With the Covid–19 pandemic still commanding attention throughout the world it gives us time (hopefully) to reflect on better times in our lives when we had the freedom of travel and doing the things we love to do. I was looking at a photo in my office of a giant Saguaro Cactus blotting out the sun creating a halo effect around the cactus. The photo is stunning to gaze at especially since I was the photographer and can recall where and when it was taken. The place was outside of Loreto, Mexico in the foothills not too far from town. The time was when we could travel into Mexico and were greeted by a more friendly population south of our border. On this particular trip I was accompanied by a large group of fishing club members from LA and Orange counties and our trip was for 5 days. We stayed at the Oasis Hotel and resort, a family owned business. I had arranged for a local taxi cab driver to drive me into the hills at sunset. I had spoken to the owner of the resort about being able to trust for my safety and the several thousand dollars of photography equipment that I was bringing along in tow with this driver. He assured me that I had nothing to fear except the snakes that I might encounter going into the desert in the evening hours. Good enough for me and off we drove into the sunset. The driver didn’t speak much English and my Spanish dialogue was good enough to direct him to drive to where the sun was setting and so he drove. We drove on dirt roads past the local garbage dump and then to where it looked like few had travelled before. Before me were large saguaro cactus and I uttered to the driver “Alto”. He turned in his seat towards me and I spoke “Acui” meaning here. Exiting the vehicle with my heavy 30 lb. backpack, my driver offered to carry the backpack. This time I uttered “mucho dinero” as I handed over the backpack and accepting his offer to carry it. He understood what he was holding was probably as much money as he could see in probably a year of working as a taxi cab driver. I walked through the barren landscape using my fingers to frame a picture of the cactus blocking out the strong sunlight as a movie director might also do to get an idea of what the scene would look like. My driver peered over my shoulders to see what
I was envisioning to be my shot with much bewilderment as I continued to walk the landscape. Finally, I had found my shot and started to set up my tripod and camera equipment with quickness knowing my time was limited. I rattled off several frames and then carried my setup to several other vantage points and continued photographing away. My driver carefully carried my equipment now in full view of the contents and its value. The whole time while I was photographing not a word was spoken between us. As the sun faded from view and darkness had surrounded us I figured it was time to go and we headed back to town. When we got to the hotel it was time to settle up with my driver and I indeed felt safe the entire time on my little excursion not to mention how helpful my driver had been carrying my equipment with reverence. I tipped him well as his eyes lit up with joy knowing his services were much appreciated by me. Then I asked him “ Açui, manana, a las cinco en punto, si? Meaning here tomorrow at 5 o’clock? He nodded yes, we shook hands and he left.
The next day was nothing less than fabulous in terms of panga fishing. The seas were flat and our panga driver found the “Holy Grail” of spots to fish in the Sea of Cortez. I had caught a marlin, two sailfish and limits of Dorado topped off by my personnel best dodo at 52 lbs. My panga partner Ron Morton beat my dodo by catching a 54 lber. Happy as hell with the day of fishing we returned to port. After a few well deserved margaritas it was nap time and get ready for another evening of photography but this time I was going to take my wife in tow on my adventure feeling that we would be safe with our driver. As the 5 o’clock hour approached we found my driver outside the hotel gate with a big smile on his face as we greeted each other. I instructed him to return to the same place as the day before and I could see from the look on my wife’s face that she wondered if I had lost my mind as we passed the local garbage dump. With a reassuring gesture I gave my driver a thumbs up as he looked in the rearview mirror at me. My wife didn’t share my enthusiasm by the look on her face but I assured her everything was ok.
We approached the area that I photographed the day before and when I thought there were some potentially good photographs for the taking I asked my driver to stop. As I exited the rear of the cab my driver again offered to carry my equipment and as if this gesture was routine between us. I opened up my backpack and removed one of my Nikon cameras with a telephoto lenses and handed it to my wife. I then spoke in Spanish to my driver to follow my wife and make sure she would be ok and help her. I walked away in the opposite direction but was curious to know if she had a sense of what to photograph? I turned my head to view her and to my delight, the driver was holding his fingers to form a box, showing her what he thought was a good photo. Then, he looked towards me and saw that I had a big grin on my face. I think he knew he was getting another big tip. Good trip and good memories.
