Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
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Boojum dance
Baja Quicktime
A big part of the magic that is Baja California is the slow pace. Norteaños can’t wait to cross the border, leave the fast-paced “rat race” behind.
The slowing down doesn’t start at the border – takes a little while to unwind, stop the clock ticking inside one’s head and heart. When traveling by
road, time seems to lag even while whizzing down the two-lane. For me, it has always taken a couple of days before I really began to relax; become
fully adjusted to Baja Time.
I wonder “Did I ever really adjust? Did I ever get in sync with the pace of the place?” It’s all a matter of perspective. Time to give some thought
to the Dance of The Cirios. The boojums dance! Did you know that? You can’t see it unless you know how to look. The dance pace is the Real time of
the place. Perhaps we have not adjusted at all. Maybe time is a lot slower than we think, slower than we are able to recognize and appreciate
because humans move, think, hear, see at intervals, frequencies which, in comparison, are mach speed in a world moving to a different metre.
Many of us live in a snapshot world; a place from which we can never see real time changes in the world of specialty videographers. They leave the
camera on, go work on several other projects, return to make us gasp at what has gone on before the lens had we the ability to wait, look, see what
the camera caught.
Our view of the desert, the plants, the mountains as we travel, explore is a series of snapshots – often raw, dramatic. What would be breathtaking
indeed would be the same scenes as they change before our eyes by the simple passing of time. Baja Time.
Maybe there is a parallel to my “two days to adjust” – perhaps after many years, if I really try, I’ll be able to slow down enough to witness a flower
as it grows, opens, withers. Maybe I’ll be able to see the cactus dance, see the shoreline through all the changes of the tide, witness the mangos
bulge and redden, watch the precious niños grow tall and strong.
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow
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Fishhawk,
All this is very true. However you have to realize that you have only so many minutes in your life and you have to make choices. To do what you
suggest, you probably would have only time to do one or maybe two of those before expiring.
That's maybe why we as mere mortals try to do them all or as many as we can
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65304
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Baja Travel Rule:
No clocks or watches after crossing the border...
Eat when you are hungry and sleep when you are tired!
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Mexray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1016
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: California Delta
Member Is Offline
Mood: Baja Time
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We like to watch the 'Cardon Tango'...
...being performed across Bahia Concepción as we watch from the front porch of our Palapa. No matter that we can't really see the partners sway to
and fro in time with the sounds of the afternoon breeze...the hills have us hypnotized with their changing colors as the sun slides over our shoulders
on it's way to wake up our neighbors across the wide Pacific...
[Edited on 4-18-2007 by Mexray]
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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longlegsinlapaz
Super Nomad
Posts: 1685
Registered: 11-18-2005
Location: La Paz
Member Is Offline
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Vandenberg....Me thinks Osprey is talking about QUALITY versus quantity. There can be a huge difference! Sometimes a lot of variety over our alloted
time...be it a few days or a lifetime...is all we're looking for. Sometimes & for some people, experiencing all the nuances & subtle changes
over the long term is more rewarding. Living here full-time means a slower paced life without the need to speed up & slow down with each border
crossing! 
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8088
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Our view of the desert, the plants, the mountains as we travel, explore is a series of snapshots – often raw, dramatic. What would be breathtaking
indeed would be the same scenes as they change before our eyes by the simple passing of time. Baja Time.
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When you take one of these snapshots time does stand still. That's why I take them. To see a baja which I wouldn't see otherwise. To really SEE. To
see baja without extraneous thoughts passing through your mind, diffusing what you're seeing. And the silence of the desert really helps you to do
that.
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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To cram your life full of 'stuff' and what do you have? Stuff.
To stop and look and then become in step with the music of mother nature and then what do you have..........I think, perhaps, peace.
Sort of like wearing shorts without pockets...............I loved that one.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
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When I've spent a week in Baja it feels like a month...maybe its the desert...all the life has to be extraordinarily patient for the rains to
come...lots of downtime for those Cirios and Elephant Trees, sometimes years when there's drought. Its as if the place is half asleep, in some
hypnagogue, dreaming of itself.
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Fred
Senior Nomad
Posts: 500
Registered: 3-15-2007
Location: Las Vegas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Laid Back
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David K................i also enjoy no TV and no newspaper
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
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Stuff! A mover once told me that if my "stuff" wasn't worth $.50/lb., it would be better to leave it behind. Took his advice! Have moved a time or two, dropped
a lot of "stuff" along the way.
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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Cypress
I absolutely LOVE your response.
More of us should hire that mover of men, fish , or bread
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
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Thanks Bernie,
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