La Manga fishing Village on the Sea of Cortez, Mexico
Just south of La Manga ("the sleeve") are the tony homes
and the beachside resort of Paradiso in San Carlos, Mexico, the latest of Club Med like vacation spots. Hardly the likeness
of, are the remnant and makeshift housing, trailers and even tents that make up the homes the 53 families of
Mexican Nationals who live simply alongside their fishing boats, among the sounds of playing children and
a very welcoming and humble people.
Their are no businesses here except, the natural and
sometimes treacherous trade by the men, "fisherman" who regularily take to the ocean admist dangerous conditions and
primitive supplies. Our friend, Michael Hager, the man responsible to leading us to this community, he wound up making
it his home for six years, says, not a single boat did he ever see even a single life jacket.
The woman who fashion jewerly and adornments from remnants
and shells found in the sea. The sales of sodas to those tourists and visitors who make there way to the Village
via an upaved road adds another small stipend of income.
Hager, shares with us a portrayal of the life of living on the dependance of the
Ocean and its bounty, and the unpredictable sacrifices sometimes endured. Merely a year and a half previous four of the Villages
fishermen set out in their small fiberglass boats hoping to haul back their days catch. Amid a severe storm their boat capsized,
two decided to hang on, clinging to their adrift vessel. The other two decided to make a go to swim to shore many miles away.
Those two that remained, drowned, the other two as fate had, actually made it ashore, skin blistered and ravaged by the sun
and elements, but alive, a day and a half later.
As Americans, secured in liberty and the many comforts of modern life, these events
were almost shocking and yet part of the balance here of Village life and the Culture of Mexico.
Still, the beauty and serenity of the Village and surrounding Mountain landcape
were paradoxically comforting.
It was the innocence and playfulness of the Children, unbeholden to the complexity
and appetites of the Children of the developed west, coming from families of means, that really bore the beauty and love of
these people.
Shy and then eager, they responded to us, gleefully abandoning their interests,
to have their pictures taken, then marvel and exclaim in laughter as their images we would play back in our video cameras.
Easily the children embraced me and spoke in their native language and lively eyes and would lead me to their special areas
of play and adventure. They too, were proud and interested to share with me the joys they sought in taking their smaller
brother or sister and introduce them to us, the new strangers with the new gifts like toys.
One of my companions, Fred Venegas, a youth probation officer from Santa Cruz,
California remarked candidly, "these children don't know, their poor." Quite evidently they were bemused easily with sticks
and things they found on the ground and shore. Their expressions of happiness were'nt just makeshift they were effortlessly
genuine if without sophistication. I myself quite naturally fell into their world of discovery and expression. It reminded
me of my boyhood gladness to just have friends to play with. I quickly became one with them, their spontaniety...even forgot
myself and time to some decree. Already, life in the fishing Village of La Manga had wooed me.
The community extended beyond the boundaries of the biological family. There were
not an easy measure to determine, where one's siblings could be attributed to one father and mother and another began.
Yes, the community itself extended easily, there was an absence of fear, more openess, a sense of trust and comfort....the
children they cleary benefitted, psychologically from such an environment and so did we.
It became an easy contrast as i reflected on how today's modern youth are
raised and assimilated in culture, back in the states. Here, their were no preponderance of video games and the overstimulation
of television and the dizzing beat of music ?, that both assaults and is presented to pacify our children and youth.
A friend of mine, a woman who came to America years ago from Ukraine,commented
to me how "mechanized" she felt many in America, especially in the cities, emanated. There was evident an absence of normal
human activities, simple pleasures, pure conversation. People almost couldn't stop, constant movement and measuring, not a
natural rhythm. That people seemed estranged from themselves. How even we see here (in America) people freaking out way more
disportionately than in cultures where their was not the fixations on making money and ambition.
Surely America, is a great culture itself and its education and technology is
advanced, but i couldn't help reflect how the "relationships" of people, the sharing of one's heart and greater giving and
selflessness radaited here, even if it was underdeveloped.
Still, there was the evidence of more tragedy and recovery in the stories
of La Manga, related again by Michael Hager, who interpreted for us the resilency of the people and their capacity for forgiveness
and change.
Michael shared how a large man and well known member of the community
had driven off in his vehicle at high speeds with wife and small daughter and ended in tragic results.
Drunk and erractic, the man plowed his vehicle into a disabled car along the roadside.
Horrifically, the passenger of the of the parked vehicle was killed. The man's wife suffered a broken back and would have
a permanent disability and the young child would need surgery and a plate fitted in her skull. Perhaps unimaginable in our
culture, the man choose to flee the scene of the accident, leaving behind his injured wife and child, along with the dead person.
Months went by until by Mexican Law, the man resurfaced to make restitution to
the killed person's family. In Mexico, if private parties come to amicable settlement, their are no criminal charges. The
man then proceeded to return to his wife and family and village he had lived at. His wife, not able to walk unassited and
child still recovering from her head injuries, accepted the father back and in great forgiveness the family was restored.
I had seen that child, more a young person and would not have known any such great trauma had occured. The wife apparently
had been able to receive and welcome back her husband and life in the community had demonstrated another remarkable chapter
in preserving life's purposes. The mere fact that such a great and harrowing experience could be overcome in Love's fires
was transformational for me.
Even so, my brief visit to La Manga continues to place in perspective the possibilities
of culture and even surrival as we know it. I couldn't help but ponder if we ever see a "breakdown" in life as we know it,
either within our borders or impacting nations, "how would we cope?" Could we live, exist and prosper. find joy even?....without
electricity, finding our own food, getting along with each other. Strikingly i imagined what ingredient is most important,
what is most cherised and i remembered those children and it was most wholly true...love , ......love is the solution,
love is the way all things are overcome , all solutions are found....may God Bless and Guide us all...Thank You, La Manga!
Mi amor!
