What happened…

Andrew writes: As though to make up for the cool welcome last night, Jim made eggs and “real” bacon for breakfast today. We sat around his kitchen table getting to know one another, while dozens of hummingbirds flitted in and out of the nearby windows, feeding from one of the nine feeders Jim maintains outside his home. It’s like a slice a paradise really, with the agile, colourful little avians vying for the tasty nectar in each of the hanging pods. Jim seemed to get really excited at one point when an emerald coloured hummingbird showed up at one of the feeders. He wasn’t always an ornithologist, but Jim is definitely a bit of a bird-man now. It was really kind of cool to be a part of.

Jim was kind enough to let me try his swim-fins with my boogie board, and we took several trips to the beaches of Puerto Escondido, which is in many top 10 lists as world-class surfing destination. For the record, Jim is a body surfer, and watching him surf the waves made me rethink carrying the boogie board around all the time. Jim suggested just carrying a decent set of fins, as it is usually pretty easy to rent a board; and even with just fins bodysurfing can be a blast too. I met his friend Robert, another boogie boarder, who gave me some tips on how to improve. At one point, the three of us guys drove to nearby Barra de la Navidad, and when the surf didn’t pan out, we just sat beside the edge of a nearby lagoon bird watching. My only “problem” if you can call it that, is that the waves are either really small, or really big. I wasn’t having very much fun on the small waves, and since both Robert and Jim prefer the larger waves like there was at the point break in Punta, I found myself growing afraid that I would hurt myself, or die trying.

Otherwise, we explored a bit of the town, including the large and colourful Mercado Municipal (municipal market), and caught up on laundry and internet stuff. If it weren’t for the mosquitoes at night, I could see P.E. being a really cool place to spend a few weeks or months learning to surf, or fishing, or just hanging out.

Amanda writes: Andrew was in his heaven and to be honest so was I. We have both always enjoyed beach communities and while this one was no different, I didn’t find myself pulled to the waters edge as much. I really am starting to wonder if my scare in the water when I was learning to kite surf has stayed with me. It’s weird because I’ve always been a swimmer. When I was a kid we had a pool, summer vacations were at the lake cottage, we took lessons as kids and just generally loved to be in the water. Now I find myself a bit tentative with waves and the pull of tides. I’m hoping it will pass but in the meantime I stayed back at Jim’s place while the boys went surfing.

The first day I just hung around Jim’s place and watched baseball. He had a great internet connection, in fact one of the best we’ve had in probably 6 months. While internet accessibility is abundant in Mexico, it’s quality is something to be desired. Likely because Jim’s work is based on his internet connection, he makes sure he has a good one. So it made my Yankees game easy to watch. The second day after visiting the beach for a sunrise session with the boys, I went exploring in Puerto Escondido. Wow – what a great city! It’s probably the first place where I’d say I’d actually live here. While it is a surfing city and there is a gringo population, there is also a big local community and things don’t seem terribly overpriced. You can get a descent two bedroom apartment for under 3000 pesos a month and the food wasn’t over the top. Something for us to consider when we decide we want to settle down. After exploring the city I returned to watch more baseball. I love the Yankees.

Today’s Photographs