15 seconds of fame

After our recent visit to the States for early Thanksgiving, I saw an interesting e-mail in my queue. The missive claimed to be from a staffer for Peter Greenberg, the travel editor for CBS News. The staffer, Anthony, introduced himself and mentioned Peter was coming to Jalisco to film an upcoming segment. One part of the segment would cover Lake Chapala, and one part of that would be about the curious phenomenon of expats living there. Anthony had discovered my blog (Thanks, Google!) and “would I like to be part of an interview for the segment?”

Being the suspicious sort by nature and training, I googled all the names, offices and shows mentioned. They all checked out as described, so I said “yes.”

Anthony asked for suggestions for “things to do” as part of the interview. We’re a sleepy little village, so this was a challenge. I suggested meeting in the plaza for coffee, walking along the malecon, or a short hike up to the little chapel overlooking the town. All three provided some local color and good backgrounds. At first he accepted the idea of the hike, but after reviewing the route, it was too much for the camera operators, so he countered with a bike ride. I was skeptical: our streets are narrow and cobblestone: hardly conducive to a car-mounted camera or a smooth riding experience. So we agree to ride along the malecon.

As the day of the filming approached, the times and details kept changing. First it was midday, then 7:00 AM, before we finally settled on 11:00 AM. My dear wife–being even more suspicious then I am–kept suggesting this was some kind of a scam: “perhaps to get us out of the house so it could be burgled.” As I said, thirty-eight years of being exposed to my suspicion, added to her own native mistrust, is a powerful mix! “No,” I replied, “it’s just television.” I had a few dealings with televised media back in my work days, and I recalled how spur-of-the-moment it all was. “This shot doesn’t work, let’s go somewhere else” or “ohh, look at that background!” And since the schedule is so tight, the crew literally arrives, makes instant choices, films, and moves on.

For this shoot, Peter Greenberg arrived that morning, having flown red-eye from Spain via New York and Los Angeles. They came to Chapala in the early morning hours to do some bass fishing on the lake, and now we headed to the malecon for our segment. The crew amounted to about twelve people: Peter and his wife, some assistants, Gordon (the director), camera and sound operators, and some Tapatios (from Guadalajara) who were doing all the local coordination (transport, renting the bikes, meals, etc.). Gordon the director told me my part was simple: ‘what the hell are you doing here, what do you know that we don’t, and should we all be here?’

We proceeded to mic/mike up and test the equipment. People were walking around during the beautiful December day, so we did a test ride among the passers-by, then chose a leg further along (past the Ajijic sign) to start filming. We rode along–in turn–under a drone, behind a go-pro camera mounted on a bike, and past shoulder-mounted camera men. Peter and I rehashed the same story each time: how I learned about Lake Chapala, what was its draw, and why we lived here. At times, the crew just wanted the visuals, so we talked politics or travel and gestured towards nothing in particular as they filmed. By about two in the afternoon, the crew conferred and decided they had the right mix of audio and visual to do a segment. As Peter told me, “four hours of work for forty seconds of air.”

Peter and the crew were very kind and appreciative of my agreeing to the interview. For my part, I took my cues from Peter or Gordon. When speaking, I tried to be crisp, concise, and clever. Whether I succeeded or not remains to be seen. What did I say? Well, you’ll have to watch to find that out. When I have the details of the appearance (probably in January) I’ll provide an update.

They were off to Guadalajara, then Tequila, before finishing in Puerto Vallarta. Looks to me to be a Jalisco promo, which is not surprising. Many of the things Americans think of when they think “Mexico” are in fact from Jalisco: Mariachis and Tequila come to mind. Peter mentioned he and his wife were headed to Turkey next. I asked him, as a member of the US Travel Hall of Leaders, did it (travel) ever get old? He said, “no, as long as there is something new to learn, something new to experience.”