OCR Text |
Show THE ZEPHYR/DECEMBER 2003-JANUARY 2004 of a canoe, the side streets rise from the railroad tracks, flat for a bit on the bottom, then sharply up the hills on both sides. The boat shaped valley opens up for a distance through the middle before it narrows again on the road heading toward Magdalena. To the upward bend in one of these high ribs we drove, and stopped. 1 looked up at this Casa del Noche from the bottom of a cement staircase that looked like the ascent to Machu Picchu. Arriving at the top Ispeculated momentarily about PAW aa AUSTIN how many borrachearos had been rolled, tumbled, thrown, or had just plain fallen down the whole flight and lived to tell the tale. Inside, we heard laughing, girls squealing, the guitars and guitarrones booming out over the pandemonium. Juan’s favorites, El Hijo Desobediente. They were playing one of By the time we wandered past los cuartos de las putas, down the wide hallway into The By down the time we the hallway wide wandered into past los cuartos the cantina. Rojo aaa de las putas, had a guitar, DON'T BE A DULL-WITTED GIFT GIVER! Be Original * Be Inventive and... I had some maracas, Juan had a girl on each arm and we were all En An ee Make the cantina, Rojo had a guitar, I had some maracas, Juan had a girl on each arm and we were all singing. The room was awash in the heady odors of cerveza, cigars, cigarettes, and stale Tabu. Boot heels banged the floor @r'grated across the rough boards, bracelets jingles, glasses and bottles clinked, pesos hit the bar with the ring of real silver. I had another tequila con lintov;Why not? singing. Support Local Craftsmen We picked a big round table as near the hallway to the outside as possible--to get what little fresh air entered the place--started swapping songs with the mariachis while the girls stood around in a changing circle. They’d listen a while or sing with us, have a drink now and then (that green frog stuff), slip off to the cuartos for a bit, then come back dragging their customers over to join us. Everybody buying everyone else “anodder won.” I was singing, Rojo playing and translating as I sang, “Spanish Is The Loving & Artists! CUSTOM FURNITURE ACID-ETCHED DOORS PO BOX 1375 BOULDER. UTAH 84716 eco®color-country.net 4353357319 Tongue”-- the room had quieted down considerably for this lovely border song--then Enrique gave a signal from the bar that I took to mean, “Bastante, Chiquita, intermission. Don let the mood get heavy or we godda take a walk.” Two or three Enriques were giving me this signal. In revolutionary times, the rich are always the people I don’t remember much more about that lively night, but according to those ina conscious state, | wandered out of sight onto the balcony with Enrique sometime during the dancing and singing and Rojo didn’t see me go...but hawk-eyed Juan did. There was a who are most afraid. cement parapet around the balcony about hip high that you could sit on, and do have faint recall about wanting to cool off so I suppose that’s where I went. Was I sitting there talking to our protector? The next day Juan unwound the early morning hours for me. His sight line from the door of the cantina just caught us on the parapet, but he was twenty feet away. There was only one dim light on the balcony. No, it wasn ‘tred. He said I stood at the outer corner talking to Enrique for about ten minutes then walked toward the head of the stairs. At the end of the parapet the blackjack in the tequila descended. Like a Mack Senate comedy, I stiffened, rocked back on my heels and headed for the bottom of Machu Picchu. The last I heard was a piercing whistle that momentarily turned my head Gerald White Johnson Don't be a Stick-in-the-Mud! Bill Burke's 4-WHEELING away from the stairs. Oblivion. AM Rojo verified that Juan whistled, dug his boots into the floor boards, and shot to the head of that staircase faster than the dart froma blowgun. He caught me just as I went over the edge from the third step down! Rojo, right behind, caught my feet, and together with Enrique taking the best part (they said), carried my dead weight from those Andean heights to the car. The only night in our redneck career that I was unable to sing Adios Mi Chaparrita on leaving fair Nogales. ‘ ~ ens AY) aq =—— Z | ttea oe y 970.858.3468 bb4wa@bb4wa.com www.bb4wa.com il AY vi jl “| ne ayOrs The most merciful thing in the world, | think, LLC Gay, al *Bunches of people over the years have asked me where | learned all my good Mexican songs. Most of the time they didn’t get a completely honest answer. So, these are the facts, ma’am--as we are wont to say, “the true bite of the gila monster.” SHOULD WE BRING BACK THE LAME ALIEN SWIMSUIT ISSUE IN 2005 Let us know... ERICA 5 y x ie Us CorWia rolerUtsatse- NV Dolan delay ee education, safety, trail etiquette & CMCC ELCs niin of 4WDs. This is done through classes, private training, & guided trips. is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. permitted outfitter/guide USFS & BLM Howard Phillips Lovecraft : PAGE]5 |