The Guerrero Negro Synchronicity

What Is A Synchronicity?

Before 2004 I used to call synchronicities weird coincidences because I did not know a better term. In this very year, I read a book which was dealing with the Swiss psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung. The book was “Cosmic Trigger” written by Robert Anton Wilson. According to Wilson, C. G. Jung had his weird coincidences. Since he was researching the more prominent topic of collective consciousness, he felt that this kind of personal phenomenon deserved a professional investigation and a more severe hypothesis.

Not everyone is aware of what synchronicity is. I guess the majority doesn’t even know the word. Still, if you explain to people what it means, most individuals will immediately tell you about personal experiences that fall into this category. Since I have been on this road trip, I already had many strong synchronicities along the way – but yesterday, something happened, which explains this phenomenon in an imposing manner.

Strange Coincidences In New Zealand

We are almost halfway down the Baja California peninsula. Two days ago, we arrived in Guerrero Negro, which is one of the bigger towns along the way. Since Ensenada, which we named “Instant Nada”, there are only a few locations you can call a city. Of course, you still won’t find a Walmart here, but it has at least five dentists. That is something Jens was looking for because he needed a tooth pulled.

While Jens was cooling his cheek with ice water, I kept on working on my book. I started to write about my “weird coincidences” I had on my last big journey in New Zealand. I ended my chapter at a point where I wrote about a Dutch backpacker called Ken Boogers. Ken was a very special individual whom I met on the south island of New Zealand. By “coincidence,” our ways crossed many times. The last time I saw him was just a couple of days before I flew back to Switzerland. On this occasion, he gave me a stone that I am still wearing today as a necklace.

Ken Boogers Incident

After I left, Ken stayed in New Zealand, and, soon after, he died in the wilderness. He slipped and fell from a cliff. Later I had contact with his mother, who had a hard time letting go of him. To this very day, I still feel sorry that I couldn’t give her more than just some footage of her son I took back in Nelson/NZ.

Anyhow – in Guerrero Negro, I was only capturing the story to the point where I first met him. I felt like I needed some more time to think of the best way to describe what special meaning this man and his tragic death had in my own personal story.

The next day something strange happened. Early in the morning, I was roaming the city with my camera. The town was celebrating the revolution and held a big parade. When I came back to the camper with literary hundreds of pictures of kids with toy guns and fake mustaches, Jens was hanging out with two guys. I realized I saw those guys before because we saw them along our route, hitchhiking with their surfboards under their arms. You don’t see many people doing that here. Well, guess what? Both guys are from New Zealand.

While sitting in Guerrero Negro, this happened.

We started talking about our journeys, and I mentioned my trip through the wilderness on the north island of New Zealand. I admitted that I underestimated the weather back then and that I put myself in danger by doing so – I knew that every year a lot of foreigners die in New Zealand because of that.

That seemed to be the keyword for one of those guys because he mentioned a very tragic case of a guy from the Netherlands. I said: “You are talking about Ken Boogers, right?” The Kiwi made big eyes and said: “Exactly! How do you know?” Well, I know because I met him right before he died, and I am currently just writing about him. It got even weirder because the father of one of those two guys I just met here in Baja California was responsible for the investigation of Ken’s case. Talking about coincidences, what are the odds!? We are talking about a timeframe of fewer than 24 hours.

What Is This Synchronicity Telling Me?

So I had this strange coincidence, or as I would call it: strong synchronicity. But what does it mean? Many people believe that those events are indicators that you are moving exactly along your destiny. I don’t know for sure, but I tend to have the same interpretation.

On the other hand, I feel it could be a message from Ken. He was a very spiritual individual – acutely aware of his young age. Probably he was one of the highest developed souls I met along my journey through New Zealand. He was the last person I would have expected to die so suddenly. It still makes me wonder today. Maybe his mission on earth was just finished? This synchronicity will cause me to ponder some more days about the whole thing, I guess.