Osprey - 3-30-2007 at 12:28 PM
Quantum Baja
I don’t know any quantum physicists. If I did I would invite them to take a tour of my little corner of the world. They would be giddy when
surrounded by the miracle of things random; the canyons and the pueblos have the feel, the look of arrangements that defy order, the jumble-tumble of
brush and browse and cactus, the misplaced hovels jammed against bustling niches of questionable holdouts of city commerce.
The canyon growth does not even bear a proper name. No forest looks like that – too much greenery to be called a desert. Hardwoods like Guamuchil
and Palo Amarillo barely make a showing above the massive Lomboy and the spiny Ocotillo, the towering, red-tipped Adan which give way to Brazil,
Plumeria while the emerald poison, the Mala Mujer tries to push aside clumps of hardy bunch grass. Add to the mad mélange cacti like Pitahaya, cardon
and cholla. Mountain peppers grow here. Here are peyote cactus and plants which, if eaten, will cause paralysis, blindness and death. The delicate
wild fig, the Palo Blanco, helped the early ones tan animal hides – Lomboy can cure some kinds of skin disorders (including cancer).
The cities, the pueblos have been allowed the same freedom to grow and exist without a plan. One eye might see the arrangement as squalor; another
eye finds character in the way things refuse to flow – a certain graciousness where there is no gracefulness. The tiny taco shop rests uneasily
between a family home on one side, a make-shift car wash on the other – the three together cover no more space than one would expect only one to
survive but their incongruity seems preordained, necessary, perfect. The smell, the texture of the non-arrangement is jarring, overwhelming to those
used to the conformity found in condominiums, strip malls, the manicured, measured feel and look of U.S. suburbia.
Farmers everywhere sleep the night through, oblivious to the night sounds of the farm; the cows, chickens, dogs and other country and farm animals. I
suppose city dwellers in Mexico are able to tune out the many sounds of the night, get some much needed sleep before another busy day begins with the
dawn. While they sleep the city moves, pulses with the myriad collisions of random music of hard-working people slowing now to take a deep,
satisfying breath – still alive, eating, drinking, dancing; celebrating their propinquity and their tolerance.
Nature must be the very best teacher because here it seems to help us resist the human urge to stack things up, make lines and squares – define art by
those things that have right angles, sharp corners. I shall celebrate that resistance while driving round and round, in random fashion, searching
(with all the other drivers) for a place to park my little car and wondering if a big, flat, paved parking lot would forever spoil San Jose del Cabo.
Capt. George - 3-30-2007 at 12:56 PM
gracias Osprey.
I have missed your writings............number II
Mexitron - 3-30-2007 at 01:17 PM
Awhile back I was flirting with the idea of the creation of the first life on earth--that big leap that no one can quite figure out--as a quantum
event...it would have taken a lot of chances for the right quantum action to configure itself into a usable life form but there was a lot of time for
a lot of chances.
When I see the wonderland that is Baja I can't help think that it is a more evident aspect of some quantum leap like that.
Nice writing there Senor Osprey--thanks!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Baja Bernie - 3-31-2007 at 07:06 AM
bajajudy - 3-31-2007 at 07:14 AM
Seahawk
Read the book "Cosmic Banditos" and you will learn something about quantum theory. It actually helped me in the understanding. You will also learn
something about drug smuggling...weird comb, eh?