Beach Thoughts, part 2

Saturday, January 26 2008

This morning had its ups and downs: I got ill on a boat for the first time ever, but I also got to hold a sea turtle in the ocean and see manta rays leap out of the water.
A couple of my companions were rather ill on the boat--worse than I was, and I'm afraid that sea sickness took something away from the experience.

As did arriving back and finding that my roommates had locked me out of our room and would not return for a few more hours. The rest of us ended up having delicious pizza at a tiny place owned by a couple Italian ex-pats from Bologna who have lived here for the past five years. I wish we were staying another day just so I could eat lunch there again.

Well, and also to go swimming again, even though I ended my ocean time today because a particularly brutal and poorly-timed series of waves pounded me face-first into the sand. I have been coughing and spitting up sand ever since; not an orifice was spared a sandy doom, in fact. But, I got to float on my back, drifting over waves, and that was one of the most relaxing experiences I have had in ages.

We watched the movie Frida while eating dinner--"Cena con Cine" is of the best inventions ever--before heading out for drinks on the beach. The sky was amazing again tonight--the moon is huge, and the motion of its rising was discernible.

I did not sleep well last night--the combination of light, noise, and uncomfortable mattress did the trick, as it were, but tonight we've turned off the light in the adjoining room, and the drum beats seem more distant.

Some general thoughts: there are dogs (and cats, but mostly dogs) all over the place, animals everywhere. And while some of them are mangy, and all fairly scrawny, life as a beach pet does not seem too bad!

I'm not sure and of my photos were able to capture the beauty of the water here. I did my best. It is possible that I'll return here in February.

I am not looking forward to the ride home tomorrow, though I don't think I'll mind going back to Oaxaca. But our time here overall has bee very nice, and I am quite glad I came.

I obviously didn't mention this in either entry, but we saw this awesome spider (its back is about the same width across as a dime)