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Puerto Escondido – Week I

Monday, November 13th, 2006

First, my bag was found and delivered to my apartment the day after it went missing – a huge relief.  I will rethink my carry-on packing to come up with a better plan.  At least I can take toiletries onboard now that I have left the US. 

I am currently sitting on my second story deck adjacent to my studio apartment.  The sun is setting beautifully over the Pacific as I write.  This is the first good sunset I have seen due to cloud buildup each day over the water.  Although it is very cloudy each afternoon over the inland mountains (Sierra Madre del Sur) leading up to Oaxaca, we only received a few seconds of rain yesterday evening.  I am a couple of hundred meters above Playa Zicatela, the main surfer beach in the area.  This is a beautiful beach, but I would not think of swimming in its extreme surf.  The waves form pipelines and watching the surfers from all over the world is fun.  A kilometer up the beach (west) is the harbor town of Puerto Escondido where I swim each day with fun waves, but nothing that is going to break my neck.  Zicatela’s pounding surf is relentless and I always hear it from my room.  It is no wonder why I have been sleeping so well.  There are roosters in my neighborhood – a mix of locals and small hotels, guest houses and apartment complexes for gringos – which love to “sing” around 2 AM or four hours before sunrise, but the surf lulls me back to deep sleep.

[read on]

Posted in Central America, Mexico, North America, Travel | 1 Comment »

On the Eve 0f Leg II – Central and South America

Monday, November 6th, 2006

And North America (Mexico) as I have recently learned.  I still think of Mexico as part of Central America due to cultural, linguistic and historic reasons, but I guess it is part of North America due to geographical reasons.  Actually, this makes sense since everything north of Colombia is considered North America geographically-speaking.  Hmmm…  I’ll stick with going to Central America.

Well, the last two months blasted by and it had to be good for me because I was not in my right mind after returning and I am very much in the right place now.  I am very excited to be starting off.  The only apprehension is beng able to pick up Spanish.  I am a very oddball case because I was allowed to get all the way through college without ever taking a college class.  In fact, I never took one semester in high school.  I had an eighth grade class in Spansih which was OK and then I maneuvered through two graduations at four schools never being forced to take one.  I worked it.  I regret it.

So I complete my big Mark of Zorro “Z” across North 🙂 America tomorrow flying from Los Angeles to Mexico City after flying from Oakland to Albany to LAX over the past ten days.  I visited family and friends in Vermont and Los Angeles.  Actually, I am only in Mexico City for a few minutes before catching a flight to the Pacific seaside town of Puerto Escondido in the state of Oaxaca.  Also,  peasceful!  I am there four weeks learning Spanish each weekday morning and hanging out surrounded by Spanish the rest of the day.  I can feel the headaches, but I am sure the beautiful beaches, women, snorkeling, and weather as well as the cultures (indigenous, Mexican, and certainly American and European tourists although this is not one of the big resort towns) and history (Zapotec, colonial). 

 I’ll write more about what I am doing between now and May or June when I get to Puerto.  Thanks to everyone that housed me – you have to imagine being homeless to understand how much I appreciate having somewhere to go.  The roller-coaster ride of a lifetime… makes me really wonder what being on my own – no more being hand-held by safari operators – for seven months is really going to be all about…

Posted in Central America, Mexico, North America, Travel | No Comments »

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