Well, I just got back from Oregon. I had a fun time there. My family and I played lots of games, watched lots of movies, went to a very funny play (biglittlethings), and tried to go skiing. The skiing didn't work out, so much. My mom and I took the ski shuttle up to Mount Hood Meadows - in concept a very smart idea - which didn't work out so well, since the bus' chains broke, and the two hour drive took over four hours to finish. Both my mom and I came within ten pages of finishing our books on the drive up the mountain. Then, when we got there, we discovered that instead of the clear skies and (comparatively) warm weather the newspaper had been predicting, it was 20 degrees, with 50 miles per hour winds, and near-whiteout conditions. As we watched trash cans sailing across the snow, and heard reports that the upper lifts had all been closed due to conditions, my mom and I simultaneously came to the conclusion that it looked like a beautiful day to spend inside drinking hot cocoa and playing Yahtzee. So we did. (Naturally, the weather cleared up again just as we were leaving).
My trips to and from Portland all worked out smoothly, despite the potential complications of four flights, six buses and four car-drives to coordinate. I had lots of time to read, and watched a movie on the bus to Ajo.
Matters in Organ Pipe have been slightly more exciting. On Thursday (the day before I left), I'd been planning on going over to the retirees' daily happy hour, and inviting my neighbors to come with me. Just as I was about to go over, I heard a knock on the door, and assumed it was them, coming to ask me the same thing. I pulled open the door, a big smile on my face, and saw - some Mexican guy. "Food?" he said; "Hungry." "Umm, sorry, I don't have anything," I told him, and slammed the door in his face.
In my defense, this was not the first I'd heard of people coming to the door asking for food. Beth, just days before she left, had the same thing happen to her. She gave the man tortillas, tamales, etc, and sent him on his way without reporting the incident to anyone, despite the fact that, as she told me later, no one could possibly have ran out of food just five miles from the Mexican border, and besides, the guy appeared reasonably well-fed and alert, easily capable of returning to Sonoyta to get food there. His actions implied a) he was heading south and b) he was probably a drug smuggler.
So, naturally, that was the first thing that came into my head when I saw the man at my door. This was probably the same guy as last time! I don't want him thinking he can get free meals here every two weeks after his drug runs! Thus, "no food," I told him, and called the rangers. I couldn't get through, after calling multiple numbers, so I decided to walk over to their houses, and let them know about the UDA (undocumented alien - they like acronyms here). I talked with one of the rangers, and he said he'd check it out. At that point, I decided to go over to happy hour, and let everyone else know about the Mexican wandering around, only to discover that he'd already been there, and had acquired a can of soda and two granola bars, but was still, inexplicably, hanging around. At this point, he was talking to one of the volunteers, while the rest of the VIP's (volunteers in parks; as I said, people like acronyms here) were talking excitedly in the Smith building with the door locked and bolted, and Luther calling the police in Ajo. I wasn't sure how long it would take Ajo to respond, so I ran back across the desert between the RV park and the government housing, to let the ranger know where the UDA was. The ranger was in his truck by this point, and drove off towards the RV park. I didn't want to miss anything, so I sprinted back over, just in time to see the ranger shout for the UDA to freeze, the UDA to take off running, and the ranger to get the UDA on the ground with his hands behind his back. As it turned out, the UDA had a bag of marijuana, a cell phone, and a radio in his pack and, according to the rangers, was a scout for the drug cartels. Oh, and when I got back in Organ Pipe, the first news I heard was that the chief ranger's $3000 bike had been stolen, and that a UDA camp had been found 200 meters from the living area....
Again, you're all welcome to visit me here, any time! It's really pretty...
- Nathan
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