We chartered a taxi for $20 to Puerto Angel. It was expensive, but doing so allowed us to enjoy the day on the beach rather than switching busses, etc. We took a room at the top of a nasty set of stairs, but the view was worth it. We quickly made our way to the beach.

It is picturesque here. Fisherman are everywhere, and I am reminded of Hemingway´s Old Man and the Sea when I look to the bay. Except for the fact that now, all of the fisherman have motors. All of it makes me miss my baby (Hi Joanna!). The few tourists that are here tend to be couples getting away from it all. Things are romantic here - it´s odd sharing it with Kathy.

It´s the low season, so we were swarmed by young men trying to get us to take a sit at their base of operations. We had 5 different people offering us gratis seats. We chose a young man named Angel and he was pretty nice. We read, swam, read, and swam some more. I am currently reading Cisneros´Caramelo. I didn´t like it at first because she seemed to be glorifying the backwardness of Mexico´s cities, but I have come to fall in love with some of her characters.

I had guacamole (wich took an hour to prepare) and a cerveza. My tan is looking pretty good. We showered up and had dinner at a little Italian restaurant. I had tuna pasta, and Kathy ordered the shrimp. The shrimp wasn´t filling enough, so we ordered a pizza. Throughout dinner, we noticed the locals, some dressed in their finest, walking towards the pier. Stuffed, we walked up the hill, following the locals. It was a graduation ceremony. Although my Spanish is limited, I´m pretty sure graduation speeches are the same on both sides of the border. In addition to reading and mathematics, according to the principal, the students learn responsibilidad and discipline. Few people actually listened to the principle, but his voice crescendoed. Two fairly good looking dogs meandered into the empty space in front of the principal and dignataries. As the principal´s hand motions became more excited, the male perro saddled up and began humping the poor bitch. That was the high point of the night. To cap things off, we read some more before going to sleep.

I had eggs with chorizo. Kathy had pineapple juice with spider. I mean, the spider was huge and we refused to pay for the juice. We took a tour for the day with Azul Profundo tour company. They took us out to sea and we went snorkeling at a few beaches. The snorkeling was very different than Akumal. The fish weren´t as colorful, but what was lacking in quality, was made up for in quantity. It was fun swimming among huge schools, watching them get whipped about by the currents as much as we were. I saw some swordfishes and got to touch a sea spider. Alas, we did not get to see the tortugas (turtles) that were promised to us. Kind of a bummer.

Exhausted upon our return, Kathy tood a siesta. I intermittently read and dozed in a hammock, taking breaks to check out the Alumino graduation ceremony going on at the pier below our balcony. I roused Kathy at 7:30, and we took a walk to Suzy´s, a restaurant listed in our guidebook. Again, it was as romantic as it gets with one´s sister. I had a huge plate of carne, quacamole, fried bananas, french fries, salad, and pollo (which I did not touch this time!). We walked back to our place, and read a little bit more before going to sleep.

Today, we are making our way towards Oaxaca. We´ll take a taxi to Pochutla for $5 and catch a 9 hour first class ADO bus to the city if everything goes as planned. Update in a few days.

John