Whoa! What a Weekend

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.