“The dog lives for the day, the hour, even the moment”
-Robert Falcon Scott
February 2, 2025
So they left three days ago!
One of the reasons we wanted to come to this part of Mexico was to have the opportunity for an adventure. At the southern tip of Baja California Whale Sharks migrate to breed and eat the rich plankton found in abundance here in the Sea of Cortez. La Paz offers tours where they will take you out in fairly small boats to find these slow swimming leviathans and let you snorkel with them.
Apparently, a few days ago the winds shifted, the water grew colder, and this caused the plankton beds to move. So the bay where the sharks congregated has emptied of the great fish.
Except for three.
But the government of Mexico, to their credit, protects the animals and doesn’t want multiple boats swarming around the stragglers. It is the right thing to do and I applaud the good sense of the regulatory authorities.
But….I really wanna see one….
The locals assure me, they will be back. This has happened before and they expect a return of the sharks in 3-4 weeks, long after we return to sunny Mooresville.
Still, La Paz is beautiful.
Cortes first sailed into this bay in 1535. Their were indigenous people here who rebelled against the Spanish colonization attempts with only marginal success. The Aymara, a local people group , had some gold mines here which the Spanish promptly seized and made the Aymara work as slaves for them.
So good times. A permanent settlement was not established until 1811.
Then we Americans got involved. At the time, America was gripped by an expansionist fever. It was our “Manifest Destiny” to grow coast to coast. Mexico stood in the way. At that time Mexico comprised its current boundaries plus California, Arizona, New Mexico, and most of Texas. And we wanted it all.
Various border skirmishes and disputes followed until we decided to invade Mexico because “American lives had been lost” (Even though we picked the fight). Many of the later legendary generals of our Civil War (Grant, Sherman, Scott, Lee) were young officers and cut their teeth in this conflict.
The Mexican army was defeated and we took everything we wanted and almost Baja as well. In the end, we graciously let Mexico keep this long narrow peninsula for their own. After all, the gold mines had long since run dry.
The weather has been sublime. Cool evenings with mild days are the new norm. The dense cloying humidity of the jungles of Yucatan is gone and replaced by ocean breezes.
We walked along the Malecon - the boardwalk to the bay. The water was very clear and a rich blue where the sea floor gave way to greater depths.
Brown pelicans glide over the water like fighter squadrons and then would arc upwards only to plunge into the water in formation like dive bombers of old war movies. This demonstration would be repeated over and over again, Its hard to believe any fish were left to catch.
Fish tacos are a must here. Delicious, fresh , and very different from the heavier Mayan cuisine we tried earlier.
Breathing the ocean air makes it easy to lose yourself here. Other worlds seem very far away.
Despite the bliss of traveling in a warm country and seeing new things, I would be remiss if I did not offer some comment over the events gripping my home country right now.
It seems clear we have elected a tin pot dictator with delusions of godhood. I have read with dismay the feelings of my friends who have opened up about the pain and fear they are experiencing and a general sense of dread they feel.
We too have been affected by the ceaseless torrent of nonsense coming from the top of the government. I wish I had some answer. I don’t know what to do either.
But this thought occurred to me.
During our trip we have encountered a number of stray dogs. They are often dirty, many have recently had puppies, and they will lay in the middle of the street daring you to make them move.
It must be a challenging life. Yet, when you see them walk with their humans, despite their environment they perk up, happy, nose pointed ahead, with a happy wagging tail.
You see, despite the apparent darkness of their surroundings they walk with a happy trot, bright eyes, and act if the world is open with possibilities. Everything is new to them. The only thing that really matters is this moment ; the eternal now.
I feel like I could learn a lot from walking like a dog. If I focus on what really matters, family, loved ones, friends, and gratitude, I too would trot happily despite the ugly noise in the news.
That doesn’t mean we should not protest injustice. No one is saying close your eyes and think happy thoughts only. We should fight with all our might. As it is often said, “It is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog”.
But we mustn’t get consumed.
Because the arc of history is long and one day this will all be over. We will survive and build anew
I don’t know if this means anything at all. It may be sentimental gibberish only. I accept that.
But for the moment, this moment.
It gives me hope.
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