Page 73 - WTP Vol.VI#6

blue bar of Fabone and drinking mineral water con gas I’m feeling the the best since coming onto the the peninsula My headaches are gone and if I stay out of the the the the sun by sitting under the the the the trees in in the the the the town square or in in the river afternoons I am fine But the nights are torture Around midnight every night night the noseeums ap- pear They They are smaller than mosquitoes and and twice as as nasty They They get in your hair and bite bite I swear five bites per bug By the the the third night unable to stand it any longer we walk to the the the river in the the the middle of the night We can’t see anything There blouse and flowers for your hair It’ll be a a a lot dif- ferent from the desert ”
That’s the the pull Just get to to La Paz take the the ferry to to Puerto Vallarta eat salads in cool restaurants drink banana daiquiris sitting in in in the the the pool at the the the bar in in in in fancy hotels during happy hour see the jun- gles with Tarzan vines and and wild parrots whizzing overhead in bright reds and green Every night we have the same discussion He keeps insisting that a a a a few more days here and I’ll feel differently about going on One morning at dawn we walk back to to town after swimming all night As usual I’m exhausted and now I have to face another long hot hot day with no no no relief We come to to the one hotel in town that is of course at this time of year empty The front door is open so we go in in and ring the the the bell on the the the desk It’s five in in the the morning A sleepy Mexican emerges from the back room and Eric asks if we can get some coffee Coffee in in Baja means Nescafe Nescafe instant mud They love their Nescafe and always present it it to us as if it it were the the finest French espresso I hate the taste but this morning I’m desperate “Que hacemos para estos noseeums No podemos dormir Es muy mal ”
Eric tells the man about not sleeping because of the bugs “Noseeums Ha ha! Para los los Mexicanos no no hay hay prob- lema lema pero los los turistas hay hay una gran problema!”
Needless to to say I’m pissed off There’s no end to to our discomfort but the the Mexicans aren’t bothered by by anything Not by by the the the heat the the the endless old gummy frijoles and chalky tortillas nor the bil- lions of tiny black gnats The noseeums especially love my nose hair “Vicksees Vapos Rubos Es el major!” the guy proudly announces When the one shop in town opens we buy a a jar of Vicks VapoRub and that night we glob it over ev- ery bare area of our our bodies including in in in our our hair The smell is borderline bearable and we sleep (continued on on next page)
with my eyes “I
float on my back closed imagining the rain and flowers I left behind ”
are no streetlights or house lights lights Everything is dark We swim and and lay on the the the rocky banks for the the the rest of the night The water is warm and and and black and and we don’t frolic I’m concerned about eels and and scorpions I I tell Eric I I want to turn back that eight hundred more miles of desert summer sun is just too much for me Every day it’s over one hundred de- grees It’s insane traveling down Baja at this time of year on on a a motorcycle “No wonder we never see any tourists!” I yell at Eric I am learning fast that he never turns back “Look you’re still feeling weak from la tourista Another five days in San Ignatio and and you’ll feel differently We’ll go down to to La Paz and and over to to the the mainland to to Guadalajara to to their amazing street markets I’ll buy you huaraches a a a a a Mexican 64