When I'm not gloating about the beautiful weather and beaches down here, I have to admit that this 5-week trip has not been a cakewalk. Trying to find decent places to stay on the (very) cheap has been a real challenge. (In case you're wondering what class I'm travelling in, I've averaged about $20 US per night.)
I've been in some nice rooms, and some not so nice. I've refused rooms that looked like hangouts for ex-cons trying to get back into old habits.
I say all that because last night I found a beautiful place. I'm in Las Terrenas, on that little peninsula that points toward Puerto Rico, in a quaint apartment at Casa Robinson. This place looks like it was built in the 1950s and has a very "Catskills summer cottage" feel. It's very open, with louvered windows all around and I can just imagine the many families who have come here for wonderful vacations, and returned again and again in family traditions. I have plenty of room to spread out, a real table and chairs, and the noise isn't too bad.
Anyway, my point is, I'm more forgiving here, and those who know me know that's kind of rare. The place isn't perfect, but where I would look at flaws with dread and disdain in other hotel rooms, I see them here through a different glass, with giddy ease, like I'm on my first few dates with a woman, and not plotting divorce.
Things are prettier through this glass and I wish I could see everything, all the time through it. I wish people could always see strangers and friends with this warmth and grace. I wish U.S. citizens could view immigrants this way, for example, and if the Israelis could see Palestinians through this glass, we wouldn't have generations of destroyed lives there.
What the world needs right now is a whole lot of forgetting about the things in the past that divide us, and a desire to look into the future with earnest hope to come together.
I've been in some nice rooms, and some not so nice. I've refused rooms that looked like hangouts for ex-cons trying to get back into old habits.
I say all that because last night I found a beautiful place. I'm in Las Terrenas, on that little peninsula that points toward Puerto Rico, in a quaint apartment at Casa Robinson. This place looks like it was built in the 1950s and has a very "Catskills summer cottage" feel. It's very open, with louvered windows all around and I can just imagine the many families who have come here for wonderful vacations, and returned again and again in family traditions. I have plenty of room to spread out, a real table and chairs, and the noise isn't too bad.
Anyway, my point is, I'm more forgiving here, and those who know me know that's kind of rare. The place isn't perfect, but where I would look at flaws with dread and disdain in other hotel rooms, I see them here through a different glass, with giddy ease, like I'm on my first few dates with a woman, and not plotting divorce.
Things are prettier through this glass and I wish I could see everything, all the time through it. I wish people could always see strangers and friends with this warmth and grace. I wish U.S. citizens could view immigrants this way, for example, and if the Israelis could see Palestinians through this glass, we wouldn't have generations of destroyed lives there.
What the world needs right now is a whole lot of forgetting about the things in the past that divide us, and a desire to look into the future with earnest hope to come together.