Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.

– Gustave Flaubert

We are currently on a bus bound for central Guatemala, but we spent most of the last week in Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico. Puerto Escondido is a little surf town on the Pacific coast. We aren’t surfers, but I love the beach, and this town sounded perfect for us – laid back, less touristy, and of course, full of beautiful beaches. We didn’t want to miss it, so we went out of our way to get there, and we weren’t disappointed.

Our last long bus ride was 22 hours of bitter tundra as we climbed from the flat Yucatan Peninsula to the Chiapas mountains. We prepared for our 12 hour overnight bus ride from San Cristobal to Puerto Escondido with that in mind. Bundled up and prepared with additional layers, we boarded the 9:00 pm bus ready to brave the cold. This time the driver kept the bus a balmy 80 degrees and we nearly burnt up. By the time we hopped off at Puerto Escondido, all we could think about was changing into some t-shirts and shorts (or less). We took a taxi to our room and tried to adjust to the warmer weather since air conditioning wasn’t a popular amenity in the area, and our room was cooled only by the ceiling fans and the ocean breeze. After a short walk to grab some lunch, we wandered down to Playa Zicatela, the third best surfing beach in the world. The waves were far too intense for us to safely swim in, and there weren’t many surfers at that time, so we waded a bit and then took a lengthy dip in our hotel pool instead.

At dinner, we walked down to the beach again and watched the many surfers enjoying the tide coming in. It was cool to watch them, but as a mom, seeing the surfers wipe out in the massive waves was a little hard to take. Of course, Henry was mesmerized by them, and he couldn’t wait to try his hand at surfing too.

We moved into a 2-bedroom apartment we found on Airbnb for the next three nights. It was absolutely gorgeous, and for the first time in a month, we truly indulged ourselves. This is the kind of place we would typically rent for our vacations, and even though it wasn’t very expensive because of the area, it was a hit to our tight budget. But it felt amazing! Henry had his own bedroom and bathroom, and he really appreciated having a bit of privacy while we were there. Brian and I had a fantastic master suite with a king sized bed and a jaw-dropping shower. The bedrooms had air conditioning AND blankets! I know that doesn’t sound like much since everyone at home has that, but for the last month, we haven’t had that. We have stayed in places that provided air conditioning but no blankets (lest you be tempted to turn the air down a little too low). We’ve stayed in other places that provided blankets (only because it’s super cold at night and you’d freeze otherwise). I felt like a queen to be able to sleep comfortably the way I like – in a cold room and cuddled up under lots of cozy blankets.

Oh, and of course, our apartment had a kitchen. We went to the local grocery store and after a half hour of scouring the store in a frantic mess, I found enough groceries to satisfy some of our cravings. Henry really wanted tacos. Tacos? Yeah, I know. This kid is messed up. He really wanted hard shell, ground beef, Ortega seasoned tacos with shredded cheese on top like I make at home. That is a pretty tall order while in Mexico, though, and it didn’t happen. Hard taco shells are just not a thing here, and the young lady at the store just looked at me quizzically when I asked about buying taco seasoning. Instead, we settled for pancakes and bacon (real, US style bacon and not the Mexican version), a Velveeta beef macaroni meal that was far from glamourous, and skillet fried hamburgers.

The best part about cooking was, well, I guess there were two best parts. First, Henry wanted to play chef, so he cooked almost all of our meals for us and second, we were able to eat our meals in the privacy of our place, in air conditioning, and around our dining table. We could eat with our shoes off and our pajamas on! We had Netflix on the tv, but apparently the last users were Chinese, and all of the programming and menus were geared towards their interests. After dinner one night, we managed to find a show about Thai street food (with English closed captioning so we could understand them) that we curled up and watched together. That little bit of semi-normalcy did us all a lot of good, and on top of that, we found a street food vendor in Thailand that we definitely don’t want to miss once we get there.

Aside from that, we checked out three more beach areas. Playa Carrizalillo was in a cove very near our apartment. Once you descended the 168 steps to reach the sand, you were greeted with beautiful tan sand and medium sized waves. This is a great beach to learn to surf on, and while the waves were really strong still, you could swim there. I couldn’t fight the pull of the waves for long, so we moved on to Playa Manzanillo and Playa Angelito. These two beaches were only about a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment. There is a reef system near the edge of the cove that keeps the waves down, so there were lots of families swimming in the mostly calm waters. Because of the calm waters, the sand here is more rocky and shell-y (I’m not sure that’s really a word). Henry enjoyed swimming here until he watched the crabs on the nearby boulders, and then he was done. He’s good with sharks and fish, but apparently crabs freak him out.

We also experienced our first bout of sickness while in Puerto Escondido. Brian awoke with stomach issues on our last full day there, and he was running a slight fever. I went to the market and bought ramen and chicken for lunch, but the heat and my hunger did me in and I ended up throwing up too. Chef Henry came to our rescue and nursed us both back to health, and by our last morning, we were back on our feet again. We were extraordinarily grateful for our private kitchen and the lush apartment while we were recuperating, though. The sickness caused us to miss out on our planned surfing lessons, but at least we were holed up in comfort.

On Tuesday, we caught another 12-hour overnight bus back to San Cristobal, and this one was actually comfortable. Yesterday, we took COVID tests so we could move on to Guatemala, bought our tickets for the journey, and enjoyed San Cristobal de las Casas for that final time. As I write this now, I am on the bus almost to Quetzaltenango. It’s 5 pm, and we have been traveling since 8 am, so we are tired and more than eager to get there now. It’s been really nice to reminisce about our latest beach adventure while on this ride, though.

Since we’re officially a month in, I thought I’d share some of the observations we’ve had since we’ve been traveling (in no particular order). I hope you enjoy.

• Mexico is not what I expected. I imagined hot, dry deserts and humid beaches. There are parts of Mexico like that, but there are also areas that have beautiful alpine forests and gorgeous mountains. And there are some parts that are very, very cold.
• Pancita de res is not good. It’s a beef soup and it sounds good, but don’t order it. Ever. Seriously.
• Mexico is really fond of speed bumps. Very large speedbumps placed inches apart and not well marked.
• Drivers in the US are really pretty good, even when they don’t use their turn signals.
• I’m very grateful to live in a society where retiring is an option. I’ve seen many elderly people working way harder than they should have to at their ages. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve also seen many young kids growing up hard and working at very young ages. I’m thankful for the lifestyles we are able to live at home.
• If you don’t like mayo, make sure to order your sandwich ‘sin mayonesa’ even if it’s a sandwich that you’d never dream of putting mayo on. Everyone in Mexico seems to really love the stuff.
• If you order a hamburger here instead of a beef hamburguesa, they will bring you a hamburger topped with ham. It’s surprisingly not bad, but not at all what I expected.
• ‘Mi espanol es muy malo’ accompanied by an embarrassed smile goes a long way here. It means ‘My Spanish is very bad.’ Most people will laugh at you for a moment, and then will try really hard to help you.
• Google translate is the best app ever. We would be lost without it.
• Warm showers are a luxury we don’t appreciate enough. As are toilet seats, free public bathrooms, and access to the entire roll of toilet paper. Most showers here are lukewarm at best, but some have been cold. As for toilets, if you use the restroom in a restaurant, it’s free and generally good. If you are out and need to go, you have to pay a fee, and when you do, you’re given a premeasured allotment of toilet paper to use and most of the time the toilet doesn’t have a seat.
• If bathrooms in the US were set up like the bathrooms here, more people would wash their hands. You can go to the toilet in private, but the sinks are out where everyone can see them. Its very easy to tell who does and doesn’t wash properly.
• Written menus are underrated. Many restaurants here don’t have them at all. The server walks up to your table and tells you in the quickest speed possible everything the restaurant has to offer. You have to listen very carefully for something you recognize. I think this is because the menus change daily at these restaurants, but it’s still difficult when you don’t speak the language well. Hence, pancita de rez (see above).
• I look forward to being able to flush my used toilet paper again. I get that the pipes here aren’t capable of handling the paper too, but I still think it’s gross to throw it in the trash. Ugh.
• One thing I think we’ve always taken for granted was standard opening/closing times. Businesses here are more, lets call it flexible. Business hours here are a little more of a suggestion than a guarantee. It’s a bit of an adjustment to get used to.
• Building codes are also awesome. I’ve been in buildings here with super steep steps, no guardrails, open electrical wiring, and handicap inclines that would be downright terrifying. US building codes can be a pain, but they do make things pretty nice (and much safer, generally).
• The Coco and Pineapple popsicles I’ve been enjoying are perhaps my absolute favorite popsicle ever. I’m not kidding – these things are amazing. If the Mexican grocery stores at home don’t have them, I’m going to be extremely disappointed.
• I’ve adjusted to this no makeup, crazy hair thing exceptionally well. This may be a tough adjustment when I get back home. Of course, I may not adjust back either.
• Watching kids laugh and play together is heartwarming, no matter who and where they are.
• So many times we’ve wanted something, and I know I could have it within an hour or so at home. I miss the convenience of a local Walmart and Amazon deliveries.
• We have too much stuff packed with us. We’ve been talking about sending some stuff home to lighten our load, but it’s really expensive. And, I’m just to selfish/cheap to toss it or donate it all. So, for now, we’ll continue to haul it around until we come up with a better plan.
• Thirteen year old boys (and 43 year old men, for that matter) are funny when they see topless a woman on the beach.
• The Bug Bite Thing is amazing. If you use it right after a bug bite, it gets rid of the itch. Awesome, right?
• Mountain Dew is not a thing here. I’ve seen a Mountain Dew Melon version, but that’s it. These people just don’t know what they are missing.
• Gas stations are different here. Some are like ours. Some are stands on the side of the road where you get gas from a 5-gallon container and they use a 2-liter bottle top as a funnel to pour it in your car. It’s interesting.
• Pets are different here. We saw a kid ride his cow (saddle and all), watched lots of children walking their sheep on leashes, and we have stayed in several hotels with resident cats and dogs.
• One of the most enjoyable parts of this trip is when we are all laying in bed at night and joking in the dark about how our adventures have gotten derailed and the funny things we’ve seen.

So we have wrapped up our first month of traveling this week, and it’s hard to believe that we have already been gone for that long. I’ve learned so much over the past few weeks, and I know the journey has barely begun. I’m so very grateful that we decided to take this trip. I hope as you’ve followed along with my blog and our posts so far, you can feel the gratitude and appreciation we have not only for the people and experiences we have had here, but also for all of our friends and family and the love and support we continue to receive from home. Thank you!