Jan. 5^th, 2008.  After our departure from Cuernavaca, Bret and I hit the road to meet Eli at the Acapulco airport.  The timing couldn’t have been any better.  Exactly as we pulled up to the terminal exit, Eli was just strolling out…all this, and the clock in our car, unbeknownst to us, was an hour slow. 

     After grabbing Eli, we kept heading south.  Two hours down the road, we pulled off in the sleepy little town of Playa Ventura, where we immediately found a nice beach front restaurant and bar and ordered a couple rounds.  In a word, Playa Ventura was idyllic.  As the sun set over the pacific and a couple children played in the surf, a family of three whales swam slowly by, spouting and slapping their tails.  Twice they breached, jumping almost completely out of the water.

After a little stroll up and down the beach, we decided that we should just stay at the  restaurant, which also had a few guestrooms.  Soon the sun had set and we ordered up three delicious plates of fish.  As we waited for the fish we made friends with a large Mexican family, the Sanchez-Garcias, who I think were the only others staying at this ‘Restaurant Maria’.  The Sanchez-Garicias were as nice as they come.  They poured us glass after glass of the best tequila I’ve ever tasted. (And I happen to have tasted quite a lot)  The tequila was organic and homemade by their friends.

We joined the Sanchez-Garcias for the remainder of the evening, drinking, laughing, having a total blast.  Then I remembered the bottle of absinthe in the trunk of the car, so we hauled that out and soon it was gone too.  Now here is some information for you.  Tequila mixed with absinthe is a volatile combination.  By the time the Sanchez-Garicias went to bed, things were getting pretty sloppy, but our collective memory has put this much together. 1. We went to the beach and looked at the stars. 2. Somebody started -we don’t know who- to horse around. 3. There was a rumble on the beach.  4. Bret went into the ocean. 5. We lost most of the things from our pockets. 6. We ended up back in the room. 7. Completely covered in sand, clothing came off of Bret and I and we crawled into bed. 8. The rumble resumed, we don’t know why. 9. There was naked wrestling that was probably really loud and went on for some time. 10. We must have passed out.  11. We all woke up covered in scraped and bruises and sand. 

     The following morning I awoke to the sounds of  heaving in the bano and my ears were packed with sand and my drool slathered face moshed into the sheetless mattress.  The mattress tasted clean, at least. 

     Our new highway, Mexico 200, is a whole different story than the highways up until Acapulco.  One lane either direction, slow moving trucks, mules and dogs and coconuts in the road.  We made pretty good time considering, stopping once for a coco frio (cold coconut).  The guy that sold them to us was very nice, so we stayed and chatted a while, talking cars and Mexican life.   He decided that the name Bret translated to Alfredo.  When he asked how old I was I told him ´33´. "Ah", he said, "The same age that Jesus Cristo was crucified."  Great!

     Now we have made it to Zipolite on the Oaxacan coast.  Got a cheap room - 5 bucks a piece.  It is a mixed bag here and a really chill scene with surfers smoking reefer, dogs trotting the beach, nudists jogging around and locals selling hammocks and anything else your heart desires.  We had a decent fish dinner, pescado entero con mojo ajo. Whole fish with a sauce of garlic and spices.  It wasn´t a late night for us, flopping down beneath the twirling white-noise of the turbo ceiling fan, we were soon asleep.  About five years ago I had stayed here and was happy to see the proprietor of the ¨Brisas Marina´ Daniel still slung out in his hammock out front.  Not too much has changed here, which was a nice surprise.

     This morning we checked out the beach for a while, grabbed a cup of coffee, fruit salad, juice, granola and yogurt.  Now we are going to pack it up and hit the road.  Best wishes to you all!

Silver Al is doing great.  She is shifting a little looser than before and lost a hub cap.  Once she beeped for no apparent reason.  The car had been parked, shut off, and locked up for a couple hours when it happened.  I guess she was just letting us know that she was content (it was a short, content sort of beep) (Who know how often she beeps when we are not around).