Tonight’s gratitude goes back a few years… to a time I was helping produce the feature film BAJA. We were on the back half of production schedule – two weeks in a city called Loreto on the east side of Baja California Sur.
It was a beautiful location in so many ways; and as with all film productions, everyone was madly doing everything that could be achieved, in heroic manner, to reach the finish line and get the story in its entirety into the can… or on hard-drives as it is these days.
It was not a vacation: it was ride or die.
A small restaurant owned and run by Pedro and family, Pedro’s Places Loretobaybcs, had become a production oasis for many of us. A place of great food, great drink, wonderful music, and warm companionship. Locals and production crew mixed and relaxed together. And Pedro, as any great host will do, caminó casualmente por el restaurante, saludando a todos como si fueran familia.
I spent most of the 24 hour days and nights battling the forces that would set production off track. I wasn’t alone; we were a production. And – I did have my areas of responsibilities for which I alone was keeping. I was usually on fire…
So Pedro’s was absolutely a place of comfort and recharging for me.
One night, I recall the moon being full and high above Pedro’s Places Loretobaybcs, I was hanging with Pedro, Edward (1st AD), Justin (Producer)… it was after hours – the night warm and still.
I played one of my favorite songs, La Pistola Y El Corazón by Los Lobos, from my phone… I didn’t know the meaning of the words – but I was absolutely loving the song. Pedro translated the words as the music played…
And in that time, amongst friends, I wasn’t a stranger in a strange land – I was home.
People are good. Life is good.
La gente es buena. La vida es buena.