Perhaps You've Heard This One Before ....

Philber's comment on my "This is the Life Style" post reminded me of one of my favorite anecdotes of last year:

While traveling last summer I met a 50-something Italian who was living in Central America. He'd offered to take me to a beautiful, remote beach -- one I'd never find without a local's help -- and I immediately said "Yes!" The next morning we were in his truck riding through a jungle crawling with howler monkeys on the way to the Pacific coast.

"Trrrroy," he said, all pensive and Italian, "How old are you?"

"Treinta y seis," I replied. (Cuando en Roma...)

"Twenty-six?" (Clearly my Spanish pronunciation could use some buffing...)

"No. Treinta. Thirty-six."

"Oh. Good. Because, you know, when you are 26 you don't know what you say 'yes' to."

I nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't until I turned 30 that I felt like I could finally say, 'Fuck you' and actually mean it."

This is the beach, btw. One of the few white sand beaches in that country. What you don't see -- and not because my camera's mostly facing the wrong way -- is that there are NO buildings, people ... nothing on that beach but sea-drift. Totally worth the trip.