Shaista: Rodeo Beach

200 x 200 narrative

Rodeo Beach. The beach is not sand, but is covered in tiny pebbles of every hue and colour. It’s impossible not to hold these pebbles in your hand and marvel at them. As an avid hiker I’ve hiked all the trails above the beach, encountered many a coyote and walked in the surf of the ocean numerous times. It feels like the end of the world lives there. And oddly I find it incredibly comforting. I feel like it somehow belongs to me and I to it. Yes, it does remind me of South Africa – it’s especially like “The Southern-Most Point”. But it’s not a weak echo, it is its own place. Stormy winters and “June gloom” often obscure the rocks and sand, but I find even more comfort there than in the sun. I feel like if I asked the beach to marry me, it would say “we already are, my darling”. There are few landscapes in the world that, when you embrace them with your eyes, embrace you back. I am lucky to count Rodeo Beach as one of my many lovers.