Tent Surf 2010, a Mexican Beach Fiesta

After a good trip to Vegas, I was back in Phoenix a couple days, primed for the long awaited Tent Surf in Rocky Point Mexico. The night before the trip we went to the pre party and met a great deal of the people who'd be coming, and some who just came to have a good time for the night. We stayed longer than we'd expected, Larry and I, there was much fun to be had and conversation to be had, everyone was excited.

We got back home, buzzed, but still with things to do before the early morning rendezvous for the caravan down to Mexico. A nap was needed, some sort of sleep to function. I woke up in the morning to the sound of Larry busily getting things ready, packing and preparing. We got the trailer loaded up with tents, sleeping bags, beach toys and more, met up with some people, got some errands done and at last showed up at the Walmart parking lot an hour or so later than planned.

There was a group of people there waiting, still in good spirits. Molly and Keith were there, I hadn't seen Molly in quite some time, this warranted her patented running, jumping hug of joy. I had some snacks and caught up with the two of them while people grabbed last minute supplies, soon we were on the road. I was in Larry's truck with Jim and some other's, including his big dog Koi, we stopped once for gas and then again for insurance, then not again until the border.

There was a brief pause at the border while our line of cars passed, there was around ten cars in all, then we were cruising. Once again, the beers cracked open moments after crossing the border in celebration.

We arrived at the beach in no time and began setting up, time was already slowing down. Molly and Keith had a cooler of beer, we got right to it. We headed to the bar on the beach shortly in time for tip off, game four of the Finals. At halftime we went back to the beach for beers from the cooler, then just myself and a couple others headed back to the bar for the second half.

A wealthy couple sat at the bar watching the game, our story of Tent Surf came about and they were intrigued that so many of us travelers had descended upon Rocky Point to camp and party. The two who had joined me were the Brit and Estonian who'd rode down in Larry's car as well, the three of us laughed and carried on, they were sure to give me a hard time when the Celtics won that particular game too.

The beach was fuller when we returned, everyone had slipped into Mexico mode was having a great time. A giant bonfire got sparked, people started jumping and flipping over it, myself included at some point. Away from the bonfire, Keith pulled out his guitar and me my harmonica, we jammed for a while. He'd later play with some other folks and continue the good time.

I floated around the fire from person to person digging the whole scene. Soon I headed to Keith's car and opened the door, Molly was inside and let out a wicked gasp, the kind you'd expect from someone who almost drowned or the girl in Pulp Fiction when she got the adrenaline shot. I laughed pretty good, she did too, I laid with her in the car for a while saying nothing important, just laying.

The fire eventually died down, I found my sleeping bag and chose a patch of sand to fall asleep in.

People began stirring around the beach in the morning, my sandy spot had also been shady and I was able to sleep in just a bit more than the sun would usually allow. Larry was wandering around asking if anyone had seen his dog, he'd seemed to of vanished overnight. Larry took off in his car to keep searching.

I relaxed with some people a bit, then soon we there were some of us who wanted explore town. A group of six or seven of us walked across the huge plane of sand towards the road, hitchhiking was sort of the idea, even though there were so many of us.

We walked just a bit, enough where I figured we'd be walking the whole way to town, but a local guy stopped and managed to squeeze all of us in his car, sitting on laps and whatnot. He dropped us off at the downtown strip and we began to wander. We walked the whole thing in no time and made a circle, stopping in a gift shop where Molly got herself a sun hat that she'd later lose.

I suggested we go to Shark Bite for a beer and some food, we headed that way and saw Larry drive by. He parked and was heading for Shark Bite as well. Jim and some others were already there as well, the people working there all recognized me from the wild night we'd had there a week or so ago.

We sat down and ordered a beer and some tacos, Jim wasted no time in ordering shots for us, extra for me, the bartender came over, and once again, she was cocking my head back and pouring a bottle down my throat. We stayed there for a while, more beers, more shots, cheap margaritas and laughs.

A few of us finally got in the mood for a change of scenery, a dip in the water we thought. We ended up just hanging down by the street for a bit, getting splashed by the breaks a couple times and deciding to keep hanging around where we were.

Keith was on the hunt for molta, pot that is, he at last found someone who said they could help him out, a waiter at a nearby bar. Him, Molly and I went up to the bar ordering a couple drinks and waiting for him to get it from somewhere, he did, Keith paid him and we left.

By this time Larry was about to head back to our beach campsite, we made a couple stops for liquor and beer on the way back. Back at the beach I saw Hoang-Chau, a guy I'd hitchhiked to Dallas with from New York a while back and hadn't seen since.

We didn't stay at the beach long, a group was going to another bar in the other direction and we loaded up with them. This particular bar looked over a bay, Molly took a swim while we were there, I talked with a guy Peter who was trying to hit on some pink haired girl, it didn't work out for him, but brought plenty of laughs.

We made another stop back at camp, then it was off to the Pink Cadillac. It had been arranged to have a DJ there and general good times, there was a pool at this place with a swim up bar too. A bunch of us jumped in right away and swam for a bit. Jim came around at one point with a menacing look, he had in his hand a shot of bacanora, the deadly moonshine-like liquor, I shot it down.

Keith and I had the same mindset, wanting to drink and not wanting to pay too much, we rounded up some money from a couple other girls who felt the same way and searched for a liquor store. We found one, getting some vodka and mixers, transferred it water bottles, and headed back to the party. We mixed it up in the bathroom and poured it in the ubiquitous styrofoam cups the bar had been using, blending in nicely.

The night continued, making various trips to one of the girls cars to continue filling up from our secret stash, getting munchies at the restaurant and having good times. I found myself in the pool again later playing volley ball and splashing around.

I cruised around the big bar from spot to spot, mostly with Keith and at some point a couple girls we'd latched on to. Some guy talked about trying to jump on the roof and crawl to a spot where he could jump in the pool, but never did. Later I found myself talking to some girl when a guy burst between us angrily talking to me, "That's my fiance, dick, you just go around talking to people fiances? Back off!"

I laughed at him, he got angrier, I laughed more, "I can't do anything about your insecurity, man", I told him with a grin, "people talk to people", he boiled, I bounced, his friends looked nervous and were telling him to calm down, he postured and put his face close to fine for intimidation purposes. Instead of intimidation I was full of comedy and curiosity in his outburst, perhaps it would have made more sense had I been kissing the girl or even touching her somehow.

He soon ran out of words and poses and the punch came, or maybe it was a shove, I stumbled back and my smile got wider, a couple friends perked up ready to jump. Before anything else could happen he was being escorted away by bouncers who'd been waiting for it, that was that. The night rolled on, more drinks, flirts and tacos.

I woke on the beach the next morning, there was talk of going to the bar that looked over the bay again to watch the soccer game. A few of us headed to the road to hitch a ride, a group of guys with jet skis picked us up and took us right to the bar. We were there in time for the game and watched the whole thing, USA vs England, most of us giving our new British friend a hard time.

We rallied to the beach after, Molly and I frantically looked for a ride to the booze cruise that had been planned. Everyone else had already gone over, now we were stuck without a ride and little time. Myself, her and one other guy bolted across the sandy plane to the road again, sticking our thumbs out . A police pickup truck drove towards us and slowed, looking at us and asking what we were doing.

"Trying to get to town for the booze cruise, we're late!", they nodded for us to hop in the back, they knew exactly where it was. Street vendors gave us funny looks, some smiled and laughed as we drove by hanging in the back as we flashed by them. They dropped us right by the dock and we bolted to the boat, it hadn't left yet, we ha thought perhaps there would be a dramatic scene of the boat pulling a way and us jumping off the dock swimming for it.

Dozens from our camp were up on the top deck for this all-you-can-drink booze cruise, we got poured beer and margarita right away and our cups would never reach empty. It was a hell of a time, cruising out into open water and laughing with everyone. The boat paused for a while at one point, allowing us to jump from the top deck into the water, go down the slide and swim around.

We got back to shore and piled into various cars heading for the downtown strip. There was a pub crawl in the works, it started at Shark Bite with people dancing on the bar and pouring shots down dancing people's throats. Next a couple more bars on the opposite side of the street, everything overlooked the sun stained water as day turned to night. We danced, we drank and laughed throughout.

At some point I was in a car heading back to the beach, as soon as I realized this I bailed out, running back to the pub crawl. The last place we went was called the Thirsty Parrot. At some point I was standing by the bar and watched a girl order 4 or 5 shots, they brought her tequila when she'd apparently ordered something else, they went ahead and poured that whatever else and she did it with a group of people. I watched the mis-poured shots sadly sit on the bar for more than a few minutes, unattended, forgotten. When the time was right, myself and a few others seized the opportunity and cheersed to an already great day and night.

I found myself later on the balcony with Keith and our new British friend, we'd somehow come into the possession of a bullhorn and were shouting mediocre insults at the people on the street, "Your shirt doesn't compliment your eyes!", "Your mother has a leaky sink!" and "Your knickers are out of style!". We continued with this until we lost possession of the bullhorn.

Soon we were filtering out, on the street I saw Larry rolling down with his big truck, I ran alongside pounding on the door for him to let me in, him and the others inside laughed and honked as they strung me along and finally making the first turn possible and peeling away into the night. I'd been stranded with others though, I saw a group from our camp piling in on some pickup truck and followed suit and was soon back at the beach.

I walked up the Reef bar and peeked in, empty, I headed back to camp and talked with some others for a while. I talked with a pretty blonde girl, I'd been intermittently flirting with her throughout the day, she was convinced that some people would be at the Reef by now and I went back with her. There was in fact a slew of people there, we sat outside at a small fire pit for a minute, then decided to head inside for a beer and some dancing.

Later we found ourselves back at the fire pit talking for some time. I remember her saying, "There's more guys here than girls, so I've had to deal with different guys hitting on me the whole time". And here I was hitting on her, or at the very least flirting with her.

"Makes sense", I told her, "I suppose I am too, but at least I'm being up front about it, you're a nice girl and here we are". She smiled and we carried on, finishing our current beers and talking a bit longer. We disappeared from the fire and into the darkness, finding a place to sit on the beach, taking in the ocean, the stars, Mexico. Our intentions turned to actions as we enjoyed each other's company a while longer, then parted ways for the night, I wouldn't see her again.

The next day people started packing up and heading out, but not everybody. It was a day for the beach - swimming and tossing seaweed around, food from the grill, boxed wine and building sand turtles. I had a moment alone with Molly where we agreed we were bonded for life, simple and true. Her eyes, as always, were glassy electric, beaming with joy and possibility.

Later in the day I walked over to the bar to watch the first half of the Lakers game, back to the beach at halftime for a hot dog, then back to the bar for the rest of the game. Mexico had been kind to me, but not the Lakers, they'd lost both games while I was there.

I headed back to the beach where circles of people had formed, a bonfire got started and circled around that. I talked with Jasmine mostly, a sweet girl from Alabama who said she'd never taken a trip like this, she was clearly having a great time with it all. I liked talking with her, hearing about her moving around a lot because of her father's work, Puerto Rico being one of the places she'd been attached to.

Talk of an early morning drew people to their tents, I grabbed my sleeping bag and passed out close to the fire. People did get up early, a whole slew of cars drove out all at once. I was riding back with Larry, he was still asleep when most people left. I cruised up and down the beach picking up interesting shells until he woke up, we got everything packed and were ready to go, there were only four of us in his truck riding back.

On the way back to Phoenix, and past the border, the trailer suddenly gave out, something Larry was half-expecting. We drove it off the freeway behind some bushes and abandoned it; everything that had been on it on the way down was already fit inside the truck nicely anyhow.

We ran around a bit in Phoenix, finally dropping off one girl at the airport bound for Portland and another guy at the bus station heading for Albuquerque. Back at Larry's I began shaking sand out of things and taking an incredible shower to wash days of sand, salt water and booze off myself. I changed my shirt at last as well, I'd been wearing the same one throughout the trip. I like to draw shirts out like that from time to time when camping or the like, wearing my memories on my sleeves in the form of stains and whatever else. Not only that, but when you're not sure when you'll properly be able to wash your clothes again, it's best to keep as many fresh pairs of everything as possible.

Mexico had been great, Tent Surf was a success. The only downer on the trip was Koi, Larry's dog, who'd disappeared and was never found despite Larry's constant searching. I stayed in Phoenix for another day at his place, ending the night watching the Lakers tie up the Finals with the Celtics at three games a piece. The following morning I'd begin my hitch towards Vegas, Jackson Hole and ultimately New York City where there were plans for hot dog eating and album recording, good times keep on rolling.