2004-04-17-1715Z


Yesterday was my birthday. Now, don't go saying "why didn't you remind me" or even "happy birthday!". I'm not into that, remember I didn't even want my brother-in-law to know when it was. I just wanted a quiet day with my lady, and, more or less, that's what I got.

We went to Puerto Nuevo, a quiet little town about 20 miles south of Rosarito, famous for its lobster. We decided to try a different restaurant, as we'd gone to the same one for the last three times we had visited; the first one we tried today was where a guy told us for $11 we could get a special with lobster, rice and beans, chips and salsa, and a Margarita. Pretty much the same special as everywhere, and the price was reasonable; so we went in. Oh no, said the waiter, no special today, minimum price is $18 per person. So we left. We went down to the end of the street, and they didn't even have a special, minimum $15 per person, drinks not included. We walked back up the hill on the next street. Just about where we would have crossed to go to our usual hangout, the guy says $12 for four halves (2 full lobsters) including everything, even the Margarita. Too good to be true? Yes, but it wasn't until the end that we found out they had added on a dollar; and when I complained, they fixed it. So, total for 4 lobsters, with an extra beer each, was $28.50. She left a $3 tip and I thought we were going home.

No, she wanted to look at the serapes, which we had noticed at the bottom of the hill in one of the curio shops. Most of them were of the same synthetic crap that I've been wearing since I bought it from the girl on the LA trolley, thinking it was wool. And when the girl in the shop tried to tell me something obviously synthetic was 100% wool, I'd had enough. Lied to 3 times in the space of a few hours! My lady stayed, but I walked up the hill and started the hike back to Rosarito. No taxi for me, I didn't want to deal with anybody. I wanted to go back to New Mexico, or at least to living on the street back in Long Beach. I figured if she wasn't back home by the time I got there, in about 6 or 7 hours at a slow walking pace, I would just put my laptop back into my flight bag and roll off down the road to Tijuana. Not blaming her, of course, for the incidents of the day, but also couldn't worry about her when I have my own inner peace and tranquility to worry about.

At least an hour passed, maybe two, and several taxis had passed; I figured she was probably, and rightfully, pissed off at me for leaving like that, and had passed me on the road by now. I had been holding back my bladder, but here was a gully where I could relieve myself without the whole world observing, so I walked down a ways and did so; came back up and kept walking. Another half mile or so, and saw a taxi stopped up ahead. There was someone outside of it, apparently trying to cross the street but there was too much traffic. As I got closer I realized it was her! I ran across the street and to the taxi, we kissed and I got in. On the way back home she showed me a beautiful wool serape, nice tightly-woven material that she had bought for me. She had talked the shop owner down from $80 to $30.

So, it seems, I was doomed to a happy birthday after all. Later we went to Papas & Beer in downtown Rosarito and watched the mechanical bull throw a bunch of slightly inebriated kids while we sipped our Pacifico Clara. The guy with the microphone was getting people to remove various articles of clothing in exchange for a beer, but that was too far away for me to see.

So, I got a good night's sleep, and it looks like I'll be staying the rest of the month unless the world gets too much for me again. So let's see if I can get into this program for my RAC customer, and get the damned thing done.

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