Saturday, March 3, 2012

leaving paradise

Why would you ever leave paradise?

boat and tree on beach

I mean voluntarily, not just with your head bowed in shame because you ate its forbidden fruit. I left because my ticket said it was time to leave, which is a ridiculous reason; it's a schlep and a half to get to the place, getting back is even worse (cause you're traveling in the wrong direction), so you best stay long as you can. But my bank account also went from silently weeping in the corner to screaming its head off, so i'd come to the end of the road anyway.

it is the end of the road as we know it

Now that i'm back to what i guess is reality and normality (with my kind of brain, both concepts are forever in question and rarely within reach), i can tell you a couple of things about paradise. It's an odd place to get into:

entrance to

but once in there is that sense of infinite beauty

bahamian infinity

with the kind of views and blues usually reserved for, well, movies about paradise

liv and the carribean

and some beautiful people

george and carribean 4

igor jumping in

who are there to cherish the blue and the sun

rob cruising in the light

but even the clouds are pretty

danny's shed

and even the rain is sunny

sunny raindrops

and fantastically fat

big fat rain

the insects are HUGE

mammoth

the birds tiny

hummingbird and flower

the fish quite sociable

baracuda and 3 jacks

as are the lizards -though they prefer to be outside

green lizard wants to go outside 2

whereas the porcupine fish likes to be inside

porcupine fish

and the frogs like monofins

frog contemplating move from monofin

the corals are smart and angelic

purple brain prince of the sea

and can come in the shape of a rubber ducky

coral rubber ducky

of course, this is modern day paradise, so there's quite a lot of plastic shit about

shit on lovely beach

which has its own sad visual poetry

clear plastic blue hole

but other than that, it is remarkably pristine and crowd-free

row of trees on beach

and it seems paradise takes over civilization more than the other way round

once white church 2

so i'm happy to report that the tree of wisdom is safe and sound

coral tree

and that i obviously have yet to partake from its fruit

self portrait all serious like

but during the journey back into civilization i had a thought

flying to miami

you don't really know about love until you've had your heart broken, or about life until someone you love dies. In paradise, happiness is a state rather than a moment. I hope the memory of that state adds value to future moments.

And i hope to be back in paradise as soon as bank accountably possible.

rob the whole hole and the quatro tarpone

2 comments:

SeBiArt said...

you really are so brilliant and quite deep in your lighthearted account of things daan; never fails to amaze me. quite the commendable report on paradise that. funny how we 'see' the far away places we visit. i'm still waiting for bank account possibilities of getting back to the side of the pond you so sadly returned to. oh blessed irony. anyhoo bravo dear chap. you guys did it right!

Haris said...

great post Daan