Slow Baja - Brook Elgen Artist Illustrator Maker-Of-Things

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

Brook Elgen is an illustrator, artist, and maker-of-things who splits her time between Mendocino, California, and Zacatitos, Baja California Sur. She specializes in handmade goods in a diverse array of mediums. Humor and wit are constants in her illustrations, books, and found object assemblages. She carries a notebook (chock full of lists,) has an antique pocket knife, sometimes drives a Baja Bug, and is never in resort wear. One of my favorite works is an apology card for an ex-pat neighbor who got wasted at a local establishment and may or may not have removed his pants. He wanted a custom work to give to the business owner to say "Lo Siento," I'm sorry. The card's cover features hand-carved rubber-stamped artwork; a cactus, a donkey with a couple of empty bottles at his feet, and the words "LO SIENTO" Inside, a sizeable hand-stamped bottle with the phrase "SORRY FOR BEING A JACKASS." See her work at the_evil_scrunchies on Instagram And TheEvilScrunchies on Esty

Ola amigos. I got to tell you, I am still basking in the afterglow of my two weeks in Baja. The weather here in San Francisco is absolutely spectacular, but I am still mentally in Baja. The second week, I think I told you about the first week last show, riding motorcycles, driving slow Baja with the guys who were riding motorcycles and had a great time with them. But the second week, I changed gears and settled in

for a beautiful stay at Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards Inn. True Miller was my gracious host, and she and her staff really took care of me. What separates a stay at Adobe Guadalupe from others is, I gotta tell you, it's the hospitality. You are a guest in True's home, and it is a damn fine home to spend some time in. There's this beautiful, intimate dining room, you know, I don't know, four, six tables. I don't remember how many were there, but it's a beautiful fireplace, and it was cold, and the fire is roaring and you know one night robin and alice a couple who had met in san diego 50 years ago have been married 47 years they live in england uh they just moved over to our table and we had a damn

fine time we shared a bottle of san raphael after uh dinner we had had plenty to share with dinner and then uh true and hose the agronomer uh exited and robin and alice and i sat by the fire and had another fine bottle of red and it's just very, very, a lovely evening, made new friends. And that's, I think, what Adobe Guadalupe is all about. Okay. Today's show is with Brooke Elgin and she is an artist down in San Jose Del Cabo. I met her in January after my 2,400 mile dirt drive specking roads for the Nora 1000. I've been admiring her work on Instagram at the evil scrunchies for quite a while.

And since I was going to be in town, she graciously met me from tacos. And we just talked about what it's like. She spends, you know, a good portion of her year in San Joseo Cabo. And I'm always interested about people who split time between here and there. She lives in Mendocino way up the Northern California coast when she's not in Baja. And she and her husband, Terry, seem to have a fine life down there, constantly tinkering with a Baja bug and spending time enjoying their small community. And I hope you enjoy this very, I don't know, intimate, fun conversation with getting to know

somebody who makes art and makes jokes and has a fine life in Baja. And I hope you enjoy the show. So without further ado, Brooke Elgin, the evil scrunchies on Instagram, check out work and I'll be back with a fun show next week. Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches and hands down my favorite tequila. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas.

It's a 72-page large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at Benchmarkmaps.com. Okay, Brooke, if you're a huge dud. Michael, I've been worried about being a dud. Brooke, say hello. Let me get you dialed in. Hello.

Hello? I think that's the right distance. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, yes. And if you keep it like that. Like here? And you speak softly.

Like, what is this? This is diva position like this. How many other positions do you have handy? Do you have six or seven hours? I have a wooden microphone. Well, it's a wooden spoon that I. Sometimes sing around in the kitchen. I do like enjoy singing into it.

We're going to get right into it, folks. I am delighted to be in San Jose del Cabos. an outside at a park in the shade with Brooke Elgin. Correct, yes. I'm delighted to be outside. I'm delighted to be sitting outside in San Jose Del Cabo with Brooke Elgin, and she is a magnificent artist. If you're not following her already on Instagram, the evil scrunchies with a bunch of, what do you call those things, underscores? Yeah, there's a couple of underscores involved in the name.

underscore scrunchies. Yes. And I was just, I don't know how I saw your work, I just saw it, and I was tickled, and I reached out to you and told you how tickled I was, and anyways, here we are. Yes. Happy, happy to be here. And Brooke, we're going to get right down to us worried that she's going to be a dud, so if you folks never hear this, you know why.

Yes. Well, you're here. You're in Zacharitos. Is that how you pronounce it? which is kind of by Los Barrios. It's on the East Cape. I ate a bag of those yesterday. Yeah.

I'm sure there's a more exotic pronunciation, but Zacotitos. It means little grasses. Okay. Mm-hmm. And near Los Barillas between sort of south of Los Burales. It's south of there. It's only about 20 minutes from San Jose. Okay.

And yeah, it's right where the land starts to, The coast is sort of a mix of Pacific and Cea Cortez waters, so it's very rich in marine life, diversity, good fishing, there's good surf spots. It's just beautiful. Well, we're going to talk about how you got down here, living the, I'm going to say it, expat life without wearing resort wear. Right. So keeping it real. Just say no to resort wear. Just say no.

I saw a lot of it are a hotel, which is a lovely hotel at the Park Hyatt and Santa City of Cabo. Thank you, folks. But tell me, you're from Maryland and spend some time in Mendocino, which is way up north folks on the north coast of California, beautiful spot. How did you get here? Basically, met a man who already had a relationship with the Baja through his. his childhood and camping trips with the family and the whole classic VW bus thing back in the

70s. And he invited me to come down. So we have been driving down ever since I've been coming down for 20 years and I've never flown once. And I really enjoy the drive almost more than the destination at times. Slow Baja approved right there, folks. It's always about the drive. Yes, it's quite the adventure. So, yeah, we've been slowly building a house, and it's fairly complete at this point. And it's...

Are you off the grid completely? You said we're dealing with solar and our... Yeah, we are living off a solar system. and we have a water storage tank and all those little things. It's interesting whenever people come to visit because they want to know what your street address is. And I give them my coordinates as a test. And I can always tell who's gonna figure it out

and who's gonna panic, call me or email me at some point that they're lost. But yeah, you can never really prepare people for coming down here for the first time. when you as much as you can try to articulate it they'll never understand until they get here where you know we don't have trash service and things like that so it's it's interesting to be the host to new folks coming down I've been calling my house Casa de no vacancy well you're clean and well dressed so you must have some running

water or you're able to fool this podcaster. Yes. And it seems to me that the benefit of being here is you get to slow your life down a little bit. You get to enjoy things. Yeah. What are your observations? You've been here for a couple, what, decades now, right? Yes.

Sounds scary when you say it like that, but yes. Well, I was so worried. Like when we reached out, I had some delays and, you know, needed to wait for the truck to come back to get my stuff. out and la la la la la la la and i'm sent you a message via instagram i'm going to be 15 minutes late and i kind of imagine like that doesn't bother you if you live in baha no it's time is different here for sure and culturally time is different there's a yes we'll do that tomorrow we'll be there tomorrow or the part will come in tomorrow and yeah several weeks if not months go by and you have like your series of meltdowns as you undo your Americanization,

your reaction, and then eventually you're just like, whatever. And then the part shows up. Yeah. It's a test. How do you know what to do every day? Is Terry say, hey, I'm going for a surf, and you say, you know, that gives me some quiet time to make art. What, I mean, how does it, tell me about the, the, let me live vicariously through you for a second. How do you divide your Baja bliss?

Right. Well, I'm a big time note taker list maker. So I try to keep any ideas that I have for personal creative projects written down so that I can keep myself on track. and the sun is a big indicator of what I'm able to do from day to day. So I do my dishes when the sun is not beaming in the kitchen window. But I go to the beach and swim later in the day and do my little household maintenance things earlier. And then I have a time carved out for work projects or personal projects. and we're going to let this

got some sweet motor action lack of catalytic converter someday the slow Baja Foundation will have free exhaust repairs for people in need in Baja. For folks who are not sitting here, sorry you're not, we had a magnificent taco lunch at Latterol in the hotel district,

which was convenient for me to walk over and really had a magnificent fish taco on a thin slice of hickama. It was just divine. Brooke is fair-skinned red hair. So the sun like me, it just takes it out of you here in Baja, especially Baja sewer. So, yeah, you do have to kind of manage your day around even here in the winter around when it's too sunny to do anything outdoors. Yes.

Yeah. And we have, we're pretty good at keeping ourselves busy. And there is, we have little garden and things like that. But we also, there's a phenomenon in our neighborhood where basically every neighbor stops over at some point in the day. And someone always needs a piece of pipe or a part or has a question or just wants to chat it up with a couple of. of beers and tell a lot of lies I'm presuming. And yeah, we have a lot of characters in the neighborhood. It's just a rotation of characters coming through that are excellent source of material if I were to branch out into a stand-up comedy career.

Right. Or create a series of people-based images of taking some liberties. with these folks. So it sounds like you've got a great community. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good community. Everybody keeps an eye out on each other's properties. We're here part of the year, so we have full-timers that will give us the report after a hurricane if we've had any damage and things like that.

But for the most part, everybody's looking out for each other. Well, let's get to the advice portion of the show. How do you describe Baja? You've driven here. You said you've never flown. What's your word of advice? First time. Or the listening to the show, you're like,

I need some of that art making space in Baja sewer and the beauty and eating a mango in the middle of the day and having a beer and it's not even five o'clock yet. And what's the first thing you're going to say to somebody who's, you know, just hasn't done it? And they've watched, you know, whatever news report or this show or that. And they're kind of nervous, like, what could go wrong? Yeah. What do you say? I'd say ignore all of that and just get out there and live it. And 90% of, I mean, so far, 99.99% of everything you hear is hype.

And people here are extremely friendly. It's very safe. And there are elements to it that are not safe as far as American standards. It's like you can be walking down the sidewalk and there's a giant hole, you know. So little things like that that we're not used to that you have to keep your wits about you. And it's nice. It kind of sharpens your instincts and keeps on your toes. That piece of rebar that you may impale yourself on if you're not paying attention.

If you're looking at your phone as you're walking. Yeah. There's lots of that, but I'd say go for it. It's beautiful. And if you are an artist or creative person, I mean, this place has Frida Kahlo on their money. So it's also full of color and so much inspiration in the natural world, the birds and exotic insects and things, as well as the people. and the way that color is nothing to be scared of down here as far as painting and signs and signage. It's pretty fun that way, so go for it. So go for it. But we were talking your first trip down with your then boyfriend, not husband. You were talking about your trip with then boyfriend down to see his newly husband.

purchased spot here with a newly purchased used truck from the flea market. Yes. Which is, you know, you buy a truck at the flea market. It looks good. Headlights are falling out like only a couple miles down the road. Stuff was breaking. You slept in the back here and there. I'm assuming you've kind of upgraded from then, but you did say that you've got a half-finished

Volkswagen Beetle or not half-finish. You didn't use those words. I'm putting those words in your mouth. You said there's a Baja bug. Yes. A beautiful baby blue Baja bug. Yes. That looks like it needs a little bit of attention here and there.

Yes. It was missing front fenders in the picture that I saw, but that, you know, it still means it could go. Yeah. Well, all of those parts are laying in my yard, so they are there. But it's being wrenched on at all times and is often the center of attention when the name. neighbors stop by. There's a little cluster of dudes standing around and everybody has got a theory on what the right next step is for it. But it's had a, the former exhaust system was so loud and obnoxious. And it also, when we first started coming down here 20 years ago, we had like

literally three neighbors and now we have 40 and so we could go screaming all through the neighborhood dirt roads and not have any issues as far as upsetting anyone or hitting anything and so now he's currently putting on a new exhaust system that he left and came back the other day and I didn't even realize it, which is, if you had heard the original version, you would be in shock. You would know he was six blocks away. Yeah, but it's, I, that was my vehicle for a while to just go visit neighbors. And I had one neighbor in particular who had all of her grandmother's crystal she inherited. And we would make mimosa's and have like craft days because she's the only one that had an adequate solar system.

that could handle a glue gun. And so we would go over there. A glue gun and a blender. Yeah, exactly. And I would drive over in the bug and then somebody would be like, oh, I wish I had glitter. And I'd say, oh, I have it. And I could do like 700 miles an hour back to my house in the bug and grab it.

So we started calling it the Glitter Runner. But yeah. Today on Glitter Runner. It's very fun to drive. Awesome. And what sort of other vehicles have you made the trip down? Because what sort of other vehicles have you made the trip down from Mendocino Inn? Because it takes me 12 to 14 hours to get from San Francisco to San Diego and my old land cruiser down 101.

Yeah. You know, it's an investment. So are you doing it in three days to get down here? It typically takes us like four or five days. Okay. So Slow Baja approved on that too. Yeah. We take our time.

Or I'm giving, you know, unnecessary approvals here. But, yeah, a nice way to do it. Yeah, it's just more pleasant. And we try not to drive a night because of the cows in the middle of the road factor and things like that. But we first came down in like an old Ford Ranger that was fairly reliable. And then every time, you know, we do like a little upgrade on the vehicle. we would pick up a huge piece of some kind of random metal shrapnel in the road in our tire and be stuck on the road outside of Catovinia and somebody would inevitably stop and a Mexican

and help us out and there was usually some kind of food involved at some point but it was always easily resolved and definitely part of the adventure. We are just, we're driving a Toyota that's pretty clean, Toyota, Tacoma, and it's fairly reliable. Clean and reliable. I wonder where you're going with that conversation that every time you came down and the Ranger and you spent a little money to fix it up, something happened. And it was like a karmic thing, like making you more, creating a vehicle that was more in tune with your local environment. Can't get too fancy. I thought that's where you're going with that.

But where you did go with that, I think is also important for people to understand. So you just said it. Maybe that's somebody's worst nightmare broken down on the side of the road. What am I going to do? People are going to come and get me. Yeah. Well, people came and brought you food and helped you fix your truck, I'm assuming, is what happened there.

Yes. Or shared food they had with them. Yeah. Well, they take you into the next closest, you know, you take the tire off. You go ride in the back of their vehicle with six other people. and get to the next little tire shop, which is like three little walls standing and patched together. And inevitably they need some part that they don't have

and somebody else has to go get it. And in the meantime, there's someone just got fresh fish and now you're having fish tacos and you meet the whole family. And it's very, it's pretty fun. How has your Baja time influenced you as an artist and your artwork? It's been the ultimate ideal scenario for me as a creative person because you have to be creative in so many other realms of your life.

You have to be creative about when this thing, a part fails here and you need to come up with some sort of solution and you're out in the middle of the desert, you don't have access to a quick run to here or we don't have mail, we can't get parts delivered. And so we invent little ways to limp along. And it turns out once you allow that into the realm of possibility that there are so many things that you can, you still have at your fingertips. And so all of a sudden every little crusty old, you know, fork or whatever, becomes this valuable potential tool for something.

So that sort of teaches you other ways, ways to apply that in the creative sense. But I also like to gather things that I find down here. Like I'm working on a gods eye that is from an old tire iron that I found in the desert. And I have a, Rattle Snake that I made out of bottle caps and just a lot of found object things that you can't go to a Michael's craft store and buy materials so you have to find your own.

And I thrive off of that. Brooke, it's funny, you know, non-artists, you may tune out during this portion of the show, but 20 years ago when we were in Toto Santos for a month with our children, we took a walk every day. I took a walk or my wife took a walk when the kids were napping. Our kids were quite young. And it was a long dirt road. And there was some new construction that was happening around that area of Toto Santos.

So every day I'd pick up a piece of bent wire. And I had this growing collection of bent wire. I didn't really know that it was being cut off of rebar when they're unpacking, you know, stacks of rebar and that they've got the rebar. This is how they wired it, but I was these really fascinating. I was just so fascinated by how the wire gets so torqued and turned and twisted and tied. And I was picking these things up like one a day.

And then I started picking up, to say it's so funny, dead toads. So there was a lot of water in Toto Santos. And when the toads tried to cross the road at night, I guess they got run over or something. And, you know, they stay in the sun long enough. And they're just flat and they're beautiful. And then I had like 20 of them and then 30 of them. And my wife said, what the F are you doing with these dead toads outside in the sun? And then when we moved to the mainland, I was thinking like, what do I do with these dead toads?

I'm like, hmm, I'm leaving these in Toto Santos. That's what I'm doing with the dead toads. So the Dead Toad art project never materialized, but I still have the bag of bent wire that I'm waiting to like do something with. I haven't quite found the inspiration since picking it up and looking at it and bringing it with me. but what you're saying is inspiration is everywhere around you and if you can reduce the number of distractions from our daily digital otherwise you know filled with images and advertising and stuff and the ability to pop down to Michaels anytime you want for your whatever art supply you need that if you just clear your mind of all that you Your creativity level rises. Yes. And the way you see probably changes.

Yeah. Yeah, it's actually have a whole list of things that I've been making or have made over the years. There was a time when you would come down here and you had to get these, I think it's called Lauditel cards. Yeah, sure. And they had a little chip in it and you plugged it into the payphone. and they did a series of the Mexican, like, folk artist art on these cards, and I saved a bunch of those and put them on other found objects. And I have been, I think you saw the cyanotypes I posted.

Sionotypes are sunprints, they're also called, but it's a photographic process where you expose this. chemically treated paper to the sun with chosen objects that will then create a silhouette once you develop it, which is basically just rinsing it in water. And I've had, we've had a little, for some reason, a lot of very large scorpions this year. And there was one that died, freshly deceased. And I kept him and I used him for a silhouette. And then I would add in some like old crochet lace that I have stashed away and little objects to make some sort of composition. And I was earlier working on making ink with Haimica, which is the drink down here made from hibiscus flowers, and it makes a really beautiful like magenta red. So natural dyes.

There's just so much to work with and inspiration to work with it. We're going to take a quick break because I'm inspired now. We're going to let me keep a couple tacos in the tank with my friend Jeff Hill at Baja Bound. I'm going to tell you about how great Baja Bound is, and we'll be right back. Haiti, wish you had joined us on the Nora 500. Well, here is your chance. It's double the mileage, double the fun, double the parties, the dirt. It is the Nora Mexican 1000. We're going to drive by day. We're going to party by night.

I'm pouring Fortaleza tequila, April 30th through May 6th. 2020. We're driving the entire peninsula. You don't want to miss out on this one. Again, if I can do it in my 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser, totally stock. You can do it in any modern 4x4. The Nora Mexican 1000 is the happiest race on earth. Check it out at nora.com. RRA.com or on Slow Baja. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruisers out of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. The website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajabound.com.

That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. Hey, we're back with Brooke Elgin, and we're talking about art, the creative process, the expat life without resort wear, Baja, Baja, putting scorpions and making santa types on them and just getting daily inspiration from Baja. Can you explain the place? I think I'm already circling back around to that question. Can you explain this place your existence here? That is tricky, but I feel like there's kind of two different places happening. There's the town version. I live out in the more rural desert.

area. But it is this very sort of colorful, chaotic. There's something sort of electrical about the atmosphere here that just feels potent in its vitality. And it is, you see things like rattlesnakes and scorpions and that conceptually you would be like that's terrifying I would never want to see those things but when you do it's you're sort of hypnotized and you're drawn toward them and it's very exciting and yeah it's yesterday we went into the old part of town to get a tire mounted for the Baja bug and it was on a busy intersection, four-way intersection, right on the corner. And we were just sitting there waiting and it was just like this chaos everywhere and all this noise and dust and it's hot. And

the more you sit there, the more you just, it's slowly being visually revealed to you all the strange wonderfulness of it all. And the people, everyone's waving and stuff. And the people, everyone's waving and smiling and happy. And then there's just bizarre things. Like there was a menu for a little sandwich shop. And one of them, sandwiches was named after Shakira. And a little picture of Shakira. And just it's...

Shakira, Shakira. I just had to throw that in there. It's like the club sandwich. There's a lot of fodder for the imagination. All right. Yeah. Well, Brooke, I'm excited. because you have one of your own handmade notebooks here,

which is lovely, spiral bound eight and a half by 11. And you've got a full page of beautiful pencil notes there. Yes. What do you want to talk about? Well, I have some pretty hilarious stories. Of those stories where if someone were to tell me this is going to happen to you, I would be like, oh my God, I'm never going there again.

But having lived through it, it was just, it feels sort of like a badge of honor, one of which was visiting a Mexican dentist here. Well, let's go through that. Because the other day I bit into this candy. No, it's one of those local candies. It's not a corporate candy. Right. It's a local candy, but it's like a made out of fruit thing.

Yeah. And I didn't realize, like, the other little thing in the bag was, a, like a pit that's soaked in salt. So I just thought it was, you know, I had the whatever you have this part, tamarindo or something, and it's soft and gooey and, you know, salty and just like everything, lime, salt, you know, some sort of hot-ish taste. And then it's like, then you have this thing. And I go to chomp on it. And it's like, aw, that thing is hard as a rock. It's a, it's a pebble soaked in salt. Yes. But it was a prune pit or something. So I really thought four days ago I was going to a dentist somewhere. I didn't know where. I was taking Advil and whatever and tequila, adville and tequila at regular

interval. But my tooth is fine now, but let's get on to it. That's good. Mexican dentists. Yes, I had a toothache and it had gotten to the point where it needed to be addressed. And so we drove into town. Town meaning here. Into San Jose. and there's a big bridge coming in over the main Oroyo, and I immediately noticed that there were just people everywhere. Like some sort of event was happening, and we did not know, but it was Mexican Independence Day. Oh, yeah, September.

And everyone was just wasted, and there were people shoulder to shoulder. And I had never been to this dentist. They were recommended to me. And this is in, during the pandemic. No. Okay. So people were shoulder to shoulder. Right.

No, this was pre-pando. Pre-pando. And back in the before times. But yeah, we were trying to find this dentist office, which just was right downtown. And everyone was like, yeah, you have to go see this woman. She's great. And we got there. And, of course, she wasn't there.

You know, you have to find a place to park. And it was just, it was classic. There were all these people with, like, sombreros on screaming, Viva la Mexico and, like, falling down in the streets. And so we found our little spot and we get there. She had not arrived or she, I think they just stay home or something until somebody calls them. And her assistant was like, okay, we got a live one. And they said she's going to be here soon.

And my Spanish is very limited. Their English was the same. And so we waited. She finally arrives. She takes the next rain. She's like, it's no problem. No problem. And we.

start the whole process and she can't get she's going to pull the tooth it's like a way past its prime molar in the back and she's like okay well um hold on and and she it just keeps going and going and she can't get my tooth out but she's already like cut it into several pieces and um but she just keeps repeating no problem no problem and at something point in an effort to calm me down, I'm greeting my teeth right now. They decided to put on American music, specifically Huey Lewis, who I am not a fan of. So I don't know what was worse. I'm like, oh.

It's the power of love. Pop, bump, bump. Yeah, well, you know, he had a couple of hits there. Oh, so this went on for like two hours of her trying to pull my tooth. And finally, you know, I heard some what sounded like prayers, like me, Dios, this and that. And then at some point, she's like, no problem. I'm going to call my my amigo. And now we're waiting for this guy to negotiate his way through the festivities.

And he shows up like 45 minutes later. And he's like, okay. And he just puts me in a headlock. Well, he showed up with a fishing tackle box. one of those plastic ones. And he puts me in a headlock, puts the chair all the way back, and just yanks that tooth out of there. And he was like, okay, now you drink a Coca-Cola.

And I was like, I don't, I'm pretty sure that's what got me into this predicament. And he's like, no, no, you have to drink a Coke. It's, you're very nervous and this is going to calm you down. And it's good for your brain or something. So then they sent somebody to go get a Coca-Cola, and that took like a half an hour. And Excuse me laughing It was hilarious

But insane But I survived it And it was fine For the record she still has teeth folks I'm fully capable chewing Her husband made her a great set of George Washington wooden teeth He's so handy

Some abalone shell teeth Yeah But it was just one of those classic scenarios where there's like a situation, it needs to be dealt with immediately, and you have to go through this whole sort of Mexican obstacle course of bizarre things. It almost always involves a Coca-Cola or whatever. But yeah, but I feel like the Huey Lewis part was the worst.

Huey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry if you're listening, Huey. Huey, I know you're a fan of Slow Baja. Maybe, yeah, right. In another setting, Huey would have been great. However, I would urge your listeners to get their soundtrack to getting your tooth drilled together right now before. Before you come down to Mexico. But you have teeth.

You've got a great smile. It worked out. And I think that's the point here. You got through it. And you've got to have a couple others. So, you know, let's get into worst case scenarios that you survived. Okay. Well, that's my specialty.

There was another incident where one of my neighbors has a pack of pit bulls. And they were, I had gone, I'd known these people for years, and I've known the dogs for years. I went to visit, and you ring a bell at the gate, and he was not home. And apparently he hadn't been home for a few days. He'd gone to the mainland, and someone else was carrying him. for the dogs so they were extremely wound up and one of the dogs there was a little hole in the fence and he just perfectly got his giant meathead through that hole and snagged the corner of my mouth and tore it open and i didn't even feel it i just i felt like something on my neck which turned

out to be blood but i looked at my husband and he i could tell by his reaction something was a miss And so we immediately drove back into town. This was a different year pre-pandemic. But we came into town and we went to the Gringo Hospital. And they really wanted us to give them like thousands of dollars in cash before they would do anything. And you've got a bleeding mouth, bleeding face. And I was like, you know, My husband was freaking out, and I just kind of got up from the exam room and said, let's go somewhere else.

And we walked outside, and a taxi driver happened to be coming by, and he was like, oh, I know, no problem, I know where to take you. So he took us to the local clinic. And we pulled up in front of there. There was a few blocks away, and the doctor was outside eating at Tamali. there were chickens walking around and a couple cats and we went into this place and it looked like something like post-Iraq war like everything was broken and falling there was a there was water dripping from the ceiling into a little pot and the people were so nice and so just generally cool they were like, okay, come in, you're going to be fine, no problem.

And the woman that helped us said, okay, I don't speak English. So I'm going to call my son who speaks English. And I'm going to tell him what he's going to then tell you. And she calls him and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. And then he turns to me and he goes, my mother says you are going to be fine. And so they take me in a room with the, a couple of police officers that had just arrested some guys that had gotten in like a drunken brawl and they were zip tied their hands were zip tied behind them and they had similar injuries

and we were like nodding to each other hey how's it going and we all got stitched up together and there was no anesthesia my husband had to hold the light for the doctor which um was like some kind of bendy light from office max or something like that. And yeah, they stitched me up and sent me on my way. I believe they recommended a Coca-Cola as well. And it costs like $24. And I was totally fine. I mean, I do have a little bit of a ventriloquist dummy scar,

but I feel like it adds to my character. And it's pretty amazing. story and I feel like you know if I can survive these things then it gives you some sort of demented peace of mind that you know the human body is capable of enduring a lot of things and so yeah we went back and they took out the stitches and um at some point uh it it was fine it's no problem Well, I didn't want to be crass or judgmental to say like, hey, well, it does give you character, Brooke. But it goes.

It does give you character. And, you know, it was affordable. It was, it was very affordable. If you want to get into medical incidents here, this is the place to do it. Things happen. All right. So let's bring it home. Yes.

How do you segue from that story? So let's tell me about, um, where. people can find you. I found you on Instagram. Is that the spot that you meet the greater world? Yeah, that's that is the main hub for all my artwork, my portfolio essentially and just a little snippet of my lifestyle as well and the occasional food photo, things like that. Yeah, Instagram is. And can you describe? your Instagram handle? Oh, the name?

Yes. And where it came from? The Evil Scrunchies is a name that came as a result of having formally had a more professional name in the attic studio. When I was trying to be, you know, like a legit commercial artist. And as far as what I believed it to be, you know, you have to like play. the game or whatever. Did you have a rep? No.

So the Instagram was your rep? Yes. All right, got you. Yeah. But I had an account and I had gotten a bit of a following, not huge but enough. You know, it takes time to develop these things. But I had gotten locked out. You're telling me.

The struggle is real. But yeah, I got locked out of my account and it just made me infuriated that you can put so much time into something. And so I decided to the second time around not take myself so seriously. And I have a list of fake band names because that is one of the other things that I like to illustrate is fake album covers for fake bands. In the show notes, kids, in the show notes, we're going to tell you about what albums were. The Evil Scrunchies was a fictional band. and I said, let's just go with that. And it happened to be, at that time, all of a sudden,

scrunchies became popular again. And so it was a little awkward being in, like, pop-up maker markets next to the woman that was making scrunchies. Homemade scrunchies. I'm not making fun of you, really. I'm not. I am not making fun of your scrunchy efforts, ma'am. Yeah, I was like, it's a band, I swear. But, yeah, it's a definitely, it's a good conference.

conversation starter and a lot of people tell me like very interesting scrunchy related stories or they apologize for using them or they're like I only use them at night I swear when I'm sleeping and yeah so it's just it's definitely is a good way to stand out in a crowd so tonight at the club the evil scrunchies but so you've you've handed me a fabulous card note card You said it didn't sell, and I don't know why. It says greetings from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and it has a beautiful three-masted schooner and some lovely turn-of-the-century hands and a plastic water bottle. So you've got a little bit of irony sometimes, huh? Yes. Yeah, it's all sort of a big social experiment for me personally.

And I liked the idea that it's very visual. appearing as appealing as far as the colors and the content has that Victorian you know Sailors Valentine nostalgic look to it but then when you read what it says you're kind of like a kick in the gut and apparently people do not want to send cards to their loved ones that have that theme I'm going to send my loved one that card so thanks for making it although my family we that's we have that sense of humor. It's the evil scrunchies. There's some underscores in there, but Instagram will get you there any way you spell it.

I've been lurking. I've got to say, I've been lurking on your site, checking out your work. So I appreciate you making some time telling me a little bit about the expat life, how many things can be fixed with the Coca-Cola in the medical profession here in paid content, paid sponsored content, Coca-Cola and the medical profession. Mexico. And really, thanks for making some time for Slow Baja. I really enjoyed the tacos and getting to know you and about your work. And I think with the kids in the background, we're going to say, that's a wrap. Yes. Yeah, thanks for having me. That's fun. Take care. Thanks, Brooke.

Appreciate it. Hey, I hope you enjoyed that lighthearted conversation with Brooke at the Evil Scrunchies on Instagram, if you're over there on the gram. She really creates some beautiful art. you just don't hear enough about scorpions and sanotypes and trying to make ink out of hamaika. I love the inspiration of the deprivation of the store-bought material that she, you know, finds stuff and makes stuff, and I just think that's really beautiful. And I was delighted to have had her on the show. So check her out the Evil Scrunchies on Insta. And if you like what I'm doing over here at Slow Baja, please take her.

a minute drop me a five-star review on iTunes or if you're a Spotify listener a new rating system over there please get some ratings in so people can find this show aren't that many people out there talking about Baja so if you love Baja I'm hoping you get to hear me because I do love Baja and I love sharing these shows week after week as you know I'm counting down Nora 1000's coming right up the class is sold out the slow Baja safari class is sold out folks delighted about that I'll have 20 people in my class. But I do need to drop a few tacos in the tank. So if you are able, if you know anybody who needs a 2x or a 3x or an XL, get over to their Slow Baja and buy them a shirt or send them to Slow Baja so they can buy themselves a shirt, we've got trucker hats

back in stock. We've got some knit caps if it's still cold where you are. Do me a kind turn of events and rep that slow Baja stuff so I can drop a taco in the tank or a gallon of gas these days, which is damned expensive. So I can keep on bringing in these fun stories week after week after week. And I will be back next week for the fun show. So until then, cheers. Have I told you about my friend True Miller? You've probably heard the podcast, but let me tell you, her vineyard, Adobe Guadalupe

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