Cabo

A stroke of luck

A few years ago, in 2009, my brother Charlie rowed across the Atlantic Ocean from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.  This was part of a large organised race.  We, as family and supporters had to wait in Antigua for nearly three weeks while bad weather repeatedly delayed their arrival date.   As such, many of the other crews’ families got to know one another.  I made friends with a lady named Hannah whose friend was also part of the race.

Naturally, we added each other on Facebook and stayed in contact for a few weeks, and then only occasionally did I see any posts or follow anything up - such is the way with Facebook.  Staying in touch much is so easy, and, one seldom does it properly.  Then, in 2013, I received a message from Hannah out of the blue suggesting I contact a couple of her friends for an engagement shoot in London.  I live in Bristol but often work in London for weddings or corporate clients.  We made contact and I was asked to quote for a ninety minute engagement shoot as “the wedding is in Mexico so that’s all we want for now”.

The couple enjoyed the shoot and we got to talking about how to select a photographer and they asked for my advice.  Once I’d arrived home and edited the images from the engagement shoot, I emailed the bride-to-be and asked if it would be helpful to put a quote together as I would, mainly so they could see how it was structured mainly, indicating how the various options would be divided up.   I was not expecting to get a follow-up call, but it came!  We talked it over and having made sure my maths was right and I was to heading out, with my trusty Fuji cameras to Cabo in Mexico for April 2014!

Thank you Hannah!!

San jose del cabo

In the planning, I had found a good-looking hotel just down to road from where the majority of the planned festivities would be.  San Jose Del Cabo was the nearest town and on my first afternoon, having taken advantage of the hotels all-inclusive policy with a few gin and tonics, I walked into town to have a bit of an explore about the local area.

San Jose Del Cabo was a pretty, quiet little town, built on a grid system, so getting lost was pretty hard.  Exploring was fun and the town had a lot of character, with some dilapidated buildings among the trendy (and some not so trendy) bars.  Everyone seemed happy and willing to say hello, although mainly to then try and coax you into their shop.  “What are you looking for my friend?” I was asked by a man in the shade outside a small shop.  “Nothing”, I replied.  “We have that too and it’s free!”  His response - while most likely rehearsed a few times a week with other tourists - made me laugh so being British, I apologised for disturbing him and carried on.

There were very few people in the down-town area.  It was about 5pm and some shops were closing while the bars were starting to open.  I headed back to the hotel to try and catch up on my jet lag.

The following morning, after what felt like a lie in, I was up and out by about 5:30am and went to wait for the sun.  The waves crashing against the shore had been rumbling all night but it was strangely hypnotic and hadn’t prevented any sleep.   As the sun rose, the light would shine through the waves as they broke.  I could have sat and watched them for hours but it was actually pretty cold and breakfast was served from 7am so I thought I had better get in early!

I had official duties later on so I had to collect my things together and head to the Villa where the Wedding Party were staying.  They wanted a shoot on the beach and the rehearsal dinner photographing.  All being well and with my client’s permission, this may be covered in a future post.

Todos Santos

Todos Santos, another grid-based town on the west coast of the Baja Peninsula, is designated a “Publico Magico”, or magical village and is home to the Hotel California.  Hannah - also one of the bridesmaids - and her fiancé James, along with Greg, another one of the guests, and I set off to this place full of promise as the only ‘Magic Village’ on the peninsular.  My hire car was ready for the journey but certainly not ideal for transporting four fully-grown adults.  The small engine struggled with all of us and the air-con on full for nearly 100 minutes!  The under-powered journey took nearly twice as long as we had planned, so, therefore we arrived just after midday and headed for the bar in Hotel California for a welcome beer.

I had always thought the Eagles song was about an amazing hotel so, having arrived, I was a little underwhelmed and certainly wasn’t feeling inspired enough to write a song!  However, once back in the UK, I read the lyrics to the famous track again and now realise it is actually quite accurate for what is a slightly odd feeling hotel - I didn’t see if there were in fact “mirrors on the ceiling”, but there weren’t in the bar anyway!

We then explored the town for a little while, bought and ice cream from Rocco and headed home.

A day's exploring

On my final full day in Mexico, I decided to make the most of it.   I was up before dawn again to get some miles in before sunrise.  I had decided to take a more central road north and loop over to the east cost of the peninsula in order to find some interesting things to photograph.  It was cold and the roads were empty save for the occasional driver going about their business, usually about three-times the speed limit.

Eventually, the tarmac roads ran out - tarmac is relatively new in this part of Mexico and they are slowly building the main roads over the long-established dirt tracks.   However, this is clearly why most people drive enormous V8 4x4 trucks and not Hyundai i10’s.  Once the tarmac had all gone, my sat-nav said 140km to home all on dirt roads, with corrugations and deep sand, requiring a decent run-up.   It was certainly an experience, and a good test of the little car which held up very well.  My head and hands suffered a little from all the shaking but it was definitely worth it to see some great landscapes, fantastic beaches and possibly best of all, a group of pelicans fishing in the shallow water.

Other towns en route

Some images from the smaller towns I passed through on the long day of exploring.

The Journey home

My final morning was consisted of a spectacular sunrise, a hearty breakfast and then on to Cabo Airport for my flight home via Dallas Texas to London Heathrow.  All in all, an epic and memorable trip.