Osprey - 10-21-2008 at 07:03 AM
Missing Baja
Bernie Swaim has a book titled “Remembering Baja” or something close to that. I might write a book about what I don’t, can’t remember about Baja.
Missing Baja might be appropriate; each trip down here, from 1969 on would find me at my favorite beach or resort usually with a fishing rod in one
hand, a beer in the other. I do have a ton of fond memories but during a large part of each adventure I was in a state I call “Comfortably Numb”.
I was a teenager in the ‘50s but I couldn’t get the hang of pot, pills or acid – alcohol was my drug of choice. It was portable and affordable –
that’s all I needed to know about it. When I drove down the peninsula I would stock up on the stuff at select stores on the way. One such stop was a
liquor store in San Felipe where I remember buying 2 half gallons of vodka, 2 cases of beer, a gallon of wine, lots of mix and pop, 4 bags of ice, a
liter of Gran Marnier, a liter of good Jamaican rum. The total bill = $30.40 dollars.
In the early days my favorite pop was Boing. It was pure fruit juice/nectar and the fructose kept me hopping and happy. By accident I discovered that
if one drank Boing with vodka and moved at a leisurely pace one could maintain a respectable demeanor, an enjoyable feeling of well-being. If you
drank a large amount, then swam or ran or played games it seemed to heighten your energy level but if you stopped, the sugar/ethanol combo reversed
itself and you were instantly plastered – as in falling down stupid wasted.
Perhaps it is a convenient cop out that I do not recall my use of alcohol causing accidents, harm to me, others, equipment. Having said that I do
wonder just how much I missed. I know I did a lot more sitting, listening to music or just the sounds of the day on the beach than I did swimming,
snorkeling, diving.
I think, especially long, long ago, Baja and it’s beaches was a very forgiving place. A place where you did not have to worry about using good, sober
judgment all day to keep yourself and your companions safe and happy. The worst consequences for over-imbibing were missed appointments, late comings
and goings which did not seem to shatter anybody’s world – your plan was to get up early, drive to Mulege for ice – you made the trip but two days
later. You planned to take 3 days to travel home; you put off your departure and drove straight through in 1 day and night……
So I guess, overall, I have few regrets about the drinking. My liver can’t argue – it is a mean organ and deserves punishment. I can say that if my
remembrances are not well defined, clear and distinct, all things with perfect edges, the overall effect was relaxed and enjoyable. The words are lost
on me but the tunes still play in my head, the colors still glow brightly in my memory bank if shifted just a tiny mark from the real spectrum.
Over time I have learned that on this forum it is necessary to continually give disclaimers. On this little piece I’ll remind you that my headstone
has already been ordered. It is engraved: “Don’t go by Me.”
Iflyfish - 10-21-2008 at 07:27 AM
Good one Osprey!
I recall a trip to Baja with a joung Latvian girl....Q es Latvia at the border and of course no entre to the mainland so it was off to San Felipe. At
the time the town was all dirt streets and I recall the cantina had no windows. It looked like Loredo in the 1800s to this kid from Santa Clara.
It was 120 degrees plus in the daytime so we drove the VW bus at night. The surf offered no relief as it was in the 80's. I recall helping a family
unload their turtles and then going to town for a beer. I know for naught about dehydration, kids! Anyway I had one cold beer and passing out outside
the cantina and propped against the wall I spent the afternoon.
I too recall the feeling of safety and live and let live attitude that characterized Mexico, I too recall the zone of the place....mellow!
Iflyfish
Paulina - 10-21-2008 at 07:52 AM
Osprey,
I like your idea. Write your book. Take us with you, back to where we began, why we miss Baja.
P<*)))>{
Bajalover - 10-21-2008 at 08:07 AM
Osprey,
Paulina is right - write that book and sell it on this sight. Everyone will buy one just to experience the adventures you lived. It stirs the heart
and fires inside. Great story.
Osprey - 10-21-2008 at 09:15 AM
Thanks for the encouragment but I'll leave the remembrances to Bernie. My little blurb about a book was just a joke. How could one write a book about
things not remembered? What kind of book would emerge about hazy images and forgotten days? I was just suggesting that Baja visits while numb were
worth the trip, worth doing inspite of losing some of the memories to the Whiskey Man.
Ken Bondy - 10-21-2008 at 12:14 PM
Osprey
WRITE THE BOOK!! You are a tremendously talented writer. Stuff you don't remember, just make it up.
++Ken++
Iflyfish
Osprey - 10-21-2008 at 01:28 PM
Hi Ken, thanks for the encouragment. It is very interesting that this thread was intended to illicit Bajaphiles to tell their own tales of
over-imbibing. After all the forum is replete with literally thousands of stories and photos of every known kind of alcoholic beverage being slurped
up on every boat, beach and palapa in Baja --- not one person missed a thing? No one out there ever crashed and burned? Wow, what a pious group! You
can't make this stuff up! Who woulda thunk it?
Iflyfish qualifies for candor but not for over-imbibing.
[Edited on 10-21-2008 by Osprey]
Cypress - 10-21-2008 at 01:38 PM
Osprey, I'm looking forward to reading your book.
Timo1 - 10-21-2008 at 01:47 PM
osprey
you must be the only one that has imbibed overly
lead us on with a book oh imbibing guru
hahahahaha
Kell-Baja - 10-21-2008 at 01:56 PM
You really are a great writer. 
Thank you.
Paulina - 10-21-2008 at 06:58 PM
Osprey,
I didn't realize that you intended for us to spill our guts in public (again, only this time in writing). Your post brought back fun/fuzzy/why I miss
Baja memories for me, that is for certain. You're the writer, it's up to you to put that period in our lives to words, for those of us who are not so
elequent.
Cheers!
P.<*)))>{
Udo - 10-21-2008 at 07:21 PM
Buenas, otra vez, Jorge!
Thanks for your well-written melody of Bajas of the past. Inexpensive drinking has always been a major Baja attraction. Add the fish, fishing, fish
tacos, carne asada, tequila, sun, and surf, and one could be a beach bum for the rest of our lives. You live that life, and my wife and I will be
there with you in a couple of years.
I think we can feed off of each other and write the books we have been talking about. Fifty years ago we both shopped at the same San felipe liquor
store and we probably crashed under the same palapa. You just have a nine year head-start on me but I'll promise I'll make it up to you.
Keep up the Baja-inspirational writing!