1 January, 2001

Should've avoided the coco loco. We are both relapsed into "accelerated intestinal transit" as one of our guidebooks calls it, again. Yuck. At least the bathroom here at Tiburon isn't too bad, though it does raise an interesting point that we've noticed several times about mexican and guatemalan bathrooms- no seats. Why? We couldn't begin to tell you. But in even some of the nicer places we've gone, there is no toilet seat, just the bowl. Odd. Uncomfortable as all get-out, when you have to visit the darn thing six or eight times in a day. It's interesting how most people living their daily life don't discuss these kinds of things with other folks, but with other travelers -- well, there just isn't anything you can tell someone without getting sympathy and usually a better sick story. Intestinal issues come up quite regularly in conversation. So forgive our frankness, but we've become accustom to this line of conversation as acceptable.

In other, less gross news, Beebee started the new year off with some great luck: found 200 pesos on the ground and met up with Håvard (Hoe-vahd) and Katerine (she introduced herself as Katherine -- we think for those who can't pronounce Katrine, so we call her Katherine). We met these two in Tornabe, Honduras when we were at The Last Resort with Kelley and Lori. We were really thrilled to run into them again. We offered them the use of our tent and thermarests, as they mentioned their backs were tired from sleeping in hammocks. They were thrilled. So tomorrow they will come over for a home (okay, truck) cooked breakfast (they don't cook for themselves since they are backpacking) and to hang out with us for the next couple of days. Fun!

We found Anna on the beach later and met up with her and Franz for dinner at 8:00 p.m. We are sorry to think that we probably won't see them again on this trip.

Håvard teaching a local girl her numbers in English	Anna, Franz and Steve. We'll miss them	Beebee doing the dishes at Tiburon	Katrine, Håvard, Bb and Steve enjoying the sun and a snack

We made another attempt to fill the propane tank -- it is empty now, but town gets all their propane delivered in bottles by a truck. Hmmm. We did find a plug for the fridge and we have just enough spare propane to cook.

Laid on the beach, swam in the ocean, beaded, played backgammon, hung with K and H. Nice, nice place Zipolite is.

Sandy at Tiburon, facing away from the beach	Sandy at Tiburon and the bathroom hut, facing the beach	A baby scorpion. Sorry the pic is so blurry. He ran away

La Señora who runs El Tiburon was none too happy with Steve for having hooked up to the electricity without asking (ooops). She upped our daily rate from 30 to 50 pesos (still only $5) to cover her extra electrical costs. A little bit unrealistic, thinks Steve, but… if he had asked first he would have been in a better bargaining position. Live and learn.

After chatting with some new neighbors, Francis and Avnir (Ahv-neer), Steve bounded out to the beach with our happy-face frisbee. Francis and Avnir soon joined in, as did a Swiss and a Mexican. Roberto, the Mexican, talked us into a game of ultimate frisbee. It's a lot like soccer, but mostly it involves a lot of running and chasing. We had a great time, but were sore for days after! It was really cool to be playing a game with people from all over the world -- Francis is English and Avnir is Israeli.

Katrine and Håvard enjoying our backgammon set		Håvard, Katrine, Francis and Avnir in the latter's VW bus

Katrine and Håvard left tonight. We were going to travel with them further up the coast and drop them close to Mexico City, but they had a snafu with their airline tickets and had to get to the city right away. Too bad. We were looking forward to spending more time with them. They insisted we have a place to stay in Norway if we're ever there. We think we might do a driving trip of Europe this summer …

After we parted from K and H, we met up with Francis and Avnir, and sat watching the sunset and drinking beer with them for a couple of hours. We then tromped down the beach hoping to find the Italian restaurant open -- Håvard recommended this place's pizza to us days ago, but it's been closed since. We were in luck and we had fantastic pizza. While we were eating, Francis noticed a bit of bioluminescence, so we walked back at the water's edge and played with the tiny dots of bright blue all over the sand. If you've never seen this, the water washes up millions of dinoflagellates (we think) that glow. When you walk or drag your feet or hands in the sand, they break up and you stir up more. So you get a skyfull of bright blue starts right there on the sand. Or each of your footprints leaves a patch of glowing blue sparks. Very fun and beautiful.

The following pics are all of Zipolite, at various time and from various positions:

Puerto escondido:

Loved by surfers, wayward hippies, lost souls, the Bob's of the world. Hated by those who unwittingly stop here to visit the airport and its migracion office to extend their tourist cards. A beautiful curving stretch of beach, kept company by a few low houses and comidors. Teal blue water, lapping waves and eight centavos for a copy of the blank pages in your passport. All 20 of the blank pages in your passport. And those of your wife.

Pina Coladas, cold beer with a lime, rum punches. Talking an official down from four hundred to a one hundred peso fine for being two days late extending your visa… And one hundred pesos for your wife's as well.

Warm breeze, suffocating office. Pretty girls, an uncompromising, scar-faced official. And all told, 635 pesos to stay in their country for three more months and spend our American dollars here on their food, gasoline, propane, entertainment.

Mexico does not make it easy or friendly or even moderately enticing to stay in its country. I would like to say that I'll spend no more money here. That I will boycott Mexico for its disgraceful treatment of my desire to enjoy their country while helping their economy. An economy that derives great benefit from tourist dollars from the U.S. and other first world countries. I wish that I could do anything about the random and unjustifiable levies placed upon me today. But there is nothing that I can do or write or say to explain what it's like to be a gringo in Mexico, trying to extend your visa. I think all they see is a large greenback walking on its end, with a former president staring at them with his head cocked all the way over to the left, uncomprehending. Someday, they might wake up and realize why.

Until then, I guess I'll sit on a beach, drink some beer and wait until my visa expires.

Beebee got up first and Steve had warned her about the goose. "Be careful," he said, "Geese are mean."

"What do you mean, geese are mean?"

"They just are, trust me."

"Uhuh."

Beebee running back to the truck and scrambling up the ladder, "It hissed at me!"

"I told you geese are mean."

"What do I do, I need to get over there," slightly frantic now, looking at the bathroom.

"Here, take the big Maglite and shine it right on him and whack him with it if he tries to eat you."

Fortunately for us, Beebee discovered that Geese, while mean, are at least respectful of a bright light shining in their eyes.

Besides our goose, we had two turkeys (who were oddly attracted to the same maglight), a donkey, a fighting cat, roosters (of course), a pig, and many dogs. Not all of which were in the yard with us, but might as well have been for their volume. Steve swears one of the roosters was crowing "La Bamba" and Beebee agrees that it was close. Doug insists we weren't sober.

Did we mention all of this occurred before dawn? At least it insured an early start.

We made Taxco ("Tassco") at about 1 p.m. Beebee really wanted to stop here as it is presumably the place to buy silver in all of Mexico. We were really hungry and feeling pressed for time when we got there and Beebee was about ready to give it up -- Taxco was very crowded and we drove around for most of an hour looking for parking, getting stuck in traffic on very narrow streets and generally not being successful. But eventually we found a spot and decided to spend an extra 30 pesos or so at a lovely little upstairs cafe for lunch. We had a view of the bustling street below and a table in the sun. That put us back into a good mood and we dove into the silver shopping, noticing along the way what a really beautiful town Taxco is. All the houses are whitewashed, giving it a really clean, neat feel.

The streets are lined with shop after shop after shop silver, but there's also vendors with tables set up on the street. Since we wanted to drive another two or three hours towards Guadalajara, we felt a little pressed for time, so Beebee decided she wanted to hit the street vendors. They were how she pictured most of the town selling its silver, not in storefronts.

The street offered little, but inside a warehouse-type building more sellers had set up their tables and here she found a couple of things. She had also dropped some not so delicate hints that she'd really like Steve to pick something out and buy it for her. He came through grandly with a set of three matching bracelets. Beebee loved watching him pick them out and put them on her wrist.

Happy and giddy with her new gift, she managed to calm down and look for a chain for a locket her mom gave her years ago that she wears as a good luck piece when she travels. She found a perfect 30" chain -- sterling, mind you, for 40 pesos, about four and a half U.S.

But all in all, Beebee was disappointed with the lack of artistry she saw. Now that is probably because we didn't take time to hit the actual shops. Which is probably a good thing for our budget, as she was really in the mood to find an exceptional piece -- much like one her mother bought years ago (at an Indian reservation, she thinks).

We left happy and excited to be heading closer and closer to doug's. We drove and drove and as dark approached, since we were on the cuota (mentioned earlier as the toll road which means that you pay quite a pretty penny to drive it, but it's straight, two lanes go each way with a sturdy center divide and you get built-in car insurance with your toll. In other words, it's very safe) we kept on keepin' on. When we stopped at a Pemex for fuel, one of the attendants told us that Guadalajara was only about four hours' drive away. We were stunned. We thought it was more like eight -- i'm not sure how we miscalculated so badly. Boy we're we stoked! We got back in the car realizing we could pick Dougles up at the airport after all. How fun.

It was getting on 9 p.m., so we pulled off the road to try our luck at diner off to our left. We weren't sure if it was the kind of place that served food and more specifically, if it's the kind of place women are allowed. In Mexico, most women who don't live in a city, don't go into bars unless they are working girls.

Turns out it's fine for us and the young mother who obviously owns the place with her husband, cooked us up some incredible scrambled eggs with tomatoes and peppers, beans and of course, hot tortillas. A perfect dinner for 20 pesos.

We stopped at the next Pemex, where we spent a very quiet night, until about 5 a.m. when the roosters started at it again.

This is all of Taxco seen from the highway	Top of the church (yes, the pic is doctored)	Taxco's main square and its church	The view from the cafe where we ate lunch	A good idea of what Taxco looks like. White and clean.
		A picture of the sunrise, thanks to the roosters

We were driving along, enjoying the early morning quiet and the large, pretty lake next to us, called Laguna Cuitzeo, when Steve exclaimed and pulled over. There must have been millions of sparrow-like birds swarming over the lake, presumably feeding. They flew ribbonlike, up and down, around groups of each other, swirling. We watched for about 15 minutes, transfixed.

Shortly after, we pulled off into a town that looked big enough to have an open restaurant before 8 a.m. on a Sunday. We lucked out. Enjoyed liquados of chocolate, banana, milk and eggs (beebee opted for no egg in hers) and tacos de res -- small corn tortilla soft tacos with a bit of beef, cilantro and onions. Not, for us a typical breakfast, but delicious. We stopped at the local market to pic up some fresh fruit and veggies for our stay with Dougles. We think it might be the last time for a while that we get to shop in a local market. Figure they might be hard to come by in a big city.

Hello shoebox of an airport! Guadalajara International Airport is tiny. Heather, Beebee's friend, will appreciate this: it's about four times the size of Chico's airport! Which is to say, for everyone we just left out, it has two levels that one could walk from end to end, slowly, in about four minutes.

Needless to say, we had plenty of time. There are only two doorways out of which international flights exit. So we walked around the entire airport, people watched, walked around some more and finally sat down and read.

Dougles' lucked out and got the Pase or in English, Pass button, meaning he didn't have to have his bags serached. Lucky us too -- we got all of our Christmas presents delivered to us still wrapped!

Dougles was very surprised to see us and mildly concerned if everything would fit in the truck. We managed, and gabbed all the way home.

The following pics are all of the birds over the lake. In the thumbnails, the dark spots you see in the sky that look like clouds or a misshapen tornado? Those are the birds. In the last frame, they are far, far away and yet there are so many, you can still see them.

These pics, obviously are not of the birds …

We drove over many bridges like this on the cuota to Guadalajara. Very modern and cool looking.		A really nice stretch of the libre leaving Taxco

Beebee was jealous of Steve's jeans, so she dragged him along on what turned into a two-day search for the perfect pair. At least jeans are popular down here and she had lots to choose from. Steve, though, was a little wounded from the trip and now is scared to set foot in a certain mall here in town.

We are really enjoying Doug's kitchen (well, mostly Bb is). He's got an oven. That means cookies, bread, pizza, all kinds of things. Doug says we can stay as long as we want, if we keep cooking! We thought we'd get here and be touring around, fixing little things on Sandy, going out; but it turns out this first week we've done a whole lot of nothing. I think we were tired. Not that we work hard, but traveling does tire one out: emotionally more than physically, and sometimes that's the more exhausting of the two.

We've been honing up on our backgammon -- thanks to two great books from Bb's dad; reading quite a lot, renting movies -- whee, there's a VCR here too; sleeping in -- it's cold in the mornings and dark until 7:30 or so; and Bb spends the better part of most days in the kitchen.

We've also been chatting with family on Yahoo Messenger's internet telephone program, downloading from Napster and watching a bit of TV. All those things you take for granted when you have a home.

We talked Doug into taking the weekend off (at least somewhat off) and decided to leave for El Faro Beach on Friday evening. We don't make a practice of driving at night, but the whole way is a toll road, and otherwise we would have arrived midday Saturday, and that would have stunk. Beebee spent the afternoon making fried chicken, guacamole, banana bread and oatmeal cookies. So much fun! We took off around 6 p.m. after gathering up Doug's ex-girlfriend, Lisandra, and getting gas and all-important ice.

Steve was a real champion, as the drive took about five hours. The end of was tedious as only Lisandra had been to El Faro before, and she didn't remember the road well.

We pulled in, got what bearings we could, pulled up by a palapa and set up camp. Steve managed to get us use of some bathrooms for the night and we slept soundly, looking forward to a sunny couple of days at the beach.

Here's one little picture (we were so lazy our first week here, it's the only one we have) that turned out so poorly, Bb decided to get artsy with it. It's Steve, Jocelyn and Doug leaving to pick up Lisandra and ultimately for El Faro