These two words have taken so many different meanings in this past week. Deep and shallow, nervous and calm, wavy and glassy–the water is a place where memories become and stay clearer in your mind and more of these memories are made everyday. No matter what the day looks like, the water has the ability to put me in the moment, where I am supposed to be. I was once told by a palm reader on a sidewalk in Jackson Square that I was a lover of the water, which I already knew was true and also that the water would always be with me. I am finding these things more evident in my life, and they have definitely become clearer to me in this past week staying here in Guanaja. I have come to know the ways bonefish follow a fly in the water, how they want it, and how to get one of them to bite it. I have come to know the ways of the snook, how they rarely come up to the surface, unless they are big enough and are not afraid of the birds like the seagulls that could pick them out and eat them.
But most of all, my perception of the water is what I have come to know the most. This perception has altered in the past week, and I still wonder what these words mean to me, but I want to and will explore this further in my writing and experiences in the future. Authors like John Steinbeck and William Faulkner have explored their perception of the land and this has become extremely evident in their writing.
Steinbeck, growing up in the valleys of Salinas, California, was locking himself in his room writing stories and poems of the land at the age of only thirteen. His love, devotion, and fascinations with the land has inspired me not only to write more about my perception of the water, but also never stop improving and exploring my limits in the outdoors. Most of all, this trip to Guanaja inspired me to push my limits on the page and outside in nature.