A
person's face is often a diary of his or her past. The
joys and crises, disciplines and vices, fears and pleasures,
even philosophies or faiths are the brushstrokes that
paint the portrait of a man or woman's countenance. The
way the sun converses with the eyes, or the shadows hide
inside the creases reveals some biographical information.
Many of the resident and regularly visiting
faces of Baja are more rugged and telling than their office-bound
counterparts to the north. Baja faces are studies in survival,
just as almost everything else in La Frontera seems
to be. The rancheros and pescadores,
ranchers and fishermen, wear their facial arroyos
and sun-squints as a matter of course. The cult of youthfulness
never has a chance to take root in the working class of
the world. Such concerns are a byproduct of leisure time
and in an environment that strips Nature's assessories
to a minimum and leaves what remains in a state of heightened
ferocity, the gift of leisuretime is rarely, if ever,
encountered.
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Below
is a slowly growing gallery of San Felipe, Baja, Mexico
faces. Each link takes you to a photo and a dash of biographical
information. These are the people who live at the widest
part of the pyramid, upon whom all the weight of the system
rests. A few, through perserverence and Baja grit, have
managed to remove some of the weight by climbing a little
distance up the pyramid. As you can see by the faces of
others, through the salve of contentment or the catalyst
of discontent, many remain at the bottom. And truly, they
don't seem to mind at all.
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