Feliz Año Nuevo! (Happy New Year!)

Fishermen push the boat out at sunrise of the new year.

Hauling the net in.

Before (see below).

After.  (This is the fish in the picture above that looks slightly like a Jackson Pollack painting... the big one.)

Just can´t get enough of these little guys.

I wasn´t sure if they would allow a woman on board the boat.  I knew that Champiras´(one of the fishermen) own daughter had never been out in his boat, but I hadn´t pushed, ¨why?¨  Griffin had gone fishing with them a few times already, but it wasn´t until they saw the whales (Griffin too!) that I was invited.  And of course, I said ¨Yes!¨  What a fantastic way to begin the new year.

I was excited too that it was one of my favorite fishermen, Pelocha (probably because he talks slow and I can understand him, but also he is thoughtful).  Only, when it came time to leave at sunrise on the first day of the new year, Pelocha was nowhere to be found.  The same thing happend on Christmas day (Pelocha likes to drink), only this time the fishermen didn´t wait for him to show up as they had on Christmas (discussing his ¨responsibility as a captain¨ and who had seen him last with what drink in hand, etc.).  But fortunately, Genero invited me to come with him instead.

They were very sweet, telling me where to sit to avoid the fish guts and stay out of the way of the nets, and also how to avoid getting thrown out of the boat while going over the big waves.  We were fortunate to see a few turtles, one even catching a fish, and, yes, a whale!  As soon as we saw the signature spray of water, to both my excitement and horror, Genero drove straight for it.  We must have been 30 feet away (in a 20 foot long boat, max.) when it surfaced again: a smooth gliding, arched back followed by the slightest flick of a giant tail.  It was not like the ones we´ve seen from the shore- playfully slapping their tails against the surface and occasionally launching their giant bodies into the air.  But I was thankful this one was more docile, considering our proximity.  No pics, as they are hard to catch on camera, and I´m sure it wouldn´t have reflected my excitment.

The rest of the trip was fun to see- how they fish, using coke bottles as bobbers to indicate where their nets are.  How they know where to look (for a few floating coke bottles!?) in all that ocean is beyond me.  But it does seem that the driver pays close attention to the shore.

I realize that people pay money for this kind of trip- to have someone take them out in a boat to see whales, or go fishing, and that we are quite lucky to accompany these kind men who won´t even accept any money for the fish they continually insist we take.   We do bring them cigarretes or a large 3 liter soda on occasion; not the healthiest contributions but things they enjoy and, in the case of the coke bottles, actually need, considering their dual purposes in fishing (they are also used to push the boats in and out of the water-  I finally got that video to load! See below).

Whenever we have attempted to pay them for the fish, they act disgusted or say something like, ¨Money isn´t everything.¨ Wise words indeed.  And a good reminder as we begin a new year.  We´ll ignore the irony that the boat I went out on the first day of the new year was named ¨Fortune¨.  But then again, we do feel fortunate.

 

This video shows how they move the boats in and out of the water with only wood and coke bottles