The Detour:
After a solid Saturday of snoozing, I needed to exert myself a bit. Santa Cruz was too close for a good stretch. I rode my bike to Playa Entrega for the maiden trip of my fancy new mask and snorkel kit.
It´s hillier than I remembered. William, Jasmine and myself started to hike there last September and waved down a cab after dragging ourselves up the first hill. After that, it wasn´t so bad. I´d forgotten how, from that point on, the trip becomes even steeper. Next time I´ll use the shortcut. The road has been designed to keep traffic moving in a loop. I bypassed the wrong way exit and ended up putting at least another half kilometer on my trip. Not much until you realize it´s almost all straight up hill.
The reward for obeying the signs is a panoramic view by a lighthouse, a complete bonus as it´s off the main route on a flattish side road and a welcome rest stop for a cyclist.
The Drop:
After all that climbing, the last piece of road to the beach is an extreme drop. It´s another good reason to take that detour.
The brakes haven´t broken on my bike yet. They will. Everything does. I just started home from school one night and my chain fell apart. That has never happened to me before. Most of the trip is downhill so I coasted most of the way and made a pitstop at the bike shop. The young mechanic from Chiapas had it fixed in two minutes. No one there speaks English but we understood each other and all agreed that the derailleur would probably go next. As I faced down that hill, I wondered about the odds of both brake cables breaking at the same time.
The Beach:
Entrega may well be the best snorkeling beach of Huatulco. Lots to see. I could have reached out and touched or swum right through a huge school of yellowtail tuna. A channel leads straight around the bend to a smaller isolated beach.
There were a lot of us out there in the water, everyone so captivated by the world below there was an inclination to bump into each other once in a while. Some man said "Sorry. Sorry" when his little girl, on this cute little boogie board with a window to peer down through, bumped into me. Naturally, I forgave. I was just as likely the guilty party as anyone. He pointed out the cave I´d heard about and recommended a closer peek but I was feeling the chill and inclined to warm myself again on the sand. That will be good for another weekend.
Oh. Here comes another one right now. 30 minutes to go.
Occasionally, I spend my three hour lunch break at UMAR on campus. Not too many people around. It gets very quiet at these hours. That´s when the wildlife comes out to frolic. Huge iguanas start stamping around the Idiomas office building.
There were two iguanas separated by the divide of trees on the concrete walk between Idiomas and Auto Accesso, one female; the other male. I came up pretty close with my camera and backed right off when the male started stomping toward me.
Later, in my very best Spanish, I asked a lady if these beasts can attack and she assured me they never do. Of course, there might have been a translation problem. According to an English teaching colleague, I might have asked "Can I attack the iguanas?" and was forbidden from doing so.
The male iguana, Iggy, was looking for some tangible affection from his lady, Isabella, but she felt entitled to more wooing than a few demanding summonses. Isabella climbed a tree and disappeared over the roof of Idiomas. Iggy kept calling out for five minutes before he surrendered to her feminine rules and started the slow chase, stopping for breath halfway up the tree and trying his luck with more love calls. Isabella could have been in downtown Crucecita by the time he caught up with her at that rate. I´m still betting he got what he was after before the sun went down, in his slow persistent way.
A three day weekend goes too quickly, even when it's action-packed. It all began with a farewell gathering for Thor at some bar. Best of luck, Thor. Our loss, some other country's gain. I wasn't feeling action-packed myself so I made an early goodnight.
Good thing too. Mike arrived from Miahuatlan bright and early as promised and before we could organize ourselves for the beach, he landed an excellent apartment just by being at the right place at the right time. My apartment complex manager showed up with a friend in need of a tenant for a very deluxe place behind the bus station; two stories; circular staircase, two bathrooms and a verandah. Talk about synchronicity. Just look at what Mike got!
Thanks to William and Matthew for making the boat cruise a reality last Sunday. Without them, this great plan would have continued to be just talk.
It all started with a trek through the steep grounds of Hotel ??? down to a small private beach in Santa Cruz.
From there to Playa India, a perfect little tropical cove that sees few crowds as it's inaccessible by land, for swimming and snorkeling in crystal waters.
William and I dangled fishing lines off the back of the boat. I'm sure I caught one but I should have landed it while I could. I let it fight. Before we knew it our lines were tangled, probably from my catch fighting for its life. We lost it.
A park sign warned of dangerous currents but really, some old nanny must have posted it. I did feel myself being dragged a bit into the shallow end of the coral reef but it was no big deal pulling back. Mike didn't get quite as much warning and only by grabbing on to the ledge with both hands managed to save himself from being turned into shark chum. He still didn't get off completely free
The last highlight of the day was a stopover at Playa Calculata, where one of the scenes from "Y Tu Maman Tambien" was filmed. We leaped off the boat for a splash in the deep and a roll in the sand. While nothing like fine art, there are a couple of Youtube vids to commemorate the experience. You had to be there.
Third beach day in a row was to Playa Conejos or rather the even lesser known bay through a short trail to the east. No pictures. Conejos and Playa No Name have become favorites of the UMAR faculty as the days for these largely untouched beaches are numbered. Landscaping has already begun across the highway and too soon this will be another Tangolunda with sparse access and no refreshments available to visitors without wristbands. It was always inevitable. I remember seeing a billboard offering the land for sale to developers back in 2001. But I believe the sanctity of India and Calculuta will be respected forever.
And then play time was suddenly over. Mike was on his way to catch a bus faster than I could say "Hey, do you have my little white lighter?" That's alright. I know it was an accident.
After a solid Saturday of snoozing, I needed to exert myself a bit. Santa Cruz was too close for a good stretch. I rode my bike to Playa Entrega for the maiden trip of my fancy new mask and snorkel kit.
It´s hillier than I remembered. William, Jasmine and myself started to hike there last September and waved down a cab after dragging ourselves up the first hill. After that, it wasn´t so bad. I´d forgotten how, from that point on, the trip becomes even steeper. Next time I´ll use the shortcut. The road has been designed to keep traffic moving in a loop. I bypassed the wrong way exit and ended up putting at least another half kilometer on my trip. Not much until you realize it´s almost all straight up hill.
The reward for obeying the signs is a panoramic view by a lighthouse, a complete bonus as it´s off the main route on a flattish side road and a welcome rest stop for a cyclist.
The Drop:
After all that climbing, the last piece of road to the beach is an extreme drop. It´s another good reason to take that detour.
The brakes haven´t broken on my bike yet. They will. Everything does. I just started home from school one night and my chain fell apart. That has never happened to me before. Most of the trip is downhill so I coasted most of the way and made a pitstop at the bike shop. The young mechanic from Chiapas had it fixed in two minutes. No one there speaks English but we understood each other and all agreed that the derailleur would probably go next. As I faced down that hill, I wondered about the odds of both brake cables breaking at the same time.
The Beach:
Entrega may well be the best snorkeling beach of Huatulco. Lots to see. I could have reached out and touched or swum right through a huge school of yellowtail tuna. A channel leads straight around the bend to a smaller isolated beach.
There were a lot of us out there in the water, everyone so captivated by the world below there was an inclination to bump into each other once in a while. Some man said "Sorry. Sorry" when his little girl, on this cute little boogie board with a window to peer down through, bumped into me. Naturally, I forgave. I was just as likely the guilty party as anyone. He pointed out the cave I´d heard about and recommended a closer peek but I was feeling the chill and inclined to warm myself again on the sand. That will be good for another weekend.
Oh. Here comes another one right now. 30 minutes to go.
