Z!hua

Last Thursday I flew down to Z!huatanej0 to shoot a wedding over the weekend. I was excited about the trip because Z has been described as "like Va11arta was 20 years ago". I felt very lucky to be hired to shoot that wedding and it came about in a sort of unexpected way. The bride is a lawyer in Chicag0 and her firm has a branch in eNYC. She works for a lawyer who I went to NYU with and who dated my college roommate M. The bride had mentioned to him she was getting married in Mexxico, he told her about me, and she contacted me. The funny thing about it is that I haven't been in touch with him in many years and I actually didn't realize that I had included him on the email blast I sent out when I put up my website. But I guess he had kept the link and remembered me. It was neat because he also emailed me and we ended up talking for awhile on the phone.

Unfortunately there's no direct flight between here and there so I had to stop in Mexxico City and change planes. But it all went smoothly. As the taxi left the airport on its way to the hotel, I was immediately struck by how much less developed the place was in comparison to here. A lot of the way, it was only coconut palms lining the sides of the road. The air smelled good and I felt like I was in a tropical paradise. It reminded me a bit of the road in Colima that runs to Manzanillo. I had travelled down there about this time last year to shoot a wedding. What a difference a year makes. Last year I charged about the same money to shoot the wedding as I got paid this year just for my travel. Last year I was on a bus for 6 hours getting there and this year I flew (or else it would have been a 14 hour bus ride. Mexxico is really big!).

I got to the hotel and was a bit disappointed. The first room the owner showed me was $45 but it was the type of room that might cost about $3-4 in India and about $20 here in Va11arta. Another room had the smell of cat urine in the corridor outside (damn stray cats) and another had a damp feel. Finally I settled on the damp room with the idea I could put on the AC to dry it out a bit and run the ceiling fan to get the air circulating. And the owner gave me a $20 discount on the room so that was ok.

I was tired from the trip but it was getting close to sunset and I thought I should force myself to get out and see the beach. So I took a shower and changed and set off. The sand was soft, the beach is not very developed and the sunset was turning the sky a pretty pinkish orange. I stopped and photographed a bit and started chatting with some fisherman who were friendly.

From there I walked up to a hotel and chatted with a guy who worked the front desk who I'd had a (flirtatious) phone conversation with the night before when I was calling around looking for a hotel. He turned out to have a paunch and not be so cute but he was nice and it was fun to meet in person nonetheless. From there I took a taxi into town and walked around for awhile but it was the same tourist junk they sell here so I wasn't that interested.

Outside a restaurant, a young guy was standing and starting talking to me. I didn't really trust him at first and told him so, but he ended up showing me a restaurant that had yummy vegetarian calzone. We talked there for a long time. He's 24, from Chicago and LA, but with Mexican parents and has been living down here for a couple of years. Really nice, really cute but I didn't feel any attraction. We ended up going for a couple of beers, taking a romantic walk along the walkway that runs along the beach and out to a point. It was really, really romantic so we kissed and hugged but I wasn't really feeling it. Too bad!










The next day I got up really late and had a super leisurely brunch on the beach. I ended up talking to one of the beach boys who rents kayaks and boogie boards. Something about his manner and tattoos made me know he'd been in prison in the US. He said for failure to pay child support but who really knows. He had worked as a pollero in Arizona taking people across the border; I'd like to hear more about that.

Anyway, that night I met with the bride and groom who were really nice. The place they were staying was really fantastic and she told me several times how taken she was with the place and how she'd like photos from the beach. So the next morning I got up earlier and set out for a walk to take photos. It was a nice stroll and the caretaker for the villa next door let me into that property so I could get photos from the other side too.

The wedding was great. A small group of 14; just the immediate family. They both cried and everyone ended up dancing to the mariachi band even though the bride had insisted that there would be no dancing and that the groom never danced.
The next day I had breakfast on the beach, went kayaking with the beach boy, and dove down into the water out in the ocean where a large statue of Jesus Christ is submerged. It was pretty freaky at first to hold your breath and submerge yourself and come across a figure of Christ, 2-3 times larger than life, with his hands outstretched, and colorful striped, fish swimming around him. I tried to go deep enough to kiss him (Christ, not the beach boy) but I couldn't go that deep.

I really didn't want to leave. Everyone I'd met had been so nice. One thing I didn't mention is that there were crocodiles in the estuary next to the hotel I was staying in. One large one would come out during the day to sun itself. And it didn't bother anyone. At first this really freaked me out but I got used to it and in the end I thought it fit in with the whole vibe of the town where everyone is so nice and laid back, even the crocodiles!

During my stopover in Mexxico City, I ended up in a conversation with 2 women who worked cleaning the airport. Of course they were surprised that such a beautiful woman like myself (ha, ha) was single and travelling alone. One of the woman asked me my name and said she'd pray to God for me to send me someone. She was very sincere so I couldn't help but respect her.

I'm expecting someone to walk into my life any day now.

Anyway, it was such a great trip. It felt like my first relaxing vacation in such a long time even though part of the time was for work. I definitely want to go back. I wonder how it would be to be based there instead of Va11arta. I'm going to try to pursue getting more work there. And it makes me want to do more destination weddings in other locations and Mexxico and the world.

P.S. I nearly forgot to mention that even the taxi drivers were honest and friendly! And i didn't see a single cockroach. Wow, that place is paradise!