PUERTO ESCONDIDO!

Oh man, that was the worst fucking drive ever. Ok, maybe not that bad, but boy it was long, and wow did it ever have a lot of learning experiences on the way! First day we got somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 kilometers down the road, it was all just windy slow coastal stuff, PCH for like 150 miles basically, only slower and with more big trucks you have to pass.

The second day of driving had a LOT more straight-aways, made great time, right up until we got ticketed while looking for a hotel to stay the night in some city I don't remember. The funny part is, when they give you a ticket here, they take your fucking license plates! Ticket only cost like 50$ but still, it sucked. We feigned ignorance, fairly easy to do for me, but watching Josh try and mangle spanish and mis-pronounce stuff was a bit funny, if not for the ticket. Anyway, got our plates back the next day after paying the ticket and moved on.

The third, and final, day of the trip, also what seemed to be the longest, we got ticketed again in Acapulco, I was whizzing around people in traffic like it was going outta style and I looked back and saw a bike, wondering if they had bike cops in Mexico as the guy pulls up next to me (his partner sitting on the back of the bike, they ride tandem here, haha) and tells me to get to the curb. That ticket was supposedly for not Signalling (shocker) and not wearing a seatbelt, I gave him my license and he said we could pay by 4 that day (it was 12 and we wanted to make it to Puerto Escondido by sunset, we weren't staying in Acapulco, the town sucks anyways, massive tourist trap from the looks of it. So he proceeds to tell me he is going to take my license, and I start considering the option of letting them take it, I mean hell, my passport would get me back into the US and I could get the license replaced cheaper than paying a 100$ seatbelt ticket (which I still don't think they even have.) When Josh asks them "Is it ok if we pay the ticket here with you?", that is code for, "Fuck that, can we bribe you and be on our way?", he thought about it and agreed. 40$ later (400 pesos) we were on our way. I was still debating whether or not he was full of shit about the seatbelt law thing, but definitely he coulda nailed me for reckless and no signalling... Whatever, he gave us an escort out of town which allowed us to run a few red lights so hey, ya figure its worth it in the end.

Many hours later we get to Puerto Escondido, start looking around for a hotel when we got here but there is a ton of construction on the main road right now (it is off season) so finding a hotel was a bit confusing as the main street was a dirt road which was all over the place. Anyway, we wind up finding a place, Cabanas Edda I think its called, for 15$ a night, it is clean, the showers work, and there are mosquito nets, even though there seems to be no mosquitos here, quite the blessing after getting eaten all fucking day and night in San Blas. No Hehennes (No-See-Ems) either, double awesome!

Up to present time! We have been here now 4 days, in those 4 days I have gotten to surf 3 of them, which is a good starting out average, and it looks like I will be able to surf the rest of them without much interference. But this isn't without a certain degree of tragedy it seems. We had some shitty (apparently literally) ceviche the first day? Then, day number two rolls around and we are walking down the beach a few miles to the Escondido Point with a little lighthouse and rocks and just generally cool shit when I notice I am itching more than usual (fuck you, no it isn't an STD), well we get back to the pad after a couple hours and the itchings gotten way worse and I have like half my left side of my torso and my asscrack swelling up for no reason, and it is swelling fast! Naturally I freak the fuck out, well maybe not that much, I remember the Lonely Planet guides have a little section on local problems and stuff so I refer to it (on the way to the local doctor I might add) and come away with some illness I can't now remember and I am busy trying to google... Anyway, we get to the doctor and I am 'expecting the worst, hoping for the best' type of deal. He checks me out, says everythings cool, gives me a prescription and sends me on my way. We pick up the pills and stuff and the next day (today) everything is pretty much gone. BUT, and this is the big kicker, people are telling me I will never be able to eat seafood again, or there is a GOOD CHANCE, that I won't be able to........... W. T. F.! Are you kidding me?! This just doesn't seem fair. Anyway, life goes on, I caught 2 barrels today, so I suppose that equals out right? Right!?!