Feb 17, 2014
Mel Gibson called me “bro”
After about two or three hours of navigating the Costa Rican mountains in our busted Rav4, I assumed the worst was behind us. Jacob, Alex and I were only 40-50 miles away from Santa Teresa, so I thought we’d be on the beach enjoying Piña Coladas in an hour or so.
Between the time I had that thought and the actual beach, we forded 2 rivers with water higher than the door jams, jumped our SUV over a ditch 5 feet wide, played chicken with an obese ox, and blindly rerouted because the only road on our map was washed out by high tide. We would have been completely lost if wasn’t for a local guardian angel on a Ducati who escorted us all the way to the beach.
We pulled into the remote beach town of Santa Teresa and immediately B-lined it for one of the few restaurants on the main road. After sitting for a half-hour and B.S.’ing about how lost we were, I peeked out the window at another gringo fiddling with his phone outside. I take another few seconds to give him the once over, then I realize.
“Man, that guy looks a lot like…holy actual shit you guys…that is Mel fucking Gibson.”
Yes. Mel fucking Gibson.
He was sitting at the same café in an isloated corner of Costa Rica, taking selfies and reviewing. A moment later he came inside, paid for some pastries, and as he was on his way out, I casually leaned back and said:
Hey man, love your movies.
Yup. That’s the best I could think of.
He paused for a moment with the door already open in front of him. He looked over his shoulder and said:
Thanks bro.
It was at that moment I soiled my pants and considered my life complete.
I have no idea why Mel was out there and can only assume he too was taking a little vacation time. Either way, it was one of the crazier celeb sightings I’ve ever had.
If you’re reading this Mel…I’d just like to say, specifically, I really enjoyed Conspiracy Theory and Forever Young. I did not love What Women Want. Thanks bro.
