Two Macaws in the wild.
When Special Things Are Not Special
When you see special places and things long enough, they can stop being special.
The Macaws in the above picture were in a large mango tree, fighting with a monkey over a mango. The tree was loaded with mangos, and the ground was covered with them, but the monkey and the Macaws were fighting over the same mango.
I shot this picture on a trip to the beach. Macaws are not usually found up here in the mountains where I live, but I do see lots of Toucans up there.
I spent four months with my motorhome parked beside the beach in Galveston, Texas. I walked on the beach every day, but it no longer seemed special after a while.
I did the same thing in the North Carolina mountains. I camped next to the river for several months, with beautiful views in every direction. There were hiking trails and waterfalls everywhere. I could literally stand next to my motorhome and catch trout in the river.
A stalk of bananas growing wild in the coffee fields. It was so heavy it fell to the ground.
I've been in Costa Rica for almost six months. Almost every day, I hike up the mountains through the coffee fields. I can reach up and pick bananas or mangos off the trees. They grow wild here.
I can sit on my balcony and watch the Toucans (the colorful bird with the extra large beak that's on boxes of Fruit Loops).
My favorite bird here. A Toucan.
I can walk through the local farmer's market, pay a dollar, and a guy will take a machete, cut the top off a coconut, make a hole in it, and stick a straw in it so I can drink coconut milk while I walk through the market. What an interesting and unusual way to do my grocery shopping.
All of this is nice, but it soon stops being anything special when you do it all the time.
If you could sit on your balcony and see Niagra Falls, how long would it be before that view no longer seemed special?
How often have you been in a place that no longer seems special to you, even though you traveled hundreds of miles to get there?
This monkey likes bananas as much as I do. He is probably one of my relatives.
Bottom line: The old saying that you should "Take the time to smell the roses" is so true. You don't have to always be in a hurry to get to the next wonderful place. Take the time to enjoy where you are, even if you've been there for a while. The place is still special when you stop to think about it.