adventures in mexico

there were three very unique experiences that i had on my recent trip to mexico with somanorth here in arizona.

1_while driving through the arizona desert on our way down to mexico we saw ufos. now i'm not saying that they were alien ufos, but they were most definately unidentified flying objects...lights in the sky. i'm not an expert on military aircraft and i really don't know jack about aeronautics, but my friend Christian, the driver of our crew, has a degree in aeronautical engineering and he'd never seen anything like it before. there were two separate types of ufo.

the first was a bright light that would pulse as it fell to earth with each subsequent flare appearing more downward and more to the left. now, it could easily have been something just falling, but the odd thing is that at the end of each of these we saw (there were four or five total) it would arch upwards and then not appear again apparently never falling completely to the ground.

the second were four lights that were in the sky the entire time the other things were falling, but remained completely still during the entire show. in fact, we thought they were lights atop towers on a mountain, but suddenly, these once stationary lights begun to decend upon the earth. Christian exclaimed that they could not be helicopters, because helicopters couldn't decend so quickly. he was at a loss for what they could be.

2_i almost got shot in the head by an ak-47 on thursday night.

my primary role in riding shotgun was to get us to our final destination. my tools: map and a mag light. after entering mexico (around midnight) our senses were hightened to the federali (the mexican police). Christian had worried for hours (literaly) about what a mexican jail would be like, could we run from the federali, would we bail him out if he were arrested, and countless other annoying questions. the federali are notorious for their corruption and senseless arrests. we were even told to have $40 ready in case we got pulled over.

sure enough, as we pulling into puerto penasco (our final destination) the federali pulled up next to us. the mexican driving glaced over at me. i glanced back. he did a double take and slowed his car down. as we pulled away from him, he slid into our lane. Christian begins to get worried...we all do in fact. then, sure enough, the lights come on. we had been driving the speed limit and didn't appear to be doing anything illegal, so we were confounded. after pulling into a dirt lot on the side of the road, the driver came up to the driver side and in spanish (via Jenni's translation) asked us to turn the dome light on. we did. he then asked us to raise our hands, so he could see them. we did. all the while he is looking at me, not Christian. then, upon seeing the mag light on my lap, says, "Oh, lampa." smiles, says "bye" and walks away.

as the beat of our hearts begin to slow everything became clear. when the federali pulled along side of us, i had been holding the mag light in my right hand. apparently, he saw the shine of metal and thought it was a gun! the girls also spoke up at that time and asked if we saw the other guy standing outside of my window. because i'd been focusing on the guy at Christian's window, i didn't. the girls then relayed that he was holding an ak-47! i was one flash of the mag light away from being capped in the dome

3_the bed i slept in was the top bunk of a bunkbed. it was rather comfortable and nice. the odd thing was that it was extremely high. in fact, i could barely sit up straight while up there. the other interesting aspect was that there was a fan that hung over the legs-half of the bed. while not close to my head, it could be if i wasn't paying attention.

on the final night i came into our room at 3 am after watching a movie in another room. the lights were off in the entire condo, so it was pitch black. the white noise of the fan filled the room as i climbed up in bed. forgetting about the fan, i leaned forward in an effort to slide my body into bed.

THWAP, THWAP, THWAP

as far as i can tell i took three fan blades to the head. two to the forehead and one to the bridge of the nose. i was inches from losing an eye. feeling marginal amounts of blood and only feeling slightly dazed, I laid down and wondered as i fell asleep whether i had a concussion. knowing the dangers of sleeping after a concussion, i fell asleep wondering if i would wake up the next morning.

i did.


_____________________________________

here are pictures from other, less exciting times while in mexico: