Man vs. Pelican
Trip Start
Aug 19, 2007
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3
Trip End
Sep 09, 2007
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Sunday, September 23, 2007
This beach, while lovely, had obviously seen better days. Days with more sand, as our adventure guide had pointed out earlier in the week. Two years after some hurricane or other had hit, there was just a sliver of sand left. And what was left was packed with cheap plastic tables and chairs, covered with palapa tarps belonging to various restaurants.
We had discovered this place some days before and had vowed to return for our last day. That first time, we had run the gauntlet of people, each trying to capture a customer during Septihambre - the month of hunger. But I've fended off time share sharks, so these people were a piece of cake. And that's why we found ourselves at the very last restaurant, where there were two sling chairs stuck in the sand at water's edge.
So on our last day, we bought a few T-shirts and ate lunch while watching the local fishermen, which was very entertaining, btw. All you need is a hook, a plastic juice bottle and some fishing line. (There's a trick to casting the line, as I found out to much merriment.)
While a dozen guys and maybe one girl were out there in waist deep water, the brown
pelicans would sit and wait and bide their time. Suddenly, they'd make their move.
You'd see a big flapping commotion - and they would literally steal
people's fish right out of the coolers or buckets. (The commotion occurred when the
kids would try to grab the fish back out of the birds' gullets.) And sometimes the birds would catch the bait from the flying hooks and get entangled! Dumb birds.
Anyway, it was after a couple of margaritas in this amusing yet relaxing environment when I decided to go for it: My first tattoo. And what better symbol than some creature that I've actually seen under water? (Though not, admittedly, in PV. But rather in
Belize.) It was money well spent, I suppose - I bargained down but ended up giving him a little tip for a coke.
That's the thing about Mexico - the people are so great you can't say no.
