The desert.

It has taken me the better part of a year to come to terms with the desert. At first I found it threatening. The possibility of finding a big rattler or getting pricked or scratched by any of a thousand types of cacti. The eerie, lonely, intensely dry feeling of its environment got the best of me. Then through slow exploration, short walks, up close observation of the many living species of plants. The incredible reality of a cacti plant that apparently seems to be dead, having at the end of its branches a soft beautiful flower or even a delectable fruit. Amazement at the cute lizards of many colors, hares and birds. The snakes I haven’t become to friendly with yet.

But I have to admit that it’s warmed my spirit. Lately I wrote in one of my pieces “El alma del desierto esta ahí muy adentro de ese armazón de espinas. Aquel que la encuentra goza de su dulzura” (The soul of the desert is there deep inside its thick cover full of spines. He who discovers it, will enjoy its sweetness).