Todo de Puerto

Tonight, I will combine both my stories from yesterday as well as today. I wrote yesterday, but not about my day, and instead more about my overall experience thus far. The last two days have been very fun, and memorable. I feel like I walked around the whole town in the last two days. I went to multiple beaches, and ate many different foods.

Yesterday, it was my fellow renters' last day, so we went down to Zicatela, the main beach where people go, and it was busy like any other day. I almost convinced him to surf for the first time, but he decided to stick to body surfing which is still a great time. I did rent a board for myself though for an hour, and the waves were super wonky. I had a couple good waves, but for the most part, we shared a laugh after a particularly large wave would come and the front of my board would go under and from there, I was the oceans' toy, just holding my breath till I could resurface. Then after my hour, we stayed out in the water for a while longer, diving through waves, swimming with them, and sometimes getting rolled.

Our other renters met with us, and we all sat for the sunset, and then walked back all the way across town back to Centro, the area where our place is. After washing off the sticky saltwater all over my body, it was time to get out and find some tasty cheap food. We went to a taco place that we knew was good, and feasted for hardly any money. For 100 pesos, I had a torta (sandwich) with turkey and lots of other goodies, as well as a burrito with pastor, and I could not have been more full. This comes out to just about $5.50, by the way. After this, we walked over to the local soccer turf, and watched some soccer, appreciating the different paces each game had to offer. First there were some older guys playing, who were not super fast pace, but had great touches on the ball, and made very smart passes. Then the second game that we saw a bit of was younger kids, with a little more hustle, and these kids could shoot.

Walking back from the soccer field, on the way back to our place, we heard live music and excitedly chased it, and then came upon a large band, playing music for a crowd of maybe 40 or so people, just down a side street. I took my phone out and recorded some, and smiled just being pleased by the event. A second later, I started to question what they were playing for, and I realized I was totally recording a funeral. Whoops.

Back at the place, I said my goodbyes to the Canadian, and we agreed that maybe someday we would see each other traveling in the future. The people that I have met traveling are just very kind and giving, go with the flow, helpful people, and I am very thankful for that.

Today, I woke up a little earlier, and made myself a nice breakfast of eggs, and a couple simple quesadillas, with Oaxacan cheese (pretty much string cheese but higher quality), and an avocado. Then sure enough, one of the Germans brought back a rotisserie chicken, and they were willing to share so we all sat and plowed through some chicken off the bones, which felt very primal and I loved it.

After eating, it was time for me to head out, to go interview for a volunteer program, in exchange for accommodation. The place is not too far from where I am staying now, so I walked, and when I got there, was very pleased with the facility. There was very nice air cooling inside, and in the large courtyard, there was lots of shade, as well as a pool and a bar, and plenty of tables and chairs. The interview was honestly a little rough, because the interviewer spoke a little unclearly, and didn't speak much English, and I don't speak much Spanish, so I had a pretty tough time understanding him, and he had somewhat of a hard time understanding me as well. He told me they were full for when I was trying to apply, but if there were any cancellations, he would contact me, and so I am hoping something comes up. If not, I met someone today who told me about another place I may be able to interview for a similar experience.

After this, it was beach time, and I decided to go to Carizalillo today, which was the beach I surfed on earlier in the week early in the morning. Today, the waves were very calm, not surfable, but good for swimming. I left my bag alone on the beach, glancing back at it every once in a while, but these beaches really do feel so safe, and nobody seems to mess with anyone's stuff. After a little while, I decided to go over to Playa Coral which is a fairly short walk from where I was, maybe 15 to 20 minutes. There, I ran into the Germans, as well as another German I met last week, and she was with two of her friends. We all sat and chilled for a little while, and then I decided to go do a bit of rock climbing. As I sat upon one of the higher rocks, I saw a woman down on the sand, capturing pictures of various things, and when I got down later, we ended up striking up a conversation. Turns out, she was a photographer, and she ended up asking me if she could shoot a couple pictures of me, and I was willing, so I went back up on the rock, and posed for a bit, feeling a little awkward. Afterward, she said she would send them to me, and thanked me for my time, kind of a cool random interaction.

Once again staying till the sun set, because this is what you do when there is a sun setting over the ocean, we sat around and enjoyed the views. The Germans and their friends invited me to dinner, and so we all went out and ate Italian food. This group today consisted of three Germans, one Spaniard, a Canadian who I believe said he was Egyptian, me, and a girl from Holland. The amount of diversity here is fascinating to me. The food was a little pricey, but it was pretty good. I am sometimes quieter in larger groups, and I spent a lot of the time listening, and it was fun to hear the conversations which came up. At times, I feel a little young, as I have not really hung out with anyone to this point that is under thirty, but it is a cool new experience. After dinner, we all retired back to our places to clean up. Here I sit typing, and in a bit, I plan on going back out with everyone, because they invited me to go dance with them, so I am going to go see how it goes. Reminder, no marijuana, because I would prefer not to spend the night in jail any time soon.