Motofest 2010

Some fun things were happening in our town last weekend but some bad directions steered me the wrong way. Worse, I passed on those same directions on to other people. I missed the Motofest rock concert on Friday evening and almost the helmet awareness ride.

It seems to have been a wild Saturday night. One friend had lost the battery to his scooter earlier in the week. Another had the lock stolen to his. When I got ready for the ride early Sunday morning, my speedometer and license plates were missing. They were there. I just couldn´t see them. Somebody had sprayed them with black paint. Worse, the freaks sprayed a neighbor´s shiny truck.



There were no bikes gathered in the square when I arrived. Oh well. I was awake. It was a beautiful fresh morning. I gassed up for a nice ride on my own and that´s how I came across the Helmet Awareness Ride, more or less by accident. Somebody gave me a fresh T-shirt and we were on our way. It was a longer ride than last year. We circled through town twice, making a lot of noise. That´s how my friend found us. Luckily his girlfriend brought her camera along. Mine was broken.



I bought a new one right after the ride. Within minutes I ran into a pack of UMAR students down at Chahue. My first picture with the new Samsung. May it have better luck than all the cameras before it.

Beach Barbecue

Semana Santa has begun. One week of sleeping in and following where ever whims lead. Most of my friends and co-workers have hit the road to distant points of the country and won't be seen again until it's time to punch the clock on Monday.

We had a great barbecue on Saturday morning at Playa Organo with Mike serving up tender steak sandwiches, Matthew caramelizing chicken wings to perfection and Asa providing a huge fish for the vegetarians amongst us. There is always too much food at these events. Somehow it all gets eaten. Most of us have learned to pace ourselves and save room for the best stuff so my lazy contribution of chips remained untouched.

I could barely move, all flopped out in the shade from where these pics were taken. Eventually I forced myself up and staggered in to the water for a long lazy swim\float. The water isn't chilly at all these days and in another month it will be soup again. By the time I drifted back, everyone else was up tossing frisbees.

Playa Organo has become "The Beach" for several reasons. It is onefot he few palapa free zones remaining that doesn't always attract huge crowds and the currents are benign.

We didn't have the place entirely to ourselves but it wasn't too bad for Semana Santa. I decided to linger with my book when the rest packed up. That lasted for about 15 minutes when a man from a huge clan further down the beach came up to regale me in Spanish about his religion. So much for personal space. I was surprised how much I understood. But I wasn't interested. His daughter stole my water bottle when I went behind the trees to change. Time to go. The best part of the day had ended with the party. Except for two independents, probably blood relatives, the faithful all had their heads bowed in prayer when I left.