It's the corona virus lockdown in Huatulco. Not too much is happening. Basically, it's like everywhere else. More and more people are wearing masks. It's not universal yet but I'm on top of this trend thanks to Matt Yamigawa.
The biggest advantage we have here in Huatulco is all the open space. The chances of coming too close to anyone are slim and easily avoided.
When the coronavirus situation escalated, we were given a warning to take anything from our offices at UMAR Huatulco we would need before they locked the university up tight. Not surprisingly, after more than a week of very little human traffic, animals were reclaiming the environment.
This little rabbit was trying to be invisible right outside Centro de Idiomas.
La Bocana closed.
Conejos closed.
Downtown Crucecita. Deserted.
I made an early morning visit to Soriana where I was greeted with a squirt of hand sanitizer gel. The previous visit had been a spray of Clorox and water. So now we seem to have lots of gel in town but not enough to put on the shelves for sale. Just about every store you visit will have a big bottle to share with customers.
That beer is going to sit there for a long while. There is a dry law until further notice. Hard core drinkers may be able to find homemade mezcal somewhere to satisfy their needs. The rest of us will keep our wits about until the dangers have passed.
There is no shortage of toilet paper in this town.
When I arrived, I just walked in, By the time I was ready to leave, they had moved barricades of flats to limit traffic for the rest of the day. That masked woman sanitizing the shopping carts offered me the hand gel on my way in.
I'm going through a lot more dog food now. The street dogs have lost some of their regular food sources since the street food vendors have disappeared and they are ravenous.
Here's Hank and the newest member of the breakfast club, Voight. Krypto waits patiently outside. The other two won't let here enter.
Having devoured his share of the food, Voight decided he had a new home. I chased him away so Krypto could eat. Poor Krypto surrounds her dish with her paws now as if afraid someone is going to steal it.
As the song goes, it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...so far. I hope you feel fine as well. Remember to stay away from stupid people. They have never been more dangerous.
Sunday, I took the boogie board bicycle rack out for the first excursion to La Bocana. It worked like a charm. The board didn't shake at all and, once I was on the saddle, it didn't feel like I was carrying any extra burden. I learned that, when mounting the bike, the rack side pedal has to be down so I can adjust my foot to pedal from the heel with the first thrust.
First portage from taking the shortcut the sector of empty streets for future residential development. People can enter by the Fonatur recycling depot but all other exits are blocked, which probably saves a lot of unnecessary accidents from commuters racing the clock and trying to avoid traffic lights.
Next obstacle was at the top of the hill descending to Tangolunda. Traffic had been diverted to an older 2 lane road half a kilometer back that I hoped to avoid because of my extra width and the blind turns plus increased traffic. I just kept going and hoped for the best. Sometimes a bicycle can squeeze through where normal traffic can't.
Approaching the moment of truth.
Whee. No problem.
This video is clearly staged. I saw Marbella waving to me from EcoSpa as I cruised through Tangolunda so I spun around and asked her to capture Boogie Bike in motion to show it off better. That's the name for the contraption from here on in courtesy of Francisco. It works for me.
Random photo from the journey.
La Bocana just ahead at the bottom of the next hill. I didn't even notice at the time that the front pipe had been shaken free. It was the one spot I hadn't glued because the reduction sleeve had been jammed in so tightly, I couldn't free it. I thought if it was that tight, it wouldn't need glue anyways. No problem when I pushed it back in but it freed itself one more time before I made it home. Maybe it was the constant vibrations of the tarmac that worked it out. It's glued tightly now and it won't happen again.
Ta-dah. Beautiful Bocana. I caught a few little waves and had some fun. Mostly it was a fishing day. An enormous school of fish had landed and fishermen and seagulls were everywhere. People were taking home buckets of fish. I grabbed my space in the water whenever a fishermen carried his haul back to shore and made room again when he returned.
With my flab on the increase, a lifestyle adjustment is in order . Much as I enjoy my new scooter http://alackofcleardirection.blogspot.mx/2015/09/new-ride-vento-hot-rod-classic.html, I get as much exercise out of it as I would playing video games. It's perfect for transporting my boogie board the 20 minute drive to La Bocana but a one hour bike ride would be much more satisfying.
The only way I could carry the boogie board on the bicycle was to tuck it under one arm and that just wasn't practical. I tried balancing it on the passenger spikes with a couple of bungees latched on the seat post. That worked for about 15 seconds.
Down in Puerto Escondido, I'd seen a few guys with surfboard racks on the side of their scooters. It seemed like a great idea. Of course, with a scooter, you don't need room to pedal. Hmm. I checked on the internet one night. Sure enough, people in the States have designed racks for bicycles too. The cost of postage is often more than double that of the product from to the States to Mexico so I headed to Surf Town, Puerto Escondido, our own international surfer mecca. Surely, if I could find one of these fantastic contraptions anywhere, that would be the place. I had pictures of what I wanted on my smart phone just to make myself understood. Nobody at the surf shops had ever heard of them and sent me way up the hill to a couple of bike shops where I was assured the only way I was going to get what I wanted was to pay some welders to make me one. Incidentally, I learned from one bike mechanic that Puerto is not a big bicycle town so there has never been a demand for such a thing before. The hill I climbed that day explained why.
Back home I hit the internet again and this time I hit the jackpot. A man has this great Youtube video demonstrating how to build your own. It's genius. There are a few other DIY rack vids as well but his is the most solid design. The others are a bit wiggly. If you read his full description, you'll find very practical detailed instructions that aren't necessarily apparent in the 3 minute video. Check it out.
Because of the shape of my frame, I couldn't follow his instructions without some modifications. His frame is a consistent one inch triangle. All of his PVC pieces are one inch, the perfect width for a rack and I doubt you would want it any thicker. My frame has all different widths from one inch to 1.6 so even if I went for a 1.6 thick frame, I'd still have problem getting pieces to fit together.
I considered buying myself a new bike but all of the bikes at our local store had the same style of frame as mine so I had to scheme a way to make this guy's invention work. Hence, my very first, probably last, instructional video. It doesn't show the whole process, just the adjustments I had to make for the original video. If your frame is like his, the first video is all you will ever need. If you have one like mine, my vid will show you everything else you need to know.
The first problem was solved at the hardware store where the man sold me a 1.5 Tee with a one inch sleeve. Everything else was one inch, just like on the video.
There were a few more snags ahead and I started to get discouraged again but I consoled myself that even if the whole enterprise was a complete messy failure, the actual investment in materials hadn't been that much to begin with.
At first I couldn't get the all important first Tee joint up high enough on the frame. It was obstructed by a little metal cable guide that I couldn't just brake off. I thought about it. How important could that piece be? Probably essential. Instead I took the easier route with my hacksaw and cut a tooth out of the PVC. Voila. We're looking good now.
The next problem was that the same Tee jint pinched off my front derailleur cable, limiting me to one front gear. That was something I could live with if I had to but I managed to carve a groove for the cable in the center of the joint and I was back in the game.
From there I was able to follow the instructions as given and everything worked out great.
I got more and more excited as each piece came together and realized it was really going to happen.
It was dark before I finished.
Almost finished here. I got to use my new-to-me power drill for the first time to make holes for the bungee cords. The foam insulation pipe covers on the top picture were added the next day for traction. Plus, I think they look cool.
I haven't been to La Bocana with it yet but I've taken it for a test ride around the neighborhood and it works very smoothly as long as I pedal with my heel and not the toes. The board doesn't wiggle a bit. I have to allow for my increased girth in traffic. I'm sure I'll get used to that in no time.
Tomorrow morning will be my maiden voyage. I hope La Bocana isn't too rough and scary. It has different conditions throughout the year and I think we're due for wide sand and long stretches of shallow water. I'd hate to get out there and then have to chicken out but I won't go in if it looks too psycho.
It seems to have become a rite of passage for new teachers to take a quick tour on the back of the old Italika scooter. Each tour is a little different. Much as I'd like to take them everywhere, there isn't enough time in a single day.
Here is our newest recruit, Carmen, all the way from Virginia, the original home of John Carter from Mars, sporting the Sony Action Cam at the Tangolunda overlook.
The idea was that the person on the back of the scoot could get a better view of points of interest than the driver, who has to stare straight ahead for traffic and curves. It worked too but we had condensation problems and almost all of our footage looked like it had been taken on a foggy day.
The rainy season is almost all over. While it rained steadily in the mountains for most of the season, we didn't get much here in Huatulco until a few weeks ago. When it came, it came down hard for a full week. The canals gushed. Mud slid across roads and trees came down. A hard rain always causes potholes. We expect that but there are potholes and then there are potholes.
Drivers beware.
Our first stop was beautiful Bocana. Sadly this beach received some heavy damage. The seawall, which I believe is made of strong materials, had been battered to pieces during the hard rain.
Fallen trees from the hills, washed away with the soil that had sustained them, were everywhere.
I wasn't there when it happened but I suspect these trees battered the blazes out of the seawall when the water was much higher. La Bocana has periods every year when there is no beach to speak of, just brown wáter rushing against the wall over clattering rocks. But when it is good, this beach is pure gold. I have never seen it as wide as it was that day. A student tipped me off about the recent conditions but I couldn't have imagined just how vast it was. It is definitely worth the trip if you're in the area any time over the next few months.
There were only a few people when we arrived. There's a young woman reading a book under an umbrella.
Hey, wait a minute. She looks familiar. It's Yulma!
It was such a great chance for Carmen to start meeting some of her new colleagues. Plus I had Yulma to take care of the camera. I wanted to get wet too. Most of the upcoming pictures were taken by her.
This was Carmen's 3rd or 4th day in our town. She finally got wet.
We're already quite far out at this point.
Looking back.
Woo hoo! Body surfing!
Back at the shore, the water is a lot cooler in this little river channel. It's waist high on me at the deepest spots. If you lie down, the current whisks you away like a natural water slide park ride. Whee.
The tour continued but there are no more pictures.
