Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Serendipity and God and Mr. Gomez

I was killing time at the Anderson library when I stumbled on a treasure on The Friends of the Library bookshelf:

A copy of Jack Smith's God and Mr. Gomez for a $1.

Jack Smith was an LA Times newspaper columnist - I grew up enjoying his keen observations and genial way with words. In God and Mr. Gomez, Smith recounts the construction of his vacation home in Baja, California.

Mr. Gomez is the land-owner, contractor, musician and philosopher who educates Smith on the finer points of Mexican life. The construction is full of ups and downs and confusion, and when Smith began to worry about amenities in this remote area, he asked Gomez where the the water in the well comes from.



"The water," said Gomez, "it comes from God."

Smith's charming descriptions of the area and its people piqued my curiosity, so I did some Googling, hoping to find pictures of the landscape.

I hit the jackpot with Dale Ploung's website.

Ploung was also enthralled with God and Mr. Gomez. While I'm quite content to travel via Google, Mr. Ploung is an actual adventurer -- he took a motorcycle journey to Baja to find the house and documented the trip on on his website.

Love this technological age we're living in.

The direct link to Jack's House doesn't work - But you can click here and then click the "2001 Baja Houses" button.

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