This morning I woke up to a sunny Friday morning after a delicious 8 hour sleep. I woke up a few times during the night due to the millions of bug bites I have on my feet and legs, but never mind that. Upon getting out of my bunk I made myself a nice jar of hot "drunken concubine" oolong tea (compliments to Mad Monk tea shop in Ocean Beach, SD). My breakfast consisted of the mini bananas that are the size of fat fingers, and pan dulce, mexican pastries.
While I was enjoying my breakfast, a guy from a boat a few slips down the dock, Rob, stopped by. He came aboard for a cup of tea and started telling tales of sailing the South Pacific. He told us about how he contacted a tape worm in the Marshall Islands by eating a fish that had the parasite, only to be passed 3 years later because he ate a poisonous berry that killed the tape worm and not him. He told us to always freeze our fish before eating it to avoid incidents like this. Needless to say, interesting guy.
I knew the surf would be pumping today as a south swell has been filling in. I can't spend my absolute entire days surfing and goofing off, so I asked Dad what he wanted me to do before I left for the day. He had me unload the entire anchor locker so that we could get to the wires for the navigation lights. After hauling out anchors, chain, tons of line, a machete, and some other goodies, replacing the lightbulb so that the nav lights work, and repacking the anchor locker, I was free to go.
I grabbed my board and headed for the bus stop. The bus ride to Punta de Mita is always nice, either I meet somebody or I watch the scenery of junglish shrub around the giant blue bay. When I got to Mita the surf was pumping. El Anclote, the cowells-esque break, was head high. Perfect peeling rights came through all day. I surfed El Anclote twice, ate a beautiful, cheap meal at the palapa restaurant on the beach, chatted with friends, made new friends, quemaba muchos gallos, and watched perfect waves come through the beach.
Around 5:30 I was planning to head back to La Cruz when un amigo, Mita, came and asked me if I wanted to go surf El Faro, the break at the end of the point. I was hesitant because it takes about 25 minutes to walk out there, but he said we would be taking a panga (Mexican fishing boat), so it would only take about 4 minutes. I couldn't resist.
El Faro had some chest to head high barreling waves come through, but I was pretty surfed out by that point. I caught a few waves, but really just chilled and enjoyed where I was. I went out in the panga with four other guys, so I was the only girl and the only white girl. Not that this matters, but they were all cracking jokes and telling stories about things that were totally over my head. In reality, this happens quite often.
We surfed until sunset, then headed back to the beach. I took the bus back to La Cruz, came home to the nice, comfortable boat where a big plate of pasta was waiting for me. As I was eating I got a phone call from Antonio, who said that our friends from Mita were waiting for me at the plaza to go out with them. I wolfed down the rest of my food and put on clean clothes, (never mind showering) and headed out. We went to Bucerias where we got a few beers, went to "the best taco shop in Bucerias" where we got delicious tacos and watched bad wrestling on the TV, and then went to a parking lot where a band was playing ranchera music to drink mas cervezas. When we left around midnight there were families with little kids, teenagers, and old men all hanging out and enjoying their Friday night.
This was not a crazy party night or anything, but it was a very Mexican experience. The whole day was. I wish you could have been here to experience it with me. It is inspiring to see people who work so hard but always have the time to chat for a minute or make a joke. These people laugh all the time. Most of the time I have no idea what they are laughing about, but it doesn't matter. They do not have tons of money, huge houses, or flashy cars (let alone cars for some). But they are happy, and it is infectious.
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