Home » Mexico » Paradise (?) Revisited, 4 Countries in 1 day, Guatemala Still Gorgeous, Mediocre Moles and More Mexicana Madness in Puerto Escondildo

Sorry, I’ve edited and re-edited but it’s still a long tail!

Starting off…..Back in sweaty, sultry, sloow, San Juan del Sur, if Puerto Viejo was desultory San Juan is sultry…..more gringo developments arising around us and a Japanese funded port facility (many Nicaraguan road bridges are signed “with the love and friendship of the people of Japan”, now I understand!) and the dolphin research centre next maybe?… but it’s still beautiful, maybe No. 2 after Bocas, went for my early morning dip and copped a sea wasp across my arm, blisters and pain, vinegar cure, sunsets at the Iguana Bar, D still hanging in, the usual crowd and some interesting travellers as always.

Paradise (?) Revisited, 4 Countries in 1 day, Guatemala Still Gorgeous, Mediocre Moles and More Mexicana Madness in Puerto Escondildo

Bill Shum
2006-08-21 17:09:01

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couple of younger ones, mostly pregnant or nursing babies, must be something in the water?, babies and toddlers roaming around underfoot, big wood fired stove, huge vats of steaming, rendered whatever, but the food is great…..cheap, bony, lumpy, indescribable, but great, and you eat at big tables, chair styles range from the ubiquitous plastic, beer sponsored numbers to carved, cane seat dining room
San Juan del Sur, NNicaraguamodels, table tops covered with embroidered lace, under heavy duty plastic sheeting.

Out on the street, the glare of the sun is intense, a beaten up horse is parked at the corner, he is attached to an amazing cart, held together by chewing gum and string, it has rubber tyres, well, strips of old tyres have been nailed to the wooden wheels, a framework of timber scraps makes the cart and a huge double car seat balanced on top, ropes and old leather tie it all together, it shares road space with a straggly bunch of taxis, massive 4x4s of the real estate agents and gringos, little utes, sometimes a bus passing thru’, and a range of bikes, pushies still the preferred mode for most, little motos and quads, in fact not all at once, it is remarkably quiet at the moment, real low season so I’m happy.

I swim in the morning, usually out to where the fishing boats are moored, no more jelly fish thankfully, then clean up and brekky in the market dives, get some photocopies made for the next 4 or 5 border crossings between here and mexico and check the internet…typical morning, then
Life on the street for the truly dedicated Full Image
Oaxaca zocalolight lunch, siesta, writing, late swim, then down to D’s Iguana Bar for sunset cocktails, meet up with the local crew, some are passing thru’ like me, others more or less staying here, from 2 years to 2 months, eking out an existence at whatever they can, some just retired and able to live off investments.
I’m gathering a bank of characters for someday ...