Week 7, Days 3-7: Puerto Escondido

Continuing on our week-long trip, we left Oaxaca City at 6:00 am to head to the beautiful Pacific beach of Puerto Escondido, also located in the state of Oaxaca. The drive was through the gorgeous mountains of southern Mexico, as we dropped 6000 feet in elevation.

As soon as we arrived, we enjoyed a nice sandwich lunch on the rooftop of one of the beach restaurants. Then, we headed straight to the surf school to pick out our surf shirts and have a brief land lesson before we actually got in the water. Then we walked down to the beach, Playa Carrizalillo. Wow. It was breathtaking. Playa Carrizalillo is a cove with walls of rocks all around. All the vegetation was bright green, as we are still in rainy season. The palms were swaying in the breeze and the sun was shining perfectly.

We surfed in two groups, so I was able to swim around a bit and enjoy the beach before hopping on the board. And WOW the waves were big. Puerto Escondido is known for their big waves anyway, and a tropical storm had just come through, making them even more intimidating. However, the water was surprisingly warm, and we really enjoyed getting to swim around before our lesson.

And then it was time to surf. Jacob and I were sharing an instructor, so one of us rested while the other worked with the instructor. I then had a hilarious moment about 2 minutes into the lesson when I was trying to get used to laying on the board, and I look to my left and see Brendan (my brother/housemate here in Puebla) already riding his first wave all the way in. It has been a running joke all semester that Brendan and I are like real siblings, and that moment felt totally like what would have happened if Christopher and I were taking a surf class together.

But surfing was awesome! The waves felt so nice, and the instructor really helped with navigating which ones to ride. It was definitely an arm workout with all the paddling, but I was able to get up and ride a few waves which felt super cool. Such an awesome experience.

Our hotel in Puerto was super cool. We each had little beachy apartments to share with our roommate, and the whole complex was built around the pool in the middle. Because we all had kitchens, we were able to cook many of our meals here, which was so much fun. Emily, Katie, Mary, and I teamed up to cook each night, and we just had a blast making veggies, chicken, rice, and splitting a bottle of wine.

For part of the trip, we partnered with Child Family Health International, which is an organization that allows students to see and learn about international health and health systems. Tuesday morning after breakfast, we learned about the health situation in the state of Oaxaca. Oaxaca has a higher percentage of indigenous residents than any other state in Mexico, and the majority of indigenous people don’t go to see western style doctors, whether that be from lack of trust of/respect from western medicine or lack of access.

After our talk, we went to visit an herbolario, a place where traditional herbal medicine is practiced. The woman there taught us about several of the herbs and what medical purpose they served. After speaking, she shared some of her herbal teas, for different things such as stress and stomach problems.

After lunch, we broke into two groups for afternoon activities. My group went to a stretch yoga class first and then to do Temazcal, a Mayan spiritual and physical cleansing ritual. It involved sitting inside a completely dark, stone sauna. There were burning stones in the middle, and water was poured on the stones to create steam. The inside of the sauna was 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and the ritual lasted 45 minutes. To be honest, I was pretty nervous the whole time, but I will say, my skin felt very moisturized and I felt energized afterward.

During our couple hours of free time, Emily and I went to the ocean to enjoy the afternoon sun and waves. Some of the rest of the group joined us, as well. We then went to a different beach where we were able to release five day old sea turtles. We stood about 20-30 feet from the water, put the little guys down, and they knew to walk straight to the ocean. It was pretty incredible to watch and incredible that they intuitively knew exactly what to do.

Wednesday morning, we learned about reproductive health and traditional birthing practices in Oaxaca. We then visited a partera, like a midwife, and observed a consultation. We then spent the rest of Wednesday on the beach! The majority of our group hung out in the water enjoying the waves. We enjoyed quiche and empanadas for lunch and bought coconut ice cream on the beach.

Wednesday night we all cooked for each other and had a large potluck dinner. Highlights of the night included Claire and Cindy’s mac-n-cheese and the boys’ brownies. We then spent the rest of the night as typical in Puerto Escondido, dancing and hanging out in the pool.

The majority of Thursday was spent climbing back up the 6000 feet to get back to Oazaca City. We made a brief stop at an artisan market that made and sold Barro Negro, black pottery. We watched one of the artisans make a pot. It’s truly amazing because they don’t use throwing wheels. They an upside-down and rightside-up bowl to make a makeshift wheel, but are still able to create near perfectly symmetrical pieces.

We arrived back in Oaxaca City and checked into the same hotel as earlier this week. By then, it was pretty late, so we went out for dinner and gelato and danced to the live music in the Zócalo (downtown square).

And Friday we traveled back to Puebla! Overall it was such a fabulous trip. We participated in some pretty unforgettable activities and also spent so much time together as a group. We all live in the same two neighborhoods in Puebla, but it was so nice being able to walk next door and see everyone. I know we’re all missing that close proximity now that we’re back.

Congratulations and thank you if you made it all the way to the bottom! It was a very, very busy week. More to come 🙂