Coyotes, Lobsters, and a Surfer Named Steve (part 4)
e pull up to a little plywood cabin overlooking a beautiful beach. A great spot, a mini homestead. Chickens running around, goats, a solar electric panel, TV aerial. It looks down on the sandy cove where the pangas head out into the ocean.
We get out of the truck and a couple of dogs come over. One of them is a kind of white mongrel boxer, with spots that are . . . purple! Amazing looking. It turns out the purple is a medicine against mites. Anyway, he’s frisky and spots Stine right away. Here’s a pal! They start playing. Stine is a dog person, as others are cat persons. She doesn’t just tolerate the dog’s games, she instigates horseplay. They carry on, running and leaping, laughing and chasing each other. The dog is in heaven.
It turns out that Stine had rescued a puppy in Calcutta, a malnourished 4-week old that was about to die. She brought it back to Denmark and it is now “. . . very happy.”
he truck drops us off at the end of the road and we haul the stuff, it takes 3–4 trips each. Surfboards, food, tarps, tools. It takes an hour to get everything to the site and then we set about erecting the wind shelter (the tents will go inside it). It’s a 5-person job. Steve teaches us how to tie a seaman’s knot for lashing the grommets of the tarps to the metal frame. Everyone works.
It’s wonderful to work with people. You get to know people fast, because you have something real to do (as opposed to, say, standing around at a cocktail party) Like barn raising, having a common goal is a unique way to interact with others. You’re creating something with your hands and you want to to do it well, and you need to work together.
It takes us 2–3 hours to get the tarp erected. It goes well, we do a good job. The wind is blowing pretty hard all the time. Sure enough once the tarp is up, it’s a relief to get inside, out of the wind.
We’re on a bluff maybe 20 feet above the water. We look out at the point to the left, where waves are breaking, and to the right across Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lazaro. This is the highest part of the island, and it is connected to where we are by a crescent-shaped narrow strip of sandy beach 20 miles long. Referring to the waves, Steve says, “It’s bigger than it looks.”
We take a walk before it gets dark, out to a knoll overlooking the point. Very little vegetation. We carry plastic sacks and pick up plastic garbage on the beaches. The surf is big! We watch the sky turn pink and purple as the sun goes down. We get back to camp, everyone pretty tired, and decide to do our real cooking the next day, go the fast-food route tonight. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches never tasted do good! We’re hungry. We have two to three each. Then we have Mexican instant noodle soup. Go out and look at the spectacular starry Baja night sky and go to bed in our tents early. We’re tired.
The next morning the wind starts to drop, the clouds float away, and the deep blue Baja sky appears. Steve and I go surfing on the point. It’s 6–8 feet and a little squirrelly. I’m nervous about the rocks, which are in front of the break and I get a couple of tentative rides. Steve gets some good rides. We go back and have cornflakes and fruit salad for breakfast.
During that day and the night Steve and I spend a lot of time talking to the Danes. They are interesting. They are international. They are a lot different from Americans. Steve wants to know about Calcutta, about Brazil, about exotic places they’ve been. I’m interested in their European take on Mexico, what’s going on in Denmark these days. Likewise,Toke is curious about everything — language, food, culture, customs — and asks a lot of questions — about Mexico, about Americans. Information exchange.
Talking to someone like this makes you think about things, look at the world afresh. Here’s how this guy sees the world. He has a different perspective, from being European and cosmopolitan and well-travelled. He’s interested in everything. He asks questions about things you may have taken for granted. He speaks Spanish fairly well (in addition to Danish, English and German). He sees humour in everything. He’s also very alert.
hat afternoon Steve and I go out surfing farther around the point. It is bigger. He gets a few rides, one a long one. Me, I’m leery. It’s pretty big, the waves are fairly steep at takeoff, and there are clusters of rocks inside the break. We’re sitting in the surf zone and he tells me that he’s the only one who ever surfs out here, the other surfers tend not to go out. (Thanks for telling me!) I start to take off a few times, but pull out before dropping in. Radical takeoff. Then a big set comes and Steve and I barely make it over two 12 foot waves. OK, bastante! I exercise my er, maturity, my better judgement (I’m scared!) and paddle back in.
Toke and Stina go swimming and take walks. Michelle goes swimming, then walks back to the boat- launching beach with Steve to talk to the fishermen; they agree to take her out with them early the next morning on a lobster run. Michelle is one of a number of eco-conscious Americans and Mexicans who want to preserve the sea life in the area. I go swimming a couple of times and explore tide pools.
Dinner on the second night is our major food undertaking. We start about 3, in order to have light. We have coalesced into a smoothly functioning team. We chop vegetables, heat water, make tea, cook and wash dishes efficiently. Everyone looks at what needs to be done and does it. I break out my 3 freeze-dried meals (each for 2 persons), 2 lentil dishes, and a spicy curried Indian dish, and heat them in a pot of hot water. Stine has carefully cut up tomatoes, onions, ham, cheese, cilantro onto flour tortillas and Steve fries them in the bottom of a soup pot. Chamomile tea. The freeze-dried stuff is really good and the burritos are delicious. Michelle and I take the dishes down and wash them in a tide pool.
Go to part 5.
|
