Ken Bondy - 1-14-2010 at 08:41 PM
In the late 70s and through the 80s I was flying to Baja at least once a month. I, of course, recorded those trips meticulously in my flight log (as
required by the FAA), but I also kept a more eclectic, rambling record of those trips in an old red spiral-bound notebook. It’s a mess now, it
contains pages and pages of scribbled notes, some made on the spot, others after we got back home, with various stains from coffee and other
substances, some decipherable, others not (generally as a function of sobriety), stapled business cards, receipts, etc. I don’t know why (perhaps
because of the wonderful photos and words that Roger has been posting recently), but I decided to take a look at it this morning. Wandering through
30-year old memories, I found a curious entry. It was just one line, and it read “Mulege, 6/1/79” and that was followed by three words, in Spanish,
in quotes. I was puzzled, and while I remembered the words and have used them many times since I wrote them there, I couldn't exactly recall the
circumstances. So I dug out my old flight logs and found the date and the flight. That brought everything back.
It was a trip my wife and I made with another couple, he an old structural engineering friend of mine. We spent a few days at Hotel Punta Pescadero,
and then on the way back I wanted to show them Mulege, so we made a stop at the strip at Serenidad. After wandering around the hotel, we hired a cab.
The driver was like many, many other young Mexican cab drivers we have met over the years, young, wiry, good looking with that pencil-thin moustache,
friendly, courteous, quiet. He spoke a little English, and with that and my minimal Spanish I got it across that we wanted to see the sights of
Mulege. A tour. He caught on, we piled in, and he drove us across the bridge and into town. We saw all the old sights, the river, the main drag,
the prison, the old Hotel Mulege on the hill, all the things one should see in Mulege in 1979. After we had seen the town we asked to stop for a
cerveza (Fanta Naranja for me). He found a café on the main drag (I think it was Las Casitas but I have so few connected braincells now I am not
sure). Anyway we asked him to join us, and the five of us sat at a little table on the street in front of the bar/café.
It was early afternoon in early June, the sun was high and warm, kids were playing in the street, the Sea of Cortez sparkled in the distance, life was
good. I looked at our driver and commented on how nice it was for him to be able to live in Mulege. He looked back, thought for a while, said “Si
senor”, and then uttered those three words that I wrote in my old red notebook, “Que mas quieres?”
[Edited on 1-15-2010 by Ken Bondy]
BajaGeoff - 1-14-2010 at 09:11 PM
Great stuff Ken!
Donjulio - 1-14-2010 at 10:11 PM
NICE!
wilderone - 1-15-2010 at 09:22 AM
The good ole days.
tripledigitken - 1-15-2010 at 09:34 AM
Don't lose that Old Red Notebook! Really enjoyed that.
Ken
David K - 1-15-2010 at 10:13 AM
Yes, 'what more' indeed!
capt. mike - 1-15-2010 at 03:04 PM
Ken - more!!
pics and stories please!!
bajalera - 1-15-2010 at 03:25 PM
Nice story.