Coco loco

So Katy and I went on 5 day beach break to the beautiful Sayulita, an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. Katy ate a typhoid taco on our second night, and spent the rest of the trip in bed. Thus the majority of this blog post is about me having a nice time, sans my other half.

Our journey there, we travelled by bus first to Puerto Vallarta (watched 2 ½ films, nothing happened in any of them; free cheese and ham sandwich, more plastic than cheese though really, but I’m not complaining, honest). We only visited the tourist centre of Puerto Vallarta, for a quick lunch, but it seemed very Americanised, fake, rich and horrible. So we skeddadled outta there pretty sharpish and made our way by bus to Sayulita (bus driver playing Banda music, my favourite is called ‘Very Good’, where they say ‘very good’ repeatedly in a strong Mexican accent).

Sayulita is an interesting place, it is a big surfing spot (I never saw any big waves, but the sea was lovely, quite warm sometimes, and some little waves), and there are a lot of Americans, which meant food wasn’t as cheap as we’ve been used to. But this also meant we could find some good non-Mexican or mixture food (breakfasts especially). The beach is bright white sand, dotted with huge palm trees. Our first full day (Katy’s only day) we walked far, far, far down the beach to escape everyone, which was perfect. That is, until we were hungry, we then realised we were very far away from everything; who’d’ve seen that coming?! There was a great little fruit stall on the beach, selling coconut water in a coconut and other fruit cups. The fruit and veg is so tasty (especially the avocados, not sure if they count as a fruit or vegetable?), I think Sayulita has something like 360 days of sun a year. After having finished the coconut water, they break it open for you and scoop out all the jelly for you to chow down on.

Margaritas are big business in Sayulita, what with all the local tequila production, so we thought it only apt to drink a fair few. One night, an American friend had a large Margarita, I think it had 7 shots in it, and the glass was bigger than his head. He fell off his chair a few times after drinking that.

We stayed in a really nice hostel, met an interesting bunch of people, some nice people from Colorado and from India. Met a man from Canada, who seemed to be an exaggeration of himself, he was so overly cheerful! None of us dealt too well with his insane enthusiasm and loud voice. He was just so damn happy!

The best morning was the snorkelling trip. Two guys from the hostel, a Mexican and I went early in the morning to Punta Mita, and got a boat from there 20 minutes into the ocean to two islands called Las Islas Marietas. These are bird sanctuaries, and fiercely protected, there are birds there (blue- and yellow-footed boobies) that live only there and in the Galapagos! Because we were early, no one else was there either. We got kicked off the boat with our snorkels and flippers, made our way through a cold, dark cave and found a little beach. The fish were incredible, and not scared of us, but also not expecting food, they were just hanging out having a nice time (as was I). Then we went to the second island, to the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen, the water was completely clear, and there were all these caves I crawled around in (pretending I was alone, on a deserted island, because I’m mature like that) full of hermit crabs. My chest genuinely hurt, it was so beautiful, I just wish Katy could’ve been there too (awww). On our journey home (I tried very hard pretending I couldn’t see it was time to leave) we noticed a whale watching boat. What ho, let’s go see what they’re looking at… WHALES!!! There was a mummy and a baby, and they did the water spout thing, and then tail in the air to dive, and it was the most incredible thing. They really are gentle giants.

And that’s about it, I swam around in the sea (and cut my legs on rocks because I’m stubborn and didn’t want to swim where all the other people were, and hence where the rocks weren’t), ate a lot of fruit and vegetables and guacamole, and drank strawberry margaritas. Oh, and made friends with a man who plays guitar, who then wouldn’t leave Katy and I alone, and kept declaring his undying love.

E

La Banda Max

 There have been quite a few demonstrations recently here in Guadalajara, craftspeople demanding work, anti-government protests and of course some in support of "Occupy Wall Street". The Kiosko in Plaza de las Armas is currently covered in protest material. The various signs here say "No More Blood" - one of the main slogans against the drugs violence and government reaction, over the blood "PAN" has been written, the PAN are President Calderon's right-wing party currently in governement here who have been since 2000. Another says "Enough of social repression, we are all Temaca". Temaca is a small village in Jalisco (where we are) which the National Water Comission, using federal expropriation power, plan to flood along with a couple of other villages in order to build a dam. Clearly the people of Temaca are none too happy with the decision to flood their homes and livelihoods and are protesting with the support of many. The last is a protest in favour of a national pension. A friend recently described the politics of Mexico to me as "Kafka-esque" and the more I learn, the more I see his point.
 This is a view from not too far from our home, near the football stadium.

 A street seller in Zapopan, one of the largest of the 4 "districts" that make up Guadalajara city. It's also the most affluent, although this is said to be due to community development paid for by drugs barons living in the area. Guadalajara itself is a relatively drugs-violence free zone, but the drugs war is affecting this country in its entirety.

 More of the same.

Sorry that it's dotty and out of focus. But here's a photo of Ellie eating Mole and Flautas in one of our favourite mexican restaurants, La Birreria Las Nueve Esquinas.

K.

Pan de Muerto

 Day of the Dead is the traditional celebration of the dead on the 2nd November. It's actually not as popular any more, at least not in a big city like Guadalajara but still, Ellie and I searched out the skeletons, altars and yummy Pan de Muerto. In the centre of town, day of the dead skeletons were dressed as sportpeople, inkeeping with the ever present Panamerican Games (now over). Traditionally each family builds an altar to dead relatives, which is decorated with food and things that the relatives used to like, a guitar for example. One of the common foods related with the Day of the Dead is small (and large!) skulls made of sugar and decorated in lovely colours. On the day itself, families flock to the cemetary where they take marigolds en masse to decorate the graves of loved one with. Here are some pictoral representations, yes I finally got some film developed!

K