Every little thing is gonna be alright....

This morning we awoke at 6:30 am and, to our delight and amazement it was NOT raining. We had arranged for a lagoon tour with a young man named Javier. At a little before 7, Javier arrived and we loaded into his old VW bug. It is green, a little rusty and has some trouble starting. Javier speaks pretty good English because he spent 3 years in Nashville, working and learning the language. All we know about this tour is that we will go on a boat and have a lunch. The cost is 400 pesos or about 40 American dollars. We drive for about 30 minutes and Javier tells us stories of working in the United States and how no one in mexico wants to pay him more just because he can speak English. He turns on a CD and the familiar lyrics ..."don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright..." stream out at us. As we swerve around potholes, honk at friends of Javier and pass teh lush green vegetation we all sing along to the music. We stop for ice at a place that does not appear to be a store. javier explains that where we are going, Puerto Puelo does not have electricity and his Mama, who is cooking our lunch sometimes has fish adn needs ice. We eventually arrive at a place where the boat is begin a 10 minut hike down to the lagoon. Our hike is somewhat muddy because of the rains we've had on the previous days but the sky is blue and butterlies of various colors flit around us. When we reach the boat a driver, who does not speak English, is working on his boat, that appears in a little disrepair. He soon gets teh motor going and we all pile in. As we motor along at a slow speed we see SO many kinds of birds. Blue heron, white heron, a bird that is apparently called something like a dark snake bird that swims under water and occcasionally sticks its head out, spoon bills, coramant, pelicans of many colors and sizes and much= otres. Javier shares his passion and love for the lagoon and the driver slows for us to look at various plants adn animals of interest. Occaionally the driver says something in Spanish that Javier translates to us, giving more detail of certain areas. Both men are delighted to share their knowledge, culture and beloved land. We entually see the ocean just as the boat turns to enter a river. The water color changes some as we navigate past sandbars and vegetation. Soon we pull over and Javier helps us to disembark. We have no idea why we are getting out of the boat but we step into mud and climb up a small embankment. What awaits us is Puerto Suelo. It is a very small village where Javier, and 14 others live. The houses are huts made of bamboo with palm leaf roofs. The ground is sand, the ocean roars nearby and a woman in a dress and apron greets us, welcoming us to Puerto Suelo. She introduces herself, in Spanish, as Juania. She is Javier's mother and she is cooking us lunch. His father reclines in a hammock nearby. His dog, Palbo, greets us as well. We settle our things nearby and walk towards the ocean. It roars loud and is muy bonito. Javier brings us coconuts with the tops cut off and we sip coconut milk from straws. I feel so much awe at this place. I also feel humbled and honored to be invited to share in this bit of paradise. While our lunch is cooking I stroll the beach, Angela naps in a hammock and Tina works on homework for her Spanish class. This village has only fifteen people, including a few children. It is quiet and peaceful. There is no electricity and the water is pumped up from the river and filtered into a storage tank. I feel as if I have stepped back in time. Soon, lunch is served. We eat on pretty plates with forks but Javier says he will eat with his family because he likes to eat with his hands. We try to convince him that we can eat with our hands too but he just laughs and goes off. I feel a little sad that I am an outsider but the lunch is amazing! We have fish, cooked over the fire, frijoles, a salad of cactus, onion and red peppers, quesadillas and salsa. It is one of the best meals I have ever had and it was produced in a small hut, over a fire by a woman who beams with pride as we compliment her on the way out. Today I learned something. Mexicans do not take pride in the things they own such as their cars or boats. They take pride in what is important... family, home, treating people well. Our trip back is shorter than on the way in because the driver hurries to get us back to our Spanish class on time. The breeze blows our hair, the sun is on our face and we are mostly silent and content. I tell Javier that this is the best day I have had in Mexico so far and he seems humbled and grateful. I am also humble and grateful.

This car's not legal

We signed up for an orientation tour through our school. Brian, who owns adn runs the school here during the summer and teaches ski school in colorado in the winter, was our host. Brian picked us up at Casamar in his vehicle. His car is a Chevy Suburban that is many years old. All the windows are at least cracked, some doors do not open, some windows do not open and some windows do not close. We were accompanied by Danny, a young man from Las Angeles who is here to study Spanish and surfing. We weren't sure what the orientation tour would include but we more than got our money's worth. Brian drove us all over Puerto Escondido, pointing out local hangouts, tourist spots and other points of interest. He took us to each of the beaches, where we got out and strolled casually around (no one seems to hurry in mexico, everything is done casually). He showed us beaches for surfing, family swimming, snorkeling, etc. He also drove us to the Adonquin which is an awesome place for shopping, eating, buying local crafts, bars, etc. It is an older tourist area and you see more local artists there. This is opposed to the Zicatella area which is a spot where you see mostly younger people and tourists from all over the world, mostly surfers or surfing fans. Brian told us all about the mercado, where we could buy goods, produce, live chickens, etc. The locals come here and set up booths, flea market style, to sell their wares. Brian hesitated to take us down there.... not because it is unsafe but because his car is not legal and many Policia are in that area. Apparently, until recently, cars in Mexico didn't need to be licensed but that has changed. Brian woudl have to drive his car to Texas, where it was from (he bought it from some Italian guy here in Mexico) and get some paperwork done. I asked if we were all going to end up in Mexican jail and Brian said, "No, but they would take teh car and we would have to walk." Finally, the temptation to show us the market overcame his fear of losing his car and we drove down to that area. We did a quick visit and will return later to shop and soak up more of the culture. Brian stopped any place we wanted to see adn we all strolled around... Angela waited for ten minutes while fresh coffee was ground for her, Danny bought a fan for his room, Tina and I bought sugar. It was an awesome orientation tour and I would suggest it to anyone who visits Puerto Escondido!

mucho trabajo

Today was another awesome day in Puerto Escondido. In addition to our regular Spanish class and some shopping, we had a cooking class out our lanugage school. The class was taught by a woman named Mari. She spoke no English and I, of course, speak little to no Spanish. We chose to learn to make tamales and taquitos. We arrived for our lesson at 5:00 and didn't get done until a little after 8:00. There was SO much work involved! I have a new respect for all of the work that goes into cooking these dishes. I learned many new things. My most important lessons of the, however, did not involve measuring or cooking times and methods. For most of the time I felt very inept, ignorant and a little frustrated. When I didn't understand something, Mari would repeat herself over and over, as if that would help. This sweet, patient woman was doign what we as teachers do to our students sometimes. I wanted so much to please her and to coomprehend what she wanted me to do! Yet i wasn't always able to figure it out. When I asked the school owner for help he laughed and said, IMMERSION! That's how you learn. Throughout our time there, we laughed and joked a lot and managed to make a delicious meal. The 'kitchen" was in a hut with older, minimal appliances. It was raining and very humid while we were there. There was no air conditioning so we had the windows and the door open. We could see the cliffs and ocean and greenery as we laughed and sweated and cooked. It was truly an amazing experiences that I'm not sure I want to do again. Ha ha!

Sunday we woke up and ate breakfast bars from home. We then headed for the beach. The stretch of beach nearest to us is awesome for surfing but not so safe for swimming. We laid out our towels and I took out my kindle to try to finish off Under the Dome, by Steven King. After reading for a bit I walked down to the water. I turned around quickly when i heard angela squeal. I large, unexpected wave had washed up onto our spot.... our towels, backpacks, everything was drenched. Fortunately I had purchased a water proof cover for my kindle and it was safe and dry. My camera was in the bottom of The World's Greatest Backpack so it wasn't harmed either. ( for those of you who haven't met this backpack, i purchased it before our trip to Australia and it is now a close member of our family). Everything else was covered in water and sand. Because the surf at Playa Zicatella is so intense, much sand mixes in with the waves that break on the shore. 30 hours later my only beach towel is still damp and somewhat sandy. Our apartment offers laundry service, but I have seen Elario, the gardener washing clothes in an outdoor sink by hand. I don't mind washing MY OWN clothes in this manner, in order to experience teh culture more fully, but I can't imagine giving the gardener my panties and asking him to get scrubbing ! Maybe they actually take the guest clothes to a laundromat? I will keep you all updated on that situation. After we cleaned up from the beach we took a Collectivo into town. This was a cool experience. A truck with a blue canvas covering over the back pulls over when you wave him down. You either tell him where you want to go or you can just push a button when you see your stop. It's like a bus but you are just riding in the back of some guys truck. Awesome! We took the Collectivo to the Super Che, where we bought groceries. We also had lunch in this area. The people in the restaurant didn't speak English. I think I ordered some kind of chicken but it looked like hammered out chicken fried steak. Either way it was very good. The people we meet don't tend to speak much English but they are very patient and friendly with us as we try to communicate with them. Last night we cooked dinner in the apartment and played skipbo on the patio. Several small lizards scurried around our walls while we were playing.
This morning, Angela and I participated in a yoga class here at the Casamar. The classes are free to guests. Our yoga instructor, Pilar, was sweet and knowledgeable. The class was 90 minutes long and it was wonderful to do yoga under the palapas with a view of the ocean. There were 3 men and one other woman who joined us. After yoga we hiked down the beach (about 50 minutes)to our first language class. I wore shorts and a bikini top for the walk then pulled a dress over those for the classes. Angela and I were put in a beginner class with two other students: Ben from new Zealand and Peter from Baltimore. Our teacher, Irene', was very nice and the class was relaxed and fun. It was an outdoor class, under a Palapas, with a nice breeze and view of the ocean. After class, we walked down to the beach where we ate our picnic lunch and strolled along the waters edge. We are now back at Casamar. We have an orientation tour, arranged through our language school in 45 minutes. I am pleasantly tired as i sit and listen to the regularly scheduled afternoon thunderstorm.

potatoes floating down the street

So we have arrived, safe and sound, in Puerto Escondido Mexico. We awoke this morning, in Oklahoma, at 4:45, threw on some clothes, straightened our bedroom adn were in the driveway waiting for our ride at 5;15. Everything went smoothly on our flights, until it was time to fill out the customs form. The flight attendant only had the forms (where we had to declare what we were bringing into the country) in Spanish. It was quite humorous as we we tried to guess what was being asked of us when we filled out the paperwork. Arriving in Mexico City, it was a little difficult finding our way to the appropriate gate to catch our next flight to Puerto Escondido. Not speaking or reading the language definitely put us outside our comfort zones, which is one of the goals of this entire trip. We finally asked enough questions and arrived in a "holding area" where we purchased lunch and waited for our gate to be announced. Money is our biggest challenge. Understanding if we are being ripped off is another challenge. When we did arrive in Puerto Escondido and had to go through customs, the lady next to us in line told us that we should be careful because the customs man would try to rip us off and make us pay money to get into the country. Ahead of us were a large group of surfers ( Puerto Escondido is famous for its surfing) and they were held up forever, arguing with the gentleman in charge. I did see two of them give him money adn I never did figure out why. When it was our turn we were each asked to push a button. If a red light came up , you had to have your luggage searched. if a green light came up you were free to proceed. i was teh only one, between, me , Tina and Angela who didn't have to get searched! As I waited for them out front, ( a very small airport) a taxi driver asked if I needed a ride. I informed him that "mi amigas" were still inside. When they came out (without having to pay any extra money) we all went with the cab driver. This situation pushed my comfort level as well. First of all, I haven't taken many taxis in my life, second of all, Tina flat out told the man he was charging us way too much. I had no clue and gladly handed over the 200 pesos for all three of us to be carted the 20 kilometers to Casamar. Upon arrival, we met Andy, our English host. He is bearded and young and, along with his wife Olivia, runs the Casamar. The gardener was waiting for us and insisited that he coudl get all of our bags. We were ushered into a lush oasis of a court yard and then into teh little office to meet Andy. he came out and said "you must be Denise, Tina and Angela!" Our names were written on a chalkboard, next to our arrival dates. This made me smile and feel welcome right away. Puerto Escondido, as with much of Mexico, seems rather poor. Casamar is a simple, hostel like oasis in teh middle of this rather rundown city. Andy showed us to our apartment - which has a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen and a little sitting area. There is a nice pool and several outdoor areas and we can see teh ocean from our private patio. After a little exloring of our temporary home, we set out to find dinner. We walked down a street - that seemed for of an alley really - passing people's homes and "restaurants" that were really outdoor seating areas of on the beach, with a small hut for cooking the food. We passed beautiful brown children playing in their underwear, horses, chickens, friendly residents, dilapidated buildings and many stray dogs. In the distance, the thunder was getting louder and the clouds were getting darker. At some point, a young boy asked us ( according to Tina) if we were looking for a place to eat dinner. We followed him onto a beach area and took a seat. We ordered our dinner and some drinks ( I broke teh cardinal rule and had a margarita on the ROCKS). Our view was of the ocean, surfers, etc. The waves got bigger as the storm hit. Our food arrived, one of us getting dinner at a time, and it started to sprinkle. We were under a thatch roof adn at first we couldn't feel much rain. Before long, however, the rain was really coming down and the thunder was crashing. We laughed and pulled out our umbrellas. Soon, here came our waiter with a large beach umbrella. He proceeded to hold it over us as we ate! I assured him we could hold it ourselves. LOL The rain just added to our adventure as we finished eating and decided to walk "home" along the beach. Angela and I held umbrellas ( mostly because I had my camera in my purse) and weren't sure if it was worth being struck by lightening. As we hiked along in the raging storm, we laughed and had an awesome time. Before long we had to cross a "river." Andy had explained that they had had some heavy rains and the river had 'broken through." It roared right across the beach to the ocean. It was a red clay color. Not sure what else to do, we trudged right through it! It was kinda swift but we managed ok. Finally, we found a flooded street and hiked up it as a river of water rushed down it toward the ocean. As we hiked along, we noticed some debris floating in the "river." I eventually identified teh debris as potatoes. I'm not sure why potatoes were floating down the street, but there they were. I found this hilariously entertaining. We eventually spotted Casamar and started to head towards our oasis. On the way, we noticed a sign for Corona. We found a little man who looked to be in an abandoned building, and bought some beer from him. We then came home, drank beer, swam in our pool and relaxed. i think it will be a very interesting trip!

Counting down....

We leave Saturday morning for Mexico! I am excited and nervous. I am nervous to be in a strange place where I don't speak the language. I am excited to see and do new things. The place we are staying has filtered water so my plan is to just drink a big glass as soon as I get there and see what happens! Wish me luck. Instead of volunteering at the orphanage (where we would be doing labor, not spending time with the children) we have volunteered to have tutoring students read to us. We bought 45 books to take with us. They are in Spanish but some of them have the English translation as well. We figure this will be good for our Spanish and good for the kids who are reading to us as well. We arrive in Mexico Saturday night and our first Spanish class is Monday. So we have Sunday to orient ourself and check out the town. We are supposed to have internet access so I plan to update this blog daily. It feels a little strange planning to be gone for 3 weeks without seeing my grandson and other family members but I am mostly very excited. Check in often, I will want to see your comments to make me feel less homesick!

Diving Certification

We (and by WE I mean Angela) got it approved for us to use grant money to get certified for open water diving here in Tulsa. It is cheaper here plus we can then go on various excursions while we are in Puerto Escondido! I am SO excited about this part of our trip. I first went scuba diving in Australia in the Great Barrier Reef - which will, of course, be hard to top! They had a dive where they taught you a few lessons on the sail boat then you held the instructor's hand while you dove to the reef. It was so beatiful, peaceful, scary, exhilarating, etc. I have wanted to get certified ever since then so that we can dive when we travel. I will try to get an underwater camera, like we did in Australia, to take and post pictures of our excursions!
Expanding my underwater horizons, Nisi