Hot Hot Heat

Mexico is hot. Really hot.

After leaving Barra de Navidad we drove to La Tikla, a well known surf spot. We arrived there in the evening and right when we parked we got a flat tire. When we replaced it, the spare was flat too... but fortunately not puctured and just needed air. We ended up paying about two dollars per night to camp under a palapa in front of a restaurant. It was great. The only catch was that there were no bathrooms, just a couple of outdoor toilets and a hose. Camped next to us were several people who are also driving the coast. Some going furthur, and all of them going a little slower than we are. We ended up staying in La Tikla for several days. We celebrated Eleise´s birthday with the La Tikla crew on the 28th. The days there were so hot it was hard to do anything but sit in a hammock in the shade and sleep or read.

After a few days of doing nothing I was tired of, well, of doing nothing and decided to take a walk with Frank, one of the guys camped near us. We started walking up the beach in the heat of the afternoon on the lookout for a ¨secret spot¨to surf. Thinking I wouldn´t be walking long, I wore my flip-flops and no sunscreen. We walked a little ways and climbed a small cliff jutting into the ocean so we could get to the beach on the other side. Once there, we decided to go to the next small cliff. After successfully getting around that one we walked further to the next - and so on. After about 2 hours of walking we reached a huge rock cliff that we couldn´t see around and couldn´t see the top of. Since it didn´t look too perilous we started to climb. Halfway up the rocks started to loosen and the climbing got more difficult. By this time is was too late to go back the way we came because of the steepness of the cliff (it always seems to be easier climbing up than down). Anyhow, to make a really long story shorter - we made it to the top of the cliff where there was a thick forest of trees and underbrush and sticker bushes, hours later - after fighting our way up the mountain as the sun was setting we finally found the road. During our wandering through the woods I had jokingly told Frank I was going to call a taxi back to camp when we found the road. The first car that passed when we stuck out our thumbs was a taxi - and in the passenger seat was the woman who ran the camp we were staying at. We made it back to camp just in time to have dinner - with only a few blisters and a sunburn. Whew!

We finally packed up our things and said goodbye to La Tikla. After camping a few nights in overpriced and overheated towns on the coast we made it to Puerto Escondido. A surfers paradise, home of the Mexican Pipeline. There was a slight breeze there, making the daylight a litte more bearable. We stayed in a nice, cheap hostel right on the water and met some really great people.

Yesterday morning we left Puerto early with a stray we had picked up (a backpacker heading the same way as us) and drove all day to San Cristobal de las Casas in the highlands of the Chiapas. The last hour of the drive before arriving here is a steep climb into the mountains and the weather changes drastically. After a month of wearing shorts and sandals we were able to put on some jeans and a jacket. Since we arrived here late we found a cheap hotel, got some dinner and crashed in bed. We decided to wait until the next day to look for a better place to stay. This morning I woke up earlier than the others and got ready to go to church. As I left the hotel and opened the car to grab something on my way I realized that everything in the car was a disaster and most of our things were missing. Someone had broken into the car in the night. After a little more investigation we realized we had been robbed by nice robbers, if there is such a thing. They only broke one window, and it was a small triangle one behind the rear windows - easy and cheap to fix. They broke into the safe we had and took all our money and insurance information but left our passports and the title to the car. They took most of our camping gear, my purse and backpack and a bunch of other random stuff, but somehow missed my new camera. We spent a good 8 hours at the police station today - but in the end there isn´t much they can do. Since it´s Sunday today there wasn´t much more we could do either and we´re trying to figure things out...