Gold And The Green Flash #WritePhoto

March 30, 2017 — customs, illegal alien, Mexico, Pacific beach, sunset

gold

Golden reflections of sunset over the ocean took over my senses and transported me back to the first time I saw this place.  My memories of this place stretch for miles and pleasant miles along the Pacific Coast Highway.  I started to visit these beaches when I worked as an illegal alien in Tecate, BC, Mexico. I crossed the border to party and go to the beach in San Diego on a regular basis while I was teaching at a spa for Americans in the beer border town known as TKT in local lingo.  As a wetback gringa I enjoyed easy free passage through the border.  My employers bribed the Mexican aduana, and the US side was much different before 2001.  We had an ideal way of life that included being paid to live at a destination spa.  I made the most of it while it lasted, and am always happy that I did.  Those days will never return. I kept crossing into Mexico to work until 2003, when I decided it had become too violent and scary to continue.  The good old days were gone forever.  Mexico lingo y querido had vanished forever.

Standing on a cliff in Encinitas I watch the surfers below me catch a few waves at the end of the day.  I stop to watch the horizon for a green flash when the sun meets the water.  A pelican glides in front of the light, fishing.  The natural beauty of this stunning place in nature has endured through many political upheavals.  I thought about the pelican and his flock needing no visa to cross the border.  I wonder if man is conquering nature or nature has conquered man. FLASH!!! There is a moment of bright green that marks the end of this day.  Most of us consider the green flash to be a sign of good luck. I am optimistic.

This is a story inspired by Sue Vincent’s photo prompt.  Please visit Sue at the Daily Echo to read, write, or just enjoy posts from around the world interpreting this image.  Every  Thursday we take on a new image.

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PCH