454 - Agua Azules
Ah yes, today is the story of how we got scammed by a kid. It’s moments like these where I realize I don’t know shit about the world.
It also started on our journey to Agua Azules, which is a massive waterfall in the lower regions of Mexico. And when I say massive, I mean absolutely enormous. But I’ll get to that.
Haley found the place on some random photo blog, and I’ll be honest, I had no idea what we were driving into. All I knew was that it was a big waterfall. When you’re shooting and traveling five days a week like us, you get to a point where you just trust your partner has picked out a good destination.
What I did know, however, was that we we’re descending into a region of Mexico called Chiapas. In this area, we’d have to keep out wits about us. It wasn’t no Cancun. But since our long-term goal was to make it to at least Nicaragua, we’d committed to this region a long time ago.
After a fairly uneventful drive, we arrived at Agua Azules, and were greeted by half the village. It was one of those entrances where you pull up and there’s dozens of people waving at you do things, all at once. You never really know what’s correct and what’s a scam.
We bought our tickets which we knew was standard protocol, and then proceeded to head to the general parking zone. We planned to spend the night there, because it was free. Then out of nowhere some kid ran up to our van who was probably about 15 or 16, and offered to show us the way.
He then proceeds to book it about .3 miles, running alongside our van at full speed while directing us. It was clear he did this all the time. Not that we really needed directions because it was a single road, but hey if we can make a kid happy why not.
We follow his lead, and he points us to spot by some houses to park. Within about 20 seconds, his (I presume) dad comes us and starts telling us we need to pay if we’re going to stay there. This was contrary to Haley’s initial intel that the area was free, but we paid anyway because it was only 200 pesos ($5 USD).
Whatever.
We then get out of the van to walk around, and the kid’s friends run up to us and start selling things to us. They were ridiculously pushy, which is saying a lot for Mexico. I think we had to say no 15-20 times. And trust me, they don’t give a shit about it being awkward. They just keep asking.
Eventually we resorted to handing them a bunch of US chocolate just to get them off our backs. It calmed them down enough for us to get away to the falls, but I looked back only to see the kids trying to open the doors to the van after we left.
These kids were insane! Luckily we locked it. To top it all off, we realized we just got scammed. The free camp zone was literally right across from the one we were paying to stay at, and looked no different other than it wasn’t on this dude’s property. Fuck.
I can’t complain too much though, because the waterfalls slowly began to emerge from the trail we were on. And we’re getting bigger and bigger. Literally. We’d walk another 50 yards only to discover another set of falls, even bigger than the last. And this went on for about half a mile.
This was going to be heaven on earth for landscape photography. We planned to shoot the next morning for sunrise, when the light was supposed to be best. But for times sake, I’ll just cut to the chase now. Here’s the first banger I got:
“Waterfall Mirage”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 50 ~ 45mm ~ f/13 ~ 1.6s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Goddamn. That light coming off the top off the falls was insane. I loved this place… It felt like a dream. But memories of previous night came rushing back as the village began to wake up. Kids of all ages were running up and trying to sell us things. Not this again.
I came to a realization that this whole place is a kid metropolis. I wouldn’t be suprised if Lord of the Flies happened here.
We kept walking, dodging toddlers with mangos from all angles. Eventually I landed on my second and final shot of this adventures, this web right here:
“Jungle Web 3.0”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 52 ~ 4.44mm ~ f/1.8 ~ 1/950s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
A subtle web. I’m honestly surprised my camera managed to focus on that thing. But with that shot came a valuable lesson that I learned in post production. Initially I almost discarded the shot entirely because it was all out of focus besides the web. Noticeable on a big screen, but not noticeable on a smaller one. However, I decided to keep it.
I always think good shots should take priority over technicality. Sure I could have shot at a higher f/stop to avoid this, but it’s too cool of an image for me to discard. At the end of the day you take a photo to remember a scene, not to perform a perfectly executed shot. The execution just assists in building the memory of the scene.
And then about 5 young girls ran up to us while we were editing. We were at a picnic table by the river, and they started chatting Haley up with the usual shpeal. Naturally we both put our guards up, because this town’s kids had earned a reputation in our minds.
But slowly they changed our perception. After their initial sales pitch for some fruit I’ve never heard of, they started watching us edit photos on the computer, completely fascinated. Haley began to show them photos of our travels, and they watched in curiosity. After about 5 minutes, they were totally enthralled with Haley after seeing her in some of the grander photos.
They then started to braid her hair, ask questions, and I felt like we’d made some sort of friends by the end of it. We walked away feeling refreshed. Maybe these kids weren’t all bonkers.
Overall, it was a solid session. I got some great photos. But I also met some crazy ass kids. As I get older and older, I can definitely begin to see how the “damn kids” mindset can come into fruition, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to avoid.
They can be annoying, but I’ve always loved ‘em. They add a strange sense of joy to the air. And fuck, I’m basically living like a kid. Driving around just taking photos all day. I can’t be mad.
As we drove out, I thought about the adventures ahead. Today was a breath of fresh air from the anxiety I’ve been facing over our upcoming destinations. We were descending deeper and deeper into the land of Chiapas, and Guatemala was just on the horizon. I just hoped I was ready.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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