Sailing 1:Ensenada

This is the original email that I sent to everyone from Mexico at the beginning of the sailing adventure in March 2007. For those that don't know, my buddy Rusty wanted to sail his boat from Ensenada (originally in Long Beach) down to Central America, through the canal and home to Florida, all the while, surf a lot and generally have fun. Sailing 1 and 2 are about the original section from Ensenada to El Salvador (February - June 2007). I pasted the email directly and reading it brings back so many memories; hope you enjoy.

!Hola Amigos!

Wanted to say hi to all and let you know what is going on down in Baja....weather has been muy bueno and the fish tacos are killer. Kristiaan came down for 4 days and we all hung out and worked on Rusty's boat....and drank a lot of cervesa, which has been a hell of a lot of fun except for the fact that my left hand has been out of commission since about 1 hour after entering Mexico. Apparently I dont know the difference between a door and a window in Mexico even though it is the same goddamn AMPM station: you would think telling them apart would be easy and not very different from those in Los Estados Unidos but you'd be wrong. This whole incident may have been caught on a security camera by the way, so if ya find it on youtube let me know - just look for gringo, PEMEX AM/PM in Rosarita and window - maybe stupido as well.

To make a long story short, it looked like a door with aisles, people looking like they were walking right at me from the inside etc....trash can on the side of the door (which I used to throw something in), and a clear path right into the store.....except for the 1 inch thick piece of melted silica which by the way I broke with my cabesa, after which the humongous, razor-sharp pieces of death fell onto my left hand opening a one inch wide, 3.5 inch gash on my thumb as well as opening an approximate 1.5 square inch flap on my palm which doesn't sound like a lot but trust me it was enough.......all of which took 22 external stitches and 3 internal (had to stop the bleeders) when all was said and done. And, not really exaggerating at all, I lost about a half a pint at the store and another half or more at the hospital before they sewed me up: I sat there bleeding on this little table for about 45 minutes and went thru at least a mile of gauze.

All of this was very exciting for Rusty and Kristiaan since Rusty saw my hand leaking like a sieve all over the concrete and I was off in an ambulance to the hospital, which they were following at high speed through Rosarita at about 9 pm Friday. The hospital room was very clean and everyone was awesome but about 5 different people came over and split open my hand to look and gawk, as well as laugh whenever I tried to explain what happened in bad spanish..lots of stupido, cabesa, accidente, yada yada yada. And then someone would look at me, point and they would all laugh - so damned embarrassed. Honestly tho, it was one of my better emergency room experiences.

Funny note - people in mexico are obsessed with their cell phones even more than the states (which is hard to believe) - the doctor even answered his about 5 times while he was sewing my hand back up and the 2 guys helping him kept walking away to chat on their phones/walkytalkies...it was hilarious and none of the conversations sounded serious or about work. As for the señoritas/señoras, they just kept walking by and smiling and then laughing..a lot of laughing...a little too much at times actually, but overall it was kinda funny. So, after our little stop, we proceeded to dinner in Rosarita and continued on down to Ensenada.

That's about it. Rusty and I are doing some more work on the sailboat after Kristiaan's departure (the guy was a machine working on the electrical system for 3 days - the electrical was working before but Kristiaan installed some great stuff and cleaned up the a lot of the existing wires etc...) and the invitation is still out to everyone to come on down either to Ensenada (the food is great, cheap and the marina is fantastic with hot showers/facilities and within walking distance of the whole downtown area) or at any time on the trip. The boat is great - lots room for guests, beautiful varnished teak all over the deck, and we even have a couple spare sleeping bags and room for more people.


Audios Amigos