Heat Rash, Mechanics, WiFi

I am sitting on a bed, in Puerto Escondido, in the Best Night Hotel Aldea Bacocho, outside of the more touristy part of town. our objective of this stop is two fold, get our car looked at by a mechanic and do laundry.

 As we drove into town yesterday afternoon, on what was the hottest day we have had so far, the temp gauge in the rear view mirror reading 93 degrees, we passed by an AutoZone and kept our eyes open for mechanics. We drove along the 200, our highway away from home, headed toward Playa Zicatela on the southern side of the bay, to where we hoped to find cheap accommodations. Zicatela, also known as the Mexican Pipeline, attracts lots of surfers from all over the world, bringing with them an international feel and an oppressive expat scene. This in turn, created higher prices than our modest budget allowed for. After a few failed attempts of locating lodging for the night, we decided to grab some lunch and regroup. By this time, I had unbearable pain from what looked like a burn on my left ribs. I couldn't remember being burned by anything and have avoided being sunburned thus far, so I was confused to say the least. The blisters that were appearing also had me concerned that something might be very wrong. With this predicament of blisters, high prices on rooms, and way too much heat for any of us five travelers, we headed back out of town, away from the other sun soaked gringos, towards the AutoZone back on the way to the airport. We found a hotel for Mexicans, not surfers, just up the street from a mechanic who said he would diagnose our problem for just 100 pesos, less than $10. To our surprise, the room we found had air conditioning, which I've never felt such a strong sense of love for, and great wifi, the likes of which we have not experienced since our glory days of Puerto Vallarta.

Sunset at Cuyutlan

This is about our half way point of the trip, or at least that is what we are figuring at this rate. Mexico has taken much longer to drive across than we had anticipated and this pace was even with us keeping good time to ensure we met up with my family and friends in Zihuatanejo. We have traveled 1,350 kilometers since we left Puerto Vallarta the day after Christmas. Hugging the 200, we have taken the scenic route through this country, but this was our intention, to see the deserted beaches up and down the coast, the nearly desolate coast of Michoacan, the Costalgre of Jalisco, the Costa Chica of Guerrero, to find the hidden surf spots not yet blown up like Escondido. As we left Puerto Vallarta, we headed for the small town of Cuyutlan, a supposed black sand beach with good surfing. What we found was a town long forgotten by the rest of the world. It had reached its heyday of tourism back in the 40's and the crumbling buildings and empty streets evoked feelings of an abandoned carnival. We rented our most basic accommodation thus far on the trip, and while the room offered less than others we have stayed in, it still wasn't the cheapest. As we drive from state to state, the prices of goods and accommodations fluctuate greatly, displaying the obvious wealth gaps based on whatever industry each state is known for. Cuyutlan, Colima does not have much to offer, but while the town itself was falling apart, there were a handful of hotels, some of them rather nice looking, for incredibly high prices. I guess on the weekends, families from the nearby port city of Manzanillo flock to Cuyutlan to swim in less polluted waters. We had larger aspirations and as such, after one short and less than comfortable night, we moved on.

Full moon over Cuyutlan

Our next stop, which also held dreams of waves and secluded beach paradise, was Playa La Ticla, one of the many little beach towns along the 250 km coast of Michoacan. Ticla turned out to be more than we bargained for. Our spacious room on the corner of the building owned by Dona Maria Pasquales, didn't have any screens or mosquito netting, but the off shore breeze from the beach, just down the road, and the luxoury of two windows and a back door, created a nice constant circulation of air that kept the mosquitos at bay. Our neighbor, David, a Canadian who has been traveling throughout Mexico for over 15 years now, proved to be an important source of information, guiding us on how to bypass Acapulco,  recommending our next stop along the way, Playa La Saldadita, which made it so we could stay next to Zihuatanejo without staying in it, and alerting us to the fact that when we drive across the Tehuantepec Isthmus of Mexico we will be crossing one of the windiest places in the world and that we should check the weather conditions before we embark on that leg of the journey. We ate dinner at Cabanas de Vicky, a nice open air spot with a thatched roof and great food. Vicky, the owner and the cook, is very hospitable and makes a point to come out and sit with her tables once the rush has died down. We sat and chatted with her the first night, and on the second night, we felt right at home, helping ourselves to drinks from the refrigorator and playing cards to pass the time until our meal was served.

Road to La Ticla

The welcoming vibe of Ticla was much needed and spoiled us for other less friendly locations. But moments like that are the ones that remind you why you wanted to travel in the first place. Hearing stories from David (more to come on those later) and finding little towns that are as yet, still mostly unknown, these are the hidden gems that make living out of car, getting heat rashes and burn blisters, eating cup of noddles for days on end, all worth while. Lying on the beach of Ticla, watching thousands of hermit crabs dance a beatiful ballet while Timmy surfed a point all to himself, those moments are what this trip is about.

I'll need to write more to bring you up to speed fully, as we have made a few stops since Ticla that included new cocktails, a Spanish rapper performing for free and making a music video, and vocabulary lessons based on car parts. But for now, I'll pause to enjoy the air conditioning for one more night before we continue on towards Costa Rica. In about 4 days, we should be Guatemala, and so will begin the next phase of our journey.

Street Scene from Puerto Vallarta