Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca

Being extremely blessed with a schedule that allows me to travel, I took advantage and spent almost a week in Puerto Escondido. Puerto Escondido is located on the Pacific Coast of the state of Oaxaca and is known for it's great waves. I had been wanting to go there ever since I read about it in a travel magazine several years ago. Little did I know that the waves were a little more than what I was used to or what I'm comfortable with.

When I got there I immediately noticed a difference in the air and temperature from what I've grown accustomed to in Mexico City. The humidity, something I don't tend to appreciate, was very thick and the sun was very strong. Even though I tend to stay away from humidity, I loved the heat in that moment. I got to my hotel, checked in, then went for a stroll along the beach. It was a Tuesday but I was still pretty shocked to find that there weren't people laying out on the beach or swimming in the ocean. During my hour walk I encountered only about 5 other people strolling along the beach.

I met up with my friend, Nick, another Fulbrighter, who had been there for several weeks. Lucky son of a gun doesn't start school until this coming week. Since he had been there for so long, and had been there before, I looked to him to help me get acquainted with this small beach town. Wednesday morning he came to get me at 6:30 am so we could go catch some early morning waves before the crowds of surfers get there. We got to "The Point" when it was still dark and sat in the sand and ate delicious mangos while we waited for the sun to come up (My love affair with mangos has become even more intense here). Before the sun had even touched the waves, Nick headed into the water, pointing to where he was going to be, where the rocks were to avoid, etc. Given those directions I decided to wait a few more minutes until I was able to see where I was going. I had never been here and didn't want to end up crashing into the rocks that he was warning me about. About 10 minutes later, I stepped into the water, which was warmer than the cool morning air outside. I paddled out and found Nick. After just a few minutes I saw a wave approaching, paddled, and rode it in. Yeah, my first wave! Little did I know, that would be my only wave... ah, well.

The rest of the morning I was tossed around and got quite a beating from the ever-powerful Pacific. The next day I had sore ribs, a bruise on my thigh from where my leash somehow got wrapped around me during an underwater struggle, and quite a deflated ego. Shamefully I didn't surf after that day, even though the waves got smaller and were much more my "level". Oh, well, I still have more time here to get better at surfing. Instead of getting up to surf I got up and ran a few mornings. I was SO nice being able to run at sea level!

Later that day Nick and I headed to a small beach called Playa Carrizalillo. It's about a 45 minute walk from Playa Zicatela, the main beach where my hotel was. Playa Carrizalillo is a small bay tucked away from the rest of Puerto Escondido, and only accessible by a long staircase (or you can kayak there, which we ended up doing a couple days later). I took advantage of the calmer waters and went for a little swim, but on my way back to shore I hit my knee on a rock, right on a sea urchin. I didn't really notice until I was back on the shore, sitting on my pareo, and saw that my knee was bleeding. When I looked closer I saw the little black spike-thingies stuck in my knee. Ouch. So far, Puerto Escondido was giving me quite a beating!

On the walk back to Playa Zicatela, Nick showed me the bridge that he liked to jump off. Without any hesitation, he jumped right off the bridge and into the water below. Scared the BEJESUS out of me because there are rocks under the bridge. From where I was standing I couldn't tell how deep it was or how deep those rocks where.... After a few minutes of deep breaths, I finally took my first plunge from the bridge. Whew! Once you get the fear out of the way, it was really fun and of course I jumped again, and again, even tried to get fancy (see video). Nick took it to the next level and climbed up on the rocks above the bridge and jumped into the water from there. That scared me! (see video). Soon a couple of Spaniards approached the bridge and we tried convincing them that it wasn't that bad, they should do it, etc, etc. The girl never did and it took the guy quite a while to get the courage to jump. I'm glad he did because he sure was going to look like a wuss not jumping while this crazy americana kept doing it. :)

Kayaking to Playa Carrizalillo was fun, too. Nick met a guy named Balthazar from Switzerland and we soon became the 3 Musketeers. We rented kayaks and ventured to the small beach. Once there we relaxed in our favorite spot, in the shade, just watching the waves and the few surfers that were there. On the way back, it started storming a bit. Hearing the thunder roll above you while you're in the ocean kayaking was pretty neat. I'm pretty sure I had a goofy smile on my face because I LOVE thunder and lightning and can never get too much of it. Of course we showed Balthazar the bridge and he did a back flip off of it on his first jump. These crazy boys, I tell you!

Because Balthazar had a car, he was able to take Nick and me to some nearby beaches about an hour away from Puerto Escondido. We went to La Ventanilla and a Mazunte. Our laid-back personalities worked well for our travels and we just chilled on the beach, swam, tried to do some beach yoga (um, me trying to do a handstand against the rock, slipping and falling on my face, what do I think sometimes?!?!).

The next day, Sunday, I was supposed to be leaving at 3:40 to return to Mexico City. I sat in the restaurant of the hotel I was staying in most of the day and did some lesson planning. I think I had had too much sun or had some reaction to the sunblock I was using because I had quite a heat rash (or something). Shade all day for me! I got to the airport and was all ready to check in, when the agent told me my flight was for the next day. What?!?! I looked at my itinerary, and yes, there it was, August 31st, not August 30th. I cursed myself for not paying attention when I booked my ticked online and begged the agent to please let me on this flight. I was supposed to be teaching the next morning!!!!! The agents passed me from one person to the next, each saying they couldn't do anything for me. Finally, one guy said that if I paid the difference of the ticket in cash, I'd be able to get on that plane (cash because there wasn't enough time to run a credit card in the system because the plane was going to take off in about a half and hour). Well, that was going to be about $2000 pesos which, of course, I didn't have in cash nor did I want to pay that much. Feeling VERY guilty about having to miss work the next day, I returned to my hotel, checked back in, and called my mentor. I explained my error to her, apologized profusely, and said I'd be flying back the next day. She said it was ok, she would tell my students, and that was it. Wow, not bad. (I still felt really bad, though)

Taking advantage of the extra day, Monday I went back to Playa Carrizalillo for a few hours. Nick met up with me later and we soaked up the shade, swam, enjoyed some cold beers, and listened to his iPod. Needless to say, I became quite a fan of Carrizalillo. I really liked Puerto Escondido and just might return there someday... anyone want to join me?