Kat on a Hot Tin Roof

Teacapan in the State of Sinaloa south of Mazatlan is a quaint fishing village. The place is remote, off the beaten track – actually it is on a beaten track… of dirt. Teacapan’s huge salt-water estuary makes it renowned for bird watching. One can hire a panga – a small fishing boat – for a tranquil glide through mangrove swamps.

Pepe y mi espousa Pepé is the unofficial town mayor. We met him the moment we pulled into town. He lined everything up and came along as translator for our paseo (tour) the next day.

We saw a lot of birds. At times I thought we were in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Afterward Pepé joined us under the palapa of a beachfront restaurant for a feast of fresh raw oysters on the half-shell served with piquante sauce and lime. Pepé was a great guy with no issues.

That night we set up camp at a lonely spot fronted by a miles-long empty beach outside Teacapan. It was laundry day so we had to stay put.

At many Mexican RV places you can ship out two weeks worth of dirty socks, gaunch, towels and bedding and, for about a hundred pesos (less than ten bucks), it all magically reappears at your trailer door a few hours later cleaned and pressed.

An American couple joined us as we watched the surf crashing in from the Baja, two hundred miles west.

She was “Kat” a “human energy trainer”.

A pod of dolphins appeared and began surfing the breaking waves fifty feet offshore.

“I could totally be a dolphin,” Kat remarked good-naturedly.

His name was Owin. Owin Whiner. You probably think this was not his real name. You’re right. But I only changed two letters. Honest.

Owin had issues. He left a bunch of unpaid debts behind in the U.S. But he brought all his personal baggage with him.

He swore that he and Kat were in Mexico for good and were “never going back to the fuckin’ States”.

Owin loved to berate Kat publicly.

He was afraid of heights and told Kat to climb on top of their motor home to check for a rattle that was “really bugging” him.

Kat dutifully acquiesced but when she was up top she called down to say the roof was burning her feet. Kat on a hot tin roof.

“God, you’re a whiner,” Owin said.

Gerry