Buenos Aires is a beautiful place, and I’ll be sharing more of my experiences here next month. I arrived a few days ago and am throwing myself into an accelerated Spanish course while also seeing as much of the city, and the art scene, as I possibly can.
I am traveling alone, as I usually do. One of the advantages of being single and relatively free to travel is that I get to make my own plans at my own pace. So that’s a plus.
On the other hand, it would be wonderful to share experiences with a partner. That’s rarely been the case for me.
I have been single most of my life, still searching for an intimacy that has only rarely and briefly been found. It’s always been difficult to overcome old emotional wounds, some unique to my own childhood but others of which I share with other gay men of my generation, who like me grew up in an unaccepting society and survived trauma from the AIDS epidemic. In addition, last year’s assault created fresh wounds that caused more emotional pain and lingering difficulty with vulnerability and intimacy.
It all gets harder as one gets older.
And I am definitely getting older. Which beats the alternative, as they say.
I am fortunate in many ways, for which I am very grateful. I have great friends in my many circles of interest. But romantic love seems as elusive as ever.
Right now, art fills much of that void. Music and writing also. And flying, the loss of which has been incredibly painful.
The Sunday before I left St. Petersburg, an instructor friend who had recently become qualified for multiengine sea came over from Orlando, and we flew the AirCam several hours. It was pure joy practicing water landings and takeoffs on Lake Thonotosassa and Lake Tarpon. I treasure all the time in the air.
I took an early flight to Houston as Hurricane Helene approached, getting out while I could for a connecting flight that night to Argentina. Thanks to friends and neighbors I know my home and possessions are ok, but that many are not. This was the most devastating storm the Tampa Bay Area has seen since the early 1920s, but yet the center and closest winds stayed 100 miles offshore. The death toll continues to rise in Florida and states to the north. For our region on Florida’s west coast, it could have been so much worse and one day will be.
Traveling Alone
In general, I prefer to stay at a hotel rather than an AirBnb. As someone in recovery, I know social connection is needed to maintain emotional health and I just feel better and more secure being around other people. If I am staying somewhere any length of time, I generally get to know some of the staff and occasionally make connections with other guests as well.
If possible, I try to find a restaurant or coffee shop that I can visit regularly during my stay. It becomes a kind of home base; once I’m there a time or two (and perhaps tip well!) the staff usually recognizes me and it’s easier to strike up conversations with them. That’s especially the case if I’m trying to speak or learn another language, as I often am.
It also helps to be part of the recovery community, as there are 12-Step meetings in every city imaginable. I make it a point to attend some local meetings; that alone helps insure I stay on track in my own recovery. People in those meetings often provide suggestions on things to do, and sometimes on things and places to avoid. I’m still a tourist, not a local, but this local knowledge helps my general effort to experience daily life from the perspective of the people who live there as much as I can.
I value that more than seeing a lot of places. I would rather get to know one city well than be dashing from city to city trying to check off typical tourist sites. It’s a much better way to learn the culture and the language.
Four Dimensions
I’m always on the lookout for interesting visual images, and have taken many pictures from airplanes. This piece takes advantage of one such image, transformed here as I might have once used a melodic theme to create a larger piece of music.
It’s often been my experience that it’s great to have an idea to start a piece, but it’s better when the idea gets hijacked along the way. That happened here, as I abandoned my original plan of concentric and contrasting images and let this beautiful and interesting photo carry the whole piece. It’s often best not to add, but to take away. What’s said simply is often said more powerfully.
I hope you like it.
Four Dimensions, 28 in x 28 in collage on mat, 2024
Ventanas
Ventanas (Windows) is another snapshot of current construction and buildings in downtown St. Petersburg. I’ve been capturing the rapid transformation of our city, which is providing a rich palette of form and color that’s a lot of fun to play with.
There are windows, lots of windows, in the photos I used to create the collage. But the design itself creates a sense of windows, of looking toward and through to bits of sky and more remote structure.
See you next month.
Ventanas, 28 in x 28 in collage on mat, 2024
