Hostels are Awesome

After staying in a hotel with my brother in Mexico City, I've moved onto hostels in Acapulco and Puerto Escondido for mostly economical reasons--but I couldn't be more pleased. My bus arrived in Puerto Escondido very early yesterday morning. I crashed for a few hours, awoke, and found my way to the kitchen. Awaiting me there was a table full of fellow travelers my age recollecting the night they'd just had. Despite having just arrived here, they took me in and I also immediately had a new group of friends. After chatting for a while, I followed two other guys to the nearby supermarket and got some lunch food. We returned and over lunch, plans to surf--something I'd never done before--precipitated. One of the guys going with us even knew enough about the sport to give us the basics and spare us having to take lessons.

We spent nearly 5 hours on the beach with our $8 rentals, getting to know each other, taking in the sun and catching a few waves. We made it to the beach at high tide, where there were very few surfable waves that were breaking. We, nonetheless, had a great afternoon and returned to the hostel with plans to have a Fourth of July BBQ, despite the fact that there were very few Americans and actually more Britons. We had a little trouble finding coals at the supermarket and then lighting them, but the BBQ was one of the best I've had in a while, especially at $8 a person with beer. At 11:30, the hostel kicked us all out, at which point, over a dozen of us perused the local bars. All went very well--what better way to spend the Fourth? I've found travelers in both hostel's I've stayed in have been very friendly, outgoing and easy to get along with. It's great to meet people from all types of backgrounds and to find some familiarity in such a foreign place. In the one here, I've upgraded to a private room, which includes my own bathroom and TV at a very reasonable price.

No photos today, but I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow morning to catch the surfers. Puerto Escondido's "Mexican Pipeline" is known for some of the best surfing in North America. Off to Oaxaca City at 10:45 in the morning, where I am doing a home stay with a local family and beginning a Spanish Language course on Monday.

La Quebrada, con mas luz!

The plan was to take a bus tomorrow morning and be here in Puerto Escondido by evening time for dinner. That kind of failed. I showed up at the bus station around 10:30 and the 11:45 bus was already sold out--the next bus not being until 4:45. It looked like I'd be spending the day sitting in a bus station, while the sun shone everywhere else. Fortunately, I ran into fellow travelers and decided that if I had the afternoon to kill, I'd show them La Quebrada--one more time for me. The two other times I'd been were in the evening--this show was it 1 PM and the light was very good. Between my three sets of photos, I think I should be able to develop a pretty good story--so that's a plus too.

After the show, I walked down to the plaza and found a restaurant along the beach--a whole fresh snapper, which was incredible. Then I took a cab back to the bus station and caught my bus just before 5. Unfortunately, a 9 hour ride awaited me. Finally made it in around 2 AM last night. The hostel is very cool and I've already met some awesome people. A try at surfing this afternoon and a celebration tonight (as If we need an excuse)--and maybe an American-style BBQ?

La Quebrada, con luz!

Went back to tonight, here are the photos. The thing I didn't realize last night is that the first 20 feet of climbing is completely soaked and probably very slippery. The water was also rougher today. They handled it like champions. One of the boys jumped from the highest point and couldn't have been more than twelve years old. Baller. It started raining as they began jumping-that was lame.

A La Playa

The beaches here are very cool. They stretch as far as you can see in both directions of the bay and are lined with impressive looking high-rise hotels. The water is turquoise, though the surf isn't idea for color. Below is a collection of photos from wandering on the beach this morning.

Here is a link to my newest Facebook album, too (Facebook is being a dick, the beach photos will be up later tonight or tomorrow):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075604&l=e192c&id=1330

Yesterday I went to a beach close to the hostel. I walked for a while until I found a place I liked, sat down with my towel and started reading. When I'd gotten bored, I figured it'd be good to go in the water. The waves in front of my were 3-4 meters and higher with a strong current--not something I wanted to mess with on my own. I walked down the beach to a more populated area and left my stuff--my book, a towel, my sandals, my shirt and some water--in front of a hotel in front of a few chairs. I had the only true valuables on me--my key and some money. I quickly went in the water and probably wasn't in for more than five minutes. When I returned, my stuff was gone. Great. I mean, If I'm going to have anything stolen from me, please steal my shirt and towel. See where that gets you. Oh, and take my cell phone, too. I need a new one.

I started talking with a bartender and a security guard nearby. They decided that--in the five minutes I was gone--someone had decided to take my stuff to the hotel's lost and found. Hell, they probably had seen me put the stuff there. They wouldn't let me go up and check the lost and found, though because I wasn't a guest at the hotel. The security guard instead left to check for me. He was gone long enough that I was beginning to think it'd be setup. Finally he returned with my pile of not-so-valuables. But yeah, a hotel tried to steal my shirt and water bottle--fucking retarded. This pissed me off more than another story I have coming for you guys. On the brighter side of things, they folded my stuff for me and I've started stealing their free wireless.

And the photos, enjoy!

La Quebrada

One of the Acapulco's famous attractions is cliff diving, or La Quebrada. Every evening a group of young men scale cliffs on the East side of the city and then plunge as far as 45 meters into the water below--for all to see. I went last night at sunset and for the $3 admission, it's quite a spectacle. The light got pretty bad quickly, but there's still some cool stuff here. I'll try to return today at an earlier show for better photos.