madrid - a chile festival, a movie, and A LITTLE PEEK!

god intended for pamela and i to go out of new mexico on a high note, and boy, did he create a few screamers this day!

both of us were excited about going back to madrid and the turquoise trail. i was anticipating that it wouldn't be as exciting or breathtaking going back since we were all hyped up on the way in. however, it was still as eyecatching and the vibe was still good. the trip going to madrid didn't seem to be as long, however, and pretty soon we were pulling into madrid looking for someone to pierce our ears.

we had tried several times to find someone in pagosa springs to do the ears. linda had declined to join us in the endeavor, so it was up to pam and i to find a piercing pagoda in a mall somewhere to do it. when we pulled into madrid, the first place we saw was a jewelry store called THE CRYSTAL DRAGON. we went in and the hippie dude there said, nope, no one in madrid to do piercings. he himself was going to take his daughter into sante fe to the mall to have her ears pierced. apparently, the one person who could do it was on vacation.

right next to the crystal dragon were all the things from the chile festival that we had seen the weekend before. i guess he got a good laugh out of us looking asking tourista questions, but it turns out that the whole town had been taken over to film a john travolta movie called WILD HOGS. along with travolta are martin lawrence, william c. macy, marissa tomei and tim allen. the movie is about a bunch of middle aged guys who buy motorcycles and go on an adventure, ending up in madrid. they have a close encounter with a bunch of local motorcycle guys who are called the del fuegos in the movie. however, they are based upon a real local biker bunch from albuquerque called the banditos.

we walked out and took pictures up and down main street, making our way towards the mine shaft tavern once again. we talked to a lot of the shop owners and found out that most of them had rented out their stores for use as sets on the movie. only one set, the one of maggie's diner, had been built. many of the townspeople had been extras on the movie, which filmed at night. everyone we talked to had a different story to tell about it. most of the stars had not been into the shops, although marisa tomei had been into one of the jewelry shops. we heard that the banditos, who love madrid, had been paid off by the producer to stay out of town while they were filming. none of the stars were staying locally, and just showed up at night to film.

there was some final jewely irony, as we finally hit a shop that had a ton of kokopelli jewelry, including the exact slide pam had been looking for before she settled on the one she bought. we ended up back at the mine shaft and we went into a couple of shops that were open next to it.

the place was packed, and there was a local band playing mostly grateful dead, bonnie raitt and john hiatt tunes. they played a song that pam recognized as being a steve bassett song called "how far is heaven." how weird is that? the music was pretty good, and we ordered burgers and got a seat which was right by the door.

next to us was a blended family of mexicans and white people with babies being passed around and little kids running in and out with water pistols. they could have been indian or mexican, but it didn't seem to matter much. the place was filled with all sorts of people, including a few we had seen on our previous visit. nosering was back behind the bar, and the same guy who was cleaning up waited on us. women were dancing with each other and an old guy came in who had about 15 piercings in his ear. it all made for interesting people watching, and i am not sure i have ever seen such a wide variety of people in there, and that included tourists like us and old women and men.

pam was facing the door and all of a sudden her eyes got big and she leaned over and said "look what is coming through the door." in walked the banditos, four of them!

when we had come into town we had noticed a small ballpark on the right side of the road just before you got to the crystal dragon. we saw a bunch of bikers there and there was music blaring and rv and campers parked all around. we didn't give it too much thought, as we had seen more people on bikes here than at any other time at home. as it turned out, the banditos were doing a benefit down there to raise money for clothes for kids to wear to school.

the four that came through the door were led by an old dude with a grey beard, a cane and the complete biking outfit of vests, boots, etc. he was followed by a guy in camoflage banditos t-shirt and pants. there was a skinny white guy with a long ponytail who smelled like he had just toked up, and then the president of the club, who wasn't bad looking for a hood. however, he had a huge knife in a scabbard attached to his belt, so that made him a bit less attractive...:). these guys seemed to know a lot of people in the bar, and the old dude hooked up with nosering and they disappeared into the manager's back office for awhile. other banditos came in and out, but most of them got a beer and disappeared outside on the front porch.

when it was finally time to leave, we paid the bill and i hit the can while pam apparently went out on the porch by herself and proceeded to engage in light conversation with the banditos, who were apparentely quite enamoured with her! go pam! who says middle age women can't turn heads! when i had been in the bar, i had been trying like hell to get a picture of nosering and the locals without looking like an complete tourista ass. pam provided me with the perfect opportunity to get a picture of the banditos.

she headed back up on the porch for the photo opportunity, but the old dude with the cane decided to come down into the lot for the picture. i think he just wanted to get a squeeze out of pam! i had my picture taken with him as well, and we chatted with him a bit. his name was t-bone, and he was missing 2 front teeth. nosering looked enouogh like him to be his kid, and i asked him if that was true. he said, no, nosering was too ugly to be his son! we talked a bit about the fund raiser (he gave $100 and apparently "convinced" others to do the same.) we got in the car to go, and t-bone came over and put his face against pam's window, indicating he wanted to say something to her. she rolled down the window...MISTAKE....!!!!!!

hey, where you goin' ?(albuquerque to get a motel room)
you don't need no motel room! you can stay here and party with us (well, i don't think my husband would like that too much)
hey, he don't have to know! i know how you girls are! she ain't gonna tell on you (pam sucks air, stutters, i try not to explode with laughter)
aw, come on, you don't have to go! stay here! we have a good time (pam demures and says "i don't think so!" very nicely. don't piss off a bandito we have been told. they are fine as long as they are happy.)

i could have rolled up the window, but likely t-bone's beard would have gotten caught in the window, and i couldn't exactly see myself driving off dragging a middle age biker by his beard without causing a slight fuss. realizing that pam wasn't going to give in, he sighed and gave in..sort of..

ok, you gonna go, but how since you leaving, how 'bout a little PEEK? (no, i don't think so)
aw, c'mon! just a little peek? who's ever gonna know? she ain't gonna tell on you! (head nod to me, pam sucks more air out of the car. the other banditos up on the porch are now chattering in spanish at t-bone to get his LEETLE PEEK!)
pam rolls up the window, slowly, and t-bone give as mournful, poor woe as me look. i put the car in reverse and pam says, as we pull out, 'DO YOU THINK THEY WILL FOLLOW US ON THEIR BIKES!!!???" i look behind me, and no, there are no bikes

i think i laughed all the way to albquerque and i am still laughing. she will NEVER live that one down...