Oh, Mexico ! (Part I)
Posted By Duncan Chappell on 26 April 2004
Travel Fun - Not !
When travelling out of the UK the fun always starts early, this was no exception! By the time I arrived in La Paz Airport I was really starting to feel quite travel weary, and so was glad to arrive in the evening and thus spared the intensity of the full heat of day. As I stood waiting for my bags to come along the luggage conveyer I spotted Aharon and MT Solomons in Arrivals with little Ze'ev sat atop Aharon's shoulders. Thankfully they were easily recognisable from photos I'd seen of them, truly a welcome sight, smiling faces and waving.
After the initial, very welcoming introductions, I was glad to let them steer me to their truck and bundle me and my luggage in.
I was there! Under a warm Mexican sky in as good a company as you could wish for.
The first day
I had arranged with Aharon and MT to have 5 days of instruction broken up over the two weeks of my stay, with the remainder spent exploring or doing a spot of fishing. The idea was to stay flexible enough to allow for the conditions and take each day as it came.
Most of the first morning was spent getting the last of the necessary supplies, as once we were out of town we were going to be at least a couple of hours from anywhere except a couple of fish camps.
As we travelled out of La Paz both the traffic and built up areas dwindled quickly, leaving a movie-like scene of desert scrub with a shimmering tarmac road stretching off into the distance, with a horizon of rising orange and green tinted hills.
We happily chatted away about all sorts in the truck that afternoon and before long we were turning off the tarmac road onto the desert road (San Juán de la Costa).
We arrived at the Solomons' camp sometime in the afternoon.
Once we had tidied up and got everything unpacked and sorted out, MT ran me through the basics of how the camp was run, the toilet facilities, safety and the local wildlife.
The site of the camp, El Coyote, is a stone's throw from the sea and nicely sheltered all round by scrub, not half as exposed as I suspected it might be, with the houses of the Clammers and their families just a little further inland. The heat of the sun is intense when it's overhead, but in true camp fashion there's a shelter over the table, which like most kitchen areas forms a natural focal point. With the shade from the sun and the front of the camp open to the cool Coromuel breeze off the sea it made for a very comfortable spot. The remainder of the evening was spent by the fire chatting and discussing the days ahead, until my eyes, still heavy with travel,refused to stay open any longer, forcing me to retire to my tent.
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