What a wonderful vacation. I am grateful for the simple things and the beautiful surroundings.

I met a great new friend who I named Frank the Tank with the help of a friend. (Photos appear below) There are many small lizards like Frank in this region, but he is different: built like a brick house. He is not fat, but muscular and sturdier than his counterparts. The other lizards probably gossip that he takes steroids.

The steroids have not gone to his head. He came out to visit me two days in a row. Today, I apologized for thinking he was a leaf yesterday. I was too far away to tell, and he hardly moved.

Frank is a great companion. He is quiet, a good listener, yet full of surprises. When I sat up tall to stretch my back, he too, did the same. I breathed deeply the salty air and sunshine, my body alive. He puffed up his chest, with head held high, surprising me with a bright, beautiful, orange neck-chin that he exposed upon exhalation and retracted upon inhalation.

Frank reminded me of the importance of the breathe and good posture. Opening up the body to the world, being fully present, and releasing the tension within, is vital to staying connected to the Earth, to reality, and the world.

I love animals because they seem to keep their lives simple when they probably are anything but. I can relate to that concept, human life is complicated and highly nuanced. Frank struggles with obtaining food for survival and running from large, predatory birds. While humans struggle with the thoughts between our ears, relationships, and sometimes things as mundane as the laundry. Animals like Frank, and the seagull I wrote about in a previous blog, come to me as representatives of God; I guess like prophets. They calm me, listen, keep me company, and crack me up. Most importantly, though, they remind me that everyone and every thing struggles with something; for if we are not wrestling with something we miss out on what it means to be alive and aware.