Today was another interesting day. I think that by tomorrow, things will definitely slow down. I plan on spending the entire day at the beach, not worrying about a thing and just enjoying my beer and the weather, put on my sunglasses, and read a book.
So my car started making really weird clicking noises yesterday, when I was climbing up the hills high at 5000-9000 altitude levels or so, and was especially bad when we were in first or second gear the longest on those climbs up. Today, I took it to a mechanic in Puerto Escondido and had a couple of them come for a ride with me. At first they thought it was coming somewhere in the middle, but after the ride, they took off the left rear wheel, and long behold, the boots there were totally torn off. So the rings inside (or gaskets, as Bill tells me), were hitting the exhaust on every revolution. They put the sucker up, and reved it up, and long behold, I heard the same noise. Teresa talked to the guy, and he said he could do everything for 1500 pesos on Monday. I’m really relieved. Mercedes around this area, save for some big trucks and a few military vehicles, are really rare. I’ve seen about 5 new ones and have never seen anything older than probably the 2002 range model. So it’s great that there isn’t a U-Joint that needs to be replaced. Just the boots, and at a fairly reasonable price. I was so happy and relieved about the whole deal that I paid for Teresa’s Margarita to celebrate how well she translated for me.
Puerto Escondido is a big enough town where you can find all the accomodations you would want. A dozen Americans or so were surfing, and were quite good at it too. I guess even more come during peak seasons. I wasn’t quite impressed, though. It seems like it’s starting to get congested, a lot of people bothering you to sell widgets, and the view was good but not astounding. In fact, the ride back I personally think was better. We rolled down the windows, opened the sunroof, and listened to Michael Jackson. That was a very fun ride, about an hour’s worth.
The place we stayed at last night, and will tonight and tomorrow is close to Puerto Angel, called El Mazunte. This is quite a place. It’s one of those places you see in the Corona commercials, where a couple would sit near the beach and do nothing but sip on their Coronas the entire day. I think this place just might be one of the more hidden gems. On the way back from Puerto Escondido, we went to one of the hills where we saw the sun set over the horizon, shrouded by clouds but emitting bright yellow and red lights of energy.
I’m staying at this hostel next to the beach and I’m hearing waves crashing down right now. I had one of the best sleeps of my life last night, and I think it’ll only get better from here. Earlier at night, I just went outside in my boxers, and soaked in the waves. It was great, just out there, in the warm Mexican beach, looking up at the stars. Today, I moved to another place for 70 pesos, on the same beach, with a pretty decent set up. The showers smell like shit and all, but I’m saving a ton of money, and spending a lot less than what I thought I would up to this point. Staying at hostels, not hotels, is saving me a ton of money. But I think about once or twice a week, I would like to stay at hotels to really unwind and clean up some.