Mike Humfreville - 2-20-2005 at 10:28 PM
Mary Ann and I were married in 1973. In 1974 we built a small hut on the beach south of Bahia de Los Angeles where Camp Gecko is today. We were
alone except for the rusty old pickup that passed a quarter mile away traveling between the village and the Diaz cattle ranch, further to the south.
We had no fresh water except for cooking and drinking and we bathed daily in the sea. In the early months the water was cold.
One evening, like others before, we were walking on the beach as the sun set behind the western mountains and we spotted a green 5-gallon bucket that
had floated up and was resting on its side in the sand above the tide line. In that environment, it wasn?t something I could pass up, so we carted it
back to the hut.
The next day, while we were scrounging the desert for building materials for the hut, we brought home two 8-foot branches of a Palo Verde or some such
tree. Both were forked on one end. I dug two holes in the sand, 4-feet apart, while Mary Ann placed the branches in, forks up and I filled in the
sand. With an ice pick and a rock, I punched a number of small holes in the bottom of the bucket. Then we ran another branch through the handle of
the bucket and laid it in the forks of the two upright poles. We had an instant shower. No running water, of course, but whenever we wanted to bathe
in warm water we would heat sea water in a large tub over the fire pit and transfer it to the bucket while one or the other of us stood beneath. It
was primitive, but worked fine.
After using the shower for a few days, we found that we couldn?t get the sand off our wet feet before we dried off. We fired up the old land cruiser
and drove up to La Gringa at the north end of the bay. We filled up the back of the truck with the smooth round beach pebbles there and carted them
back to the hut and lined the sand with the gravel. The shower was perfected.
Twenty five years later, with Camp Gecko now in full swing, Mary Ann and I drove down to our old stomping grounds to visit with Doc and see what he
thought about the new guy on the gossip platter, the Escalera Nautica. Doc ended up giving us a tour of his campground. He had made a few minor
changes to the configuration of the beach. We told him that we had lived here a long time back, but we couldn?t place exactly where the hut had been.
?There?s only one thing I?ve never understood.? Doc said. ?It?s some small stones on the beach.? He walked a few yards away to the place where the
stones were located.
Both Mary Ann and immediately recognized that these were the La Gringa stones we had brought to our hut so many years before. It was everything that
remained, from the beginning of our lives together on what was then a quiet beach, but it was as much as we needed. We just looked at each other and
at Doc in amazement.
Sometimes in life we may think that every thing we accomplish is soon meaningless. But for that moment we had changed the world.
Mexitron - 2-20-2005 at 10:50 PM
Awesome! I love finding lost treasures like that. Great Story Mike.
Thanks for the story Mike.....
Debra - 2-20-2005 at 10:52 PM
For those interested, those stones can still be found today...(well, last summer anyway) When I showed them to Brendan and told him the story he
insisted on bringing one home. It's on our mantel..
along with our
pumice carved Orca by Paulina, and of course our "magic rocks".....he keeps wanting to bring a lizard home, but that is where I draw the line. (we
did bring a Scorpion home..) 
dead, so he could share with the HomeSchool
group...now his brother wants him to bring a live one, IKKKK!
woody with a view - 2-20-2005 at 11:21 PM
Mikey-
whomever said, "necessity is the mother of invention" musta been a NOMAD!
great story senor, gracias....
Braulio - 2-21-2005 at 09:39 AM
Excellent stuff as usual Mike.
What really sticks out to me in the story is that you must have found yourself a special lady to make your wife.
It also must kind of break your heart seeing development take hold in some of the places you knew 30+ years ago.
Chau man.
Thanks Folks
Mike Humfreville - 2-21-2005 at 11:05 AM
Braulio,
I've adopted an attitude that it shouldn't matter what I think about the "improvements" to Bahia de Los Angeles and the rest of the peninsula. If the
locals benefit by an improved infrastructure, so much the better. I just hope it works out the way they think it will and that the fat cats from DF
aren't the only ones who win.
Thanks for reading.
Eli - 2-22-2005 at 09:25 AM
Awesome to say the least Mike, one of your best ever yet.
I was with you there in my minds eye; Brought back memories of what the beachs and bein a 60?s beach bum was about and reflections on accepeting the
enivetiable "evolution"? of our paridise lost? Or is it gone, just changed? Saudos, Sara
Bob H - 2-23-2005 at 09:22 AM
This story was just fantastic. What a special moment that must have been for you and MaryAnn!
Thanks a million for sharing your many stories.
Bob H