Sunset Hunter

I have spent a couple of afternoons chasing sunsets. The pier where the old ferry arrives at Coronado Island has an excellent view of the downtown and the bridge. It's more impressive when the light is turning orange and the sun is reflected in the façade of the skyscrapers. The park that is surrounding the area is so welcoming that you want to stay there the whole night. The kids play in the water and let their bicycles unattended, which is a clear sign of peace and security.

The small shopping center is unpretentious and it lets the view to make the show. I love to see old people juggling along the costs, loyal to life and dignity. It’s beautiful. The only sad thing that night was a wedding under the moon. I think it’s dishonest to celebrate the unions with so much champagne and make the divorces on private; it perpetuates the myth of a happy ending.  We should celebrate divorces too. After all, the guy gets his freedom back and the bride gets a complimentary monthly check.

Beside the “dog freeway” that I found in the Balboa Park, there is another one even more liberal in the Sunset Cliffs. I went the next day to capture the light of the sun as it melts into the Pacific Ocean and I found that there is a huge beach where the neighbors concur just to splash around and play volleyball.  Here, dogs run unleashed and free. There is no happier creature on Earth than a dog on the beach. And when you add the social factor of making new friends, they may actually take this as their heaven. There are dispensers with plastic bags and trash cans so the owners can clean after its creatures.

You need to be very careful because they tend to obey nature without objections. A fit woman came alone behind me screaming “Spirit.  Go back, Spirit!.” It looked like a spontaneous exorcism but it was actually his boxer Spirit that was trying to make love with a miniature snoozer.

Beyond that point, you find the cliffs the beach was named after. It’s a very romantic scenario. The ocean looks like lava once the sun is out of sight. A couple of beautiful girls, more like Victoria Secret models, sat just behind the “Stay back” sign that warns about the unstable cliffs. Their accent told me they were Brazilians. They asked me to hold an iPhone with a pink case and take a picture of that purple horizon with the shape of their hugging hips at front. Of course, the first take is never the best, so much more were needed. I was as happy as the dogs on the other beach.