Graffiti and Guns
We’d gone to Mexico for the sun, waves, and underage drinking, my brother and I. He had just turned eighteen, I was twenty, and the idea of cruising the beach with an insulated water bottle full of tequila was too good to pass up. The beach in question wrapped invitingly around the bay that Sayulita, the up and coming tourist destination numero uno on Mexico’s temperate, jungle backed Pacific coast was situated on. It was familiar to us, and a favorite. During happier times in our childhood, we had gone with our parents and youngest brother to bask in the sun and surf the ever-present waves. The key to a day at the beach is never spending too long on land or in the water. Too long in the water and even a serious surfer will be exhausted within hours of entering, although this was made easier to fight off in Sayulita’s warm waters and mild currents. Spend too long on land, especially in Mexico, and one will resemble a boiled lobster; stiff, red skin wrapped tightly around digits, puckered lips, and sunken eyes. It’s not a pretty look and dehydration makes a beach drinking binge impossible.