Posted on July 9, 2009 - by MG

Dreaming of Lake Bacalar

Dreaming of Lake Bacalar

Originally uploaded by mgharris (Photo taken by David Harris)

There’s a freshwater lagoon in the south of Quintana Roo state in Mexico, that is twenty-seven kilometres long and boasts water of seven shades of blue, from aqua to midnight blue. The lagoon of Bacalar, or Lake Bacalar as it is also known, is mostly a wildlife reserve on one side, with limited development on the other.

I visited the lake with my family in Oct 2007 whilst travelling in the QR and Campeche region, collecting photos and sampling locations for ‘The Joshua Files’. At that time I’d written the first two books but not yet visited Becan or Chetumal, both of which feature in ‘Invisible City’.

Our day at the lake was particularly delicious. The water is like a giant freshwater pool, crystal clear water and a sandy base. We ate ceviche and fish tacos at the lakeside restaurant. The next day we came back with my cousin Oscar Raul, who I hadn’t seen for years. In the meantime he’d turned from a cheerful wannabe rock drummer college freshman into a chic geek with eyes on a European doctoral position. As the first serious geek in the family I had long ago recognised Oscar Raul as One Of Us. My sister Pili (BA geology MA theology, angling to do a doctorate too) and I frankly had been waiting many years for him to join us.

So, a happy reunion.

We drank Dos Equis lager and watched the sun go down. I stayed in the lake until dark with my two daughters. All day long I wished fervently that there was some way that I could write Lake Bacalar into ‘Joshua Files’. Lakeside houses, speedboats, jet skis…what’s not to love?

Well, in Joshua Files 3, ZERO MOMENT (out spring 2010in the UK) I found a way to set something pretty important to the plot in Bacalar. The story takes a turn in that direction in Joshua Files 4 too.

I have around 17,000 left to write of Joshua 4 and then *sob* there’ll only be one left.

Joshua 4 also features another incredible location that we visited on that amazing 2007 Mexico trip. More anon…
Emailed from my BlackBerry®