My lastest trip to Baja was a blast, but it wasn’t without it’s problems. By the time we hit the small town of San Ignacio, I was low on gas. I had planned it that way so I would have a fresh tank for the long stretch of dirt road ahead, but I didn’t plan on the only PeMex (gasolinera) in a 50 mile radius being out of gas.
Rule number 5 for driving in Baja. Fill up when you can, because gas isn’t guaranteed anywhere.
The only way we could get to our destination was to go back the way we came 45 minutes, fill up and drive back to San Ignacio. This involved going back through the military checkpoint we had just come through. When we reached the checkpoint, the Federalies stationed there were very surprised to see us again, so I began telling them what had happened. When I got the to part about not wanting to wait until the station would receive a shipment of gas, I realized I didn’t know the Spanish word for ‘wait’.
I asked a soldier who was sitting on the ground cradling his machine gun: Como se dice ‘wait’? (How do you say ‘wait’).
“Waaait” was his reply, and all the other soldiers began laughing hysterically. I guess I should have added ‘en Espanol’ to the end! For the rest of the inspection, each Federalie took his turn saying ‘Waaait’, to much laughter from all of us.
When I drove off, someone yelled ‘Waaait!’. I immediately hit the breaks on reflex. The effect was similar to air dropping Robin Williams circa 1980 on a mid-west highschool talent show. Everyone was crying with laughter. So I grabbed my iPhone, looked up ‘wait’ in the Ultralingua English to Spanish dictionary (which I highly recommend) and yelled back “ESPERA!!!!”, to more laughs.
We drove through that check point twice more on the trip and every time each of the Federalies had their turn at saying, ‘waaait!’ and laughing. Each time, I replied ‘Espera!’. I don’t thing I’ll ever forget that word.
