December 27 – 31

We climbed out of Zipolite, making a stop in the next town for provisions and diesel. With no air conditioning, the stifling 38°C heat had us melting in the cab, so the kids’ new fans were put to good use. Our next stop is a favourite amongst the travelling community and reads to be idealic, so i’m imagining a few days of sleepy beach life with lazy hammocks slung beneath the palapa, swaying in the breeze.

Don taco’s

Don Taco’s campground is located an easy 15 km down a dirt road on the tranquil San Agustín bay. Owners Franz & his wife are originally from the Netherlands, retired here and built their own slice of paradise 7 years ago.  A more reasonable 500 pesos per night, we squeezed into a spot behind the gate and joined a community of locals escaping the city for their holidays.

The vibe here is completely different—no barking dogs, no roosters, no all-night music. It’s family-oriented and peaceful. Normally a quiet fishing community, but it’s holiday season so it’s very busy with tourists. The fisherman have shifted their catch to humans, offering holiday makers rides on inflatable toys.  Along the bay two obnoxious jet skis are rented out in 15 min increments, zipping all over & through the roped off swimming areas.  Large ferry boats are jetting people in for the day from somewhere, looking like orange wearing sardines.  The beach is full & as many people in swimming, wall to wall restaurants are full. As the sunsets behind us, they slowly gather their belongings, leaving all the garbage, and retreat back to wherever they came from. By 7pm all is quiet.

People are friendly & welcoming, yesterday was spent emerged in Spanish with a family from Puebla, here to celebrate birthdays, a 25th & 50th. The first Corona was cracked with breakfast at 9am, by 12 the vodka came out, at 2pm onwards it was mezcal & beer.  Joel, a gentle giant & very skilled musician who can play, sing & drink at the same time entertained us.

  They had been out fishing the day before and caught a 38lb Bella, a smaller cousin to the Marlin. Which was now in half, laying in across the bbq. The other was finely chopped for ceviche, that we were invited to taste it all, delicious and spicy! Before we knew it, a cold Corona was also in front of me with insistence to join them. Who am I to refuse a cold beer of a hot day, and there’s nothing like having a little liquid courage to learn & practice Spanish.  Between them, 3 men and 5 women they put down 50 bottles of beer, a bottle of vodka AND 2L of Mezcal!!  By 10pm they shut it down, this morning no signs of a hang over.  The Mexican people can drink!

We had planned to leave this morning & move on down the coast to meet up with Mario & Wenke for New Years, but have decided to stay and they will join us here.

As the days melt into one another, mornings are spent on schoolwork.  Jaxon’s teacher has agreed to half his work load, however Charley’s teacher isn’t willing to be so flexible as the curriculum in high school is that much greater. Their grades are up, both 85-100% scores, the hard part is getting them to sit down to focus. I did a few haircuts while we were here. Annika traded one night camping fee for hers, a tourist from Vancouver Island gave me $20 CAD for his haircut, Jaxon had a trim too.

Our New Year’s Eve was a potluck dinner of freshly caught fish grilled for tacos and salad. Mario played guitar, Jessica and Billie, my Spanish tutors, joined us for a while and we rang in the New Year on the beach watching the fireworks. Bedtime was 1AM!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!