I’m struggling to sit down to write this post. The last few
weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, both good and bad. Part of me wants to
live in those amazing moments because they bring so much more joy. But then I
find myself feeling a sense of longing rather than a sense of presence. While
the present isn’t the most pleasant thing, I know that it’s the best place for
my mind to live. So I will tell you about my adventures, because I love to
share and I really did have such an incredible time in the last few weeks! But
I won’t avoid talking about how difficult things are right now, and how I’m
handling this worldwide crisis. 
When my adventure started, COVID was starting to spread in the
United States, but travel was still an option, specifically since COVID had barely
touched Mexico so far. So my friends travelled as planned, and we met on the
airplane in Mexico City and flew together to Puerto Escondido in the Mexican
state of Oaxaca. It was the first time I’d been to the beach in Mexico!! And it
was a great choice for a beach. We landed, and the weather was immediately
different than what we were all used to. It is hot in Cuernavaca (and getting
warmer), but it is not humid. But let me tell you…the beach is NOTHING but humidity.
We had a wonderful few days together! We swam in the ocean, rode horses, and enjoyed
various beverages in front of the water. Puerto Escondido is primarily a beach
town. One of its beaches, Playa Zicatela, is famous for having the third best
waves in the world! The area we were in was right on this beach, and it was a
rather touristy part of town. Restaurants and bars lined the beach, all with outdoor
seating as well as beach chairs in the sand where you could sit and order food
and drinks to be brought to you. It was a wonderful break from work for me, and
I took the time to disconnect from everything…work, practicing Spanish, and
cultural exploration. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the sounds of the
waves, the sun, and the ocean breeze. (Things I do not enjoy about the beach…salt
water, sand that sticks to your salty, sweaty body, and the moments when there
is NO breeze, which was the case in our hotel room.) 
We arrived Wednesday afternoon, and spent time exploring. I
had some amazing shrimp for dinner, and we walked along the beach toward the center
of town and found all the vendors. We had a great time walking and talking, and
I was so glad to have friends with me! Thursday, we went into town to explore a
bit, and then took the opportunity to relax on the beach. We stopped at a café,
had lunch at the market, and walked around to explore. The afternoon at the
beach was lovely. We relaxed, Claudia got her hair braided, and we sipped
margaritas. Once we were done with the sun and sand, we walked back to the
hotel to relax for a while before going out to the beach once again to enjoy
the sunset. It was beautiful, and became a tradition of our trip. We walked
along the beach, enjoying the sound of the waves and the sound of music coming
from all the beach restaurants. We stopped into the last restaurant on the
beach, and the ambiance was incredible. It was the perfect end to our relaxing
beach day before we prepared for a day out adventuring.
Friday, we were up early and headed out with just our small
group to visit the Aguas Termales. A taxi picked us up from our hotel, and we
rode about 45 minutes to the small town of San Juan Manialtepec. A breakfast of
quesadillas with homemade cheese, café de olla, and fried eggs on the comal was
waiting for us when we arrived (along with black beans and salsa, of course). I
greatly enjoyed the homecooked breakfast and hospitality, after which we were
all fueled up ready for our hour-long horseback ride to the thermal springs. I
had no idea what to expect, but what we found were several concrete baths of varying
levels of heat, all of which smelled of sulfur and were slightly salty because
the water was coming straight out of the ground. The level of heat was
determined by how far away that particular bath was from the source. We spent
about an hour there, and were the only ones the entire time. We went in and out
of the hot-tub level pools, and I ventured into a warmer one for a few minutes
just for fun. It was surprisingly refreshing, and very good for your skin. The
dead skin was peeling off my arms without me doing anything (TMI…sorry) and I
left my feet soaking for as long as I could to give myself something of a
pedicure! It was such a fun and interesting experience, and I’m so glad that we
went! I loved the horseback ride, the beauty of nature all around us (although I
want to come back when it’s not dry season) and imagining myself in the old
Mexican movies that Tía Berta made me watch, and imagine how life looked here 50
or 60 years ago (and maybe not too much has changed).
Friday night, we watched another sunset, walked along the
beach, and repeated much of the previous nights’ activities. Playa Zicatela,
the part of Puerto Escondido we were in, is a beach town, and attracts ‘surfer
dudes’ from all over. The crowd here was a mix of young surfers and retirees
from Canada. It was an interesting mix, but made for an eclectic experience
wherever we went. This night, though, I had the most delicious fish tacos I’ve
had in my life (and made a commitment the rest of the trip to only eat seafood)
and Dawn took her sunset timelapse video, which was very fun to be present for!
(I later learned that as a millennial with a smartphone, I could do that, too!
So I took a very short timelapse of a wave. It’s exciting!!) To be honest, the
evenings at the beach all blended together due to the number of times we walked
up and down the same strip of beach, as well as the number of coronas, mojitos,
and margaritas that were consumed. It was delightful😊
Saturday was a beach day. We went to a small cove a little bit
further down from where we’d been where the waves weren’t as strong, and you
could swim more safely in the water. It was definitely Saturday, because it was
more crowded than it had been. But we found a spot to lay out, put on our sunscreen,
and relaxed. By Saturday, to be honest, I was a little tired of the salt-water,
and didn’t do much swimming, but napped a little in the sun. After less than
two hours, we were all feeling burnt (despite the sunscreen…we are much closer to
the sun here) and it was time to go. We caught a cab back to down and did some
shopping with the vendors, and sought out some lunch, and relaxed the rest of
the afternoon. Toward the evening, we did another excursion to free the turtles.
There are a few places nearby to Puerto Escondido that rescue sea turtle eggs
from the beach until they hatch and they can be released safely into the ocean.
This sounded like the most fun to us all, and we were all excited for it! When
we arrived, we went to see where the turtle eggs were, and saw the little guys
that just hatched. They gave us each our own turtle to release in a dried out
coconut shell (oil from our fingers is not good for the turtles) and we were
given instructions about their release. It was then that they pointed out the
row of seagulls lining the shore, waiting for us to release the turtles. The
first battle these little guys would face was making it into the ocean before
the seagulls swooped down and took them out of the water for their dinner. Somewhat
traumatized and overwhelmed, we followed instructions to run up to a wave as it
was coming up to shore, release the turtle into the water in such a way that the
wave would immediately take them back out to sea, and then grab handfuls of sand
and throw it at the seagulls that were already swooping. It was quite an
intense few moments as we all began to fear for our turtles, and then began to
throw sand at seagulls (which in any other context would be considered cruel).
We will never know whose turtles survived, but felt good about our efforts. Saturday
night then brought more beach time, and more relaxing. Claudia and I even
stalked a wedding that was happening at a restaurant nearby! Very fun!
Sunday was our last full day in Puerto Escondido, and we
each had a plan. I really wanted to visit a mezcalería that was close by, so that
was one of our first stops. It was a small place on the side of the road, but
we got to see how the mezcal is made on a small scale, both the more modern
version which is distilled in copper pots, and the more traditional version
which is distilled in clay pots over a wood fire. We tasted some mezcal as well
as crema de maguey, and made our purchases. It was delightful, and I wanted
this part of the day to last much longer (but I knew I would have more opportunities
to learn about and sample mezcal on the next leg of my trip). We headed back
into town, and were ready for lunch. We stopped at one of the first restaurants
we went to, and then I spent the rest of the day on the beach while the girls packed
and got ready for their trip home. Spending the entire afternoon on the beach
by myself, with coronas being brought to me while I laid on a beach chair, I definitely
had one of those grateful moments where I realized just how lucky I am and how
much I’m enjoying life right now. I stayed on the beach for a while, listening
to some live music and enjoying my moment, until it was time to say goodbye to
the girls. I loved having them there, and it was wonderful to explore Puerto
Escondido with them and enjoy the beach! But all good things must come to an
end. They took their taxi, and I went out for one last drink before heading
back to the hotel to pack and sleep before my bus left early the next morning. 
The time I spent with Puerto Escondido was a wonderful break
from reality for all of us. Over the course of the weekend, we found out that
schools in Chicago were closing, and we began to feel the gravity of this
situation. We spent the weekend sometimes intentionally talking about it and
voicing our fears and concerns (we all happen to be therapists, so it happens)
and intentionally staying away from the topic and staying in the present moment…there
was nothing we could do about it now. I began to think about whether I should
go straight back to Cuernavaca, or if I should just go back to Chicago all
together, but the virus hadn’t reached Mexico to such a great extent quite yet,
and I decided to continue my plans to go to Oaxaca. I’m grateful that I did,
but it was definitely noticeably different, and my frame of mind was definitely
affected.
Monday I was on the bus most of the day…what was supposed to
be a 10 hour bus ride was actually almost 12, and I was ready to be there by
the time we arrived. It was already dark when the bus pulled in, so I took a
taxi to my Airbnb, checked in, and went somewhere close to get something to eat
before I wound down to go to sleep. But I could already tell I was going to
like Oaxaca. Firstly, because EVERYONE has told me that. And secondly, the
ambience around the Airbnb was calm, quaint, and I walked past lots of closed
coffee shops. I knew this was going to be my city😊
Tuesday was my first full day in Oaxaca, but I was back to
work and so it was also FULL of appointments. I left the house early in the
morning to go track down some coffee, and although many places were closed, I stumbled
on what is apparently one of the best coffee roasters in the city, Café Brujula.
And it was delicious! My walk back to the Airbnb was one of delight and
anticipation for everything that was to come that week. The rest of the day
Tuesday and all day Wednesday, I took breaks to begin exploring the city and
scheduled two excursions, all the while trying to remain calm and not worry too
much about the virus. I got my first taste of what it will be like to work as a
therapist during this time but didn’t get to really get out to explore until Thursday
afternoon. My first stop was the Temple of Saint Dominic. It is one of the main
churches of the city, and was gorgeously intricate, with a museum located in
the ex-monastery. It contained a lot of Oaxacan history, both indigenous and
colonial, of the area. Although museums have not been my favorite part of all
my adventures, I do enjoy learning about different parts of local history, and
how local culture develops. The process of making mezcal is a prime example of
this (more on that later)! After wandering around for a while, I found two
local breweries and made some friends with the people behind the bar. If I make
my way back to Oaxaca one day, I’m excited that I’ll already have some
connections!
Friday was my first excursion! We went to Monte Alban first,
exploring the pyramids in Oaxaca. This has been one of the most interesting
things in all my visits…learning about the indigenous populations and how they
differ, but also how they interacted with each other. Furthermore, how little
is still known about them. It’s on my list of things to learn more about. The
pyramids continue to astound me, and cause fascination with what life looked
like at that time. From Monte Alban, we visited a few local artisans. Each
pueblo has something that they are known for, and we visited places where they
make alebrijes (wooden, painted sculptures) and black pottery. It’s
fascinating watching the artisans work, and the things they produce are so beautiful!
Friday night I got to get a taste of the nightlife in Oaxaca! It was much less
crowded than it normally is, and we were given hand sanitizer upon entering
each place. But I still had so much fun tasting mezcal, dancing, and enjoying
the company of friends!
Saturday was a day to relax and enjoy the city. Many places
had already started to close, so options were limited. But I had a late
breakfast, did some shopping at the chocolate shops, and enjoyed the day. It
was a beautiful day, and my last day in the city of Oaxaca, and I was so grateful
to be here. I visited a few different places and walked around a lot, just
absorbing everything I could about the city.
Sunday morning was my last day,
and I packed up my suitcase and brought it with me on the excursion so that the
van could drop me off at the bus station at the end. My final excursion in Oaxaca
took us to another archeological site, this one in the center of town. We also
visited a rug-maker and mezcal factory. Lastly, we visited Hierve de Agua, an amazing geological formation the has formed from the calcification of the water springs. I went on a nice long hike, and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful views! It was an amazing day, but I was in my “headed
home” mode and was already feeling tired, so I wasn’t totally present,
honestly. But I did buy a gorgeous rug, and of course mezcal😊
I left on the evening bus and arrived back in Cuernavaca around 6am in time to
take a nap before work started for the day.
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| The is where they roast the maguey hearts, the first step in making mezcal:) |
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