Puerto Escondido

I've arrived alive in Puerto Escondido and have spent the past few days doing the following:


-lying on the beach
-sleeping on the beach
-drinking on the beach
-eating on the beach
-lying in the sun
-lying in the sand
-tanning
-swimming
-floating in the ocean
-boat rides
-eating
-drinking
-drinking games
-sleeping
-bar hopping

Essentially, I'm doing nothing all day, everyday. And it requires a lot more effort than most of you would think. I have to make hard decisions such as:
-which beach to go to?
-do I lie on my towel or rent a chair?
-what I'm going to eat?
-what I'm going to drink?
-what bar am I going to start in and what one am I going to end in?
-what bikini to wear?
-SPF 8, 15 or 30?

See? Tough decisions. I'm kind of jealous of all of you back home =P

I should be heading out to Playa del Carmen around Wednesday. I'll keep ya posted.

Cuernavaca and Acapulco

The boys and I headed to Cuernavaca for the weekend to meet up with Jono and his mates. We spent about two hours looking for a (cheap) place to stay before one of the many taxi drivers we commissioned took us to this home just outside of the zocalo. It was a pretty decent place. I had to share a bed with Richard, who thought that I made a fantastic human pillow.

After dropping off our gear, we went in search of sustainance. What we found was, in my opinion, the best burger I have ever had. It was like a flattened piece of steak, cooked to perfection on a lightly toasted bun with mayo and lettuce and this fantastic oil, herb and shallot dressing. After that, we found a bar that was selling cases of Sol for $330 pesos. Super cheap. We played a drinking game and ended up polishing that off in about an hour. We all stumbled back to the place we were staying and Jarrod, one of the Aussies, decided he was heading back out for some more fun. He doesn´t even know where he went or how he managed to get back.

The next day we headed up to Jono´s friends place after wandering the city for about 4 hous, getting lost a few times. The family he was staying with was really nice and even arranged another place for us to stay. We ended up going for dinner at this place with the most amazing tacos. Afterwards, we headed to a bar where we continued to play the drinking game that we will now call "Hass". Why you ask? Because we like to make him drink a lot. After that we headed to a lounge/club type place where more Hass ensued. Even the owner was getting into it and taking pictures of us making Hass drink. (I´ll explain this game to you guys when I get back home. It involves a cigarette pack and lots of beer)

The next day we headed off for Acapulco. Not a huge fan of it. Reminded me too much of Toronto in the summer, smog, humidity, shitty beach and all. I have no idea why people come here and think that it´s paradise. The only difference is that here its ocean and tons more hotels.

The first night we stayed I slept all night while the boys went out partying. They found a great bar that we ended up going to last night. We spent most of yesterday sleeping before finding two rooms in a 4 star hotel for $126. For both. Yes. You read that correctly. Super cheap. We spent the afternoon by the ocean, showered up and grabbed a bit before lying down to get some ZZZ´s before partying all night. We headed out to Paradise and scammed some all you can drink. I was $20 and the boys were $30 each. They thought they could scam us buy giving us one drink at a time in styrofoam cups. The joke was on them. Seriously, giving a Canadian, two Brits and two Aussies all you can drink? We drank. A lot. And danced a lot. I ended up dancing with this 27 year old American with braces. Why? I can´t even tell you. Did I mention we drank a lot?

Today I got up, laid by the pool, checked out the beach, hit up Starbucks and watched a bit of the soccer game. Then myself, Hass and Richard took a cab to the bus station to find out our bus doesnt leave until 11pm. And this is why you are getting such a long entry. Because I still have 3 hours and about 15 minutes left before we go.

We are heading off to Puerto Escondido for some surfing. We aren´t sure where we are going to stay but we shall figure that out in the morning.

Sex Plazas, The Jonas Brothers and Spanish Rock Bands

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day. Some of the Brits, Aussies and I decided we would go find the Plaza Sex Capital in Mexico City. And we found it! Except most of the stores were closed, as was the sex museum. We were a little upset. Afterwards, we grabbed some Mexican street meat and started browsing through the streets and shops.

Then we decided we were going to find a witchcraft store. Sadly, even with knowing the intersection and asking the locals, we were unable to locate it. But on our mission to find it, we wandered through this huge four block market with everything, including pigs snout. It was pretty crazy!

After that, the boys wanted to find the soccer stadium, Estadio Azteka. So we hopped on the metro on Line 2 to the very end and then hopped on light rail to the stadium. However, on the way down, we found out there was a Jonas Brothers concert. And a bunch of girls there thought one of the Aussies was one of them. They all wanted picturs with him!

We then journeyed back to the hostel to get some money and food. We then went to this wicked concert with a spanish band. Apparently they were nominated for 2 latin american grammys and had an MTV nomination. They were great.

Today Im heading off to either Puebla or Oaxaca, whereever we decide!

Metros, Galleries, Strip Clubs and Ruins

Hola!

I have arrived safely in Mexico City!

My journey so far:

I got to my hostel, made a friend 20 miuntes later. We hopped on a red double decker bus for a tour of the city and its cool buildings and monuments! That was about three hours of wicked coolness. Then hit up the Nomadic Gallery which was a free art exhibit of photos. It was stunning.I retired to bed early Monday night due to barely sleeping Sunday.

Tuesday, I got up and had my free breakfast and had to head to the bank to get some pesos. After that I spent a few hours wandering around the city. Almost every street is dedicated to something. One has ball gowns and wedding dresses, another is all clothing, another is beauty supply, etc. I decided to be brave and hop on the metro. It was waaaayy better than the TTC and only $0.20!

Later, I met some Aussies and Brits on the rooftop patio. We headed out for a bite and decided to hit Zona Rosa, the club district and the sketchy district. We found a 2 for 1 bar where I had tequila and beer. Go me! Then we hopped into a cab to go to the cetral part of Zona Rosa where we wandered into a strip club. What a rip off though. Clothed for two songs and then half way through the third song do you see anything. And they only do three songs. Oh well.

After that we headed back to the hostel for a few more beers before hitting the sack. Today we are venturing out to the Sex Plaza and to go check out some murals!

Thinking of you down in Mexico

So as some of you may know, I leave for Mexico on Monday to begin my eight month journey through Mexico, Central America and South America.

The plan? Get my PADI Open Water in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and dive my way down the Caribbean coast until I hit Costa Rica, where I will pick up surfing until I hit Colon, Panama. After which, I should be hopping on a boat for a four day sail down to Cartegena, Columbia.

From Columbia, I'm either working my way through Ecuador or Venezuela (probably Ecuador) to partake in a two to three week excursion on the Amazon. I'll be partying my way through Brazil and checking out Iguazu Falls, which boarders Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

At some point, I'll be heading down to the most southern city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina. I'll also try and get some skiing and snowboarding in while in Chile, check out Machu Picchu, Nazca, Cuzco and Manu in Peru before working my way back up, trying to hit Venezula if I have the time.

The I should be working my way through the Costa Rica I didn't see, parts of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and back into Mexico.

After that I plan on hopping a plane to Tennessee to see my sister, if she's available, if not I'm going to play in L.A. for a few days. Then it's off to Whistler for a week of snowboarding instruction and playing before heading back home for the Christmas season and my birthday.

I'll try and be a lot more diligent with updates this journey!