Dora decides to explore some other place

We dodged another bullet.

Hurricane Dora, which sounded like it was about to unleash a torrent on the tip of The Baja last week, dissipated, leaving us with nothing more than big surf for a couple of days and a pile of humidity.

We knew, coming down here, that we would be in the hurricane zone. But, there is no place on the globe where you can escape natural disasters. Either its hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, drought or whatever else Mother Nature decides to dish your way.

But, it was interesting as we got our closest look yet at hurricane effects.

We saw a lot of thick clouds, some very heavy surf with 10- to 12-foot breakers crashing the beach near the shoreline.
The humidity was jacked up quite a few notches and we had that "calm-before-the-storm" thing going on for a couple of days where the air was stifling and still -- no breeze, no wind, no gusts -- which was a surprise. We saw the water change color as the waves seemed to cleanse it and enhance the hue. Close to shore, it was a beautiful aquamarine, further out, it was a vibrant deep blue.

Having been through a few tornadoes in the past, it was that eerie quiet where the sky goes dead and silent. Even the chattering birds went quiet.

The thing about hurricanes is you have a lot of time to think about and prepare for them. You can see them building, can track their progress and have a general idea of where they will go. We've had four tropical storms in the Pacific big enough to get names this season. Only two grew into hurricane status, which is a good thing.

I don't think the locals take the same attitude here about hurricanes as they do in Florida, where these monsters are an occasion for drunken revelry for a lot of people who like to throw hurricane parties. They seem to take them more seriously here. In fact, when we went to the beach to take check out the building surf, we ran into some local cops stationed there to keep people out of the treacherous water.

They were serious about keeping people safe, but also very cordial, much more so than the boys in blue I had to work with for 16 years in southern Utah -- especially one arrogant, hypocritical guy I had to deal with in St. George for awhile.

I asked one of the officers on beach patrol the other night if he had any previous experience with hurricanes.

He said he did.

I asked if they scared him.

His first response was a quick, "No." But, after he paused a few seconds, he looked me in the eye and said, "Well...yes...they can be very dangerous."

Thanks to the Internet, the gringos in our enclave were aware of Dora's progress as she moved along the coast. We saw her change directions twice, saw her grow into an almost Category 5 hurricane. We knew she killed 18 people a few hundred miles south of us.

I'm not sure if people in the United States knew a lot about what was going on. You see, the media there seems more focused on writing about the negative things in Mexico than the culture or day-to-day events of our lives.

It's doubtful they reported that so far, more than 20 people have died this season from hurricanes, that a cruise liner left port in Cabo San Lucas a day early to avoid the possibility of Dora coming in at full force.

Looking from afar, which is how I like it these days, I only see reports about cartel violence, which is restricted to the border towns -- particularly those sidling up against Texas -- and stories about ridiculous immigration laws that are rooted in racism and are not only unconstitutional but unenforceable.

As a freelance journalist, I have also seen how narrow and biased the focus has become in the media. Many publications are reluctant to talk about anything that does not take place in their backyard. Others are so advertiser-driven they lose touch with the common people who once relied on them for information.

I've talked to a couple of fishing magazines about stories about the pangueros -- guys who toss handlines into the ocean to catch dinner -- and pieces about how you can really save a lot of money by not booking your fishing trip online before you get here. But, these magazines make a lot of money through advertising generated by the sportfishing industry and if you provide the readers with a service by telling them how to save a few bucks, you are cutting into the advertising budgets of the sportfishing fleet. As far as reporting about the culture and heritage of the generations of fishermen who have been tossing handlines and nets into the ocean for more than 100 years, they'd rather take a pass and do pieces on the latest $500 rods and $800 reels.

I talked to the editor of a newspaper in Arizona recently about a story on some people from his region involved in the rescue of baby sea turtles -- a fascinating piece on how these folks spend a considerable amount of time down here each, patrolling the beaches and saving these incredible creatures; how they put their own time, money, and energy into an environmental cause of growing magnitude.

"Nah...not local enough," I was told.

Thanks to this blog, my essays on Utah Public Radio and a recent deal with the leading online website about Mexico, the stories will be told and, perhaps, lead to a little more global perspective of the human condition.