Mazatlan liberty-call (part 1)

 

¡Carnival!

In February of 1973 the Dehaven steamed from our homeport in Long Beach CA, down to Mazatlan Mexico for Carnival.

The voyage took about two and a half days, and we went from a cool Southern California winter  to the tropical climes around the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula.

I was a greenhorn in life and I had no idea what “Carnival” was, and that it is a world-wide phenomenon.  I was the only one among a crew of very excited destroyermen who had no idea that we were steaming toward the biggest party in Mexico, and the fourth-largest Carnival celebration on the planet.

I’ll write more about this experience another time. But this post is about a blanket-peddler and a cliff-diver.

We pulled a three-day liberty in Mazatlan, and the captain extended maximum time-off for the crew.  On the final day, I and two shipmates and fellow-radiomen - Don and Ted - were sitting on the seawall enjoying a beautiful afternoon of watching cliff-divers entertain the tourists.  One of them, a very fit young man in swimming trunks approached us and demanded money to watch him dive…he wanted five dollars.  One of us asked if he would get killed doing it, and he replied that he was so skilled that he would be fine. “Then forget it” was our reply.

We were not the finest ambassadors of our country.

Moments later, a man came up to us selling blankets.  The local blankets are very colorful, and I still have two that I bought on that visit.  His English wasn’t very good, but fortunately Ted spoke Spanish.  The sticking point was the price.  The haggling went on for some time, and we noticed that every time the cops strolled by, he was quick to turn in the other direction, similarly, he only reluctantly allowed us to take his photo…he clearly wanted to stay on the down-low.

I did buy a blanket from him, and when we got the photo developed back in Long Beach, the three of us had a good laugh…our Mexican friend was truly a man of mystery.