8: The Lazy Days of Curvas Peligrosas

We woke up parched. Lips papery, eyes dry, skin coated in a fine playa grit, my consciousness returned to a dessicated body. I could barely swallow, and despite the intense heat within our nylon enclosure, I was barely sweating. But I was so thirsty it was disorienting. Lu and I struggled from our hot, drowsy tent and were blasted in the face with brightness as we stepped into the day. By the sun it was mid-morning. Probably nine-ish. We'd crashed at sunrise, so that meant we'd only had a few hours of sleep. But it was going to have to be enough, 'cause there was no way were getting back into that greenhouse of a home.

We didn't even speak until we'd both guzzled what was left in our water bottles, and even then I only held out my hand for hers to go get more. It took a while to become fully alert, and a lot of water was the key.

"This shit is intense," I said to her as we got ready for the day.

"We are going to have to drink so much water," she replied.

"For real," I agreed and then popped in my contacts and donned my sunglasses. I wore a wide brimmed hat from New Orleans on my head, my tattoos on my torso, a loose, comfy pair of shorts on my lower half, and pale green Crocs on my feet. Breakfast was hardboiled eggs and yogurt, washed down with mango lemonade and a large amout of water.

"We have to remember to eat, too," I reminded Lu. "It's so easy to get caught up in situations like this that you forget to eat and the next thing you know it's been two days since you had a solid meal."

"We'll just make sure to have at least two good meals every day, and then snack as we need to. I brought lots of goodies," she said with a grin.

"These hardboiled eggs were such a good idea. So easy and perfect for breakfast."

But there was more than just us going on in the kitchen, as we sat on our coolers and ate. There were people everywhere. One guy was cooking up a huge batch of scrambled eggs. A dark-haired woman was making coffee, and someone else was in the process of collecting money to make an ice run. In the moving truck a DJ was spinning some dub and the large speakers facing into the shaded area pumped softly with grooves.

Imagine a standing at the center of a square that was, 15 feet large to it's edge from where you stood. Behind you is a moving truck that's opened and contains the entire setup for spinning tunes. To your right were 2 couches and a futon mattress. There are people hanging out there. Behind to the right, beside the moving van, and behind the couches, was the kitchen. A few in there cooked and did cooler things. Directly in before you is a little dancing space, and the front entrace to Camp Curvas Peligrosas. There's a few people grooving and someone pulling up on a bike. Straight ahead and to the left a bit is a sweet 3 person bar, seats full, and space for a 'tender behind it. That bartender was usually J-Bird. But sometimes it was Darren, instead. Other times it wasn't even someone that was staying at our camp and on more than one occasion, I might have sat there, too. Though it wasn't really a job either, just a nice place to sit with easy access to the coolers and bottles and cozies and shot glasses that were needed to keep the crew sated throughout the day. When you sat there, you had to be on your toes. But only a little bit. But that's par for the course, in the desert. Behind the bar, was a ping-pong table covered in the necessary detrius of camp-life. Bloody mary mix. Cups. Random sunglasses and a wrench. Whatever might be needed was nearby. We used it all. Above were four large shade tents, keeping us all cool and breezy and happy. And by 'cool', I mean, not deadly, burning hot. But even so, still hot. And dry and dusty and new.

The sun got brighter and tighter and we guzzled water by the nalgene-full. There was no other way. Every beer was topped with an equal amout of water. Every shot, too. We lounged as new friends rolled up and others rolled out. A huge bike parking lot formed at the front edge of the camp. Eventually someone fired up the grill and soon the delicious scent of tri-tips filled the air. In the distance, up towards The Man, I saw the world covered in white and then a light breeze blew this way that got stronger and stronger, then everything blustered and flapped as a sandstorm blasted through, stinging into the shade tents and my eyes around the edges of my sunglasses.

"White out!" someone screamed, and everyone laughed.

"These things suck," I said to Lu, rubbing at my eyes. "I'm getting my goggles."

"Get mine too!" she requested and I did.

"We should get out of here," I said when I returned from the tent a few minutes later.

"You're right, there's so much we have to see."

"All of it," I replied as I strapped the goggles on. "Let's rock!"