Rico Austin

My Bad Tequila Rico Austin

Mystery, Mayhem, Madness..
Margaritas & Mexico

One Man's Epic Journey across two Continents and four Countries with 50 years of Adventure. But,1986 changed everything forever. "It's all good until it turns bad." One event devastated the lives of 19 Students, 3 Chaperones and 1 Bus Driver. Was it the Tequila???

Thinking about sending your "Kids" to Paradise Unsupervised? THINK AGAIN!!!

EXCERPT from CHAPTER 1

I boarded the bus having a bit of difficulty due to the metal support brace that I had fixed to my right knee. I looked at my "amigos," a word we had learned on this trip to Mexico, we each used it loosely - each person, place or thing that we encountered was our Amigo.

"Sorry for being the last person."

It was 8:12 a.m., we were supposed to be gone and on the asphalt broken highway back to life as we knew it no later than 8:00 a.m. There was a silence of which I have never heard before nor have ever heard since. I trapped a bee with my thumb that had been swarming around my beer either attracted to the fruit inside my bottle or the rotten salsa that was smeared on the outside.

"Still nothing from Tina?" The words came slurred from my dry swollen, partly scabbed lips, which had enjoyed too much sun and salty margaritas.

My question was answered by the anguished looks of my fellow spring breakers. Tina had not surfaced. The last time any of us, including her two roommates had seen her was 36 hours earlier.

This is "My Bad Tequila."

This spring getaway was supposed to be a fun experience and a pleasant memory. It ended up being more than a memory; it was an unpleasant walk through life.

EXCERPT from CHAPTER 12

"OHH, don't blame myself. Who the hell do you think Teddy is blaming, and I can give you twenty to one odds that I know who Shelley is cursing at this very moment. So don't tell me you understand." I spit the words at her and then, for emphasis, took a huge swig from my 100% agave, hecho en (made in) Mexico bottle.

I gulped down three more over-sized shots before wiping my mouth and letting out a, "Yum, yum, me gusta tequila."

I unlocked the back door, taking much longer than it should have and walked onto the small patio with my held tightly, nearly empty glass, my only firiend. Darkness had set in and I reminded myself, "I only have two more nights in this sorry ass Mexican town and country," sounding my thoughts into words out in the open breezy air. I noticed fog had started to form and was nearly up to our motel's altitude.

"Good," I secretly thought. "This fog will hide me as I drink out here tonight," smiling for the first time since coming back from the beach that afternoon.

Faint weeping was coming from inside and I took a step sideways to look in on Tina. She was crouched on my bed, not fully in the fetal position, but close, and sobbing quietly. And once again, there wa the fu-king, tiny, blue book with the wording "Diary" sticking out of her bag.

Not wanting to hear more sounds of sorrow I stayed on the exterior side of the room and finished off my bottle. "One down, one to go," was the only thought that mustered.

"You'll see the true reflection of me when the Tequila bottle is empty," I shouted out to the wind as I tossed the sad, angry, bottle-shaped mirror to the sea.

I sat for a while and watched the fog slowly envelope the town, the surrounding mountains and everything else I could see minutes before.

After what could have been five minutes or it could have been an hour, I stepped back into the room and grabbed my other bottle.

EXCERPT from CHAPTER 13

"What in the world happened here last night?" trying to recollect the last thing I could recall.

Searching, searching my memory bank, "Aw yes, it was coming back to me now; there was fog last night, real fog, I was drinking Tequila and was trying to wake Tina up, and, and...." my mind came to a sudden halt.