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October 31, 2002
oaxaca coast what a hell
oaxaca coast
what a hell of a long day we had yesterday to arrive here. left the hostel early, well, early for me, about 9:30 to head to the bus station. we had purchased the last 7 tickets for pochutla, supposedly 6 to 7 hours from oaxaca on the coast. the bus left a little late, and we climbed out of oaxaca, into the sierra. i spent a lot of time with my eye pegged out the window, watching the changing scenery. it went from a sorta green rolling farmland into a windy road with tons of trees and thick folliage. really amazing, i shot some fotos for pascual with his digi camera, somehow i´ll figure out how to post them on here. anyways, the air was very fresh and i had my head out the window, smelling the mountain air. as we climbed higher, it started raining, and the bus roof showed us it´s special secret of leaking water all over the passengers in from. luckily, i was in back. soon we were in the clouds and it was an eerie feeling, cruising through a ton of turns, the nearby trees visible but further out just whiteness.
we went for while, stopping in some little village to buy some junk food. i got these weird peanuts that are covered with a soy sauce tasting shell, not bad, but kinda gross.
the bus left the town, and we went for another hour. we were probably 1-5 hours away from pochutla, when smoke starting coming out of the motor behind us and a bad smell filled the cabin. the bus creaked to a halt, and we all jumped out into the rain. there was some oil spilled on the ground from the engine, but the driver thought it was the battery that was faulty. picture this, about 35 mexicans and gringos standing next to a bus on a skinny mountain road in the fog and rain. it was a cool moment, and i remembered back to early in the ride when i wished aloud for the bus to stop for a minute in a deserted area so i could get to walk around a bit. be careful what you wish for.
the bus driver tried to get us to push the huge bus, there were maybe 20 of us guys back there, it started rolling back on top of us and we yelled ¨frenos¨ which means brakes!. another bus rolled by in the opposite direction and stopped behind us, they pulled the battery out of that one and stuck it in ours, but no luck. after this i realized that it was time to get the backpacks out of the cargo area and hitch our way out of there. i was excited to be hitching again.
before to long a semi truck pulled to a stop and pascual, ericke the mexican guy and i piled into the back along with 4 annoying people from belgium. the back was dark and hot and half filled with boxes of detergent and toilet paper. i stuck on my headfones as pascual and the belgians chattered away in french, i guess what made me hate them was when one of them said that everyone who backpacks around smokes dope and i told him i don´t and he called me a liar. anyways, after an hour of listening to radiohead we arrived in some dumb town that was not pochutla. the driver said they had to stop there for a few hours, so we again pulled our packs out. the belgians each had like 3 pieces of luggage cause they were going to some place to help cure retarded trees or something like that. i whispered to ericke that we should ditch them. he agreed. we grabbed the first cab and waved goodbye, they looked pissy but i wasn´t too worried.
the cabdriver was playing the ranchera songs about narcotraficos, i´d never heard them and they were great. we arrived in pochutla around 7, and quickly ran into tony and eileen and kathlene and bruce. there ride had been more direct but maybe crappier, they were soaking wet from ridinng in the back of a pickup in the pouring rain. we bought some food, then haggled a cab out to the town i´m in now, zipolite.
ah, zipolite. last night, we were all tired, so we got a little bit of food then had a few beers. i was asleep by 11, though ericke wanted to go to bars, and did by himself till 5 am. damn 18 year olds have all the energy. anyways, this morning i awoke to look out on a beautiful beach, with cabanas and restaurants running all the way on both sides of me to the hills that inclosed this pristine place. a look behind and i found palmtrees and tons of greenery, then hills. pascual walked up, he´d awoken earlier from sleeping in his hammock, i think i might buy one, they, like everything here, are quite cheap.
pascual and i went and got breakfast, then came back to found the rest of our friends awake. we all threw on swimtrunks and went swimming all day. i´m burned all to hell but very happy and relaxed. tonight, a beach party. someone just told me i´m really burned. oh well. better then being stuck in the mountains or in some snow somewhere.
if this posts late it´s cause of continuing problems with my blog, someday i´ll get it figured out, thanks to drew for all the help.
Posted by bendan at October 31, 2002 02:00 PM
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