Playa el Tejon

We are so rich in quiet little beaches here in Huatulco. Here's another. Playa el Tejon is reached by the second side road past the marina on the way to Tangolunda. The first exit is for Esperanza and you won't mistake the two because that road is being blocked to traffic indefinitely while an expensive sub-division is slowly being made. The road to Tejon is only open during daylight hours, not that that stops anyone.



The big problem with people coming at night is the vandalism. Some people just don't appreciate natural beauty. It would even seem that they would vote against it in a referendum. Most street lights have been smashed. Above this defaced wall is a little parking lot/lookout point. It's usually covered in broken glass. The road continues a bit further on to another scenic ocean panorama lookout. Same deal. Broken glass everywhere.




Very little maintenance happens here. Maybe none at all. With no way of protecting against damages, it may not be considered worth the effort. The situation may not improve until some day someone starts building hotels or expensive homes like those in Arrocito. If everyone is still allowed to use the beach then, there will be private security and lots of people ready to sell you things.

The beach itself is rather nice. Pull over when the scene from the first picture comes into view and look for the trailhead. The first step is the trickiest. After that, it's smooth and gradual. Enjoy this beach while you can.

Yo apoyo el uso del casco

There does seem to be something in the air about helmets in our little town of Crucecita. Little more than a week after buying mine, a student approached me at school to join a helmet awareness ride on Sunday.

We all met in front of the cathedral by the zocalo to ride together to Tangolunda. Everyone was given T-shirts and stickers that read "Yo apoyo el uso del casco". It was a blast, all of us driving around 15 km together in a pack.




Everyone arrived safely to Tangolunda where the big hotel, Dreams Huatulco, had a little lunch set up. I had to stop using the camera for the descent to keep both hands on the brakes. It's all about safety.

There was a good turnout for an event that started so early on a Sunday morning. At the end of the ride, there was a safety demonstration with some very bad acting and an ambulance and a pylon ride with T-shirts. Fun times.





A few UMAR students were there. Not too surprising. They are everywhere.


Silva says "Wear a helmet."

Licensed to Drive

Notice anything different?

My scooter has a license plate! There's even a card with my picture on it that says the Mexican government doesn't have any issues about me driving on their roads. I feel so grownup.

Very few people were driving with plates back in 2009 but they've become quite popular since the day the police parked three big trucks on a highway exit and confiscated 50 or more scooters within 2 hours last December. One of our teachers was unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and had to pay to get his back. We all took our lesson from him. I couldn't take care of it right away. The license office was a crazy moshpit for 2 weeks and I couldn't navigate through that much of a frenzy with no Spanish on my lunch break. I rode around very cautiously until then, steering far from places that might make strategic road block locations.

I even have a helmet now. Took me a while to find it. The Dynamo shop carries them. I think they're moving quickly. There is a rumour circulating that, after plates and licenses, the next law to be enforced will be helmets. That's "casco" in Spanish.

So far it's a love-hate relationship. It's true they improve visibility because the shield keeps hornets and mosquitos from smashing into my face and tears no longer stream down my face from the wind on the fast lane back and forth to school. I've learned that ducking my head a bit keeps the wind from lifting it off my head.

Hearing is also improved. I suppose that's a plus. It means I can no longer listen to my MP3 player blasting rock 'n' roll in my ear. I was hoping bud ear phones would do the trick but the helmet flattens my ears when I put it on. I have to straighten them out again once it's on. Without a helmet or headphones, all a driver can hear is the roar of the wind in his ears.

The helmet came with an excellent bonus, a motorcycle girlie calendar. I thought that was so classic. The girls are pretty enough in their artificial way although a couple have had enough surgery done to make their original gender questionable and all of them look kind of cheap and high risk for STDs. They're nobody's muse . I just loved the sheer campiness of it. Classic garage. I stuck it up in my office without thinking and it probably would have stayed there if my more politically sensitive room mate hadn't tampered with it while I was in class.


Trust me. She's nothing special. She looks like the sort of girl who favors pot-bellied rednecks or the guy with the most coke in his pocket.

I thought the vandalism was hilarious but he made his point. This is Mexico and people just aren't as uptight about such things as home but this is a university and probably not the best place for it. I took it down. Now I have it pinned to my bathroom door. It's priceless.

And so are our heads. Helmets take getting used to but they're worth it. Everybody should wear one.

UMARELA: Let's Go!

Woohoo. Time for the parade. Away we go. Everyone marches to the starting point at the bottom of the hill.





It takes another half hour to get everything organized again. Excitement mounts.





Santa takes a short contemplative cigarette break before greeting the children. Another great mystery solved. Santa smokes Camels. I believe some of the elves roll their own. Toy making doesn't pay well enough for tailor mades.

This float is simple and genius. Put a young lady in a Santa costume, minus the beard, and tow her sleigh with two bicycles dressed up as reindeer. Excellent idea.










Thanks everybody, especially Santa for wearing that warm suit the entire way and making everyone happy. Merry Christmas to all.

UMARELA : Getting Set for the Parade

I was sick the week people first started talking about the UMARELA parade. I couldn't share their enthusiasm. I couldn't imagine myself enjoying anything less except maybe an ice cold shower over my aching body. Whenever the v word (volunteer) was heard I kept my mouth shut and avoided eye contact.


I might have skipped out on the event entirely if it wasn't for this guy, William, who kept pretending he hadn't heard me or understood whenever I said "No!" It was a bit like Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast" screaming "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!" whenever anyone denied him except more low key and quietly persistent. Resistance was futile.

Of course I wasn't sick for ever. William gave me a green hat and Teresa picked out a dandy green T-shirt. The deal was done. I was a singing elf.

By the time the big day arrived, I was getting in the mood. Some of the completed work was waiting in the parking lot when I arrived in the morning. Cool stuff.



Attendance was expectedly poor for morning classes. Students were busy getting ready for the event. For my class, we just watched the Mexican "Santa Claus" from 1958 in English. I was very impressed with this movie when I saw it as a little boy in 1966. It was rivetting. Small children still find it scary. Santa goes face to face with the devil. Yup. Bizarre and very recommended. Maybe not super educational in terms of English as a second language but we all know now why Arctic explorers have never discovered Santa's workshop. It's in outer space for pity's sake.
By lunch time, students were still working up a storm on their floats.





While students worked away in the midday heat, I was in line for a free special Christmas lunch the university put up for all employees.

Hungry people.





I hope a few students managed to crash this banquet. The food was excellent. I was looking and feeling jolly by the time I finished.




I felt like a long winter's nap so I closed my eyes for a little while in the office and woke to the sound of carolers outside my window. It was almost parade time and everyone participating in the Idiomas singalong was loosening up and practising one last time. They kept sounding better and better and I knew they were going to be great.












The excitement wasn't confined to Centro de Idiomas. All over campus, students were getting pumped with Christmas parade spirit. There were angels, fairies, Mary and Joseph and ladies in traditional outfits. Very cool. Plenty of smiles.