Puerto Escondido - paradise possibly

Don´t you just hate it when Belgians are right?

We took the bus from Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido on Tuesday night, arriving quite early at the bus station, but managing to check in and check our baggage with minimal fuss. To while away the time before departure, we had a delicious Oaxaqueno hot chocolate - they heat the milk, break the special chocolate in and whisk it, and it´s beautiful, chocolately and spicey and just the think to get you thinking about sleep. While we drank it, we marvelled at the guy opposite who had a moustache the went from his upper lip almost right round his head. Loco.

The ten hour jouney in the dark round steep roads and deep ravines sisn´t exactly allow for an easy sleep. Sitting in the aisle seat, I was constantly thrown around at each bend, and by the window Jas was no better, her head hitting the glass on each corner. But at 5am we arrived at Chitla (we think) and lots of people got off so I slid across to get a double seat of my own and managed to drift off for a few hours.

Arriving finally as dawn was breaking, we saw the sea, and ´Jasmine did her ´happy face´. Our lovely hostel owner picked us up and drove us to Quinta Lili, possibly the best hostel choice yet, all white with pretty domes and rounded windows, a little pool in front, loungers all over and a great little breakfast bar.

We met our roomate Krupa (apologies for spelling probably), joyously from North-East London and a medical student, and we chatted away until breakfast, where we met the other inhabitants; Fergal and Fiona, honeymooners from Tipperary; Carole, from Seattle, having dropped her kids off to their father in Mexico City and having a looooong holiday; and Sergio and Wolf, a US-Mexican couple living near Death Valley. They were all off out on an expedition to the nearby mangroves, and were interested to find out we were teachers, as most of them were too!

We spent our day lying in the sun (don´t worry, only 15mins each side for me), napping to ease off the strains of the night before, eating our first hot meal in 24hours and topping it off with the local baker´s famous brownie and icecream, and then heading down to the beach in the early evening with Carole, Wolf and Sergio, where we paddled in the warm water and watched the surfers get a bit wetter further out. The little bay is down a long flight of steps, surrounded in lush jungle, and a total suntrap in the day but much nicer in the evening. I collected shells and coral with Wolf and we all laughed our heads off at him and Sergio getting buffeted by the ever-growing waves. then we and Xarole shunted off to the extremely well air-conditioned shop to buy cheese and crackers for sinner (Jasmine´s idea of heaven) and a few beers. Later that night, in the mood lights by the pool, all of us sat down for a drink of beer and a bit of Crema de Mezcal. A gorgeous end to the day.

What makes Quinta Lili even more perfect is that they have BOOKS! I´ve already read three this week, and now have picked up a Celia Ahgern to see if s´he´s really that good and ´Guns, Germs and Steel´ by Jared Diamond, an anthropological history of the world I´ve always wanted to read. We´ll see how far I get. We´re here in Paradise til Monday...

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