Around The World In 80 Waves

To be honest after two and half months of almost non stop movement I am shattered and have decided to stick around at the hotel all day today. I have a comfortable air conditioned room and fridge I stocked with beer so spend most of the day doing my best to empty it and sunbathing on my balcony to try and even out my truckers tan a wee bit (i.e. alway with my left side always away from the sun.) This is the view down to the tidal pool from there.

I am way behind on the blog at this point, but didn’t have much enthusiasm for it and need a day off everything. (This is written well after the events.) After baking for several hours I go down to the tidal pool which floods and drains with each tide. I take the GoPro down and chase fish around for an hour to cool off.

The hotel is very quiet because it is low season, but has a rich history of being visited by the great and the good because of its location next to the famous cliff divers (more on that to follow).

The La Perla restaurant there has a wall which they ask the celebrities to sign when they visit. The picture above shows Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner.

Big Clint is in the middle of this one.

My surfing connection is made because Gary Busey who starred in both Big Wednesday and Point Break has also been here.

I am not sure if they will ever carve my own graffiti into the woodwork like they have one with the stars thougn

There are so many birds of prey in Mexico and in just about every terrain.

I snapped this picture of a Turkey Vulture from my balcony in Acapulco, but have seen them in the desert, the jungle, on the road and at the beach.

The vultures are everywhere and in such big numbers. I nearly had a crash in the car the other day when I came whizzing around a corner to see about twenty of them picking at the carcass of a dead dog in the road. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid butchering the whole scene.

However I have also seen many kestrels and eagles too.

A universal plug costing £3 back in the UK is turning out to be the best investment I have made for this trip.

Hardly anywhere has a plug for the sink. Even some of the better hotels I have stayed in are often without one.

Washing of myself, my clothes, crockery, cooking equipment and culery woulld have been a nightmare without it. 

To be honest I am surprised it has taken this long but I am a tad stricken with Montezuma’s Revenge, which is named after the Aztec Emporer who was killed during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, after he was captured by Conquistador Hernán Cortés

Think Delhi Belly, but wearing a Sombrero!

Enough said.

Whilst staying at San Blas I ripped a huge chunk out of my thumb on one of the many rusty nails sticking out of the shack I was staying in. I had a tetanus booster before I left but am not worried about it.

However the locals insisted that I clean the wound with a freshly cut lime which is the closest thing to antiseptic that they usually have at hand.

Owwwwwwwwwww!!! and then more Owwwwwwwwwww!!! and then even more Owwwwwwwwwww!!! My thumb is however healing nicely.,

After Zihuatenejo I kept pushing south driving over a hydroelectric dam which looked like this one side.

And this the other

I arrived in Acapulco just as it was getting dark and traffic is a nightmare. All the roads are being dug up so a tram system can be put in and I am diverted this way and that trying to get to the hotel I have chosen to stay at.

It is really humid the fumes from the cars, and the crazy driving from the locals do not make this a right kind of warm welcome.

Upon arrival at the Hotel Mirador I am told to park my car so close to the front I am nearly in the lobby at the reception desk!

The security want it close so they can keep an eye on it, which I dont mind at all. However I realy have had enough of driving and decide that I am not getting back behind the wheel for at least two days.

I sleep well but wake up really early to a very strange scratching noise at the front door. Tentatively I open it only for what I think is a spider nearly as big as my fist to run inside the cabana.

It turns out it was a hermit crab and I got this poor photograph once I had climbed back off the bed.

I really am that close to the beach here and had to chase him out with a book!

Once the sun comes up I check out the surf which is still gorgeous but has dropped considerably. Due to this and because I still have far to go in Mexico I don’t go in instead treating myself to a monster fry up before departing, having miraculously managed to score all the supplies for one the day before.

The road souh leads me to Zihuatenejo, where I stop to get some more cash. I was already aware of the fighing village because it is where banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) escapes to in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’

He is later joined there by Morgan Freeman’s character Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding after he is released on parole. (A bit of related movie trivia for you on this is that not everybody knows the story was actually written by Stephen King the writer of horror novels such as Carrie and The Shining)

It is now very much a major tourist resort but the sheltered bay is gorgeous and I can see why anybody would want to escape here.

Sadly for me it is too sheltered and there are no waves so I must push on once more.

After my surf I decide that this place is too good not to stay overnight.

After a bit of running around to find the owner I get a lovely cabana right on the beach. Once I have unloaded the car and settled in I climb onto the hammock on the porch to watch the sun going down.

I have ‘Alone in Iz World’ by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole playing on my stereo and try to play along with my ukulele. I probably hit one right note but couldn’t be sure.

Life feels pretty good today!

Whilst enjoying the view from my hammock and strumming away I meet a few people keen to see who this Mexican virtuoso is.

I am invited to a party at one of the bars on the beach by a Dutch couple called Tommy and Martine. It  is a birthday party for one of the local girls, and all her family have turned up to celebrate. It is a lovely event and the birthday girl doesn’t seem to mind too much when somebody shoves her face into the cake while she is blowing out the candles.

A local bloke called Juan performs his clown act for the young kids. This was the ‘tight’-rope section where all the kids were asked to brace the rope by holding on to the legs of the two surfers at either end. Very simple but very funny.

I have a great night here and am chatting to all the surfers who are staying, all of whom had assumed I was Mexican until my well clipped ‘Good Afternoon’s had greated them in the water. I even met a expat Welsh surfer called James who grew up in Cardiff but has been living in Oz for 15 years. We have a great chat about the six nations s only a Welsh Rugby fan would understand.

Mexico has at times been very hard work and there hadn’t been any real waves for me here so far. As a consequence I can’t tell you how pleased I was when I pulled off the road at Nexpa to find just about the most perfect lefthand point break I have ever seen.

I was in my boart shorts in about 10 seconds, had the board off the roof about a minute later and started paddling out.

In the background of this picture to my right you can see the beachfront cabanas I later stayed in, and the wildlife over my shoulder to the left was pretty spectacular too.

There was a real cosmopolitan crowd in the warm water with male and female surfers from Canada, Holland, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Austria and the USA surfing the perfect overhead waves. I later discovered that every single one of them assumed I was a local when I paddled out due to the look I have been nurturing. (As Hannibal Smith used to say, ‘I love it when a plan comes together!’)

The surf had really picked up and I scored so many really long rides surfing on my backhand, snaking up and down the wave which curves into the bay, with this being the picture of the day. However but I kept thinking about my surf stricken goofy footed buddy Pete Griff who would have chewed his own arm off to have enjoyed this never-ending left hand wave.

The break was so predictable it was worth trying my hand with the GoPro’s video capability. This short wave was for you Pete. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1msaiGfrtg&feature=youtu.be) Hope your legs are getting better. I will show you the better footage when I get back. (It has taken 4 hours to upload this short clip!)

I really really need a wave to lift my spirits. I am bored of driving after so many days behind the wheel. I keep getting fleeting glimpses of delightful coves like this one, but as you can see it like everywhere else is flat, even though a swell does seem to be building. There is no point in me hanging around anywhere like this because I have so many miles that I need to cover.

I keep pushing on thinking maybe the next beach will be better or a swell will have arrived. The beaches are beautiful but any waves I can see are two inch high in four inches of water.

This shot is of La Ticla, which is supposed to be a great right hand point break, but it was so windy while I was there only this kiteboarder was in the water. Expensive ding repairs and the clearly visible rocks put me off attempting to surf the small waves near the shore.

Whilst there I met a lovely family who had travelled down in their RV from Los Angeles. I had a great chat with Jordan, Cinthya and Jonathan, exchanging surf tips, and information on breaks.

Jordan usually surfs Huntington Beach back in the US, but is down here for the quieter waves, and Cinthya hails from Mexico originally.

Jordan suggests I push on to the mouth of the Rio Nexpa because the wind should have died by the time I get there.

I keep pushing on.