Puerto Escondido

...in a nutshell:

Friday
We arrived around 10am after a harrowing overnight bus ride. Bought a new swim suit. Visited the beach. We stayed at a hotel on Playa Zicatela, which is renowned by surfers for being particularly challenging--needless to say, I didn't do any swimming there. I did spend a good portion of the day, and the whole weekend, really, reading Dan Savage's Skipping Toward Gomorrah by the hotel's pool, taking a dip when it got too hot, then getting out to warm up again. Had some unimpressive meals. Went out with a few people that night to have drinks at a bar next door; I tried one that was horchata (sweetened rice water), rum, and pineapple juice.

Saturday
Woke up pretty early, because I couldn't sleep and had no concept of time. Had a peace breakfast by myself (and Mr. Savage) at a little place down the road, apparently owned by an Italian. Met up with other people afterwards, but really spent the majority of the day at the pool. Had lunch with two friends and their SCUBA instructors, who I saw around later that weekend as well; nice guys. At a bar on the beach I ran into the student from Portland who sat next to me on the bus. We chatted (he's an anarchist, hippie type) for awhile, and he hung out with out group for most of the evening. He, Elizabeth, Allison, and I ate at an Italian restaurant...I had pizza with ricotta, tomatoes, pesto, olives, and anchovies...but there was too much of it and I started feeling really tired. Actually, everyone fell asleep early that night, even the partiers.

Sunday
Got up early to go on a lagoon tour with Allison. We saw tons of birds, ate sopes on a sand bar separating the sea from the lagoon, and ended up at a secluded cove beach with beautiful, calm, deep wate--perfect for swimming. We enjoyed ourselves there for a few hours before going back to the hotel for more pool lounging. Later, I checked out The Big Lebowski, playing at a little cafe/bookstore/movie theatre called Cinemar that shows two movies a day in a tiny makeshift theatre. Only stayed for part of it. Got back to the hotel and played a drinking game (briefly) with my already-drunk friends. Got pizza. Went to sleep.

Monday
Ten and half hours on a bus back to Oaxaca. The ride from Chicago to St. Louis will be a breeze from now on. I hate cross-country buses.


So, I saw sunsets, watched surfers, ate overpriced resort food, got a tan. It was a nice, relaxing weekend, which is exactly what I wanted.