This picture is taped over my computer with the legend: "COURAGE...Do one brave thing today...then run like hell." Well, I did two brave things, so I guess I can take the rest of the day off.
First thing this morning I went to my dentista in Empalme, to be uncrowned. That is, she took a couple of old crowns out in preparation for replacing them with new ones. This prospect was a lot more attractive than what I thought I was facing: two root canals! But I knew I was in for some pain because they don't use gas in Mexico. You get the local, you brace yourself, you endure. The urge to run like hell is overpowering now and then, but I really like Mariann, my lovely, gentle dentist, and wouldn't want her to think she was making me suffer. And her assistant, Gerardo, is challenging me with sexy amber eyes over his mask, which he never takes off so he reminds me of Zorro. If I saw him unmasked, on the street in sunglasses, I wouldn't know him. And stunningly beautiful Beatriz, the receptionist, stationed outside the door; I wouldn't want to humiliate myself in front of her, either. Beatriz looks like a Carnivale princess, dressed and made up every day as if prepared to climb onto her sparkling float and cruise the streets of Empalme.
It's not Mariann's fault I have an overdeveloped gag reflex that makes me want to hurl when she stuffs the silly putty in my mouth for impressions. The worst was when she said, "Now you'll feel a little tap," and she banged on my tooth with a hammer! Caramba! Then there's the sickening crunch as the tooth finally gives way, after endless banging. I asked a lot of questions about what she was doing, what she called various things in Spanish, because I've found that curiosity can trump fear, if it's strong enough.
In the car, I inspected her work in the rearview mirror and discovered that with the anesthesia still numbing the left side of my mouth, my smile looked just like Sylvester Stallone.Cost for the two crown replacements is $3200 pesos. Current exchange rate is 1 peso = .073339 dollars. I pay with my debit card. My friend Ale says Mariann's prices are "a little high," but I like her references.
Back home, I called my blogbuddy Jan and we went to La Palapa Beach to watch the surf kick up in advance of Hurricane Jimena. It was so awesome I went back to fetch the Capt and my camera. Giddy with negative ions, we guzzled limonada and oohed and aaahed at the huge, thundering waves, all lathered in white foam. Spindrift flying through the air, making our lips salty. Gusts of wind trying to knock us off our barstools, tossing over any that were unoccupied. The Palapa manager wavered between delight at all the customers pouring in for ringside seats and terror that we would all be washed away. I had never been at sea level when this kind of weather was coming in, satisfied with a perch on my safe, dry bluff high above the tumult before. But now I'm hooked. Bring 'em on!
Brave Mexicana stands a few feet from ferocious waves at La Palapa Beach.