SLEEPING IN TREES
The first tree I slept in here in Mexico was in Puerto Escondido. This place is a coastal surf and party town, known for its rave clubs on the beach. I attended one for about an hour and was reminded why clubs aren’t my scene. The music, the drugs, they seem to be created with the intent to numb and dim people into a trance. A unified state but not the way I like to seek unity among us. Since that was such a prevalent part of the town’s culture, most hostels cater to this, and many of the travelers, too are all about it. I did stay four nights at a lovely hostel though. It had breakfast and dinner included most nights, and made an atmosphere easy to gather around. It is there where I met the three backpackers I traveled to Chacahua with next.
The tree I found was alone in an empty lot. No fences or signs, just dead grass and a few shrubs. The tree was in the far corner, and nearby the next property looked to be having construction work done on it with no activity at night.
I climbed sort of high up, maybe 15 feet from the ground. Since the ground was not cement I would only break my bones if I were to fall. If it were cement it could potentially crack skull.
The next tree I slept in was a ficus tree in Oaxaca City, and it was above the sidewalk and some parked cars. In this tree I was only about 10 feet off the ground, and nestled between a center branch crotch.
I awoke to the sounds of people walking by, birds, chatter, traffic, and laughter. Many pedestrians walk very close to the tree I am in but they almost never look up. I prepare my day pack and gather my dirty laundry to bring down to wash. I’m ready to go but there’s a young woman standing right at the base of the tree a mere 4 or 5 feet below me. She has not noticed me and I wanted to keep it that way. I must not reveal my secret. I keep still and hold onto a string attached to my backpack which I was shuffling around and was not secured. I wait for about 15 minutes until she leaves. It was a sort of meditation, a pause for the right timing. Before jumping down, I peer through the thick cover of leaves to see the movement of pedestrians approaching, there are enough tiny windows to see down the sidewalk both directions. I wait til its clear and first drop my laundry bag down, put on my small backpack and climb down.
After night three, my timing was off and a family of four saw me climb down in the morning. I immediately crossed the street but when I glanced back they were stopped and staring up into the tree. I was discovered. So today, I search for a new tree. I went back about 10 minutes later and they were gone, so I went up to retrieve my stuff, and subsequently at the same time a woman set up with her basket of baked goods to sell, close to the base of the tree. She was on the phone, preoccupied, so did not notice me climb up or my movements in the tree. It wasn’t until I began to drop my gear down that she saw. When I climbed down we exchanged a smile, and I then bought a muffin from her.
Three days is a short time to settle down. I move for fear of the police being notified. The longest amount of time I have stayed in one tree was in Sacramento. For two weeks I lived in a little linden tree in Land Park, within the public golf course that shares the land of the park. I would wake up to people putting off their tees, and no one ever noticed me. The reason I moved is because the wildfires began and I could not sleep outside anymore and compromise my lung health. The first day I slept in this tree it was just starting to flower, the next morning I woke up surrounded by hundreds maybe thousands of vibrating bees pollinating the tree. This was one of the most incredible moments I’ve felt. This location was also ideal because this park has public bathrooms that are actually open, water fountains, and also the sprinklers come on at night, making it a great place for showering/streaking through the greens, one of the most liberating things I’ve done to date.
It’s 12:24 AM and while doing vocal takes for a song I’ve been working on, someone notices me in my hammock. I’m in this new part of town and a man walking his dog stops and seems curious, and stays and stares for 10 minutes or so. I’m pretty high up, so I feel okay about this, I was also just singing my lyrics “it’ll all be fine” and plus my positive profiling of him with a cowboy hat and a leashed dog, I did not feel threatened. I mean it’s not like he could climb the tree with his dog. If anything bad was to happen, I have my mini taser within reach.
Tree dwelling, canopy camping. It’s a simple idea really, with the right equipment. It does, though, put oneself in unusual situations that are not normally encountered, for me this is the main motivator.
Hats off to my brother Charlie @charlieswebs for being an innovator, tree web/weaver and for reminding me that we are tree people.