Tina's Journal - October/November

October 30th

So here's the lowdown on pickup in the places I've been (skip if you don't play ultimate!):

Hudson, MA - super low-key, no end-zone cones, no stack, forces or stall counting. In order to prevent clogging they switch to two games of 4-on-4 instead of playing sevens. Most players are older, so the pace is slower and subbing is frequent. The players are vigilant about making sure everyone is getting equal playing time and is matched up against someone of equivalent speed. They're super nice and go out to dinner after every pick-up game (games are once a week on Wednesdays).

Boston, MA, the Esplanade - I played here twice. Lots of young, fast college students so get ready for lots of running. Agressive last back subbing policy (on the losing team only). Many good players, they're all nice, although you might have to break through the New England Reserve. Lot of new people show up every week (new to the pickup, but not new ultimate players) and there tends to be too many players for one game and not enough space for two. So come early and play a lot in the beginning. One week we got kicked off of the Esplanade for a celebrity softball tournament and had a peripatetic ultimate afternoon, first going to the Hatch shell and then walking en masse all the way to MIT in Cambridge. It was a bonding experience, where everyone played as much as they wanted and we finished about 5 hours after we started.

San Francisco, Golden Gate Park - I knew I was in the right place when I saw the guy in a skirt. I asked if this was pickup and they said no, smiling. I felt right at home. However, TONS of people come to this game. The fields were incredibly muddy and we managed to squeeze two in, but there were still enough people for another game. They play an interesting subbing system (last backs is frowned upon) wherein you set up a team of seven while you're waiting on the sideline and when the two teams playing have scored three points, you have a fullscale team substitution. It's interesting, but since there's not always the right amount of people to make teams, if you sub out you often will be out for half and hour or more. Fun people 'though. I left my friend's shirt there and put a note up on the online board and someone found it, washed it and is mailing it to him as we speak.

Maui, HI - I went to a Wed. night pickup in Kihei and a Sunday afternoon one up on the side of the big mountain. The night game starts late, so you only get about an hour of playing time. The Sunday pickup is beautiful! Great views and they BBQ afterwards. Andy says (and I saw) that at just about every practice someone brings something to give away. On Wednesday it was fresh-picked mangos and on Sunday it was garden-fresh basil. The people are super nice and the level of play is good. Not quite as hard-core as Boston or especially San Francisco, but good and fun. Subbing is a little interesting 'though. They play with a strict last backs policy where you have to be standing ON the line to be in and people can sub in on either the winning or losing side. This means that even if you catch the disc for a score in the back corner of the endzone, someone waiting at the cone can just step in and then you're off the field. Since so many people come it ends up being essentially two games being played simultaneously, with full field switch-overs after each point. It makes for a very choppy game, since you only play one point at a time. Once again, come early for the good playing time. The BBQ is great fun.

Well, I'm starving since I've only had a scoop of pitaya (cactus-fruit) sorbet today and it's lunch time already, so I'll fill y'all in on Baja later. Adios!

November 1st

The rocks here are large and full of noises. The kind of noises that keep you awake at night - clicking and skittering. Some of it is from the waves lapping up against the shore with varying intensity, part of it can be attributed to the splash of a school of fish jumping out of the water as a long, thin predator flies out in pursuit (the fish here seem to lot of time out of the water). But a good portion of the noises come from the multitude of red crabs that scuttle sideways under rocks when you walk by, sometimes peering at you through their twitching eye stalks from the sheer cliff wall above your head. But the most disturbing source of this sound is...

11/4/01 Yup, your deep, dark, nightmare-producing brain does have a basis in reality. All those sounds are produced by an entire subterranean army of rock lice. About the size of a healthy cockroach, these disgusting critters scamper about the shoreline, crawling up the cliff walls and seeking shade wherever they can, including under your bags, boats and sleeping system. It is not a pleasant feeling to lift up your "pillow" to see about 30 scaly arthropods waving their antennae around as they scurry into crevices. When they crawl on you it's even worse. They were only one of my worries last night, as I lay under a gauzy, blue and silver sarong. I had purchased the sarong in Lahaina (Maui, Hawaii) and now it was taking on a second calling as a very expensive bug net. Since there was no wind on our side of the cove scores of insects flocked to our camp every morning and evening. Everything from midges to mosquitos to flies to bees seemed to be making our sleeping bags their hangout. The constant buzzing coupled with the ceaseless yipping of coyotes in the background made me put in my earplugs for the first time since arriving in Baja two weeks ago. It was also an undesirable beach due to the sulfurous odor that arose from the intertidal zone. We chose this beach because it was South-facing, which would protect us from any "Northerlies" that might blow up and cause difficult launching and landing conditions.

The North wind is blowing now and I find it refreshing out here on this point. It keeps the flying bugs away (there's nothing you can do about the beach cockroaches (as I've nicknamed them)), and the shade here is nice and cool. This latter feature is extremely important for it is still far too hot to spend much time in the sun. When we paddle we must constantly splash water on ourselves to enjoy a little evaporative cooling. The water temperature right now is quite high, it's so warm that it doesn't really feel like anything when you get wet - it's just about skin temperature.

We spend a lot of time in the water because it's the only way to cool off. Often we hold our meetings standing around in the water to prevent heat stroke! The only problem with the water during this time of the year (and especially now because of the recent hurricane) is that it's full of invisible, stinging jellyfish. Is seems that it's either very small Portugese Man-of-War jellies or pieces of them. I'm still sporting a raised, red rash on my entire left arm from a run-in with one while I was swimming across the bay. It looks like a poison ivy rash. I put lime juice on it, having heard that changing the pH would reduce the sting, but it didn't seem to have helped.

This particular beach seems to have it for me - I burned my finger making brownies on a campstove with a twiggy fire on the lid, my legs are all scratched up from tying our shade tarp to a thorny tree and I have no hair left on my right hand (another stove incident).

Contrary to the South side of the point, however, the North-facing beach is fabulous. I took a four-hour excursion this morning to rid myself of the grumpiness associated with waking up in a fog of insects, hot, with beach cockroaches crawling all over the place. I wandered around this point of land, with my water bottle and an orange tied up in my sarong (wrapped around my waist - it's a very useful sarong...), carrying my ensolite pad, looking for a place to do yoga. I never found a place, but rather spent an enjoyable period of time bouldering on the rocks just above water line, trying to circumnavigate the point without getting my sneakers wet (it was high tide). The rock is terribly crumbly, but if you don't put all your weight on any one bit, then you can get by. I had to take off my shoes for one over-hanging, blank section, but was rewarded with a small, secluded beach tucked in among the overarching cliffs. I found the most perfect spot to meditate - a little alcove carved into the rock face - so you're cradled on all sides by rock - with just the empty, white beach and blue ocean in front of you. Unfortunately, I don't meditate, so I just sat there for a little bit.

I didn't dawdle here long, 'though, since the tide was still advancing and I was wearing my dry "salt-free" shorts. I ate my orange perched on a rock, looking out at the deep blue, wrinkly, water, savoring every caress of air as it blew across my skin: bug-free at last! The walls were still crawling with rock lice, but luckily I managed to make it all the way around without grabbing onto any in my search for holds. Ashley and Dell (another COBS instructor and his girlfriend) were camped on a beautiful, rocky beach on the North side of the point. The whole area was flanked by stunning "arroyos" (drainages) which rose up through towering cacti and blooming vines and ground cover to reach the sky in the form of crumbling towers and ridges. Suddenly I really wanted to see what was on the other side of these hills. So I bushwhacked up the loose hillside, trying to avoid the thorniest plants, sliding up and down loose dirt and rock.

Since the hurricane last month the desert has just burst out all over in bloom. There are bright yellow morning-glory-type flowers called Merremia, blooming barrel cacti and field full of purple and yellow flowers. There were plenty of Cholla and Pitaya cacti to avoid however, along with blooming, but thorny, trees. The top of the ridge yielded a spectacular view of the great arroyos beyond. Not a human or man-made construct in sight.

November 4th

I would be studying Spanish if I hadn't found this great internet cafe which is actually a art gallery for Tomas Meraz and the owners speak English and so instead of practicing Spanish I've been chatting it up about music and culture and talking to the American tourists. But I will study - I will!

La Paz is a great city. It's much bigger than Loreto, but smaller than Bellingham (or about the same size). Unfortunately I can't eat the fish tacos, which are the food of the area, since they are battered and fried. I have been able to eat some of the other foods, like meat tacos and papas rellenos (stuffed potatoes) - although you have to be careful to make sure they don't put all the margarine or mayonaise on your food! The ice cream here is so delicious 'though that I could subsist solely on it. It's not much cheaper here than in the states so I'm not saving any money. Some things are even more expensive (like postcards).

I met a local guy here the other day who was very interested in hanging out with me - he even took me out to lunch in his brother's sparkling clean white VW bug, but I think his interest was a bit more than what I was looking for so I said thanks and escaped to an internet place. I got to practice my Spanish a bit 'though.