¿Dónde está el cuarto de baño?

Hola!

Apparently I sound like a sleaze whenever I say hola, probably because its most fun to say it in the same tone as Joeys (from Friends) "how you doin?"

Regardless, my Spanish vocab has improved somewhat and I can now say things such as "one water please" and "how much is it for 2 nights?"

I think the three "Please contact me!" emails from my worrywart father is enough of an indication that since arriving in Puerto Escondido, Mexico- we havent had (or wanted) a spare second to sit down in a smelly, out of date internet cafe. Have you SEEN pictures of this place?

The 12 hour bus trip from Mexico City was, and wasnt, everything we had been warned about;

YES it was freezing cold and air conditioned, kudos for the heads up Chris and thanks Kate for the sleeping bag suggestion.

NO we did not get stopped and robbed by a machette laden group of Mexicans.

Some suprises however were;

• The lack of a food stop (lucky we had 2 packets of chips and a packet of MnMs to share for 12 hours)
• The fact that they disabled the reading lights so that we were in complete darkness from 8pm, I assume so that you cant disturb people trying to sleep, however they blasted three Spanish movies through all the overhead speakers.
• The family of 5 sharing the two seats behind us. Nothing like a quick hair tug at 2am in the morning when you have JUST dozed off.
• The smell of the toilets being recirculated via the aircon.
• The pimped out leg rests and reclining seats- way better than any coach Ive been on in Aus.
• Despite this, again I was unable to get much sleep. First I was freezing and then my ears were on fire. Comfortable, then stiff.
• Being woken up at around 5am because our driver was doing 200 round the bends and I had been literally thrown off my seat onto the floor.
• Watching the sunrise over the Mexican desert and catching glimpses of random Mexican towns in the morning= breathtaking.
• Pulling up to one of these shanty looking towns and having our bus driver yell "PUERTO!"

Not too sure what I was expecting but the bus depot left a bit to be desired. Starting to get the familiar feeling of "fuck-I-think-we-have-bitten-off-more-than-we-can-chew" we once again negotiate a price and hop in a cab sans seatbelts.

I shouldnt have worried. Pulling up to our accomodation (pictured, Villa Casalet) and it was clear this was the heart of Puerto. Everything you have ever associated with Mexico was right in front of me. The cacti, the brightly painted concrete walls, the pink, orange and yellow boganvillia, the arch shaped windows and walkways...all of a sudden the bus trip seemed entirely worth it.

Eager to meet up with birthday boy, Chris, we went nextdoor to his accomodation only to find a very brown and very skinny blonde walking up the street. After some quick hellos and happy birthdays and ohmygodweareallinmexicos, Chris went to do what most people come to Puerto to do-surf the Mexican Pipeline.

Smelling like bus and dirty t-shirts, Stef and I were more than happy to get back to our villa for a shower (cold) and change of clothes. Our place looked out onto the cacti garden and further than that, the beach. The atmosphere is so relaxed, even I am starting to slow down.

Vegetarian burritos and a famous Puerto fruit juice later and we had met the rest of the Aussie (and one Swiss) crew, Kiz (friend of Chris), Ryan (Adelaide), Jacko (Perth), Brendan (Avalon) and the woman of a million languages, Swiss and only other girl, Sara. Chris had met the guys in other Mexican cities and they had all ended up here together.

Having been here for a while, the others had decided to get a bus up to some town in the mountans and above the clouds, however Stef and I were keen to get as far away from transport as possble, so we opted for a cheeky 4 hour nap and beach walk at sunset instead.

Day two was spent lounging around our pool which is ridiculously beautiful. We also successfully attempted a trip into town to use the closest ATM, after trying to sign "money machine" to at least 3 poor Mexican resturant owners.

The mountain go-ers got back just in time for dinner and some cocktails. Everything here is a quarter of the price in Sydney. Cocktails are $4 AUS dollars, burritos are $2, Absolut Vodka is $20, Coronas $2...it makes it easy to feel like you are getting ripped off if you are asked to pay 50 pesos for something.

There are stray and sickly looking dogs EVERYWHERE that hang around the resturants staring at you with pleading eyes, live wires strewn across the road, 15kg coconut cocktails that involves a hollowed out coconut filled with rum, vodka, coconut juice and tequila, jolly Mexican bar staff that remind me of characters from Lilo and Stitch, a million bronzed/high surfers using words like "frothin", smiley little kids shoving bracelets in your face, chili salsa and cornchips served with every meal, police riding on top of trucks with rifles and narrowed eyes, white beaches, turqoise waters, palm trees.....did I mention the beauty of this place is breathtaking?

Day three consisted of a day trip to the beach about ten minutes up the bay, Playa Carrizalillo. Down (and back up) a flight of 182 stairs was my idea of heaven. Crystal clear waters, hardly any people and luke warm FLAT surf. Suddenly the margarita hangover from the night before was a distant memory. We swam, ate fresh prawns and lay in hammocks until we realised what a hard day we had just endured and made our way back to Zicatela where we decided on beach cocktails by sunset, dinner and more cocktails. The night ended with a rampage down the main strip on a hunt for more vodka before we all realised it was 4am and we had all probably had enough.

Day four was spent vomittng. For me at least. Apparently my three years of drinking at Bathurst hadnt given me the tolerance i had thought...either that or the "Coco Loco" was a bad idea. By 2pm and after a wake up dip in the pool I was keeping down water and things were looking up...until I realised it was goodbye time for Chris and Kiz; we will always have burritos and Puerto boys.

More pool lounging, some pasta and ZERO cocktails later and here i am- some dogey internet cafe wth flickering fluro lights, computers as old as me and a sign that says "Por Favor Pague En Reception."We are here till the 8th before we make our grand journey back to Mexico City and then to L.A for the last three days of our Californian adventure.

Ill add pics as soon as I get to a computer that has a working space bar.

Buenos tardes!