What Do You Mean... This Isn't IRL?

This is the true story of 15... well 14.. no, 13 (where ARE our new cast-mates??)... 8 strangers, picked to live in the mountians/on a beach with cactus and Valosa Raptors (or were those just Condors?) for 78 days, to work (most likely not) together, and (should...seriously) have had thier lives taped (the cameras were somewhere).  To find out when people stop being polite (forming), and start getting real (storming). Real World (NOLS Mexico).

Missing the culture, people and the lifestyle more and more each day... and yes I have gone longer than you without a shower. 

Disclaimer: this is not my picture, none of these pictures are. It is Roger's picture...  incredible man, sailor and one of my NOLS  (National Outdoor Leadership School) instructors.  Roger always knew the right thing to say at the right time.  Of course this man spoke Catalan Spanish, which made every word out of his mouth sound like a swear word. Read: put the sheet in the cleat, we're heading for the beach. Really man, day one and you're already calling me a lazy sheet? Or when our fellow classmate was stung by a sting ray and we were pouring boiling hot water on his foot to relieve the pain you gotta be tough, if you're going to be stupid. 

4 years ago I embarked on one of the most amazing adventures of my life spending 3 months backpacking, sailing and kayaking in Baja.

There were many possible titles for this post. The majority stemming from mini-melt downs, which were formally written in my evaluations as "occasionally verbalizes frustration." I'm sure Janie (another most fantastic sailing NOLS Instructor) was thinking of a "verbal frustration" when I passively-aggressively reminded a peer (lovingly) that all reefs on the main jib were slippery. 

Names such as:

Seriously, Day 52... Losing my Freaking Mind

OUTBREAK: The Kids From Dead Bird Island

Well, I don't Think I'll Ever Say... I'd Rather Be Bushwhacking My Way Through Mexico

This is the most F* Up Reality TV Show Ever

     Where the cameras!?! Where are our new cast-mates?!

It's Not Called Outdoor Social Dynamics School... The Whole Leadership Thing Threw Me

But Really... Who Is Vic?

Finish Your Dinner... There are Starving NOLS Students Somewhere.

Why I chose "What Do You Mean... This Isn't IRL?"  Simple... it was not real life     

A brief history of IRL: As you may or may not know NOLS loves to abbrivate words and statements.  i.e.:

     PLE: Positive Learning Environment

     EB: Expedition Behavior

     JDM: Judgment & Decision Making

     SA: Self-Awareness

     TA: Tolerance for Adversity and Uncertainty

     LNT: Leave no trace

     SBID: Specific, Behavior, Impact Timely

     VLOMP: Vent, Listen, Ownership, Empathy, Plan 

     BSI/BLS

     MOI: Mech. of Injury

     ABCDE: Airway, breathing, circulation, disability/decide, environment/expose

     CSM: Cirrculation, senstation, motion

     SAMPLE: sings/symptoms, allergies, meds, past and pertinent medical history, last in and out

     OPQRST: onset, provekes, quality, radiation, saverity, time

     LOR

     AVPU

     HR

     Respers

     SOAP

     ETA

     ETT

     ETD

     OFNR

     S/A

     V/A

     RM/JD/DM
     IRL: In Real Life

.... and we went for it, calling everything we couldn't wait to see/have/do back at home with a shower and refrigerator IRL.

When our conversation about IRL (probably in a deep discussion about Oreos while singing and dancing to Forever by Chris Brown) was over heard by a instructor she goes;

"what do you mean, this isn't IRL?"

well of course it isn't. we respond

"ummm, why"

...because in two months we will be at our houses, celebrating holidays and eating food flavored with more than sea salt (not the kind from Navajo, I mean Trader Joe's), sand and gar pow (garlic powder).  In three months, most of us will be back at school, with incredible tans.

and then I'm pretty sure we saw a plane crash into the side of a Baja mountain, right off the coast of Punta Chivato. #notkidding

   creepy side note: We were staying on a bay called bay of the dead, and this happened on day of the dead. 

swimming with sea lions [photo credit: J. Lasky]

most amazing sunsets [photo credit: J. Lasky]

Saying the adventure was perfect would be lying and I do remember the challenging parts of the trip.  But no, this trip was not real life. We celebrated re-ration days with cheesy pasta and wore the same shirts for 78 days.  We didn't wash our faces or hair but we did take extreme care of our feet. Snickers bars were gold and if it was easy it would be called "the way." We swam with sea lions (in retrospect and after a bit of research THAT was a bad idea) and kayaked through bioluminescence.  We sailed with dolphins swimming, playing and jumping at both port and starboard sides of our bows.  We were captivated by the poor cabin boy in our sea shanties and rocked to sleep by mamma' around our beach bon fires.  We enjoyed fresh caught yellow fin tuna on the decks of our dinghys.  We giggled around the roar of our whisper light stoves on scone* Sundays.  We welcomed the sunrise on the water with our paddles and slept under the most amazing stars on the sandy beaches.

So here's to you, my fellow Fall Semester Baja 2008 peeps.  

Cheers, wherever you may be celebrating.

playful dolphins [photo credit: J. Lasky]

[photo credit: J. Lasky]

our fleet. it was tricky getting the boats in there.[photo credit: J. Lasky]

[photo credit: J. Lasky]

*(let's be honest... flower, water and dried fruit?, eww!)