Playa Conejos

Life in Huatulco may be ideal but it doesn't always offer interesting blog material. There is a danger that this blog will become a never ending catalogue of pretty beaches. Great for me and probably boring for readers.

Today's beach is Conejos, a favorite for a lot of UMAR people because it still hasn't suffered from any major development. That's all going to change soon enough and there is a need to enjoy it while it remains what can never be improved on, an uncommercialized stretch of sand and ocean.

Above is a view of Tangolunda, home to the mega-inclusive hotels of Huatulco, from a roadside pullover stop. At this point, I have only another 6 high steep hills on my journey.

I started out with two liters of water and almost finished the trip with an empty bottle. My bladder didn't feel a thing. At times, I couldn't see for the sweat pouring into my eyes. Eventually I asked myself the question "Are you trying to get to the beach or be a dead hero?" and hopped off to walk the bike up the final hill.


I was here back in 2001 or 2002 and all there was was a derelict shack serving beer. Now there's a nice shiny shack serving drinks and grilled fish. You might be tempted to think this paradise will last forever. Not so fast. Look up at the hills. The trees have all been cleared. Major hotel development is on the way. We have to enjoy it today.

I haven't worked out the details of whether this is Playa Conejos or Bahia de Conejos. There is another cove, good for snorkeling, just around the bend through a short trail and another smaller cove beyond that. They may each have separate names under the Bahia heading. Details. However it works, any taxi driver will take you there if you say "Conejos" or if you're lucky enough to have a ten-speed or a scooter like my friends, just follow that road past Tangolunda and keep your eye open for a trash can, a park sign and a few cars and scooters pulled over on the roadside. Walk through the trail, listen for the iguanas and salamanders rustling through the dry leaves and get wet.

Playa Entrega

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.

Iguana Games

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.

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.

The Jungle

For those who don't know, the UMAR campus of Huatulco is built right on a national wildlife park reserve. It is incredibly beautiful and I'm sure that is partly why all the students and staff arrive to work in a good mood. It's such an excellent work situation. It's Paradise.

So we get a lot of wildlife, mostly lizards: small salamander like critters and big iguanas. After a while, you don't necessarily notice and walk right by a two foot iguana chilling out on a tree branch right beside your head. I saw two beautiful pheasants around sundown last week. I don't keep my camera handy nearly enough.

Crystel asked, "Do you think that's a spider?" early Monday morning before the lights were on in the hallway. It certainly was. It was a substantial tarantula, dead. Maybe the cleaning fluid on the floor did it in. Thor picked it up with a piece of plastic. "Dead or not, the hairs are very irritating to human skin." That's nice to know. You should be aware of one crawling on you long before it has a chance to bite.



Friday, someone came into my office. "Do you want to see two iguanas having sex?" Well, they're animals so I didn't jump up out of my desk, figuring it would all be over in seconds anyway. They were still at it. Two of them had crawled under the flowered bushes right outside our office building for a little privacy. That idea went all to hell as half the English department showed up for the performance. It must have really put the pressure on. As much as possible, it was surprisingly beautiful. They're big lizards so right away they have that going against them but it wasn't over in seconds. In fact, they seemed rather loving and tender, savoring the moment. Maybe I read too much from their faces but see for yourself. They look kind of sweet.

Wheels

From Umar, I can take a crowded old bus for only 3 pesos. It's more than just cheap transportation. It's an adventure. Not knowing whether or not the bus I saw would be the last, I managed to squezze myself on but not quite in the bus one night. It was okay. Nobody stopped me. I had one foot on the first step and the other on the second. It felt fairly safe. Next night Thor and I hopped on. We each had a grip on the door and both feet more or less on the bottom step. It didn't feel that secure and it's a fast bus until we hit city limits. We were just pulling out when Thor reminded me to hang on tight. "Remember. You fall, you die." That was enough for me. We both jumped off before the driver peeled off on to the highway.

Thor gave me his bicycle that night. It needed a new seat to replace the torture rack he'd been using and a pedal. I replaced it all and haven't used the bus again. I discovered the shoulder of the highway is rough and dark at night and reminded myself to get a helmet but that's the sort of thing that can wait for indefinite tomorrows, like a haircut. My lunch hour trip to Santa Cruz moved the date up. I was almost there when I heard a Whumppp, then a truck horn and what sounded like a basketball bouncing behind me. I pulled over first before taking a look and the truck pulled over too. A coconut had fallen from a tree and completely demolished his windshield, before bouncing down the road after me. That could easily have been my head. I bought a helmet that very night. I've been encouraging everyone towear one ever since. Broken limbs and death are scary enough but head trauma and brain damage scare me the most. Even with the helmet, I'm not certain I would survive a coconut attack or if I'd be dependent on someone spoon feeding me for the rest of my life. At least there would be a fighting chance.

The coconut incident happened right about here.



So, thanks to Thor, I am independently mobile. He's leaving in a week and that's a shame for us all. He has a wealth of practical information and he's been my dependable answer man for just about every little problem. Good guy and brilliant. Korea is lucky to get him.

Thor thought he was just too big and heavy for the bike when the pedal came off. He is a bit of a giant but the flashiest looking bikes around here are FORDs. I was almost late for work on Friday when a pedal broke off. The spike remained on. It was bent like cheap aluminum or solder. I'm nowhere near as big as Thor, probably less than half his size, but my my bicycle legs came back to me after about a week and I've been taking the final hill on high gear and using more pressure. Still, this shouldn't happen. The only way one of these pedals could last is if someone stayed on the granny gear all the time and never rode up a hill. Any engineer would know how substandard these parts are. It's not right. For a lot of Mexicans, a bike represents a serious investment. They shouldn't have to replace pedals every 2 to 3 weeks. I wonder who's making this junk. A Mexican factory or some unscrupulous corporation from back home, held to basic standards locally but free to dump crap on southern soil. It wouldn't be tolerated up north, in Europe or Asia. God forbid, the status quo of the poor paying more should ever be unbalanced.

Problem solved. I took it back to the repair shop and asked for the strongest pedals available. My new Spanish for this week: "mas fuerte, por favor."

Come and knock on my door

One of the issues that kept me hopping on my free time was the apartment. The first one just wasn't working out. For a lot of reasons. There was a toilet tank that constantly dripped water into a bucket. Every 24 hours that bucket was full. The kitchen sink wouldn't drain. I tried industrial drain cleaners. No good. On Thor's recommendation, I gave Alka Selzter tablets a whirl. That worked a little but the problem wouldn't go away. They spray this town with insecticides but standing water on the coast is still a serious health hazard. People tell me that, yes, you can catch dengue fever twice and it's worse the second time. Worse!!?? That can only mean you die.

I forced myself out of bed last Saturday morning and went looking for a better place. Found one. Quite a few more pesos but what a place. Sure, it has it has flaws but it's a big furnished luxury palace to me. Great features. I have a huge frost free fridge cold enough to keep ice cream. There's a high end gas oven and stove that needs no matches. Gas flares up at the touch of a button that sends an electrical spark with a snap. I am afraid of the oven though. The electric charge doesn't work below and I ended up with my right hand in cold ice for two hours last night after a minor explosion. Whoomp.




The shower! Yow. I have one of those high powered shower heads like they use all over Guatemala only without the scary corroded electric wires. Turn this thing on full blast and you can drown under it. I have a hot water heater and mornings can be chilly but I rarely use it because I need that refreshing jolt to get moving some days. It's a small act of courage to turn the tap but once you're in, you're in. I love my shower.

I had all my stuff moved in after five bicycle trips from the ghetto and spent the afternoon cleaning and arranging what I could. I wanted to get as much done as possible because Mike was coming down from Miahuatlan to do an apartment hunt of his own. I kept hustling, expecting a call any minute, until it was dark and my productivity was in decline. I tried to call him and that's when I figured out I'd given him, and almost everyone else, the wrong number. William picked up and I could hear Mike and Richard in the background. They were just about to knock at the door I woke up behind that morning. It was fantastic. Instant house warming party with good friends and alcohol. Richard even made us all a yummy pasta.

Next day we were off to Arracito, a tiny beach near Tangolunda and a high end condo neighborhood. Great snorkelling. Richard has one of those snorkels that automatically shuts off when you dive. It holds your breath for you. Strange sensation. I saw a nice sized oyster shell at the bottom that now serves as a groovy ashtray. Good weekend. This one is almost over. Yesterday was nap day. I felt the energy depleting all week long. I needed more sleep. I had a fever. Gone. There was a night time Chinese New Year celebration at Arracito I couldn't make. I wondered if I'd be able to sleep after a whole day of napping. At 9 o'clock, I gave it a whirl. I was under in 3 seconds

Everyone agrees the new place has a "Three's Company" vibe. It's so 70s. Makes me want to listen to Peter Frampton and Supertramp. Iv'e been overdue for a haircut for about a month so the apartment really suited me. But I was tired of the 70s hair and finally squeezed in a haircut on Thursday.

This is what happens when you're overtired. You fall asleep while someone cuts your hair and wake up with one of the most conservative cuts of your life. I was out of the sun. A soft cool breeze blew in from the street and I was out like a light. The lady was very meticulous. I probably napped there for a full half hour. Once in a while she would make a noise and my eyes would open. Holy smokes. I thought, "Stop. That's enough. Put some back, would you?" but I didn't say a word and fell right back to sleep. Everytime she took a brush or the buzzer for touchups, I thought,"Ok, that's it." and then the scissors would come out and she was back at it. What could be left? I have very short hair but at least it beats that Sgt. Rock cut I got in Mexico city before leaving for Korea. Plus there was that horrible cut the girl gave me in Panajachel. I think she was trying to give me a faux hawk because you saw that stupid cut everywhere there. So this lady had a lot of damage to undo and probably had to go that far down to get life back to normal.