hard to get work done

the weather´s been spotty the last two weeks and it´s frustrating to make a decision not to go out when an hour later it´s as calm as a lake.

but this week there´s no question of not going out. check out the bottom left corner of this satellite pic

CATCH OF THE DAY

as reported by the Loreto Tribune...

Last week during a gringo arranged fishing tournament two captains win the prize for largest non-dorado entry.


These tournaments are usually arranged as some sort of charity event to benefit locals.

The two captains, Jesus (aka momo) and Antonio (aka cacheton) caught this prize. When asked about their technique they said (translated from spanish) "normally we rig up with tecate but we found we were really only catching fat chicks so we changed out strategy and used pacifico and WOW check it out!"

when asked about the tournaments charitable works they said ¨well, it´s kinda strange because the gringos pay money to enter the tournament and then go out and kill lots of fish for charity. why not just give the money directly to the charity?"

when asked what they´re going to do with their catch they replied "oh, we´ll definitely keep it alive a few days."

bookerisms no longer heard at camp winnebucka

how early?

you know that only cost a dollar to make

...i don´t know...it´s yourproject

i throw rocks. that´s what i do.

all i´m saying is that if there is/are (insert any one of the following: lightning, dolphins, whales, pilot whales, mantas) i´m jumpin´in the water.

WHUT? <<< this last one is usually somewhat high pitched in an incredibly incredulous voice in response to something that i thought was a completely normal and comprehensible thing to say...apparently not

ups and downs

well downs were definitely being sick (recovering...VERY hydrated) and all my babies that i´d been maintaining and feeding and loving and hugging for weeks died. the original plan was that i was going to amass hundreds and plant them in experimental plots. well, i amassed NINE

and now i´ve killed them.


totally on accident but it was very sad to wake up and most were dead. the smaller ones were swimming at the surface (with the blennies) seeming to literally drink the air.

so i´m sad my babies are dead and i´m sad i can´t get in the water. but gordon´s doing great and getting the collectors for me. he´s quite the competent freediver. he talks like he´s a little worried and then after giving me three collectors and i´m cleaning the boat and straightening he comes up to the surface and throws sand at me. he went down to 42 feet and picked up a handful of sand the showoff.

we haven´t been getting much in the collectors and it´s pretty obvious i´m not going to be able to replace my babies so you can imagine how stoked i was when he brought me a collector and there were two grouper! but one DEFINITELY not a leopard grouper. i thought the one was that was with it but when i was taking pictures of the dark beautiful copper one that almost killed itself in the boat by diving through the net and getting his little operculum spines caught and i couldn´t push him through and i couldn´t pull him back and i was trying to free him when i finally had to cut the net to free him and i was bent over pounding on his little chest BREATHE DAMN YOU BREEEEATHE!!!!.

and he did.


and while taking a picture of the second one which i thought was a leopard grouper i realized, oh man it totally may be Mycteroperca prionura, the broomtail. sthweeeeeet


ok now that i look at that picture i think it might be but when i was handling it it looks totally different. in any case, the other one is DEFINITELY not a leopard grouper. it´s either Mycteroperca xenarcha or duhduhDUHHHH Mycteroperca jordani, the garropa. that would be hot. i have a baby garropa.

please don´t die baby garropa

Catherine´s Big Adventure

First, I must start this post with a big disclaimer. I told Catherine that I would give her an invite to post on this blog in order to tell this story. She said that I could post it.

Apparently she has forgotten who I am…

Catherine had been planning to take a trip to the mission at San Javier. After getting all kinds of information about her options she decided she would rent a jeep and drive herself up there. She tried to find a map of the area and got info on where to go and stay from Rafa. She couldn’t find a detailed map so Rafa lent her a Baja map (not so detailed…).

She picked up the jeep on Friday afternoon and left early Saturday morning after dropping Gordon off at Dolphin to go diving (I was on a break!). Catherine had told me that she needed to take the jeep back by about 6 or 7 pm on Sunday so she would be back before that so I could follow her and pick her up after she dropped it off.

On Sunday afternoon, I left around 4 to run errands and ran into rafa at the supermercado. He said he’d be at the dive shop around 6 to fill tanks so I said perfect, I’ll drop off tanks and then pick Catherine up after she drops off the jeep. When I returned back to the trailer I told Gordon that I had to go back and deal with tanks and to tell Catherine that if she comes back to go ahead and return the jeep and I’ll look for her at the rental place before I come home, otherwise I’ll be back soon.

Gordon, while chillin’ in his hammock replied “cool, cool.”

so I left.

When I hooked up with rafa I was mentioning that Catherine wasn’t back yet and he said are you worried. I said (all of the following in Spanish), “well, not yet but if she’s not back tonight I’m going to have to go look for her.”

Rafa (laughing): why? It was her decision. She’s not your responsibility!
Me: well, I guess, cabron! but who else will know to look for her if she doesn’t come back?
Rafa: true. True. if she doesn’t come back you lend me the van and I’ll look for her
Me: cool but be careful it’s not my van
Rafa: oh I’m not driving! You drive! I’ll come with you and bring the caguamas (big beers)!!
Me: perfect! See you tomorrow!

So when I returned home, Catherine’s trip crap was all over the yard, the gate was open, the kids were all inside pushing each other on the hammock and jumping up and down on my air mattress like it was a funhouse (an AIR mattress ON GRAVEL).

“WHAT THE HELL!!!??”

“Caterine dijo que podemos jugar aqui en el hammock”
“pues, si hammock pero MI CAMA!!!?? Ayayayayay! No es un brincolin! Fueranse!”

About 5 minutes later, Catherine and Gordon show up and she says “so, do you want to hear about my trip?” and she’s got this kinda half blushing half shiteating grin on and so of course I’m very curious.

“Of course! Except um Gordon, did you give Catherine the message?”

“oh….yeah, um, well she showed up with the jeep and said let’s go so we…went…”

Greeeeeeeeat. Thanks. lol

Catherine (big smile): “Well, I surfed for three hours today.”
Me (more than slightly confused since san Javier is up in the mountains): really?
C: yeah (half grinning half laughing)
Gordon (has a big smile on his face): yeah, you want to hear this
Me: okk…..
C: well, I didn’t stay in san Javier because of, um, well, um *pause* I got a bad vibe. I was thinking I wished you had been there so I could know more of what was being said because maybe I misunderstood some things…
Me: for real? Why?
C: rafa lent me a map and told me where to go in san Javier and to look for memo (pronounced may-mo, usually short for Guillermo) who has a restaurant and a rancho where I can camp. And I went there and ate there and asked about the hike.

Memo said it was long and hot and that if she wanted to go, he would come back in about an hour. So after she ate she decided that she didn’t want to go on the hike but asked about the grove of old olive trees that are around there. Memo told her how to get there and she took off. After walking around a bit, and taking pictures memo shows up and as best as she can tell (because he doesn’t speak much English, and she doesn’t speak much Spanish) he said that she was now on his ranch and he’s pulling fruit from a tree. Before she knows it, this guy is trying to feed her the fruit, which she tried to take from him with her hand and he wouldn’t let her and kept trying to feed it to her so she took a tentative and mostly toothy bite, so as to not act like she’s, well, being fed fruit... She then said, “and then he tried to kiss me”

Me: NO! WAY!

and after being completely horrified, I started laughing my ass off because for crap’s sake that’s NOT A VIBE! That’s a full-on asshole making an inappropriate move!

So, she took off for san juanico (on the pacific side, and, awesome because there aren’t many other places in the world where you can go between two major and completely different ocean environments) and got there around 6 pm. the minute she pulled up these older surfer dudes showed up and started helping her put her tent up. She said she couldn’t help but think of chris rock* while they were helping her.

They invited her for pizza and beer and she hung out with them and then the next day ended up surfing for awhile before heading back to loreto.

So then she says, “sooo…should I tell rafa about memo?”
Me: hell yeah!

Later we take her by the dive shop so she can say goodbye to rafa and tell him about her adventure. She doesn’t give him the long version, she shows him the map he gave her and said I went here, then here, then here and down here and back this way. And I said, “tell him why you left here and went here.” And she said (blushing madly), “memo tried to kiss me.” Rafa’s jaw dropped “NO!” he starts to laugh thinking we’re joking.

“yes!”

“oh no!”

I said, “yeah nice job Rafa! Gordon and I have been working her for this last week thinking she’d kiss us before she left but now memo has ruined it for everyone! Now she’s all skittish and won’t kiss nobody!”

Rafa’s laughing, mostly because he still can’t believe it. When we were getting ready to leave she gave Rafa a hug (although he didn’t DESERVE IT! HEE!) and then Rafa says, “ and now a kiss!” and he kisses her. That devil is slick.

So that’s the story as best as I can remember. I’m sure Catherine will have some of her kickass photos on her flickr site soon…just not one of the kiss…

yes, i realize you had to be there but you weren´t so bbbbffffffffttt



* Adam had brought two recordings of chris rock’s standup on his computer that we listened to. In particular, there’s one part where he talks about the differences between men and women and the ability to turn down sex. The following is somewhat explicit so you get the joke if you want to…but it’s in white type so you actually have to select the text to see it…

**ok so apparently i´m having issues with the white text. and i´m out of time so i´ll have to try to do this again later. and if you know catherine, make her say it for you.

heh

TECATE PROMISES

Ever since EQUIPO TECATE (TEAM TECATE) found out where we lived (after the shark jaw cleaning day) they would stop by daily with a couple of sixes, hang out, talk big, and then leave.

During one conversation, I was complaining about the lack of cabrilla (leopard grouper) at the filet table this year. They proceeded to say we’ll take you fishing! Why didn’t you ask!!?? I said, well, I know you work for Arturo and he charges to go fishing so I would never presume to think that you would just TAKE us fishing.

Momo dijo “no! no me pides! Me digas! Somos amigos! Me mandas!”
(Jesus (momo) said “no! you don’t ask me! You tell me! We are friends! You tell me!”)

Soooo, I said, ok TAKE US FISHING!

AND they said ok if we don’t’ have clients this weekend then we’ll take you.

Then the next day they said that if we want to go fishing that Arturo said that all we had to pay for was gas and they could take us out. I said, cool so Catherine and I want to go on Sunday because she’s leaving the Tuesday after next and has a trip planned for the weekend before she leaves and they said YES YES OF COURSE!

The next day they came over, they hang out and the conversation headed towards cockfights because momo had a cock in the fight the last time there was a derby in town. He explained that how it worked* to us and then went on and on about his cock lost in the third round.

Catherine expressed an interest in the cockfighting without the fighting so then momo went off about how his son has many cocks and he would be so happy to come over and bring his son’s cocks to just show us how beautiful they are without their armor. So we say ok, BRING THEM!

And then I say I would like to get some clams for Catherine before she leaves and bar-b-q them and momo says “oh yes, I’m a very good cook! One day when we don’t have work I’ll come here and make you a huge feast with lobster! And clams! And pescado!”

And I said that would be awesome but it has to be like in a week because Catherine’s leaving. And they say “OF COURSE!”

Then they show up again as usual, with a couple of sixes and hang out. And they talk about the cocks, the bbq, and the fishing. And then they say tomorrow they’ll bring over the cocks.

After they leave, Catherine says, “so, do you really think they’ll bring the cocks over? Or was that a Tecate Promise?”

And I fell out! So I said NOOOOOOOOO! THEY WILL TOTALLY BRING THEM AND COOK FOR US AND AND WHATEVER THEY PROMISED THEY WILL DO IT!!!”

Riiiiight……

After diving in the morning cathherine and Gordon cleaned all the gear and I went to the filet table. I came back and apparently they have made a bet whether TEAM TECATE will show up with the cocks or without. The bet is that if they show up with just beer, Gordon wins. If they show up with cocks, Catherine wins. And the prize is a margarita.

TEAM TECATE shows up and Gordon wins the bet.

So from then on, TECATE PROMISE is part of our lexicon. For example, Gordon said that he would like to start running and I said oh yeah I would totally like to start running.

DEFINITELY Tecate promise.



*people bring three cocks of sequential weights and the lightest fights first to the death. If it wins then the second heaviest cock fights in the next round and if he wins then the third heaviest cock fights in the final round. And the rounds are timed.

now i´ve gone and done it

my ears have been bugging me for about a week and a half

i think

i can´t exactly remember when it started.

i did my last dives on monday with catherine at these two really cool spots and on coming up i could feel my right ear not equalizing completely as i came up.

and now i have a full blown sinus infection, which bums me out completely because a) it makes me feel like i´m dying b) i can´t get in the water, so really it is just like dying and c) gordon is super enthusiastic and a hard worker and is chomping at the bit to get work done.

Catherine really tied the whole project together

I just dropped Catherine off at the airport.

I sincerely hope that when she walks into grad school that she just rocks it and takes it as far as she can. and if she ever feels befuddled and all that, that she knows deep down how amazing she is.

and that i really want to be just like her when i grow up.

denice denton

i never knew her personally, she went to UCSC after I had graduated but I was impressed by her because she was very proactive in advancing women and minorities in the scientists and was the first openly gay person and youngest to hold a chancelor´s position at the university of california. and when she was criticized publicly for certain decisions or demands she made during negotiations with the UC she was characterized very badly, in a kind of beastly, manly way that focused more on her sexuality and appearance.

i just found out that she died last saturday reading an email from president dynes. the email was very strangely oblique about her death and so i looked up more info. apparently she jumped from the 43rd floor of a high rise in san francisco and it has been ruled a suicide.

that blows my mind.

i´m not sure what i have to say about it right now, but it`s strange to be sitting here and read that. as an alum of UCSC i know about her and read about her often when i receive my newsletter. it just seems strange that someone so intelligent and a trailblazer as a woman and a scientist felt that things were so bad that leaping off a building was the solution. it´s very sad indeed and certainly forces me to put a LOT of things in perspective.

i´m always really saddened as well by the thought of those left behind trying to deal with what happened and in their own grief dwelling on what they could have done to prevent it. such a tragedy.

EL PEJE ES MI GALLO

Tomorrow is election day in Mexico. It’s Sunday. Today after 4 pm Mexicans can no longer buy beer until Monday.

I’m not saying elections are compulsory, but as you can tell, if it’s on a Sunday, you can’t buy beer, and for most Mexicans their major form of ID is their voter registration card which has all their info, a photo and is laminated, it’s a big deal.

Which reminds me, TEAM TECATE said they would be by either this afternoon or tomorrow with money so I can buy them beer because apparently gringos can buy beer tomorrow. I’m pimping beer for Mexicans people. Yes, the research is going WELL

some election info...in english

el gordòn

Last Sunday, Gordon, Catherine and I went to eat at La Mesa de Tio Pancho, a place that Ivette took me to before and they serve fabulous tostadas, sopes and tortas. Oh my!

It’s a small place that is literally, like many small places in Loreto, a room in someone’s house that they’ve converted into a small restaurant on the street corner. It’s two women who cook out of the kitchen right off the room with tables. So it doesn’t take much for them to get busy and when we got there they already had several orders to go so we were told we’d have to wait a bit. We were starving and there isn’t much else open on Sunday and I knew that the kids would dig the sopes so we stayed.

While we were waiting a heavy set guy was out front talking to a woman waiting at the counter smoking and drinking a pepsi. One of the women from the kitchen yells out “gordo ven! (fat guy, come here!)” and I laughed and said that woman just told the fat guy to come here. And they said really, she said fat guy? And I said yeah! Hee

So then Gordon says yeah when I tell people my name they think I’m saying me llamo gordo (my name is fat guy). And we were laughing and Gordon said, yeah and I don’t think I’m that fat. I said well you know if you add “-on” to an adjective it adds emphasis and makes it a noun. So for example, baqueta, is a lazy, slobbery person but baquetON is THE lazy slobbery guy. So Gordon, isn’t just a fat guy he’s THE fat guy (even though he’s not that fat).

so now, Gordon has fully embraced el GorDON like it’s his mafia nickname. Now he just needs to get back on TEAM TECATE and his life would be complete.

TEAM TECATE

Typically a daily schedule is getting up early in the morning to dive and then arriving back at the trailer around noon. The reasons for this are that typically (well, in previous years) the wind picks up around noon and also because most of the sport fishing boats arrive on shore around noon to four. I’ve tried to go to many different places to get leopard grouper bodies to get measurements and otoliths but I’ve been more successful at the filet table of Arturo’s sportfishing in front of la pinta hotel.

Last year I was able to get about 400 samples from there alone (imagine how many leopard grouper are actually taken daily when you consider that arturo’s fleet is only a fraction of the number of boats that go out daily to fish and that doesn’t include the illegal fleets that fish in the park at night and then leave the park by morning).

This being my third season going to the filet table I obviously know quite a few people and lots of people know me. Last year, Gali ran the table and it was a running joke that I was his girlfriend. OBVIOUSLY, I was not…lol but it let me know I was welcome and that I was also “protected” in a way. It’s kind of hard to explain…

This year I arrived, and Gali didn’t work there anymore. In fact many of the kids that used to be there weren’t there so it seemed strange at first, but everyone was still nice. And there was lots of mention about gali not being there and how my boyfriend left me. After awhile three of the captains would hang out at the table more so than they did last year. And talk started about THEM being my new boyfriends.

These captains, Antonio, Jesus (momo), and Chico make up TEAM TECATE



because they show up at the table everyday with a couple six packs of tecate. The day of gordon’s first day at the filet table they offered him a tecate and told him they were “equipo tecate” and we hung out and poor Gordon didn’t understand a word they were saying but stood there and drank the tecate. When he finished, they offered him another which he took. When he declined the third tecate, he was officially kicked off team tecate. This hurt Gordon deeply and he has been concerned about getting back on. I of course explained that he would have another chance the next day and he can’t take it personally because neither Catherine nor I would ever be kicked off because we’re girls, because I’m their “girlfriend,” and because Catherine is “la Guerra!” (the blonde).

One day at the filet table someone had caught a mako shark. The guy who caught it, I’d actually seen as well for three years as a customer of Arturo’s and they had been interested in my grouper project in the past. I said “oh my god you kept a shark?” and he said “what! it’s not a leopard grouper!” and I said “as bad off as groupers are, sharks are WAY worse.” The filet guys filleted half for the guy and then the other half sat there and Gordon and I checked out the rest of this beautiful creature. I was so bummed I didn’t have my camera and then I asked if they would cut the head off so I could have the jaws. One of the filet guys called Guaymas (because he’s from Guaymas) cut the head off and then showed me on one side how to take the jaws out and then handed me the knife. While I was removing it he also talked about the teeth and said that they didn’t like it that I was diving so much and that one day I’m going to be eaten by a shark. Or at least one bite and I would be dead. I replied that in the six years I’ve been diving here I’ve NEVER seen anything more than a horn shark on the reef and the only other sharks I’ve seen have been in fishing pangas. They informed me that while I have not SEEN any sharks many sharks have seen me and, again, one bite from a mako and it doesn’t matter if it sticks around to eat me, I’m dead.

I got my first shark bite getting the jaws out and I said look, there, a shark bite and I’m still alive! They were not convinced. When we were leaving, TEAM TECATE was assembled in the shade in the back of chico’s truck and we started talking about the shark jaws. Momo wanted to know what I was going to do with it and why I didn’t clean it. I told him that I was going to wrap it in cheesecloth and bury it so beetles and ants can eat the meat off it. Well, let me tell you, I might as well have said “I’m going to go home and wear it on my head until it dries” he let me know I was crazy and that he worked for 20 years cleaning sharks for his dad and he knows how to clean jaws and if he had a knife he would do it for me. He also told us about a white shark that was caught in a net off Isla Coronados 20 years ago and that it was so big that you could pass the jaws over your body and nothing would touch you, and that you could try to straddle the shark and one of your feet wouldn’t be able to touch the ground on the other side. And I got another lecture about diving and being eaten by sharks. Next thing I know, we’ve agreed that momo and chico are going to follow us home and momo’s going to clean the shark jaws for me. When we get to the trailer, I get all my available knives and the sharpening stone for him. The knife he picks is the smaller, curved tip knife and he proceeds to sharpen it and then clean the jaws. And of course, drink tecate.

When he finished, chico and momo had argued about 100 times, momo had sharpened my little knife so much it no longer had a curved tip, Gordon got kicked off team tecate AGAIN, and my jaws were beautiful with two criss-crossed sticks to hold the jaws open while they dry.

VIVE TEAM TECATE!