The Most Expensive Hobby

Life can be a strange beast.  Finding fulfillment can be an arduous task.  Many of us find it through hobbies; non-work (read non-essential to security/food/shelter/retirement)  activities.  This of course leaves out the lucky few who find fulfillment in their bread-winning.  In the US a rough way to judge how cool/awesome/worthwhile a hobby is by the cost (in USD) it incurs upon the practitioner. 

I have always held that time=money.  Thus, for myself, I have gauged the successfulness and/or value of my hobbies by how much time cost they incur.  For myself expensive hobbies have been computer games, fixing things, and marriage. 

Over the last few months I have developed another hobby, watching sunsets.  This hobby has in fact turned out to be the most expensive yet.  You might ask yourself how watching sunsets (a max time cost of 45mins a day) could compare to computer games or marriage?

It ends up that the cost is not just the viewings, but the cost of getting to and finding them.

  

Alaska

Baja California

 

Belize

Yukon Canada

Guatemala

 
 

Nevada

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Yucatan, Mexico

There is much time invested in the viewing that resulted in these mediocre photos.  Both in preparation and transit.  Thousands of hours in accruing savings as well.

There is something to be said for taking a few minutes, to sit and watch the world turn.  In the big scheme of things, we are simply on the rock floating through space, and no major or minor actions of mere humans will alter that meaningfully.

Perspective is astonishingly hard to find, and even harder to hang on to.  Today I watched 16 children play a soccer game on a basketball court sized dirt field cleared in the jungle.  Five teenage girls then watched, giggling as we did some Insanity cardio (We seem to make the locals day, as the crazy gringos are a rare treat in these parts).   I then rinsed off in the local river (rio), and tried (and failed) to catch some tiny zebra striped fish. 

To many trees to allow sunset viewing today.  Guess we will have to spend another few days in El Salvador.  ;)

56K Warning, Lots of pictures; (central american internet has renewed my deep seated psychological need to strangle the inventor of the dial-up modem.)