Starting this weekend, it began raining here in El Salvador and hasn't stopped for more than a few minutes. The internet says we're getting 60-80 millimeters per day, about 2 or 3 inches, and I believe it. The little creek that dribbled some water into the ocean and that was about one big step across is now a raging torrent of a river, spewing brown water, trees, branches, debris, trash, and who knows what else from upstream in the mountains. The waves have been unrideable for the same amount of time, and I'm getting a bit bored.
The forecast is more of the same, unfortunately, as several tropical disturbances as well as rainy-season low pressure waves/trofs are causing all kinds of atmospheric instability. No likelihood of change for at least a week, so probably not much to post. Lot's of hanging around, reading, sleeping, and drinking beer with the other fellow travelers and surfers in the same predicament. Ready for rainy season to end, for sure.
Posting a few pics and a video that my Facebook friends may have already seen. More to come...
I left Barra and made it surprisingly quickly down the coast, even giving a local a ride to the nearby town of Coyul. I crossed into the state of Chiapas, notorious in recent years for "leftist" indigenous uprisings and political conflicts.
I don't know what the deal is now, but things were calm, the road in decent shape, and I even passed by the town of Arriaga--made a coincidental and obscure reference in one of my favorite Simpsons episodes:
I had planned on overnighting in the border town of Tapachula and crossing into Guatemala early on a saturday morning, but things were destined to go a different direction. I had heard conflicting stories about how to deal with my vehicle import permit to Mexico, so I wound up stopping before the border at the little office and giving them a copy of it, and getting mixed up with a "helper" to get across the border. He claimed he only wanted a tip afterwards and had the info I wanted. At the border, things deteriorated quickly, and I was basically at their mercy. After giving them a bit of money as a bribe, I got thru the border, but at nearly 9pm at night, in the border town of Tecun Uman. The streets were tight, my GPS not giving my any help, and I had been driving since 8 am that morning--in short, I was not a happy camper.
I finally flagged down a dude on the street and convinced him to get in Nookie with me and help me find a hotel with some security. He reluctantly agreed, and 15 minutes later I pulled into an "auto hotel" which looked safe enough and dropped 300 quetzales on the room. In latin america, auto hotels are places couples go to have licit and (more likely) illicit sex--there are private garages so one can pull in undetected and unseen. My room was a bit seedy--mirrors on the ceiling and walls, a sketchy looking jacuzzi, and really sad porn on the TV. I won't go into any more details, and I was too tired to take any pics, but they probably would have been depressing anyway.
Early the next day I headed out for the border with El Salvador. I had a bad taste in my mouth about Guatemala and knew I wanted to get to the plentiful right point breaks of El Sal in any event.
Volcano shrouded in clouds from the highway.
As I got within 100km of the border, I started seeing signs for the beach area called Monterrico. I'd read a positive blog post about the place while doing some research online a few weeks back and made a snap decision to detour out there and spend a night or two. It was a worthwhile diversion.
The area around Monterrico consists of a series of lagoons, estuaries, and a beautiful black sand beach. In order to get there the way I was heading a ferry trip was required. I'd read a bit about that but was unclear as to how that worked exactly. I found out pretty quickly, a mere 30 minutes after I turned off the highway. The "ferries" were long wooden barges, constructed there in the village, and none too seaworthy or sturdy-looking.
my ferry and driver--Luis--guiding me carefully onto his ride.
loaded up and leaving the dock.
other traffic on the estuary.
Nookie underway...
As my guide Louis loaded my onto his rickety barge, I heard a couple of sharp snaps and yells from said Louis and his helpers. Nookie's prodigious weight had snapped one of the thick wooden loading planks. I waited while they shoved a few more boards between Nookie's wheels and the loading ramp, then slowly crept aboard the barge, hearing it creak and groan under Nookie's 10,000 pounds. Finally I made it aboard fully, with about 3 feet of clearance at the back where Louis and an ancient 25 horsepower outboard motor sat, and no more than a few inches on either side. I don't know how much room was at the back of Nookie as you couldn't really get around to the "bow" of the barge due to the tight fit. Taking pics was tough as I was so close to Nookie I couldn't really get any distance for perspective, but I took a little video that at least shows us in motion.
Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive that the barge was going to split open and sink, or list heavily to one side and take on water, leaving Nookie and all my belongings at the bottom of a lagoon in Guatemala. But it made the voyage safely, about 30 minutes in all.
Unfortunately none of my pics of the beach town of Monterrico came out right, but I highly recommend it for a tranquilo and beautiful spot. It was surprisingly well kept, the people seemed happy and a notch or two above the socio-economic status of other similarly situated guatemalans that I had seen inland. The roads were pretty nice, there were obviously some expensive vacation homes for well-to-do Guatemalans around, but for the most part the vacationers were working class Guatemalans, at least to my eye.
I left yesterday morning and made it to the border with El Salvador around noon. Although slow and confusing, by 3pm I was on my way, and by 5pm I was nearing La Libertad, and eventually found a little hotel/hostel recommended by several people called La Guitarra. I ran into a Brittish/Columbian couple I'd spent time with in Barra, as well as a New Zealand woman her friend, a Japanese girl, also recently seen in Barra. The town is pretty nice, a bit more crowded than I thought it would be, but I still have yet to get a real feel for the place. The waves are small today and not really breaking, but hopefully by later this evening it might glass off and get a bit better. A big swell is on the way for later in the week, so that is something to look forward to.
I'll try to get some pics from around here soon. As always, more to come!!!
I'm once again ensconced in the welcoming quarters of the Mission de los Arcos hotel. It's a nice little hotel with A/C, nice tv's, relatively fast internet, and comfy beds, all in the heart of a really nice little town called Crucecita, and all for about $40 US per night. Since I'm here, and headed south again to Barra de la Cruz where the internet is spotty at best, I'm putting up two posts from my recent travels. Oh, and Nookie turned 100,000 miles on the odometer on the drive today--she's still running well.
Nookie is under that enramada somewhere.
Before I left Saladita, I was talking with Lourdes and her boyfried, Federico. He's an interesting dude--from Mexico City, but spends half the year as a captain on various tug boats and other vessels around Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest. I surfed with Federico and Lourdes' godson Omar at the little "boca" break south of Saladita last week. Anyway, he mentioned that as a stopping place on the way to Barra de la Cruz, a little place called Cerro Hermoso, or beautiful hill, was a nice spot. He was right.
Aerial view of Cerro Hermoso--I did not take this...
ground view of the jetty. tons of dudes were out there drinking beer later in the evening.
Cerro Hermoso sits at the southeastern edge of the Lagunas de Chacahua National Park. Anyone who's been to Puerto Escondido has heard about the great wave that can be had at "Chacahua". You have to take a boat ride through the lagunas (sort of a large marshy estuarine system) to get to the isolated Chacahua. I stayed on the edge, and could have gone over on a boat, but there wasn't a great swell in the water and going alone on a boat is pretty expensive--most people split the ride between 4 or 6 or 8 other dudes. You need to stay overnight for a few days (or more) in order to get it good, and I wasn't quite ready to do that. I plan to hit it for sure on my way back up the Mexican coast next year some time, but I got a taste there in Cerro Hermoso.
Beach looking south
Cerro Hermoso from the jetty
There's a giant man-made jetty with a small navigation light at the end. There's a bit of a wave there, but it was not working too well. I surfed for a bit, but nothing to write home about. The beach is really broad, white sand, and pretty darn cool overall. I'm not quite sure why the jetty is there--as it doesn't protect any sort of navigable inlet to the estuary--just separates two expanses of beach.
decent little right--best wave I saw this guy catch
more view to the south
Anyway, I'm back in la Crucecita now and almost done with catching up on internet stuff, banking, etc. The Redskins play the Cowboys tonight, and I hope I can find the game somewhere. A remnant of my US football fandom, I guess. I also learned my Atlanta Braves are trying to crap away their seemingly sure-fire playoff position, but I doubt I can find that game anywhere. Off to Barra de la Cruz tomorrow, maybe a week or so there, then down the road into Guatemala.
Well, I wound up staying in Saladita a bit longer than expected--a little over a week. Some fun waves as always there, but the crowds got a bit thick towards the end, especially the "chilangos" with a different idea of surf etiquette than what I've learned over the years. I did get to surf a little "secret" spot, let's call it "la boca", that was a blast. I didn't get any pics, but chest high+ river mouth beach break was a lot of fun after a 30 minute walk down the beach on some tough terrain.
I packed up Nookie and prepared her for travel, aiming to make it south of Acapulco, possibly as far as a place I'd read about called Punta Maldonado. After a 12 hour driving day, I spotted the turnoff for the aforementioned Punta and pulled off the highway at nearly sunset. Thinking it was maybe 30 minutes or so down the road, I was a bit chagrined when nearly an hour passed on a really pot-holed road and I had yet to reach the little fishing village of Moldanado. Just past dark, I made it down to the end of the road and the apparent only hotel in town.
Punta Maldonado in the morning..
I asked the nice family eating a late dinner on their porch/side yard/mercado area if there was a hotel nearby. They said yes, got up, and had me park Nookie beside a handful of fishing boats (pangas), as this village is mostly about fishing. They took me a few houses down to a cinder block building, up some stairs, and, sure enough, there were 4 little hotel rooms. They showed me one, told me it would be about 200 pesos, and needed a few minutes to tidy it up. I went down to Nookie and got a few things, and when I got back up to the room, the were finishing up, and even had an old window unit A/C running. Unfortunately it didn't run for very long.
Pangas set to go fishing; those anchored came in during the night
Nookie's parking spot for the night
About 30 minutes after the nice couple left, the A/C conked out, and the room was stifling hot. I managed to pry the window open, and that allowed some of the breeze in, as well as quite a few mosquitos. I happened to have an extra fan stashed in Nookie, so I retrieved that and at least had a breeze across me as I tried to sleep. Dead tired from nearly 12 hours driving Mexican roads, I slept surprisingly well.
There is a reputed left point-break there at Moldanado, and I could see the potential with more swell in the water. However, when I cruised thru town first thing the next morning, it was probably 2 ft. and mushy. I had thought about staying a couple of days if things worked out, but quickly decided to move on down the road. The place is undeniably pretty, though I'm afraid the pictures probably won't do it justice. I've realized it's tough to get a decent picture of a beach community from any vantage point without some really unattractive power/telephone poles/lines right in the middle of the frame. Maybe I'll revisit this place later down the road. It had a decent vibe, and the country around there was just amazing.
View from above the town looking out over the cove
These two were really funny--they loved Nookie and I gave them a tour, then they hammed it up for the camera..
I’m back in Mexico after a great trip back to the states. I even managed to get a few rides in at Busch Gardens Williamsburg between surf sessions on the Outer Banks. Per my previous post, the waves there were sloppy and small, the wind was constantly on-shore, and nobody should ever go to the OBX to surf…!
Travel back to Mexico was once again surprisingly uneventful—i.e., the best kind of travel. I got back to Nookie at her camp spot in Sayulita to find a MAJOR infestation of ants in my board bags that I’d stashed inside Nookie for safekeeping. I dragged them quickly out and had to open them up and kill what seemed to be about a million little ants and their eggs. I fumigated my bags and left them out to dry. Inside Nookie, things were generally ok, but there was a bit of new mildew and/or mold due to the high levels of moisture—apparently it rains a lot down here in the rainy season—who knew?
I spent a couple of days getting things organized again before setting off once again for points south. This time, my goal is more ambitious—I aim to be in Costa Rica by Thanksgiving, or Christmas at the latest. That means driving all the way back through Mexico once again and then crossing the borders and transiting the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, thence into Costa Rica. Luckily those countries are all relatively small—especially compared to the behemoth that is Mexico. The downside is that the border crossings are notoriously unpredictable, with horror stories abounding from fellow travelers. I predict a blog post or two about “interesting” border crossing experiences over the next few months.
Back to the drive from Sayulita. As I made my way down the road, just south of the vacation city of Puerto Vallarta, the highway left the coast and climbed into the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains. As we crested one of these little mountains, traffic came to a grinding halt. I saw dudes in 18 wheelers and other buses getting out and walking up the road, so I figured it was a big deal and we probably weren’t going anywhere for awhile. I followed along on foot and made it up to the top of the hill where there had just been a bus vs. truck collision, with the bus running mostly off the side of the road and the truck wedged under the rear of the bus—but still blocking the entire 2 lane highway. The driver of the truck was still inside, apparently stuck, and some people were trying to get him out with some rudimentary jaws of life type contraption—it looked kind of like a car jack.
Along with several hundred of my fellow travelers, we spent well over an hour watching the efforts to free the driver, taking turns hiding from the sun behind several of the large buses stuck with us. Eventually, the rescue folks freed the driver, apparently still alive, and hauled him off in an ambulance. After that, a tow-truck showed up surprisingly quickly and traffic got moving again, adding only about 2 hours or so to my planned 8 hour drive.
Nookie waiting for the wreck to clear.
I over-nighted in a little vacation town called Melaque, got a nice beachfront room for $25, and had the best internet connection I think I’ve had the whole time I’ve been in Mexico. My next day’s destination was Saladita—faithful readers will recall I spent a month here in June and another week or so in August.
Yesterday was also September 15th, which is apparently Mexican Independence Day—not Cinco de Mayo as we are told by restaurant chains and beer companies in the US. I’m assuming independence from the Spanish, but I’m not sure when or under what circumstances and I haven’t had a chance to look into that yet. I had a really crappy history professor in college and if we studied that it made no lasting impression. I’m writing this off-line for later posting as the internet STILL isn’t working here at Lourdes’ place in Saladita.
Driving south yesterday I found myself navigating the crowded streets of the busy port town of Lazaro Cardenas as I pulled up to a busy intersection. All along the way I’d seen cars and truck with Mexican flags and other decorations, school parties and parades, and other signs of a festival atmosphere. At the corner of this large intersection, several vendors were selling flags and other Mexico-branded items. A couple of guys were even more extreme. They had some sort of burning candle or torch in one hand and a bottle of some flammable liquid in the other. They’d take a sip, do a full-on flamethrower from their mouth, then wander among the stopped traffic looking for donations. Busking is apparently more extreme here than I can recall from my time in Asheville. I tried to get a picture of them but by the time I got my camera out, the stoplight had turned green, and you don’t mess around holding up traffic with green lights in Mexico if you know what’s good for you.
Anyway, I’m here in Saladita for a few days, more if some waves show up. My next major port of call will be back in Barra de la Cruz—but it will take a few days of driving to make it there. As always, more to come!!!
I survived my guys' weekend in Austin, TX. Thanks again to Mike L. for doing all the legwork and making the weekend easy on everybody except my liver. Good to see some of my best Sewanee peeps again, and quite a culture shock from camping on the beach in Mexico, which I was doing about 24 hours prior to landing in Austin. Best of luck to our betrothed amigo Hunter.
I now find myself overlooking the Currituck Sound, almost directly across from the historic Currituck Lighthouse. I'm staying with another set of friends, Jeff and Brooke. The waves from Irene were gone when I got here, and there is nothing now but sloppy Northeast wind chop. I guess I'm spoiled from riding almost nothing but long period groundswell with offshore winds for 4 months.
Irene may have been a bit over-hyped by the media, but it did leave some pockets of real destruction and suffering for those affected. Where I'm staying received little damage. However, South of Oregon Inlet lies Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge--those who have been there can attest that it is a special place and damn cool. At the southern terminus of the Refuge lie the nearly consecutive villages of Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo. It is a playground for watersports, mainly kiteboarding, surfing, and I guess some kayaking and other stuff, but it usually stops after the first two above for my interests.
multiple road breaches near NPS housing facilities.
The storm surge and subsequent sound-side flooding from Irene caused several breaches in the ribbon-thin barrier island that makes up this incredible place, some of them wide enough to be termed "inlets". These newly-formed inlets are natural components of how barrier island systems handle and cope with large storms, and have been so for as long as these islands have existed. Upon this thin barrier island sits Highway 12, the only land based way on or off of Hatteras Island. There is ferry service, but the numbers the ferries can accommodate is a small fraction of the capacity of the road. Humans are part of the picture now, and for better or worse, the road requires reconstruction. More than 3,000 full time residents make their home on Hatteras Island and many times that number visit the rows and rows of vacation homes during the summer. The various local, state, and federal authorities have their collective heads together right now, and a plan to deal with the breaches and repair the road is in the works.
New inlet/breach at northern end of Rodanthe.
On a selfish level, I'm bummed that I won't be able to drive down and through Pea Island, see its beauty and experience its solitude, and explore and surf the beaches south of there. But that's not terribly important in the grand scheme of things. There are people with much larger concerns and worries and are experiencing true loss.
Road is not passable...
Anyway, I'm catching up on some TV watching, sitting in some cool Air conditioning, and enjoying some American style food. There's another hurricane in the Atlantic (Katia) which is forecast to start sending some waves this way as early as late this weekend or early next week. Winds look unfavorable now, which is a crucial component for getting decent surf around here, but forecasts can always change.
It's a very fall-like 75 degrees today, and has been right around that mark for the past few days. A refreshing respite from the unrelenting heat and humidity of southern Mexico. As always, more to come...
I've made the journey back up the Pacific coast of Mexico from way-south Barra de la Cruz up to Sayulita. Sayulita, faithful readers will remember, was my first Pacific coast stop upon entering Mexico back in early May. Time has flown by and I've seen a lot and surfed a ton of waves. Now I'm back here in order to fly back to the US for a couple of weeks out of nearby Puerto Vallarta. I'm leaving Nookie in the trusty hands of the fine folks at the Sayulita Trailer Park--a great little place right on the beach just a couple blocks down from the main part of town--the town square, Chocobanana, etc. Don't anybody get any ideas about breaking into Nookie and starting an expedition of their own while I'm gone. I've got her locked up pretty tight.
While I really have enjoyed life on the road, the country, the people, and most definitely the surf, I am looking forward to a few more creature comforts, like Air Conditioning, a real bed, cable TV, watching some baseball on TV, southern food, etc. NO surf here in Sayulita, but there are more people around than in May. A few Americans but lot's of Mexicans on vacation, many from Guadalajara, as they are in a period of vacationing during this part of the summer. We also had a major storm last night. I was sitting in Nookie when the wind came up fierce--rocked her back and forth. I stepped out to see what was going on and saw the palms thrashing violently and the bougainvilla behind my rig slashing its thorny arms with abandon. I looked up just in time to see my two longboards lift off the roof and tumble down the other side of the campsite. Luckily their fall was cushioned a bit by a bordering hedge, and they were in their protective board bags, but I still have to check for damage sometime today. Lesson--tie your boards down or otherwise secure them even when not in use.
Probably no posts for a bit, unless hurricane Irene (and/or other storms) pans out and I get some epic hurricane surf while I'm back in North Carolina. A few pics from around town below. As always, more to come!!!
View down the street towards the water from the coffee shop where I"m writing
Chocobanana--great coffee and frozen chocolatey bananas.
Movie theater in Huatulco/Santa Cruz--note interesting spelling...
As per usual, internet where I tend to travel is spotty at best, so no update for the past few days (ed.--almost 2 weeks now). I spent roughly a month in beautiful Barra de la Cruz with its outstanding right point wave. But, alas, all things must change. So I’ve commenced my return trip (regresar en espanol) up the coast towards Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita, where I’ll disembark from Nookie and head back to the states for a couple of weeks. I’m meeting up with some college friends in Austin for a loose “bachelor” weekend for a friend finally tying the knot later this fall, thence to the Outer Banks of NC for what I’m hoping is a week or so of hurricane swell, a comfortable bed, and air conditioning with my friends Jeff and Brooke.
After spending two nights in Santa Cruz/La Crucieta, and seeing the last installment of Harry Potter bothered only by some misbehaving Mexican teens in the back row, I high-tailed it up the coast and am now ensconced once again at La Saladita--the super-fun left point break I spent nearly a month surfing in June. The trip was relatively uneventful, with the possible exception of two searches at the regularly placed military checkpoints headed back north. The officers were courteous and curious, and generally had me on the way within 10 minutes or so. The one exception was just south of Puerto Escondido where one officer pulled out some sort of electronic hand-held device with a retractable antenna and proceeded to count off steps down the length of Nookie while seriously examining some sort of readout on the contraption—about the size of an old-school walkie-talkie. I ventured to ask him what he was doing, and he rattled off some of the quickest Spanish I think I’ve heard yet, but I seemed to comprehend little of what he said. I thought I heard the word “magnet”, so my only hypothesis is some sort of detection device to make sure the structure of Nookie was as it appeared, but that’s pretty thin reasoning. Anybody who knows what that might be please let me know—as I didn’t get the impression he wanted to repeat his explanation more than once to me.
Things are great here returning to La Saladita. My “campsite” is just as I left it other than the apparently new couple of palm tress planted just in front of my view to the beach. They’re small, and no impediment to my view, and things here are a bit less crowded than in June. The lineup is certainly less full, though the waves have been on the smaller side the last few days, but with some fun sets in the head-high range yesterday. Lourdes and Blanca and the rest of the Valencia family are great hosts, as always.
Today I went with Lourdes—the proprietor of this place, her godson Omar, and a couple from New Mexico, to a “secret” spot north of here about 30 minutes. Lourdes asked me to drive and I happily obliged. We took her Ford Expedition, which is a big vehicle, but felt remarkably small after nearly 4 months of driving nothing but the behemoth that is Nookie.
In any event, we left here just after 7 am and caught some head high-plus waves that were really fun, but got a bit mushy as the tide filled in—nobody out but us. I’m going to try and post a few pics I took from the bluff just above the break. It was a beautiful blue sky day and the spot is incredible. I can only imagine what it would look like with a “real” swell in the water. Anybody with a spare 80 grand shoot me an email for info about getting a sweet lot in this place—it’s off most people’s radar, for sure. I’ll leave it at that.
click to enlarge and see better the size...
I’m here for another week or so, then up through Michoacan to meet up with Colarado Mike at San Juan de Alima, the scene of my only real misfortune so far, the theft of my beloved 6’6” Revolution shortboard. After that, I’m bound for Sayulita where I’ll leave Nookie in the capable hands of the fine folks at Sayulita Trailer Park while I fly back to the US. I’ll try to update again soon, but, have I said this, the internet kinda sucks in Mexico. As always, more to come!!!
Lot's of waves in the past few days, and lot's of people in town. I thought I'd post a few pics of the area around Barra. First, the map above shows the general area I'm located in southern Mexico. I'm roughly in the middle of the screen area.
I've gotten a couple of new neighbors recently, a pair of bulls or oxen or something. They are roped together and don't really do much other than eat and sleep, and every night about 9 pm they grunt and make weird noises for about 30 seconds. They are no more than 30 feet from my rig.
I'm writing this from the internet cafe here in Barra de la Cruz. The town is quite small, but the people are quite happy, and their lives revolve around this little town and its resources. There are a couple of lagoons where they farm-raise Tilapia (fish), and there are the ever-present fishermen at the beach, and then the diverse array of tourists. I've met guys (and some girls) from Ireland, England, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, France, and probably a few other countries I can't recall off the top of my head.
one of the main streets in town, internet cafe sign in middle-left of frame
close-up of the internet cafe sign
The internet works only sporadically here--as in you come in to town and check--if the gate is closed, no internet, if the gate is open, then maybe internet, and you walk up the stairs and check. The family that runs this place is a bit eccentric. One (or more?) of them is raising deer to help repopulate the depleted population in the area. They hand feed the deer, and they really like bananas. They also have a couple of ducks and a goose in the yard.
Baseball is big down here--to the point of at least equality with soccer/futbol, if not even more popular. They have their own field up on a high flat point close to the beach. There's a game today against another local town. The owner of the place I'm staying, Pepe, is one of the main players. I threw the ball around with him some the other day, and am going to try and get up to the field to see some of the game. I'm not quite sure how they make it work, as the field is pretty bare-bones.
baseball field looking down third-base line, "dugout" on the left.
looking down first base line from home plate, "dugout" for the other team.
The view descending from the field is pretty impressive, too.
And, in closing, just a little taste for my surfing friends. This was Wednesday, I believe:
The sky has been blue, the water gin clear, and the sun has been shining non-stop for the past 7 or 8 days. The waves have been gradually getting smaller, to the point where several of us have brought out the longboards--not a known commodity here in the land of relatively hollow and fast waves. But the gentle waves and crystal-clear water have been a real playground for the past 4 days or so. A new swell is forecast to fill in over the next day or so, but I'm including a few pics I took from the water on my big longboard just yesterday. I'd almost forgotten I had the little gopro camera and mount for my big longboard. It fogged up the first time out, but I went in for lunch and a little hammock time and by the time I was ready to go out again, the problem seemed to have resolved itself.
Not much to report otherwise. We had a bit of a celebrity encounter the other day--women's world champ Steph Gilmore and her crew of photographers spent a couple hours in the lineup with us mere mortals the other day. She was quite nice, but ripped those little shoulder high waves apart. By far the best surfer in the water, and some of the locals here are pretty good.
Anyway, the internet in town has not worked for the past few days, and it is this morning. I'm already tired of sitting here and typing, so I'm going to get back to the important stuff--getting my board and my butt down to the beach and into the water. More to come!!!
Smallish waves and variably cloudy skies from Sunday
Today we are getting some early effects from Tropical Storm Dora (soon to be a hurricane). Beautiful sunrise and cloudless skies this morning gave way to increasing winds out of the southeast and a messed-up surf break. The clouds have begun their advance as of about lunch time, and we can expect only worsening conditions. Dora is forecast to track roughly parallel to the Mexican coast for the next few days, which should take it away from us here in Barra and hopefully diminish the stormy surf conditions. No real concerns about weather impacts for us here, just the surf. There are quite a few people in town right now, and it would be nice if the storm took a few of them with it!
Not much news to report, otherwise. Hitched a ride into Huatulco with Zach and Sachi again (internet in Barra doesn't work on any sort of regular schedule, and not at all lately). Sitting in the lovely "Italian Coffee Company" enjoying a Cappuccino Frio, some cold A/C, and a rather lively internet connection.
Accordingly, I'm going to upload a few pictures from the last few days. Just some shots of the beachfront area, the lagoon/rivermouth, and the forest and mountains surrounding Barra. As always, more to come!!!
The rivermouth and lagoon that front the beach in Barra.
The "community" restaurant and palapa at the beach. They serve cold drinks and some food, including a mean fish sandwich there.
The mountains as you head away from the beach back toward the town of Barra (where everyone stays)
More mountain views.
Roman, the guy who mans the gate (closed from 8pm to 7 am) and collects the 20 peso fee to get to the beach.
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