BajaNomad

Character in Catavina

Hook - 6-24-2006 at 01:14 PM

I ran into one of the oddest characters I have even encountered on my last trip to Baja. He was a semi-toothless longhair in tattered clothing who, in the space of 10 minutes, claimed:

1-he invented M&Ms and named them after Marilyn Monroe but his good friend Mae West threw a fit and one of the M's is for her.

2-he was the heir to 20 million in 1968 but his family conspired to keep it from him

3-he invented the hula-hoop, the frisbee and other Wham-o products.

4-John Lennon, a close personal friend before his death, convinced him to begin farming strawberries on the peninsula. As a result of this collaboration, Lennon then wrote Strawberry Fields Forever. The individual in question then proceeded to panhandle from us for change so that he could find his lost strawberry fields. They are "somewhere" west of Catavina.

As I drove off, I quietly concluded that there probably was an element of truth in one of his stories.......I think strawberry BLOTTER may have been involved long ago. He was easily the worst burnout I have ever encountered in my life.

Certainly someone else has run into this guy. He seemed to be hanging out at the old Pemex station across from the hotel.

David K - 6-24-2006 at 01:15 PM

Photos please!

Or, maybe not!??

Mike Humfreville - 6-24-2006 at 02:32 PM

This guy sounds like he'd fit right in. Some of us enjoy life for the variances it throws at us. We'll look for him the next time through Catavina.

On an aside, my motorhome sat adjacent to the old Pemex at Catavina for a year after a breakdown and my late return to retrieve it. By the time I arrived, unannounced, the local mechanic, Pancho, had my Onan 6.5 Kw generator feeding the entire cluster of folks with electrical power.

Life takes all kinds. I hope I live long enough to experience them all!

Thanks for your story.

Bob H - 6-24-2006 at 03:31 PM

GREAT story Hook! I think this guy may have been responsible for the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" more than Strawberry Fields Forever.

Anyway, how did you end up talking with this guy anyway? Sounds like a very interesting character indeed. What was his name? And, how old would you say he is? Was he a gringo?

Wow, so many questions. Sorry.
Bob H

capt. mike - 6-24-2006 at 05:56 PM

hope he swings by mulege, we're almost out.

woody with a view - 6-24-2006 at 06:24 PM

Quote:

hope he swings by mulege, we're almost out.


nuthing a piper can't handle, no????????


who da guy?

ncampion - 6-24-2006 at 06:33 PM

Sounds like a classic schizophrenic actually. Those are all classic behaviors. Many street people all over the world are afflicted with this disease.

Mike

vgabndo - 6-24-2006 at 07:07 PM

I have always loved your story of the purloined generator, and have re-told it (poorly) on several occasions to fellow Bajaphiles. It's a classic!

All my best, Semper Fi, Perry

Bedman - 6-24-2006 at 07:09 PM

I know Exactly the person you are talking about. On my last trip through Catavina he approached me, at the restaurant next to the old Pemex. He was mumbling something. After a few moments of listening to him he began to tell me all about Marilyn Monroe and the M&M story. He also regaled me with the story of how he and Howard Hughs were stedfast friends and that Hughs left him a fortune that he could never collect. Also that he was a child actor and his parents stole all his money. Yes, and he had invented all sorts of things, Hula Hoop, Slinky, Frisbee and Monopoly, just to name a few. The stories went on for 20 minutes. Finally our lunch was served and I tipped him 5 pesos for the great entertainment/stories!!

Bedman

I can only hope...

Mike Humfreville - 6-24-2006 at 11:26 PM

That the cowboys in various forms are still winning. And Perry: once...always!

Amigo Miguel

Hook - 6-25-2006 at 11:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bedman
I know Exactly the person you are talking about. On my last trip through Catavina he approached me, at the restaurant next to the old Pemex. He was mumbling something. After a few moments of listening to him he began to tell me all about Marilyn Monroe and the M&M story. He also regaled me with the story of how he and Howard Hughs were stedfast friends and that Hughs left him a fortune that he could never collect. Also that he was a child actor and his parents stole all his money. Yes, and he had invented all sorts of things, Hula Hoop, Slinky, Frisbee and Monopoly, just to name a few. The stories went on for 20 minutes. Finally our lunch was served and I tipped him 5 pesos for the great entertainment/stories!!

Bedman


YUP, I fergot the Howard Hughes angle. He told me that one, too.


BTW, Bob H., the strawberry blotter/flats/windowpane was a form of the drug you are referring to in the other Beatles song.

David K.-couldnt get a pic. He approached us so fast that with stories so outrageous that you begin to wonder what his reaction might be to a camera pointed at him.

wornout - 6-26-2006 at 08:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hook
I ran into one of the oddest characters I have even encountered on my last trip to Baja. He was a semi-toothless longhair in tattered clothing who, in the space of 10 minutes, claimed:

1-he invented M&Ms and named them after Marilyn Monroe but his good friend Mae West threw a fit and one of the M's is for her.

2-he was the heir to 20 million in 1968 but his family conspired to keep it from him

3-he invented the hula-hoop, the frisbee and other Wham-o products.

4-John Lennon, a close personal friend before his death, convinced him to begin farming strawberries on the peninsula. As a result of this collaboration, Lennon then wrote Strawberry Fields Forever. The individual in question then proceeded to panhandle from us for change so that he could find his lost strawberry fields. They are "somewhere" west of Catavina.

As I drove off, I quietly concluded that there probably was an element of truth in one of his stories.......I think strawberry BLOTTER may have been involved long ago. He was easily the worst burnout I have ever encountered in my life.

Certainly someone else has run into this guy. He seemed to be hanging out at the old Pemex station across from the hotel.


I bet it was the 'anonymous' poster.

Diver - 6-26-2006 at 09:26 AM

This sounds a lot like a guy I met in Mulege three years ago. He was apparently in better shape when I saw him drinking his lunch but the stories are very similar. I think he said he was Howard Hugh's nephew.

bajabound2005 - 6-26-2006 at 09:39 AM

Maybe it's all true???

bancoduo - 6-26-2006 at 09:50 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike
hope he swings by mulege, we're almost out.
I'am on my way to Mulege.:lol::lol::lol:

Slowmad - 6-26-2006 at 10:09 AM

Looks like he's there for the long haul, too.
I've seen him four times this year on that same wall, as reported a while back...

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=9568#pid13176...

capt. mike - 6-26-2006 at 12:31 PM

swing on by Nick!:bounce:

SiReNiTa - 7-6-2006 at 04:17 PM

oh yeah he lives there...i have seen him every single time we drive through...some times he will ask you for money to catch the bus...witch is not true but it's ok to give him some because he goes and buys food with it...and i have heard that story too...it's odd that he can tell it exactly the same way over the years and never get it wrong...he is harmless though...and a nice person but he does get tireing after a while of hearing the story...well i mean if it's true then where is all the money???

DanO - 7-6-2006 at 04:55 PM

Maybe he's connected with the three long-haired guys (not that that's a bad thing -- some of my best friends have long hair) that I ran across on the road from Punta San Jose to Santo Tomas on a really hot day about a dozen years ago. They were driving a N-zi Roadblock, er, I mean a VW microbus, even more slowly than those things usually go.

We stopped to chat. They were completely dilated, giggling uncontrollably, you get the picture. One of them had what appeared to be a very recently and badly broken arm. Not a lot of personal hygiene being practiced as far as I could tell. They claimed to be organic farmers who were raising baby vegetables ("y'know, like carrots and stuff like that, man)" somewhere vaguely to the south.

We discussed the baby vegetable thing and traded some insights on groovy local surfbreaks, and then they clattered off. I proceeded to get a flat about three miles outside of Santo Tomas, and spent some nice hot and dusty quiet time swapping the spare.

Bob H - 7-6-2006 at 06:55 PM

This is the kind of charachter I'd love to meet. We'll be looking for him the next time trough.

Frank - 7-6-2006 at 07:53 PM

I have got to slow down Im missing all of the good stuff..........

Capt. George - 7-7-2006 at 06:12 PM

ncampion

schizoid? no way

signed, Kapt George, el Vikingo, Buffalo Boy, Devil Papa, Capt George

just don't srew with me about supposed mental illness

JG - 7-7-2006 at 06:50 PM

SUPPORT THE MENTAL HEALTH FUND.....OR I"LL KILL YOU!!! best bumper sticker I have yet to see...

He was that dead guy

Sharksbaja - 7-7-2006 at 09:47 PM

in the arroyo there.:lol: Sorry, ol' joke.
Yes he's there. I just saw him a few days ago talkin' off some Canadians ear.:lol: