"Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor"
There are always opportunities around us. The trick to taking advantage of them exists in two possibilities. One, you have to be sensitive enough to see it when it appears before you. Or two, you prepare yourselves in such a manner that you can seize slash create those opportunities. So it's either the opportunities come to you or you go get them. As life would have it, one of the best times to catch these opportunities (or make them) is in moments of crises. This is not a motivational speech, however. Nope! Not in the least. This is my update to you on my adventures AND challenges. I try to be real. I want you to see me struggle and overcome those struggles too. And I don't want to be stupid about this. Hell, maybe you know of some options or
OPPORTUNITIES I can take advantage of.
I'm presently stateside in Tennessee. I came back to surprise my mother for her birthday last month in Texas, see the kiddos in TN, road trip from Vegas to Yosemite, and then head back to down south to Argentina around mid-May to finish the South America leg of my journey. Yeah...that was a great plan until I CRACKED a tooth...lower jaw rear left side molar. Dentist says I need a crown which incidentally would take minimum 3 months. Closest appointment date? Mid-July in Vegas. What the hell am I going to do around here til MID-JULY?? More to the point though is where to stay, how to get around, and then the question of making money. I don't want to just sit some place doing nothing.
It's expensive staying here in the States. Last time I was in Vegas it cost me a grand a week between hotels and car rentals. Making money this time around wouldn't be as much an issue if it wasn't for Argentina. Going down there for me is at least a thousand dollars in winter gear and then flights to
Ushuaia for another grand. It feels funny when I say I'm technically homeless at the moment. At least I always find it funny to say. But this situation puts me on notice that I need a better plan for when I come back stateside for more than a few weeks.
One option is to go someplace cheap and return again in July to fix the tooth. Mexico or Central America are plausible spots. What I really think I want is a 2-month gig with a fat payday!! I don't care where it is in the US...or the world for that matter. The last thing I want to do is get bored to death sitting around waiting for time to pass to get my tooth done. I can justify spending money for either doing something epic or at least doing something that is making me even more money. I want something to do! I guess I can discount some of my art, too. I still print big, but instead of $3500 for a print, maybe $2k. I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud. Coming up with a plan to sell my landscape work more consistently wouldn't be a bad idea either. I haven't sold anything since last Sept.
But regardless, when I do get my tooth fixed, I still have to finish my travels in South America. Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, and one more time in Colombia are my priorities. If I can do this like I'm thinking, it's travel to Southern Argentina and make my way northward.
Tierra del Fuego,
Torres del Paine in Chile. Then
Salar de Uyuni and
The Death Road in Bolivia. Fly to Brazil and make a 2nd attempt at the 2-week boat trip up the Amazon River. Disembark in Leticia, Colombia. Fly up to Cartagena, Colombia and redo my northern Colombia trek... praying to God I have a model with me. Actually, I'd love to have a model with me from the time I hit the Amazon. All that done by the first part of September and then getting ready to begin my next travel adventure likely in the South Pacific Islands.
I've completed all of Art Model Jennifer's edits from our Feb/Mar excursion in Peru. Her book is also just about done. Final touches, get it ordered, and then I'll have it in my hands. I won't post a link to view it until she gets her copy, of course. She got naked... it's her gig ...she gets dibbs. We got a ton of work from this project and I sincerely hopes her husband loves the finished product as much as I have loved making it. She was absent from her family for 3 weeks to do this gig and I don't think they are used to not having her around for that long. So I hope in the end, they can look at the book, hear her stories, and conclude that the experience was well worth it.
I want this adventure to inspire others to come out and join me. Even if you're not shooting nudes or even joining me in my travels, my hope is that my stories can inspire you to get out and see what the world is like and to venture outside the US if you've never done so.
Get your passport done. You never know when an opportunity will cross your path. If you don't at least have a passport, then you are not prepared to take advantage of an opportunity that could present itself. Either way, if you get it, it's like having a ticket. Now you have to only book a flight. Make a reservation at some hostel. Now you are on your way! Get out and see something different. The world awaits your company.
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