Iglesia de la Santa Cruz, PV

It wouldn’t be a travel blog from Kerry without a church – ‘Nana, I hope you are proud of me!’ The church was celebrating mass when we took this shot but were able to go into the side chapel at anytime to pray. One of the local street vendors showed us where to go. I said my usual prayers but there were no candles to light. My favorite part of this shot was the parking stances with the crosses on them. Who would DARE park there?? I can see the lightning bolt now…

The church was not far from the beach and I loved this shot of the vendors on the beach. Those skewers looked really tasty.

This was a typical view of the streets of Zona Romantica – wealthy tourists in a real town. You could see that local people really benefited from the tourist money and many traveled down in local buses from the hills to come to work.

Autoshop and Taco Stand

I love everything about this shot, close to the river. There is your local family car autoshop and next door a taco stand that has rainbow flags to indicate it is gay friendly. What a fantastic place!

Gay boyfriends

You can probably guess from this series that I have had an interesting life (sexual and otherwise) and have had a few gay boyfriends along the way. Coming from a strict Catholic background, I was really only exposed to the stereotypes of gay culture and made many assumptions. At college, our course was predominantly young men (70/30%) – I soon formed another little gang with us two girls and a group of young men. Oh gosh, we had fun! One of the men was effete with a high voice and I just assumed he was gay. In my head I was thinking, ‘this is so cool to have a gay boyfriend’. Although we almost always went around as a gang (and they all knew my real boyfriend), I shared all my deepest secrets with this guy, let’s call him Roy. After two years, one of the other lads took me aside and gave me a row about leading Roy on. What! I had no idea that he was completely straight and had been sobbing about me to the other guys. He was in love with me and wanted to marry me. Now I know why he wanted me to meet his mother – I just thought that was a gay thing!

I love my gay boyfriends. We can chat about everything, there is no jealousy and we can even flirt without any consequence. One of my husband’s friends from college years eventually became one of my gay boyfriends. Teddy thought that he might be gay but he was firmly in the closet, and even dated an androgynous girl during university. In retrospect they may both have been gay and just friends. Finally, he came out to us (without saying anything) by inviting us to a party at his house and meeting his new room-mate who was male and gay. He showed us around the house and they shared a double bed. To the day of his death, he didn’t come right out and talk about it and we didn’t ask him. That relationship broke up but he and I kept up a flirty communication. About a year before he died, we had arranged to meet in Scotland. I was going on a solo trip to see my husband’s parents and was staying in a hotel. I fully intended to get him drunk and make him reveal whether he was gay or bisexual but he bailed on me. His psychic hackles were probably raised…

The only thing I have been curious about, with respect to my straight/gay relationships, is where does the wavy line stop? I know that I have found most of my boyfriends to be very handsome (aren’t they all?) and sexually intriguing. With some I have felt a frisson of some attraction to me and wondered where that line stopped. Are we all a little bi-curious or is it just an esthetic attraction? I suppose I could just ask them but I am not sure I want to know the answer. I was chatting with some male colleagues about Caitlyn Jenner and said that, in my opinion, she was now an attractive woman. Oh my Lord, they all looked completely disgusted and strongly refuted my opinion! Would they feel the same about Caitlyn’s friend on the series Candace who was also male but looks amazingly good?

I know that the TV series about Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner was hyped but I found it deeply moving. It must be hard enough to be gay in a mostly straight world but imagine how hard it is to not be comfortable with your gender. It was unclear whether Caitlyn was still attracted to women and did that make her now lesbian?

Tomorrow I am taking you on a trip to Peru!

Daryl – grrrrr….

Come ride with me, Daryl

That was a cougar growl. Forget Carol and dead Beth or come out of the closet – I am here in Texas. We love bikers (except in Waco – avoid Waco, Daryl.) What a complex character Daryl is. Is he gay or straight or bisexual? Whatever – he is gorgeous. It took me a couple of series to really warm up to him especially since he had a horrible brother.

I can empathize how a brutal upbringing can influence how you turn out. Merle, his brother, took the brunt of the beatings to help protect Daryl. This love softened both of them. I didn’t have a brutal childhood but at times it was neglectful and poverty stricken. It made me stronger and yet vulnerable; compassionate but pragmatic. Daryl has all of those qualities and is brave, too.

Through the apocalypse, he is the one who becomes more introverted when stressed rather than breaking down as Rick has done. He is here and yet not here. Sometimes I feel like that – when life feels very stressful I want to retreat to a solo vacation or just on a walk. Having a motorcycle essentially makes you a solo traveler unless you have a chick on the back – and Daryl rarely does that. I can’t ride a motorcycle (spinal condition and neuropathy) but I love driving alone. There is such a sense of freedom on the open road, especially in the countryside. It is easier without walkers…
So when you decide what team you bat for, Daryl, come look me up…