ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

**THEFT ALERT** We have finally been the victims of theft in Mexico and can now validate all the stories we’ve heard as seasoned travelers. On the morning we left Pasquales, we learned El Rodeo had been stripped of her antenna during the night (it was easily unscrewed). We aren’t sure if this viscious crime was a prank against the newest Gringos in town and their laughable mud covered means of transportation packed to the gills with beach chairs, toilet paper and a toaster; or just the desperate act of a young Mexicali hoping to get better reception of the rockin’ mariachi music on his new ride. A full investigation is surely underway by the authorities but we will have to survive on our Ipod with no local Spanish music for a while. ***

We drove south for a few hours through the winding and rocky coastal road until we came to Barra de Nexpa. The guides mentioned it had great surf but only some meager thatched roof huts (with no electricity therefore no fans….too hot to sleep this time of year) for accommodations, so we didn’t think we’d be staying. When we pulled up we were surprised to see not only a great left hand point break, but a small surfer-oriented community that had sprung up around it. There were numerous palapas and cabanas for rent, ranging in quality from open sided beach huts to some newer cabanas that resembled small houses. After talking to some locals, it appeared that 2 or 3 Mexican families owned the village and had passed it down for years – only recently realizing the potential they were sitting on for earning some rental income.

We also noticed the Canadian camper of our Australian friends Lomis and Jane parked at the site so we knew there would be a good crowd. They quickly introduced us to some of the people staying nearby; there were people staying in this small village from all over the world – Switzerland, Israel, Central America, England, Australia, Canada and even our neighbors in Georgia.

Most cabanas overlooked the ocean from the second floor and had hammocks for sleeping but they were rough accommodations with public baths…about $3-$4 per person. We bargained pretty hard to get one of the nicest cabanas. It had a thatched roof with outdoor kitchenette, mini fridge, and hammock. Inside were 2 queen beds with a fan, a natural ladder that went up to the second floor loft, which also had a queen bed and fan and a nice bathroom. We negotiated the price down from 400 pesos per night to 250 if we paid for 2 nights. So, we got the place for about $23, a major deal and in our budget.

With that, we unloaded the car, checked out the small beach restaurants nearby and checked to see if the surf was worth paddling out. There was a storm brewing off shore so the winds were blowing really hard, making conditions rough and choppy. Nevertheless, Chris was eager to get wet and paddled out. With a town full of people, we were wondering why he was the only one out (we had heard the drift was pretty strong). It turns out the main break wasn’t even breaking because of the weather and Chris ended up drifting almost a mile down the shore while waiting to catch a few waves.

Jenny was already battling a slight case of Montezuma’s revenge (aka- stomach issues), so we didn’t know if we would be joining the group for dinner and poker. We decided we couldn’t handle another taco just yet and wanted some comfort food, so we broke into our stash and decided on ramen noodles. It was Chris’ turn to cook….he couldn’t possibly mess up ramen. Wrong. Without a timer, I counted down for 3 minutes as the ramen cooked in the boiling water on our camping burner. As Chris finished his masterpiece, he went to pour the ramen in my bowl; but unfortunately, for me, he had put the camping pot together wrong and the handle was upside down. I saw a flash of fear in his eyes and before I knew it, a pot of boiling water and ramen had fallen down the side of my leg and under my bum. I let out a scream that woke up every rooster, donkey and dog for the next 3 towns. I couldn’t get my steaming clothes off fast enough. They continued to burn me, even though I had jumped up as fast as possible.

Fortunately, the burn was only about the size of a grapefruit. Unfortunately, it was a really bad burn and was on the side of my bum…an inconvenient place to have a burn. Chris frantically rummaged through our first aid kits and found some antibiotic burn cream. I guess it didn’t help that I was still screaming and now crying (it was burning for a long time). He ran to the small mini-super (100 ft away) and bought some aloe. A local teenager heard about it in the store, went home and brought us a huge aloe stem. We were both very touched. It was not the first and we knew it would not be the last time a local would go out of their way to help us.

With that, I took 2 painkillers and eventually ate the best tasting ramen I ever had.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 12:52 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.