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Wed, January 10

Back From Mexico!

Back! And it already seems like yesterday that J and I were lounging in hammocks and counting how long the sunsets took. We stayed at a little hotel on the beach (just a dozen or so small cabanas) owned by a charming French guy named Julian. Each hut was decorated with African masks and they each had a four-poster bed (with mosquito netting). We had our own porch, and hammock. When the doors to the cabana were open, I could sit in my bed and see the ocean a mere 70 feet before me. It was PARADISE. Though, it was certainly no Hilton (think no toilet paper being allowed anywhere but in the waste basket and no hot water), it was as good as life gets in San Augustinillo (and for only about $60 a night!). Every morning I would have a bowl of fruit with yogurt and granola. We would walk along the beaches and hike over the rocks.

There was one area along the beach that in order to cross, you had to crawl through a crevice in the rocks while someone else was on the lookout to make sure the waves weren’t about to crash through it. I ended up scraping my back because I was so scared I would drown.

Our favorite meal was at a little taco shack where the cook alternated between making our tacos “al pastor and” breastfeeding her baby (you know, the secret recipe). We each had about 15 tacos, they were so darn good.

After Christmas, we headed over to Puerto Escondido. It was a ton busier than San Augustinillo, where we had been the only Americans there. There was a huge group of skydivers there, so the beach was more crowded than usual. Last time we were in Puerto we learned how to scuba. This time we attempted to learn how to surf. Our instructor was a debonair looking Mexican with bleached blonde hair. He spoke little English except the words: “Ehready? You suuuure? Ehgetup!” And his favorite: “Bikini bikini bikini!” (Because of course, I hadn’t dressed properly for the occasion, my suit kept on threatening to fall off with every swish of water). I did manage to ride my long board to the shore a few times, but the waves were so high I often freaked myself out. The waves were so strong that when I dove under them, the current yanked my surfboard away from me so hard that it almost pulled my leg out if its socket.

We spent New Years Eve at The Rockaway—a hotel that’s pretty popular with surfers and old hippies. We sat around a tiny bar, where miraculously the bartender and a friend somehow were able to whip up a full meal of pork filled with fruit, some shrimp in Russian dressing, green beans, and mashed potatoes. One of the men next to me (a “regular”) was drinking a dark brown drink. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was a special Mescal (a type of tequila) that was made by one of his friends across the bar. After a couple of sips of the licoricey drink he told me it had “hallucinogenic effects”. No thanks! I prefer marguerites…either way, it ended up being a pretty rough night. We watched fireworks on the beach. Those peeps in Puerto sure know how to party. When I woke up at 5 in the morning, I could still hear people dancing in the streets, and the kids were still awake.

Since there was a lot of political turmoil in Oaxaca these past few months, it too was almost devoid of tourists. But when we got there we found it was very tame. There was a major police presence around the Zocolo, and the city had painted white paint over any trace of graffiti or posters from the protestors. Sometimes it was eerie: You could still see broken glass where rocks had been thrown at some of the buildings. Otherwise, everything was as beautiful as I remembered. At night, kids would buy huge balloons and toss them up into the air by the big church on the Zocolo. Men with guitars serenaded the cafes. All the parks still had “birth in the manger” scenes and Christmas lights. And hooray! I did not get sick this time! We happened to have gotten a great deal at the best hotel in the city (The Camino Real). It used to be a monastery. So gorgeous! Boy did it feel good to finally take a hot shower and not need to use mosquito nets or Bug Be Gone. Oh, and there wasn’t even an option to throw toilet paper in a wastebasket—it was placed outside the bathroom.

We took a two-hour tour of the botanical gardens by the Church of Santo Domingo. We saw all kinds of cacti, native plants, and every kind of pepper imaginable. The tour guide was a little long winded, but we learned a lot more than we expected about the history of the church we so admired each time we passed it. We found a great new place to eat that was in a courtyard. They served jicama with limejuice and chili powder in lieu of tortilla chips when you sit down.

It all seems so far away now, in the cold and darkness of the city. It’s the kind of cold that makes you want to stay home and cook dinner. At least I’d being healthy and saving money!

Posted by lexzog at January 10, 2007 10:37 PM

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