Heather in Paradise

Some of you may recall that I am a willing participant each year in the Three Legged Bar Crawl that benefits Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya’s Bomberos (Firefighters)…and each year, generous sponsors, including the fine forum members of www.playa.info have helped my team to raise money for much-needed equipment and training. Firemen here get paid a fairly paltry salary by the government, and must raise money to get any equipment/training beyond the bare minimum.

In his years acting as Comandante of the Bomberos, my friend Brian Borjesson has taken a small and ill-equipped fireteam and created a knowledgeable and well-trained department. In addition, he has favorably impacted the training and supplies/equipment of fire departments throughout Quintana Roo. He has done this through the help of some US firefighters from Colorado and California, who come down each year with donations and their top-shelf expertise to train the Bomberos of Quintana Roo at a Fireman’s Academy. This weeklong training exercise is often the only training our firemen will get all year, so its importance cannot be overstated.

Last year, our area was gifted with Jaws of Life for several departments. With the horrific accidents that occur on the highway here, this equipment has already proved invaluable. Last year’s Academy focused on training our Bomberos how to use this equipment, and their demonstration of this technique at the Fireman’s Competition was inspiring to watch.

The time for the infamous Three Legged Bar Crawl/Bomberos Fundraiser is again upon us. Here are the details of this year’s event:

When: Saturday, March 22.
Time: 7 pm
Starting/ending bar: La Ranita bar on Calle 10 between 5th and 10th (part of the Hotel La Rana Cansada)

Participating bars include:
Bar Ranita
Manne’s Biergarten
Casa Tucan
Bad Boys on the beach
Bourbon Street
Tequila Barrel
Babe’s Noodles and Bar

Registered teams must raise at least 600 pesos in donations. Part of this 600 pesos will go to purchase the drinks for the teams, with the balance going to help raise funds for the upcoming Bombero’s Academy. Obviously, the more money raised, the better!

This year the race is being run a bit differently, there is no set pattern/order that you must run in, but you must simply visit each bar on your list at some point, consume a shot of tequila or a beer, then get your race card signed/initialed by the staff member in charge at each bar.

This year, because of this:

I have been given a special dispensation. I will be in a wheelchair, and my teammate, Sara of Playa Maya News, will be pushing me along. We’re bringing along Michael, too, since we’re pretty sure we’ll be unable to navigate that big hill down to Bad Boys alone. As is par for the course, we will be wearing some sort of interesting costume. If you can come out to see what we’re planning this year, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!

Here is a picture of Mayte and me just before last year’s race:

If any of you are interested in helping Sara and me to collect money for this event, please donate by going to www.PayPal.com and clicking on the link that says “send money.” Then just follow the prompts to donate directly to us by using the following email address:

sales@playamayanews.com

Please be sure to write in your comments/subject line “Three Legged Race.” We will keep you updated with donation totals.

Anyone who’d like more information or would like to put a team together, call 984-135-1233.