I was sitting there making tacos out of barbacoa, and green chili sauce rolled in tortillas, when this gal, who was a little out of it, sat down on the wall next to me and said, “What are you eating?” I said, cheek meat.  That’s what barbacoa is.  On the last two days I have come to Spring Break, here at Padre Island, Tx., with half a muffaletta sandwich, a delicious New Orleans concoction, I bought when I was heading toward the Cajun Trail on the coast of Louisiana.  Then, the weather man said on the radio the temperature would be in the thirties there, so I passed on that place, and drove a marathon to Padre Island. Half of a muffaletta was a good foundation for all the ACBs I’d imbibe at Spring Break.
    The third day I wandered through a flea market, where I bought three Escard Crystals for $7 and a brisket dinner. The fourth day I needed to find something for drunk insurance. I’d been in a texmex grocery store and saw roast barbacoa pork. Where the pork meat came from I didn’t know, so I asked the man behind the counter.  He said, from pork cheeks. I assumed he meant from the head. Later I realized pork cheeks could be 1 of 2 places. I had a good laugh and was sitting there on the wall at the edge of the Spring Breakers making and eating my tacos, as the coed inquired. As she reached for the spoon, I said, “No.”  I’d seen her sneezing. I said, “put your hand out and I’ll drop some cheek meat on it.”  I did, but didn’t think she’d like it. She put it in her mouth, made an amazing enjoyable look on her face, and said, “you know it tastes pretty good!!!” I thought so, too; really tasty grease, no matter where it came from, but I couldn’t eat all the 3⁄4 of a pound I’d bought, so she offered some to her friend, with its description, who turned up her nose.
    After sharing more cheek meat, she emphatically, said “you can’t be from this country if you’re eating this stuff.” I said, “yeah, I am.  I’m from Ocean City, Md.” and told her about the texmex market. She said she knew where Maryland was and had an aunt who lived in Hagerstown. Hagerstown! That’s where I’m from! Small world. She got more interested in the clear stuff in her bottle, offered me a shot, but I said, “No, I wouldn’t be right for a week if I drank that!” That stuff was taking effect and she laid down in the grass at noon like lots of these kids.
    A rent-a-cop with the hotel that owned the wall I was sitting on told me I couldn’t take photos with my camera today. I told him he’d have a real tough job enforcing that with all the people with cell phones, ipods, and all.  They all had cameras in them. Then the real police drove up in a golf cart. The gal I’d shared my cheek meat with struck up a conversation with them. I noticed his badge said “Chief of Police,” so I asked him what the deal was with photos. He looked at my camera and said, mine was OK, but they were restricting the use of ones with big telephotos. I asked where the security guards’ jurisdiction ended. He said at the wall I had been sitting on.
    So I went out on the beach, photographed the crazies (photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/o.c.fotoguy2009), and went to the stage where a dance contest was going on. A dozen or so males and females had signed up for solo performances. I got a position where I wouldn’t be stepped on or be stampeded over to watch and take pics. The men were first and each performed, smiling at the crowd, showing what they had, some doing gymnastics, and some did break dancing. The break dancers were very good. The women, like in O.C. bikini contests did some gymnastics, but 90 percent of the time they were on stage they showed the crowd their derrière!  Why? Is that their best part to show off? I think not.
    Spring Break here is not a week, it goes on for the whole month of March and there’re between 5-10,000 partiers on the beach daily!  It’s billed as the biggest beach party on the planet. There’re DJs playing music and entertainment every day from about noon till 5pm. The dance contest seems to be the main event. There’s a tug of war tournament with competing teams from different colleges, lots of give-aways (T-shirts, coolies, & frisbees, etc.) and thousands of ACBs and other intoxicants are consumed in huge quantities. Inhaling beer from a tube after it’s poured into an attached funnel is very popular.  No thanks, I’m happy to taste mine sip by sip. No alcohol is sold on the beach, but a ton is carried on to it.
    There are lots of fuzniks and EMTs.  They were very visible and amongst the crowd, but I didn’t see any arrests in the four days I was there and I didn’t hear an ambulance. To go along with that, the bus is free. The major sponsors were Coca Cola, GEICO, and the military recruiters.  It was a great party, but I still caught her cold even though I didn’t let her touch my spoon! I may as well have tasted her loco juice!
    If you and yours want to do a family photo on the beach here in OC give me a call (410-289-733), send me an email (ocfotoguy@aol.com) or go to PhotosAsYouWantThem.biz.  EZ2CY photos on the beach are a SHORE THING!