A Different Kind Of Black Friday

(November 24 – 25, 2017)  Bellies still full from the night before, we awoke later than usual.  When we did get up, the first order of business was to survey the dinghy damage.  It was still halfway full of ocean, and at least half of that was sand.  We had our own personal white sand beach floating behind us.

Next to our beach, a large school of fish was enjoying the morning sun.  There was a notable lack of predators about, and the fish ambled about freely.  Below us, a sea turtle strolled along the bottom.

We’d been at the restaurant nearly every day since we’d arrived at Muertos nearly a week before, so we decided to change things up, and have a pool party day on Taliesin Rose.  They had an impressive assortment of floaties, and a lazy-day pool party seemed the perfect way to spend Black Friday in Middle-of-Nowhere, BCS, Mexico.  We swam, and snorkeled, and snacked, and played, and generally had a nice, relaxing, low-key day.

We were planning to leave early the next morning for La Paz, but it was after dark, and Taliesin Rose still had to put all of their pool toys away, and we all had to put our boats back together.  So, we decided to wait another day before leaving.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and started cleaning, stowing, and generally getting ready to make the all-day trip the next day.  Although we were sad to leave Muertos, it was exciting to be almost to our second significant milestone in Mexico: La Paz.

After spending most of the day getting the boats put back together, we headed to the restaurant in the afternoon.  We had to say goodbye to Freddy and the rest of the restaurant staff, who we’d gotten to know all too well over the past week.  The girls enjoyed their last bacon-wrapped hot dog for dinner, and Rich and I splurged on the sashimi.

During dinner, the girls made a new friend.  A Mexican girl vacationing in at the resort with her family was eager to play with the girls at dinner, so we played “What time is it, Mr. Shark?,” calling out the times in Spanish.  This broke the ice, and Ellie and the girl ran down the long stairs leading up to the restaurant, and started to play on the sandy beach.

It was about 20 minutes later when we heard the screaming.  It was Ellie, and she was screaming.  It was a crying screaming, like we’d never heard out of her before.

We ran down to the beach to her, and carried her back up to the restaurant patio.  She continued to scream and cry, and it took several minutes for her to tell us she’d gotten sand in her eyes.  Ellie and the other girl had decided that throwing sand would make a fun game, even though (as the mom and I later discussed as best we could, with what little English she knew and the little Spanish I knew) – even though both girls knew that sand was not for throwing.  We eventually got Ellie’s eye rinsed out, and she hasn’t thrown sand since.  Within the hour, the girls were back playing together.  But by then Ellie had gotten more than she realized out of her excursion in the sand.

Soon it was dark, and Taliesin Rose joined the party.  We also met a local who wandered in for a drink:

The dad of the girl Ellie was playing with was nonplussed, and picked up our new friend to show the Gringos.  He genuinely thought we might like to hold the little guy.  We genuinely did not.  The dad took the spider around back and left him in a nice little planter.

Not to be deterred, our new local friend was back 30 minutes later.  This time, the brave dad was not there to rescue us, so those of us without shame ran to Bartender Freddy for a rescue.  Our little friend was mad this time, rearing on his hind legs every time someone approached.  We left him alone, and after a few minutes, he was calm enough to let Freddy deposit him somewhere much farther away than the planter around back.

With the spider excitement over, the sun gone, and us facing an early morning start, it was time for us and Taliesin Rose to go.  But Freddy, always the host, wouldn’t let us leave without one last shot on him.  Out he came with a tray of tequila shots, lime wedges, and salt, and he cued the tequila song.  With hugs all around, it was time to go.

Not to be outdone, the restaurant manager Cristian – also a fabulous host – also came out with a round of shots, this time for us and the whole staff.  This time it was Fireball, and the cinnamon bit my tongue gently as it went down.  More hugs, and more goodbyes, and somehow another shot appeared.  I’m afraid I don’t remember what that one was, but it wasn’t long before Taliesin Rose and Tioga were embroiled in a lively game of beer pong with the staff.  It was an epic showdown: Cruisers vs. Locals.  I have no idea how it ended, because the girls and I were exhausted, so I dragged Rich and the girls back to the dinghy when things were just getting started.  We got ourselves to bed, and got ready for an early start to La Paz the next day.