Ensenada

Ensenada has become
a stop on a weekend cruise
While Hussongs is a zoo for
Los Animales from the States
Expatriates are forced out of a harbor
that harbored some serious domino players
I was La Otre Esposa then
The one who came on Friday night
Not by ship but with a right
turn off the free road to a place
where la loca Americanos could chase
nude in alfalfa at 5:00 a.m.
and run off cows trespassing again
through barbed wire fence
or wear a formal gown that caught on cacti.
Eccentric became a way of life
But you worked harder when
there was another just next door
Excesses were simple then when
diving from yardarms and trading stories
with child stars from the thirties
Some of the stories were dirty before
dirty was painful to someone other than women
We managed to hold our own then against the macho types.
My portrait hangs in bars, which is fame of a kind
Not Hemingway but drawn by A good caricaturist.
If you're a purist don't go but
If you wish to invest send your money south
Where beaches extend into cement and spas
and millionaires spend their hours
It was more fun then with Tequila and fish tacos
before there was a really nasty worm in the bottle.