jackson came on and I thought what a gift there has been no Western music in my life until now not since January, 6 months ago, when I left the USA.
This was no ipod moment this was a universal beauty shouting out of the bus speakers. Loud unadulterated rock music – maybe the only thing about the West I miss is the music; rather than this endless too loud Spanish patter that folk here listen to at 6AM on horrible speakers as they have never had Bose in their lives. Every song sounds exactly the same as the one before it.
I believe I am officially tired of Spanish.
Maybe some day I will learn it but for now Van Halen can sing to me and I will relish his fierce passion and smoky voice. Bring it on David Lee Roth.
It was liberating to feel the waves of music in my heart and enjoy each time Van Halen yelled, “Jump!”
I took it to mean something more profound than taking drugs and having sex with all and
sundry.
It took it to mean:
Leap into life and don’t look back.
Don’t plan too much it won’t happen like you think anyway. It will all be different.
Van Halen will be there to help you. If not in person he will help you by singing Jump! When you want to take that first big leap but are thinking too much about it. Just jump.
Guatemala is mystical – that is why I am still here. It is misty with profound happenings: meeting shamans in my own town and experiencing the portal to the divine here on the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen in my life. More on that later, in my new book.
And I have a drop dead gorgeous view of the volcanoes and lake from every window and deck on my house. When I wake up in the morning the lake greets me, the volcanoes say hello and I am out on the patio drinking my tea happy to be alive.
My New Book: Kitten Heels in Kathmandu, the Adventures of a Female Vagabond (Friends and Family Version) http://www.bitmenu.com/widget/offer.html?offerId=2619