Previous Spread: Eleis holds onto Mary while eyeing a
brand new stiletto. Psycho twitches on the mini-ramp
during a late night pile-driving session. Above: Jimmy
the Baptist flexes hard in front of 10/Skatepark. Little
Giselle endlessly watched the skating for days on end.
The Ducky clan in the grandstands. Erica doesn't understand English very
well, but she can sure serve up a mean bag of soda. Aaron Decter twangs
a Miller flip on the mini-ramp during the demo.
head then walked away. I reached under my seat for a killer tape
to blast for the rest of the rush to the airport. Ted Nugent's "Dog.
Eat Dog" jettisoned out of the speakers under the rear dash. I
put her in gear, hopped on 101, and made it for the airport, look-
ing forward to the week-long trip to Mexico that I'd won in the
"Name the Hank Williams Song" contest on KSAN.
Getting through the flight was only half the trip-I still had to
pass through customs. The customs officials have a game called
"Push zee Button Leaning against a shelf, an official would
smile and point to a pole in front of you that has a large button.
"Push eet," he would say calmly. You pushed, a green light
flashed, and he said, "OK. You go now." I watched the scene
repeat again and again, the light green every time, except for
the polyester-clad salesman right in front of me-red light, loud
buzz. They whisked him away behind metal doors and I listened
for screams of torture, but the doors released no sound. A green
light for me, and I thought I was home free.
I took out the number I was supposed to call and tried the ol'
"learn to use the phone in another country" game. As expected,
the instructions on the payphone were all in Spanish, and my
decision to flunk Spanish at an early age haunted me. Using bad
Spanish, I managed to actually connect with someone at the
other end of the line. I finally got across the point (or thought I
did) that I was waiting for a ride at the airport.
As I waited I imagined visiting all those exotic spots I'd read
about in travel brochures. Half an hour went by, an hour, two.
Finally, a car pulled up and two girls who resembled Charo and
Hedy Lamar asked if I was the American waiting to be picked
up. Being that I was, I hopped into the back seat right next to
64 THRASHER MAGAZINE
a guy named Böönz. We drove on a dirt road,
watching the adobe houses as we popped open
cans of Tecate. I tried to learn some Spanish, start-
ing with what was on my mind; "How do you say,
I am very hungry?"
Charo turned in her seat while the car hurled aim-
lessly down the highway. "You are hungry, yes?"
"Yes."
Max "Tun Tun" slices a lip-
slide on the big ramp.
Steve Schneer does a back-
flips in a restaurant to help
pay the tab. Skating in
front of the cathedral
moments before being sur-
rounded. A happy salute
from Böönz and Psycho.
Miguel under kamikaze
attack at a restaurant.
"Hokay, you say eet like dees. "Yo estoy muy hambriento."
We stopped at a restaurant where the waitresses walked around
in beauty queen ribbons offering free samples of wine coolers. I
leaned over to Böönz to inquire about a specific plate. He must
have thought that I wanted to order it because I was pointing at
it, so I ended up getting it and everything else I pointed at, which
was four complete meals. Meanwhile, a mariachi band performed
a glorious medley of old songs or "canciones." "La cucaracha, La
cucaracha, Ya no puede caminar, Porque no tiene, Porque le falta,
Marihuana que fumar." Yeah, more beer! I wanted to hear "El Ran-
cho Grande"; instead, Charo told the band it was my birthday and
suddenly I was surrounded by twenty strolling minstrels as the
whole restaurant sang along to something I'd never heard before.
We split that scene and headed to Ducky's Sport Shop. I figured
we had stopped just to pick up some swim gear and last minute
beach stuff. There was a lot of talk about skateboarding ("pati-
nardores"). A real big guy, Miguel, seemed to be running the show
and he made a big effort to speak English while I tried to speak
Spanish. Böönz interrupted, "In one hour I will pick up the others
at the airport."