Finishing Spanish at Solexico and Moving On!

Last week we finished our Spanish classes and were very busy with assignments to wrap up the first half of the semester. We were sad to say goodbye to our maestros-- they have been a huge part of our lives here so far, not only teaching us Spanish but also about the ins and outs of Oaxacan society. To celebrate the completion of our Spanish classes we had to do something, but what? It was a dilemma. Should we make a cheesecake? Go shopping for new sweaters? Have a story cubes marathon? Luckily, the end of Spanish coincided with a short 4-day break in our schedule. A very fortuitous coincidence. We decided to go to the beach!

The trip from Oaxaca City to the coast cuts through the mountains. Twenty of us traveled by van passing through the tight mountain roads of the southern Sierra.The vans departed the city at 11 PM and it was quite a bumpy journey through the darkness. Sleep was hard to come by as everyone was too cold, or too hot, with no room to stretch, no room to breath, lost in the dark abyss, etc... We finally completed the trip and arrived tired but excited at the lovely beach town of Puerto Escondido, just as the sun began to rise. It was 5:30 AM on Friday morning, with four days ahead of us to enjoy our time at the beach. Most most of us were awake to see the sun rise over the mountains on our first morning at the playa.

Some of us traveled along the seashore, staying at new hotels almost every night, seeing Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel, Zipolite, Mazunte,while others stayed the entire trip in Puerto Escondido. A group of us group took a boat ride through the mangroves at Ventanilla and saw crocodiles, iguanas, and sea turtles. Others lounged on the beach in hammocks, catching up on our reading and enjoying fresh fish! Some of us took surf lessons while others sat in the same beach chairs every single day, just waiting for the coconut ice cream to pass on through. Some of us saw the nightly release of baby turtles into the tide-- they were flipped, toppled, nearly destroyed by the oncoming waves but at last survived! At the end of our trip we watched the sun set over the Pacific before hurrying to catch the vans back to Oaxaca. Now we are back in the city gearing up for our village stays next week.

We would like to give a shout out to the parents of Ariel Handy and Jack Laub, and Whitney's sister, who have visited Oaxaca in the last couple weeks. It sounded like you all had great experiences seeing the sights around the city. You were great company and it was awesome to meet you! We're looking forward to meeting more family members along the way.

Also, lets give a big woop woop for the birthday girl Luna Colt (21 on Saturday).


Stefan practicing balancing on a tight rope!

We apologize for the tardiness of this blog: beach time is a tricky thing. Love to you all!

Pedro and Jack Lit