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Published: February 26th 2010
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Our view
The view from our window, could be worse? After Puerto Escondido we hopped a bit further down the coast to another group of beaches, San Agustinillo was the name of our chosen village/beach/home for the next 3 nights. It´s a great little place, with a golden sandy beach and a handful of cafes and restaurants, including a place that did the best pizzas ever... we had our dinner at the pizza place the first night, right on the beach, only lit with candles on a dark and starry night, lovely it was - plastic chairs and tables mind, but we are backpacking remember!!
We visited the two other small beaches/villages in the area which were similiar, but not as great for swimming. The popular beach - Zipolite - was a bit of a nudey beach, and we did have a couple of naked men stroll past us at one point. Other than this it was fairly uneventful here so we spent most of our time at our beach.
On the first evening we were in our room and all of a sudden everything started to shake. Our first thought was that there must have been a big old lorry going past. Then we realised we weren't on
San Augustinillo at sunset
Ben doing his best Backstreet Boys impression a road. It seemed to last perhaps 5 or 6 seconds in total, and our suspicions were confirmed - that it was an earthquake - when we went to an internet cafe place later and overheard an American chap talking about it and checking a website - which we also checked - a 5.6 i think it was with the epicentre about 50 miles north of us. Very strange!
One day we went to La Ventanilla, a co-operative community run eco-tourism venture, where we where paddeled out on a boat into a lagoon to spot birds and crocodiles. That was the intention. However the three Canadians that were with us, lovely as they were, just talked ridiculously loud the whole time about Canadian TV programs, scaring all of the birds of before we even got close, making completely redundant the careful paddle sweeps of our guide. We did however see a Croc, that as we went closer snuck back into the water and underneath us.
The lagoon was beautiful, a small jungle oasis just metres from the shore. We were then taken to a small island where we saw baby crocodiles in a pen, that were to be
Best pizza in the world
Our candlelit meal on the beach! released when they got a bit bigger. We also saw a monkey in a cage, this wasn't very nice. I asked the chap why it was in a cage but I couldn't properly understand his answer, my Spanish still being basic. Hopefully it was soon to be released itself.
Another day we went out on a boat with three people from Spain, another Canadian chap, the local boat driver (driver?) and an English guide, searching for turtles, dolphins and whales. We saw a turtle briefly before it ducked back underwater, and spent a long time motoring around looking for dolphins, while Sarah and I (and possibly the others) got a bit sea sick. Then we caught sight of a small pod and spent 30 minutes watching them as they led the boat, played in the wake and occasionally jumped out of the water. At one point we jumped in to swim near them but they scarpered! We then finished off the excursion with a bit of snorkelling around some coral.
The days were padded out with lots of lying in the sun, body surfing in the surprisingly big and powerful waves, and drinking cheap Coronas. Not a bad
life! Then on the fourth day we returned to normality, catching a Camioneta to the nearest big town to get a bus to San Cristobal de las Casas. The camioneta ride was good fun. These are small truck things (or Utes if you´re Australian), where the back has a metal frame with a tarpaulin roof. An endless amount of people cram into the back, either sat on the rudimentary plank seats, stood up in the back, or stood on the back of the truck holding on to the frame. I myself was squeezed up onto the roof of the truck, (which had a small platform suitable for a few bags), with my head poking sticking above the truck, watching for tree branches as we sped along the road. It was good fun.
The bus ride to San Cristobal was not as much fun. Comfy reclining seats, but for 12 ish hours overnight, so we arrived in town by morning.
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