Maybe I feel out of place because I think of how I could dance Mexican banda to this 3/4 rhythm, and maybe even meringue to some of the fast tunes. I am thinking how even though this obscure music genre (globally speaking) has even something in common with Mexican farm music. I also feel out of place because I can't understand the lyrics and I look at all these happy hairy people and wonder "why do they live way out here in the middle of nowhere and what do they do to support themselves?
I don't quite get it, but I am enjoying it. My hosts dear friend Alan and his business partner Ron have a really cool straw bale lodge/hostel and invited me to hang mid week between their busy times. Last night Maddie and I slept with 2 other adults and 2 children in a dorm room, and tonight it's just me. I need to get some peace and just can't seem to be quiet in my home town to where I returned a month ago from Mexico. Here, the blackness of the night is a reminder of how far out I really am. This is a concept I think my fellow Mexicans would find impossible to conceive of. Even I am having a hard time with it.
It sunk in mightily though last night, shortly after I arrived. Alan and Ron were getting ready for the sold out concert and bbq they put on. Maddie was right inside the dorm, as I arranged my stuff inside and 2 minutes later, she was nowhere to be found. I went through the corridor, checking the rooms and calling her name. Nothing. Downstairs, people said no, they did not see a little white dog pass by. Nothing in the kitchen, back upstairs for a 2nd check. Nothing. I started to get frantic. IT seemed nobody really was ruffled by my lost dog and I tried to keep cool and think. One more time upstairs, nothing. I walked all the way up a path to the west, asking everyone. NOthing. Back to take Ron's Rav4 to the east side of the property, along the road. Nobody had seen her. Nothing on the miles of road I drove. She isn't used to being nowhere and what if she followed a scent and then got lost? What if she is not on any trail? She gets lost in the parking lot at the grocery store. She is not an outdoor savy dog. There are bears, coyotes all manner of scary predators. How could anyone find anything in this forest of 240 acres? It would be a miracle. I should have made more of a fuss. Why am I always such a quiet person . . . I should have made a big fuss. It just didn't make sense, she HAD to be at the house. Dogs don't just disappear in 2 minutes. Oh why had I taken her collar off? I started to suspect foul play, suspiciously pegging one of the dormmates. I didn't know these people, what if one of them was a psycho. My thoughts turned to horrible things and I franticly yelled out the window for Maddie, as I drove up the north path into the bush. I tried not to imagine the potentially horrible outcome of this experience. I would never forgive myself. What a stupid idea it was to come out here in the middle of nowhere and not have her on a leash the whole time. It was all my fault. I wouldn't be able to live without her. I deserved to die for my stupidity. Yeah, I get a tad over-reactive in stressful situations where I have no control.
It was getting dark, I screamed to myself in frantic frustration. I got into a dense and narrow trail which I had to back out of. There was a tree in the way - I got out of the Rav 4 to look behind me and gauge the trail and thought I heard a shout. It was Alan running up to me. "I found Maddie, she was locked in Ron's room, she's fine." He came up to me and I hugged him and broke down in tears of relief. I blubbered that I was so sorry. I felt foolish but very relieved. "I'm a dog lover, no need for sorry - I understand", was all he needed to say. After that, the evening improved. After the first set of the concert, I snuck away and crawled into my single log dorm bed with Maddie snuggling in my arms until morning.
