Diary of 3 Weeks in Mexico

Midnight
Wednesday June 13th

The most coincidental day has just occurred... just one of those days in which you´ve nothing planned for and then one thing leads to another and its a great day ... however, Im told such is the life in Barra.

While yes, during the off season (the on season is the winter months) this is quite the sleepy little town in which everything runs on ¨mexican time¨ meaning nothing opens before 11 but a few cafes and the post office and then everyone closes down when they feel their day is done - whether that be 3 or 5 or whenever the sunsets. This town of Barra de Navidad - affectionately known for its Christmas time discovery with a population of officially 11,000 but in the off season a little more tranquil 5 thousand or so... but anyway, Barra has the friendliest people Ive ever collectively met.

At the conclusion of my last journal, I thought I´d be ready to leave soon after due to boredum, but our experiences in Barra were quite far from boring.

As soon as I closed my journal the other night, I realized we were moments away from sunset. I grabbed my camera and made a dash for the long stretch of sandbar on the town´s southeast side. I sat oceanside on the beach letting the biggest waves just reach the tips of my toes. Lost in concentration as the last rays of the sun fell behind the mountains I suddenly realized a stinging sensation on my left foot. Perplexed, and looking down I saw a blue string wrapped around my ankle resembling a fishing line. Determining this tightly wrapped string to be the cause of the stinging I reached and pulled off what I then realized was a very small jellyfish and this blue string was a long tenticle.

The panicked jellyfish had stung my foot and as I threw it aside, I became a bit panicked not knowing what to make of this situation. I went and rinsed off my foot in the saltwater of the ocean to better be able to view the ´wounded area.´ Wobbling back to the hotel my foot tingled lightly as if it were asleep. I asked the hotel owner (a mom of three or four in her 30`s who all live in the hotel with the grandmother) about a cure for the sting. She said it happens all the time- those little menaces get everyone once in awhile I guess- and recomended tylenol. I called nurse Mom at home in the States - trusting American medicine- and her immediate response was to pee on it ... haha. Or at least to dump something acidic on it like vinigar if not urine to neutralize the sting. I went with a shower, tylenol and bed and I woke up feeling fine in the morning.

What was not fine however, was the noise in our hotel. Though the actual hotel was quiet dispite the children running in the lobby once in a while, the hotel´s neighbors are currently farming roosters. Yes roosters... they have four of them caged separately but next to each other preparing for next week´s grandest event of the summer: cock fights- yes again I´m serious. And the whole town is looking forward to it... but no one Im sure as much as the hotel´s owners.

In the books and movies, a rooster crows on a farm at dawn and wakes the farmer to start his day and morning chores. In real life, the roosters begin to crow at 4am and crow constantly until 8am or whenever it is that you cant stand it anymore to listen to them as you struggle for more sleep.

About this time was our discovery that nothing opened until 11am- and that there are a total of 10 community computers in this town (but not available for use until 11)... so we moved our slumber to the beach. After of course, a careful inspection insuring all the jellyfish had once again retreated to the ocean.

We watched ghost crabs dance around the shoreline and a few surfers in the distance. One in particular - was not very good, about our age and lighter skinned... He was very comical and a bit puzzling to watch. He later told us - to keep from embarrasing himself- that he wasnt surfing at all but tanning his back as the reflection off the surface of the water secures a deeper tan. Upon our laughter, he told us to believe whichever story we wanted.

Walking away to get some brunch, we met Victor, a friendly, larger man, aged 30 with very dark skin and an instantly likeable personality who ran the boat tours from the marina... and then our day started. We chose a tour with fishing and snorkeling on the northern rocky shoreline where the waves crash against the mountains that rise out of the ocean from nowhere.

Kristen, deathly afraid of the creatures in the open ocean even got in to see the reefs. We dove down, swimming through underwater caves and seeing lots of tropical fish. Victor even brought an urchin to the surface so we could hold it. With the help of his fishing skills, we also caught 5 chula- by dragging a floating lure behind our boat and manuevering close to the rocky coastline. We ended up giving most of our catch to a very large and very poor family, struggling to get through the off-season. But I took a taste of this fish grilled and it reminded me of tuna- which is just as well.

We became friends with Victor quickly. He had lived in the United States for a number of years in California with his family, before deciding Mexico was really the place for him. He studied in Fresno, and he and Kristen had a lot to chat about being that they had studied very near to each other. At the end of our tour he invited us back later for some waterskiing on the lagoon. We were joined by three others and had a blast. It was some great skiing and we also tried our hand at some knee boarding.

As it turns out the ¨surfer¨ we had seen earlier this morning is Victor´s summer neighbor- visiting from the Districto Federal (the Capital District) and living in his Grandparents holiday home for a month on his college break. He had studied at a private American school up until college and also spoke english very well.

The party then moved poolside for pizza and drinks where we spoke about our fun day and learned more about Barra... which has given Kristen a real desire to come back. Victor even offered her a job if she did. Andres and Victor were so nice to us as were their friends... especially once they found out we also spoke spanish. Everyone was so welcoming. This whole little community we found offered to us, such a nice stop... dispite the roosters and the jellyfish.