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Published: November 18th 2008
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Steps to cabana
Sign equates littering to offending God and seems to have done the trick. Although it is only 8am when I arrive, the humidity is much worse then Oaxaca City and the 25 min trek with my rucsack to a cabana hostel, which I believe to be somewhere up the hill from the few kilometres long Zicatela beach, is a sweaty one. Got a cabana (like a wooden shed with electricity and hammock out front) for 3 GBP/night. Puerto Escondido is one of the handful of sleepy fishing villiages along the Mexico's pacific coast that have grown rapidly since the 80's as a holiday destination for Mexican tourists and surfers. The Zicatela beach has some nasty rip tides (no swimming) but attracts surfers as is supposed to be one of the best surfing in Mexico and hosts international surf competitions. Most of the pedestrian area was dug up as they were laying a new road but the whole seafront is dedicated to tourism: restaurants, internet cafes, surf shops, bars - although still very much a small enterprise.
Most people at the cabana place seemed to be there for some time or at least were planning to be. Lounging all day in the hammock on the doorstep felt a very productive way to spend the
day. A guy at the hostel got caught smoking weed on the beach by the police and after 15 mins of telling him that they were taking him to jail, they settled on a 600 peso / 30 GBP "fine". The gated cabana commune was a safe haven for those wanting to get their smoke on, although the 40yo son (people call Billy) of the owner who, I think, had some mental/drug problems, was constantly walking around wearing 2 belts and a machete (in his role as the gardener) hanging from one of them scabbing smokes or beer off of people. A few days later he pulled the machete on his mum when she wouldn't give him any money, but it must not have been the first time and she waved off Murray who had crept up to him with a bottle. Nice mixed crowd there: Dutch, Italian, Israeli, Japanes, Australian, German and people would get together and cook for eachother in the kitchen structure.
Rented a longboard in the late afternoon and went out onto Zicatela beach with Murray to learn to surf in the "soup" (white foam after the wave has broken). It was easy enough to
Zicatela Beach with longboard
First time that I have knowingly sweat buckets while actually being in the water. stand up on this so later swapped it for a foam board and for the next full day of surfing. Within the first 20 minutes of our early morning surf (apparantly the best time to surf as there is less wind), Murray yelped and pulled his foot out of the water and had a nasty gash on his foot and thought he had been attacked by a crab or something. I went back in the water but came out about 20 mins later but couldn't find Murray who I had left nursing his wound on the beach. I looked for him at the breakfast place we were going to and had a coffee, walked back to the hostel to see if he had come back and then after about 1.5 hours went back along the beach to have another look and found him standing up looking intently out to sea. The rip tide must have moved me up the beach so I got back on shore thinking Murray had gone. Murray fell asleep and hobbled about a bit trying to see where in the water I was. When I found him he was just about to go to the lifeguard
after believing that the only logical explanation was that I drowned and dragged out to sea by the riptide.
Turns out that Murray was stung by a stingray and having got his foot in a tub of hot water, passersby kept offering advice (leaves from a nearby plant, drink a shot of tequila) or drugs (antihistamines). That was the end of that days surfing as, although not as a result from a wild fish attack, my knees were banged up by not jumping up straight onto my feet afer catching a wave and my nipples were chafed into submission despite wearing a t-shirt.
Spent a long evening drinking large brown bottles of Corona that was is very different to the small white bottle piss that you need a lemon/lime to give taste to. Can't remember what it was called, but the family opposite our cabana complex would stack up on beer every day in their kitchen and so long as the son was still playing computer games (flashing lights coming from his room window) we would walk the 10 metres across the dirt road to buy more cold beer. I don't get why the owner of our cabanas
Aftermath of a stingray attack
Murray with his bowl of hot water and leaves. didn't do the same, but I imagine that it has something to do with Billy helping himself to anything lying around. This cabana place brings out the sloth in people and I imagine that having muchies and beer on site to buy would mean people would have no reason to move from the comfort of the hammocks. Definately the most chilled out place that I have ever been to.
My last day was spent surfing at La Punta, which is on the far side of the Zicatela where the waves are smaller, little rip, locals fishing for barracuda by throwing out their line and swimming in with the waves. Starting to get the hang of it and caught some decent waves. However, made the mistake of surfing in the midday sun and got burnt to shit.
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Isabel
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BruceWillis
You look a bit like Bruce Willis on the third picture taken on a beach ;)