I heard Playa Zicatela was one of the better waves in Mexico, so I rented a board. I’d tried wakeboarding before and once borrowed someone’s skateboard, so how hard could surfing be, right? When I got to the surf shop I couldn’t remember if I was left foot forward or right foot forward so some guy at the shop did the test where they push you from behind when you’re not looking and see which foot you use to stop yourself from falling. It didn’t work though, and I sort of ate shit into the display area where they keep the Havaianas and when I got up some little kid in the back of the shop was laughing his ass off.
Either way, they got me a board. The wanted to give me some 6-foot something fish design but I insisted on getting one of the shorter, smaller boards I had seen most of the guys at the beach using. I’m a man of the people; I didn’t want to be given any unfair advantage or disadvantage due to the board I was using.
When I got the beach I noticed a photographer with a tripod and a fancy lens standing in the water taking pictures of some of the surfers. I approached him and asked him what he was up to and he said he was a photographer for Quiksilver. I asked him if he had any stickers I could put on my board because I noticed most of the surfers had stickers on their boards and mine didn’t have any. Once again, I didn’t want to stand out and have the other surfers treating me any differently just because I didn’t look like the rest of them, but the guy didn’t have any stickers so I just made sure he noted what color boardshorts I was wearing so he could take pictures of me.
People had told me at the shop that the waves at Zicatela were pretty powerful, but from the shore they didn’t look all that crazy. Actually, it looked fun to be lifted up by the waves and I noticed how most people dove under the waves after they had broken to get past them. Some of the people even caught waves that curled over them, forming sort of a tube. Those were the waves I wanted.
It turned out getting out to where all the big waves were breaking was harder than I thought. The waves kept crashing on me and I kept getting separated from my board and dragged in by it. Once, just when I thought I was out far enough a huge wave came that had a surfer on it. He had to swerve and making a really hard turn to avoid hitting me and then the wave pinned me against the bottom for several seconds and shoved sand and saltwater into my mouth. When the kid was paddling out past me I heard him yell “Pendejo,” which is a word I’d never heard before but must be some sort of slang for “Amigo.”
After about 10 minutes of trying to get to the good waves I had to stop and just try to catch the smaller waves that had already broken. It turned out that the board they had given me wasn’t nearly as stable as I thought it would be and it was really hard to stand up. I think next time I need to go to a surf shop where the staff is a little more knowledgeable.
All in all it was a good experience, and at least now I can tell people I’m a surfer.
Photos of some of the other surfers:
The Puerto Escondido harbor.
This entry was written by , posted on May 27, 2009 at 5:33 pm, filed under Travels and tagged beginner waves, floater, glassy, offshore, puerto escondido, tippy toes, zicatela. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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When you’re rad you don’t just travel alone, you travel under a completely different last name that starts with two “b’s” and looks vaguely Polish.
After 12.5 hours and a night on a bus, I have arrived in Puerto Escondido. I’m staying at Hotel Rincón del Pacifico, and it’s gorgeous. Right on the beach, ceiling fans that could cool off an angry rhinoceros – all for 200 pesos a night (p.s. with the words “Puerto Escondido,” “Rincón del Pacífico,” “pesos” and the rest in English, Microsoft Word is confused as fuck). The rooms, which are literally a stone’s throw from the beach (I have an arm like a young Jamie Moyer), normally cost 320 pesos, but when the woman at the front desk saw me in my skinny jeans and white t, beard of a week and face glowing slightly from the heat she said, “Damn, you look hella tight, I’ll give you the room for 200 pesos.” She actually said, “Damn, you look hella tight1.”
But anyway, enough about Hotel Rincon del Pacifico. The purpose of today’s blog is to talk about long bus rides. Specifically, long overnight bus rides. Having done well into the double digits of these particular trips, I feel fairly qualified to provide a few tips and tricks on how to experience a successful and enjoyable overnight bus ride.
#1 — Prepare for the worst. Optimism will get you nowhere on an overnight bus trip. I’m not saying have a bad attitude — I’m just saying prepare for the worst. If you’re leaving Mexico City for Puerto Escondido, imagine that the bus will leave late, the traffic exiting Mexico City will be horrible, there will be a tremendously obese Mexican woman sitting next to you carrying a crying baby which you will contemplate throwing out the window an hour into the trip, you won’t be able to sleep, and the trip will take longer than expected. (Readers note: Only one of these things actually happened. I’ll let you guess which one.) By preparing yourself for the worse, you can’t be disappointed — only relieved.
Stoked to be enjoying a pre-bus ride tamale, but still hella prepared for the worst.
#2 – Bring a bottle of water. If you’re in Mexico, I suggest the liter-and-a-half variety of Bonafont, which comes in a nice, long, uniform cylindrical shape. Not only is hydration essential on a long bus ride, but the water bottle doubles as a perfect lower back support. Maintaining excellent posture will aid greatly in achieving sleep later in the trip, as slouching can cause grogginess and prevent you from obtaining the proper exhaustion necessary for sleep.
#3 – Don’t worry about sleep! The biggest mistake I made when I was younger was to get frustrated when I couldn’t get to sleep on long bus/plane/train/mule etc. rides, which of course in turn prevented me from ever falling asleep. Don’t worry about falling asleep at all! If anything, try to stay awake as long as possible. Maintain good posture, don’t close your eyes unless they’re drooping on their own, and try to enjoy whatever scenery or movie you have at hand. You’ll fall asleep eventually.
Trying my best to stay awake. For some reason this whole theme of taking pictures of myself in the bathroom has really taken off.
#4 – Take a sweatshirt or a sweater on the bus. I don’t care if you’re taking an overnighter through the Kalahari, it can never hurt to have a sweatshirt or a sweater on the bus with you to warm you up and use as a blanket just in case the driver is blasting the air conditioning. If you’re too hot you can always put it on your lap. But if you forget it like I did last night and have to put your arms inside your shirts like those dudes that deal drugs on the AVE, you’ll be sorry.
#5 – Don’t listen to your MP3 player. This a very debatable issue and I’m sure there will be many who disagree with me, but I’m with the school of thinkers that think MP3 players prevent you from naturally achieving sleep. Especially in my case, since my MP3 players doesn’t do playlists. If I go from blissfully dozing off to Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars” to being jarred awake by “And When he Falleth” by Theater of Tragedy, I’m going to be bummed2.
Hella positive at five in the morning after 10 hours on the bus (see #6).
#6 – Be positive. I know at the beginning I said to prepare yourself for the worst, but there is still a way to prepare for the worst and remain positive. Your bus breaks down on the side of the road and you have to wait an hour? No problem. Talk to some of your fellow passengers. Eat some tacos if there’s a stand close by. Go for a pee in the woods and listen to the sounds of the animals. If you stay positive, there’s little the trip will be able to dish out that you won’t be able to handle.
¡Buen viaje!
Next on Where’s Wetzler: Steve: The crazy, moped-riding Englishman. PLUS: Zicatela is fucking huge….
1She did not say this.
2Slash really stoked due to the fact that that song is fucking awesome.
This entry was written by , posted on May 25, 2009 at 3:56 pm, filed under Travels and tagged buses in mexico, mexican pipeline, overnight bus rides, rincon del pacifico, surfing, zicatela. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.