I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

by Sam Attolico

A small village in the Baja. It has fishing, unbelievable sunrises and great people. Street vendors that yell "almost free today senor". A billion stars at night, roads that wash away every few years. A place to get a fish taco and a cold cerveza. Have a visit with Murphy, for a great cigar, maybe even a Cuban. A place to play some pool and listen to old Rock-n-roll as the Miramar bar’s air conditioning hums away the 100-degree temps. A place to just be amazed you can make electricity with no help from burning coal or gas fired plants. A place you can go into the desert and still be puzzled by the hills full of shells or run your 4 wheeler flat out for an hour on the beach not see another soul. A place you see great friends 2 or 3 times a year and just take up where you left off last time. The place brothers can recoup the lost years apart and feel that closeness that was 20 years ago. What is this place a nirvana, a heaven on earth, just a place inside that comes out when everything is in tune?

The first time I visited with my girlfriend, falling in love with both her and the place. Coming back and proposing to her on Valentines Day with a full moon raising out of the water. Later getting married with friends and family on the beach looking at the tranquil blue water. Hearing a far off buggy roar to life. It is a place that is a part of me. Tied to my life in so many ways. It gives me an escape from the pressures of life and job. A place I can go that the outside world can’t reach. A bigger part after spending a few weeks each year for the last few years there. Seeing Christmas and Easter along with the fourth of July in San Felipe, a place that was to me unheard of 5 years ago.
This year I feel emptiness, a loss. My normal trips at Easter and then at the 4th of July did not happen.
A new job got in the way. Too much to do! Not enough time to do it. A move to the mid-west from California meant I couldn’t get there in a day unless I drive and fly and drive some more then it is a very long day. And I arrive with out my toys.

So what does this mean? Well it means I won’t sit on the beach this summer when it is 100 and feel the breeze as a cold Pacifico wets my parched throat. Or wonder at the abundance of fish in the local nets. Or see the street vendor that I sold my HBO hat to and bought a straw cowboy hat from.

I could spend some time at the lake near here and wonder how something that freezes 5 feet thick in the winter can ever be warm enough to swim in.

Makes’ you wonder what is important. What is the life you want and how do you want to live.
As Lee Ament said in his story titled "the Good Life" Learn how to play the guitar today and enjoy yourself.....

What a concept so off I go to find my guitar that hasn’t felt my hand since I was in San Felipe a while back.

So I mimic the thought. Go sit under the palapa as the cool afternoon breeze comes up, let the cold gold nectar roll down your throat, learn to play and enjoy.

Sam Attolico
Campo Garcia