Puerto Escondido

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Wow I´ve been here over a week and I didn´t even notice! It was definitely a good move to fly here from Playa Del Carmen. Mexicana was a great airline, it was only a 2 hr flight to Mexico City and I still got a free meal, and then the flight down to Puerto was 55 minutes and they STILL gave me a free sandwich. Genius. I hope I never fly another Ryan Air flight again now. Puerto Escondido is another beach town but very different in spirit to Playa Del Carmen. It is a beach bum paradise with lots of surfing, palapa bars on the beach and everyone is pretty relaxed. I´ve landed on my feet with my accommodation at Tower Bridge Hostel, just out of town, but near the best beach which is called Carazilillo. It´s a lovely little cove about 15 mins walk from here and really is paradise. Tower Bridge hostel is an experience in itself. The owner Steve is a Brit from Devon who shouts at everybody and scares some, but is wonderful underneath it all, and his dog Blackie. Between them they run the most amusing hostel I have ever stayed at. Saying that I have just had to catch a tarantula that was sitting on the washing machine - it was bigger than my hand and that really is no exaggeration - I have never ever seen anything like it. I caught it in a 750ml yoghurt pot, and its legs wouldn´t even fit under the rim so I crammed it in and waited for Steve to come back to dispose of it. When we told him it was there he said "well what you gonna do with girl? You keeping it for a pet?". He seemed to find it funny. He then took it outside and killed it with a large broom and it took several whacks to get it.

I have been having spanish lessons 6 days a week, which is going surprisingly well. I do 2 hours a day at where lessons are no more than 2 people per class, and take place outside on a cliff overlooking the main Zicatela beach. I am just about stringing sentences together now. I am also taking surfing lessons and today was Day No 4. I actually caught a couple of proper waves without drowning in the process. I found the first 3 days incredibly scary but for some reason today I didn´t even mind getting hit in the face by a wall of water and pounded underwater for 30 seconds at a time - all I was thinking about was trying to stand up - and I managed it! Í´ve just found out one of the instructors has a bad neck/back and is paying for reflexology so have engineered a trade off. This is great as it is my last lesson tomorrow and I really want to keep going. So I am going to go round to his family´s house tomorrow and do his feet in return for another lesson and use of a board. That´s a good trade!!!!

I am staying here til end of January, so will be here for around a month in all. That means I should be able to actually hold a (basic) conversation in spanish by the time I leave, and also be extremely relaxed in time for Colorado and 3 months of intensive studying on the massage course.

All in all, it´s turning out lovely.

PS The PC at my hostel won´t let me send messages or write or do anything on Facebook except read, so Rachel if you are reading this please email me as every time I try to email you it bounces back! I don´t know what you address is these days?? Come on get a grip and email me please. Especially with so much to discuss about Mehico!!