When my Rosemary, our two daughters and I moved to Vancouver in 1975 I had the illusion of becoming a photographer. This dream did not come easy but looking back, had we moved from Mexico City this year, my prospect of ever becoming a photographer here would be close to zero.

One of the best sources for photography in 1975 was that of the magazine, any magazine. And to that one could add newspapers.

It wasn’t until 1977 that I started getting work from Vancouver Magazine. By the 80s I was being paid (airfares included) to go to man places around the world to take photographs and to write. That kind of work I must stress now is all but gone.

My first job involving travel did not pay. I made a trade with Mexicana de Aviacíon to take photographs in exchange for airfare and hotels. My client besides the airline was a now long defunct local travel magazine.

I went to Mexico and wherever I wanted to go I was given a green light. One place I was intrigued by was a new Mayan ruin by the sea called Tulum. Can Cun did not yet exist.

In yesterday’s blog about Tulum I mentioned a coming storm. What is interesting is that the picture illustrating this blog I took perhaps 30 minutes before as it is one frame before that of the bather.

Again I must point out that the colour negative, a 6x7cm one, has deteriorated in my files which are in all metal cabinets and get no light.

I look at this attractive Mexican woman knowing that she would now be perhaps 60 years old. If I had a record of her name that is long gone. A little bit of my memories seems to dissolve day after day. The negative is proof that the memory once had a reality that was tactile but I can only imagine the smell of the sea and the quality of the white sand.

Enorme mar, corazón fiero 
Green Angels in Yucatán 
Mexicana