Attack of the Vampires
Vampire bats……… photo by Clément Falize
From Lightbulb Coffee:
As we ate our rations, we both remarked on the number of big bats flying about the arroyo.
“You don’t think those could be vampire bats, do you?” asked Dennis, between bites.
“No,” I answered, “they are only found south of the Tropic of Cancer….” I trailed off as we looked at each other, remembering the road sign we had passed, just south of Mazatlan.
“I wish we’d brought a tent,” said Dennis.
We had parted ways with a smuggler after he unloaded the portable televisions and revolvers which he had smuggled into Mexico (along with Dennis and me.)
We hitched farther South, then when we came to the Rio Acaponeta. We left the highway at that point, and followed the riverbank on foot, into the Sierra Madre.
The desert sun burned down on us as we hiked along the glaring sand. We trudged along for a mile or so.
“We have to find some shade,” said Dennis, after an hour. “I’m burning up.”
Continuing around a bend, we both spotted a lush, green thicket a few yards higher on a bench above the dry river bed. As we climbed to it, we both realized the thicket was actually a cluster of overgrown marijuana plants, with a shady clearing between the soaring stalks.
This looked like an oasis to two vagrant potheads from San Francisco, so we gratefully crawled into the scented shade. We drained the first of our four canteens of chlorinated water, which left us three quarts of the precious fluid.
We cooled down, and tried smoking some rolled up Mota leaves. After eating some beans and tortillas, we leaned back on our rucksacks, to watch the sunset. That’s when we saw the first of the bats.
It was difficult to go to sleep that night. To find out how we fared against the squadrons of bloodthirsty bats, be sure to read Lightbulb Coffee, the second, juicier volume of my memoirs.
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