Oaxaca - Puerto Escondido

The 5th of august started where I last left off with a workout and a nice breakfast in Oaxaca City. Happy birthday to Zoe by the way. We then ventured down to the market where you can get the traditional Oaxacan hot chocolate that comes in a big bowl with a bread roll for dipping. Unusual but pretty tasty. David fell for the old tourist trap of going to the first store to by some of the chocolate. For 60 Pesos he got a little 250g packet. We then walked 10 metres deeper into the market and saw a store selling massive bricks of the stuff for 60 pesos per kilo. Crucial error.

Our plan was to rent bikes and ride them to El Tule, basically a big tree 50m in circumference. But paying 20 dollars for bikes in Mexico seemed ridiculous so instead we opted for a 1 dollar taxi. The 1 dollar taxis were collective taxis so the ´´tax drive´´ drove around for 15 minutes trying to fit more people in the cab that already had 3 of us riding inside.

Eventually we arrive at El Tule and it was a little underwhelming. So we jumped in another taxi and scooted out to what we imagined would be a mezcal factory but was however pretty much a mezcal store out in the middle of mezcal farming country. It was there we met a man named P..... we called him Peter.

Peter start of by letting us taste the difference of mezcal with a worm and mezcal without a worm. After a little more chatting he decided we needed another taste. After he had a few tastes himself we were trying all sorts of mezcal. Flavoured mezcal, mezcal that was similar to port and some double aged double distilled premium quality stuff. After three hours of drinking we were absolutely starving and out of thin air appeared a lady on a motorcycle with a basket full of freshly cooked taco looking things. I had 4 for 4 dollars. Peter, relating back to am earlier conversation said ´´see, you put the good energy out into the universe and the universe comes back with what you need´´. I was happy for Peter to receive his little commision on my 1 dollar tortillas and we got back to the mezcal. After nearly the fourth hour, meeting peters(havnt found the apostrophe on this mexican keyboard) wife and little boy and listening to a few traditional seputec tunes played by the man himself on guitar, we were off back to El Tule by back of farmers truck and then to Oaxaca City via collective taxi with 5 passengers, two including me riding shotgun. All that for one bottle of the premium (17 dollar) mezcal but a great afternoon with one of the funniest and very philosophical mexican I have ever met. A few Peter philosophies or ideals were: making sure his children got education, doing good things so good things will come back to him and meeting the occaisional ´´mamasita´´ because as long as he comes home his wife doesnt mind.

That night we went out for a mexican feed which consisted of more corn tortillas with little meat, cheese and spices. When we got back to the hostel we decided to go to a bar that Peter had recommended and ensured that there would be nice mamasitas inside. Nice Margaritas and a live band was about the extent in which this bar excelled. but it was fun nonetheless and at 5am after a few too many cervezas it was back to the hostel by ride from mamasita to watch the Essendon Carlton game on the internet. I was alseep by quarter time.

3 hrs sleep and we were on the bus to Puerto Escondido. 6 hrs along mountain roads flying at 60-80kmh. Think the great ocean road and then some plus being 10 times higher on the top of mountains, add potholes, donkeys and roads inches from the edge and you have 4 pretty ordinary feeling hungover travellers. Then we ran into a protest blockade complete with the military and hundreds of machete weilding farmers. Out of the bus, a nervouse walk through the protest and we got to the other side where another little bus picked us up. A few more hours of cliffs and potholes and we arrived in Puerto Escondido.

Immediately we noticed the humidity and since Ive been here its been impossible to get completley dry. An early evening swim and then a meal on the beach and we were off to bed exhausted.

The next day I planned to wake up early and have a workout. Still feeling exhausted I had a sleep in, made some eggs for breaky and went down to the beach for a swim. The main beach was a very dangerous place to swim, with massive holes in the sand underfoot and a crazy chest deep undertow we headed for calmer waters and hired boogy boards. Even the calmer beach was similar to something we would get in Victoria and was a lot of fun to boogy board for an hour or so. Then it was time for a little workout.

10 rounds
10 Push ups
15 squats
50m Sprint

Untimed. Probably could have been a bit harder but was still good to blow a few cobwebs out. We then went for another poorish mexican meal which prompted a visit to the superche! to buy food to cook for ourselves. Before dinner we went for a walk along the cliff face where we could get a panoramic view of the beach and saw hundred of black crabs of all sizes. The path we walked would be taped off in a second in Australia because of safety regulations with rusted metal parts sticking out from the brittle concrete and waves crashing over the walkway.

We got back unscathed for dinner and now I find myself sipping some of the whiteman priced hot chocolate which is actually really delicious and thinking about another early night.

Getting a little sick of the sewage smell, corn and language barrier but doing alright. To be honest very much looking forward to some creature comforts of the hyatt in 9 days time. But still enjoying each moment. I have found whilst travelling that I have been living in the moment a lot more. The past often feels distant because of the miles travelled and the future is unknown so your only choice is to focus on the present, which I think is mentally very healthy.