Cerralvo Island, February 26th 2005
We arrived at Fishermen’s Fleet after a 15 minute drive from our house. It’s a short and rather uneventful ride down one of the main roads here in the small city of La Paz. David Jones, owner and founder of Fishermen’s Fleet, awaited our arrival at the front doors inviting us in for some coffee and breakfast before we headed out. After a few cups of coffee and some great blueberry bread, the rest of todays fishermen arrived. They were four trout fishermen from Colorado, two wielding some very nice four piece fly rods. We shared a bit about ourselves, and a few fishing stories. They seemed to be rather impressed with our resourcefulness and ability to be living here in La Paz, or anywhere with an Internet connection, but more so (I think) was the realization that we were probably 10 years younger than them. “We must be in the wrong business” one of them said.
At 5:15 we crammed into the van and headed out of La Paz, it wasn’t long before we were beyond the city limits. Now traveling on a seemingly treacherous road encompassed by the rolling blackness from horizon to horizon. The paved serpentine offered no warnings of its perilous nature, instead scattered roadside crosses marked the casualties in a much more meaningful way than any sign could convey. Our veteran driver must have tamed this beast innumerable times as he dodged unseen potholes, crevasses, and the sinuous cliff side turns. I tried to sleep, but the sounds of the road, and those few cups of coffee, were forbidding me from doing so.
The sky, now turning from a pale grey to a wondrous blue in announcement of the rapidly approaching sun illuminated our mountainous silhouette surroundings. As the sun ascended over the mountain tops the desert awoke reaching upwards with an infinite number of cacti fingers. It was a marvelous spectacle to watch as small flocks of birds darted out of their nests and larger predatory birds appeared soring above. It was as if that single ray of sunshine swept the desert with a breath of extraordinary life.
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