7 Color Lagoon

Bacalar is a small but rapidly growing village near the frontier with Belize and about 40 miles from the Caribbean coast which is being called The Costa Maya.

Quickly the old houses and Mayan life-style are giving way to the modern world. I have already written here and on Blogcritics Magazine of how “Mexico’s Crackdown On Drug Violence Came To My Door Today”.

Federal agents continue to heavily patrol this part of the state after the wave of violence from Cancun to Chetumal. The discovery of a weapons and an ammunition cache (the explosive, body-armor piercing variety) two houses away from me have galvanized authorities.

It is the problem with having been “discovered”. A lot of evil people came with the “discovery”.

The new houses that are being built in the town and on the edges of the jungle opened by the new federal highway are cement with glass windows, electricity and running water. But that level of modernity comes at a price. The old ways will have to give way to new.

Even now Chetumal, the nearby small city, is seeing more international-styled stores and malls ( a new Sam’s Club, an enclosed mall with an Office Depot and America’s export of ill-health, McDonald’s and Burger King). More offices and businesses keeping hours that don’t include the 3-4 hour siesta this sweaty climate had always adopted.

I am working hard, although I wonder exactly why, to re-design this site into something more uniquely mine and with far better image galleries than Blogger, for all its ease and solidity, can offer.

I have been playing with Dreamweaver and Photoshop and thinking of finally deciding on a domain name and getting a host. We shall see. It is energy of which I have so little and a “learning curve” that taxes my ancient geekiness to its small limits. Or I can quit and spend the time and energy on more profitable enerprises. Now that my cataracts have been removed from my right eye I can photograph again. It has been too long. Slowly I begin to shoot again.

Mexico
Photography
Laguna Bacalar

It was 1957. I was 10-ish and loved astronomy, science-fiction, dream flights to the stars, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Russia launched Sputnik to the shock of America, its arch rival in the war of this and that. After the “beeps” from that metal ball and the space dog there was the race fro space which was so much better for man than the war for mens’ minds.

Today I am older. The world of satellites is more crowded and accessible. I lead up to how much I love Google Earth as I soar over the planet or peer down into secret spots, loved spots and nostalgia. If only it was as sharp as the pictures in Men In Black but that will come in Web 3.0

This is where I live. Bacalar, Mexico. If I leave this disappearing jungle outpost it would probably be for South Florida. So this is the picture of my world.

Mexico
Science

Credit photo to NASA and JPL-Cal Tech with J. Stauffer from JPL. Visit (especially young people) MyNASA.

APOD from NASA and JPL-Cal Tech have done it again. Entertained and fascinated me with the daily offering of wondrous heavenly wonders. It is not only a great astro-photograph of the Pleides in infra-red but quite appropriate as I try to decide on a domain name for my website (if ever I finish the design and decide on a web host).

I have been trying out 7 Color Lagoon for the blog but have trouble deciding on a domain name. The Lagoon of the Seven Colors, Laguna Bacalar is outside the door — beautiful in spite of the terrible dangers.

But here is a sign from heaven courtesy of the gatekeepers of the heavens.

The astro-photo that would have made Van Gogh or Jackson Pollock proud is of The 7 Dusty Sisters, the constellation, Pleiades, which is about 400 light years from here. This photo which peers through the dust clouds was made by the Spitzer Telescope and is of a field about 7 light years across. “…The densest regions of the dust cloud (is) shown in yellow and red hues. Exploring this young, nearby cluster, the Spitzer data have revealed many cool, low mass stars, brown dwarfs or failed stars, and possible planetary debris disks.” They tell people in North America that, to see the Pleides tonight look near Venus in the west just after sunset. (Or get the great Starry Night widget for your Mac Dashboard or visit Space.com.

Science
Space