Agua Caliente means “hot water” but last week for the Mighty Lakota it meant the sacred hot springs that well up at the base of the rugged desert mountains outside San Diego County. Agua Caliente Camp grounds was where the tribes of the Wildcat nation gathered with their princesses to share the most fleeting and precious of things…time together.
A small gathering of dedicated Lakota warriors arrived Friday to set up the campsite for their brothers and their princesses who would be arriving later that evening and the next day. Franco towed the tribe’s brand new trailer across the mountain grade and the hostile desert floor to the place they would call home for the next few days. The trailer was filled with all the equipment the Lakota would need to protect, feed and entertain their princesses.
By the next day the remainder of the Lakota tribe had arrived and set up tents and the princesses wasted no time making fast friends again and exploring the rocky surroundings. The Serrano tribe issued a challenge to the other tribes, a scavenger hunt. The Mighty Lakota eagerly accepted this challenge and the race was on. The hour passed quickly and soon there was a pile of treasures to be counted at the Lakota camp. Lakota found most all the items on the list and even used some of those items to create other items. The green pen was used to make a green umbrella and a gift certificate. A trip the Ranger station yielded a wealth of treasures like his signature, a Chargers lightning bolt and a NASCAR logo. While the Mighty Lakota fought valiantly, we were edged out because we were not able to produce a stapler, a Kid’s Bop CD or a pink iPod. Still, we battled well and the princesses proved to be clever and resourceful.
Spirits were lifted when sites were then set on 6 piñatas, a very steep mountain climb that proved Lakota girls are pretty and tough, a tri-tip dinner and the nation campfire. A new cheer was created, the Agua Caliente cheer which goes like this: “Shhhhh.”
Sunday came in with a shush of its own. Nature’s shush started around 4am in the form of gale-force winds that woke every sleepy tribe member as it whipped over and around tents. Nature demanded respect that morning and reminded some tribesmen why there are little loops on the sides and corners of tents. Some had to get up and stake their tents down.
The spirits were with the Wildcat Nation that morning because the wild winds that pushed their tents around like cheap kites also pushed the rain clouds, past the sacred hot spring oasis, out over the flat desert lands that stretched out in the distance to drop their payloads on the thirsty sand and cactus and not on us. The Mighty Lakota was wind-swept but dry. We were all able to pack up dry tents and gear and safely head back to the hustle bustle of city life and the comfort of a little agua caliente in the showers and bathtubs of home sweet home.