Playas and more playas, and a little danger.

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Took a trip out to some small coastal towns south of Puerto Escondido. Went exploring Zipolite, San Agustinillo, Mazunte, Playa Ventanilla, and La Copalita river. The beaches were very cool! Nothing but sun, babes, waves, and cheap Mexican beer. Playa in San Agustinillo was my favorite, but Mazunte is right behind it. Got to see some wild crocodiles and beautiful flowers and birds in a lagoon off Playa Ventanilla. Cool stuff. Also took a tour out to see hundreds of turtles come ashore and lay their eggs. That was awesome! Got to hold baby turtles and pet mama turtles. The pics do no justice. Being there and experiencing their natural instinct was indescribable. They only come to shore and lay their eggs during a certain period of the year, plus, the temperature and the time of day has to be just right. Got to see baby turtles hatch and swim out to sea. Very cool!

For my final adventure, I went white water rafting with my friend Sammer and some of his friends. We almost died. It rained the night before, so what were supposed to be Class 3 rapids, turned into Class 4 overnight (Class 5 being the most extreme and dangerous). Early on the rapids tossed me, Sammer and another rafter off the raft like rag dolls. The current pulled me under the raft, but I managed to surface and grab a hold of the raft while my partners were swept down the river. They managed to swim to shore where we rescued them. As we continued to more extreme rapids, we hit a huge wave and this time the raft flipped over. All went overboard! I again managed to surface and grab a hold of the raft. Our guide and another rafter also grabbed the raft. People on another raft behind us also got tossed. It was chaos!! After the guide flipped over our raft, we climbed back on, but then the strong current of the river wedged us between two huge rocks. Our raft was almost at a 90 degree angle as we made attempts to free ourselves. We were stuck there for about 10 minutes. HUGE waves were waiting for us once we freed ourselves, so we had to paddle like champs to make it through. We did and we rescued again our rafters and rafters from the other raft. Man! It was a fucking adventure! Nothing like a little adrenaline, terror, and fear to get your blood going. It was awesome!! Glad to be alive.

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Photos

Zipolite
Playa in Zipolite.

Mazunte
Playa in Mazunte.

Mazunte
You get the idea.

Lagoon in Playa Ventanilla
On our way to see some crocs.

Lagoon
Bird with mohawk.

Lagoon
Cool wild flower.

Lagoon
The Mexican Toocan Sam. Toocan Paco.

Lagoon
The croc was too slow to catch me.

Lagoon
Baby crocs chillin'.

Lagoon
Little dude tried to grab my camera.

Lagoon
World's deadliest snake inhabits the lagoon.

Turtles
Hundreds of turtles coming ashore.

Baby Turtle
Holding a newborn turtle.

Turtles
Out with the old, in with the new.

Turtles
Nice mama turtle.

Turtles
Me and a turtle storming the Mexican beach!

Copalita River (Huatulco, Mex)
Getting the rafts ready.

Copalita River (Huatulco, Mex)
Stoked for some rafting. My first time.

Copalita River (Huatulco, Mex)
If we only knew what was waiting for us!