Side Trips & Art

I took a one hour bus ride South to go in to the hinterland and back in time to a place where tourists seldom visit. The town of El Tuito (El Tweet-o) has the feel of an old Western movie set with one storey jaded buildings & some men in large white sombreros and bright red cravats. The town square is enclosed like a corral by shops with shaded walkways. Some civic meeting was taking place during my visit and the whole town's population seemed to be there listening to an articulated lady speaker. I never did get to the bottom of what it was about.
To the Northern end of Banderas Bay lies a small resort town called Bucerias (Boo-sir-EE-ass) which also takes around an hour to get there by bus. It's in the neighbouring state of Nayarit which happens to be in a different time zone to most of Mexico (one hour back) Naturally I turned my watch back. Along the seafront are restaurants with palapa style roofing & a delightful relaxed atmosphere.
Midway through the bus journey a guitar player and 2 people selling nuts and buns got on board free of charge. The guitar player made a speech and asked if we had any favourites then played & sang melodic Mexican tunes as we swayed along. Finally about 4 stops later he made a collection and bid us farewell. I thought to myself: Imagine what would happen to you on an Auckland bus if you tried doing this or anywhere else in the world, except India. You'd be turfed off! I think it's practice & custom here to accept the needy & maybe also to acknowledge art for art's sake. I am reminded of the guy who uncannily balances large stones on top of each other on the beach, another who creates the scene of the last supper out of sand. To me these are pure expressions of art in new mediums which are created from free resources by the needy but are recognised and appreciated as an art form by those of us who look on. Well that's my opinion.