LandfallVoyages

It’s easy, when picking your way down the coast toward Mexico, to live life, if not in vacation mode, then at least with a sense of urgency. You are somewhere for only a short while, and it seems only right and natural to make the most of every port you pass through. You look for their landmarks, soak up their history, search out the museums and parks and festivals that are the pride of the surrounding areas. You explore like it was your job. It is your job. You experience the newness of each place with the unabandoned excitement of a child.

Until you get There, wherever There may be. For us, it was Ensenada. Within the scope of our entire, round-the-world journey, a six month stop is nothing more than a long layover, really, and it was a welcome break from the previous year’s relentless cycle of work-and-move-on. It’s not long enough for There to feel like home, but it is more than long enough for all the little Practicalities of Life to come creeping stealthily back in to your day-to-day existence, rooting you firmly once more, in the dull, pragmatic confines of Responsible Adulthood.

Which is why, when Ken, Steve’s Dad, came to visit, we found ourselves walking into CEARTE, Ensenada’s Center for the Arts, for the first time. It’s only a handful of blocks from the marina and we’ve probably walked past its doors 50 times without going inside. Which is a shame, because there’s always something amazing going on at CEARTE. So thanks Ken, for reminding us that we are only here for a short while and it’s really important to take the time to explore the wondrous unknown.

I can’t believe how close we came to missing out on this Baja treasure. All the times we walked straight past, looking for tacos, or getting groceries, or tracking down water filters…none of those things were so important that we couldn’t carve an hour or two out of the day to meander through some of the best that Baja’s artists have to offer. The state funded CEARTE opened its doors in 2007 and is an important part of Baja California’s Institute of Culture (ICBC), which you can find out more about on Facebook, here. Nearly every night, you can go watch an incredible spectrum of musical artists perform and if your thirst for art isn’t satisfied after exploring exhibitions of work from local, national, and international artists, you can always take a class or attend a seminar. This month, they’re offering courses for painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography, alongside less traditional classes that cover creating computer-based art, like how to compose music on your laptop, or becoming proficient with Scratch.

The first exhibit we walked through was a series of paintings by Liz Durand Goytia, called Profundo Mar. You can check out more of what she’s doing on her blog, or on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

The next room contained a sea of strange fabric sculptures by Miriam Medrez. It was a little creepifying, those first moments, with your eyes not quite knowing what to look at first. And once they settled on something, not quite knowing what it was you were looking at. But that passed quickly, each new sculpture a hauntingly beautiful exploration of the bizarre. Until the end, finally, when they actually started to feel like other people. It was amazing and strange.