I just read that South Dakota is on the verge of passing a bill that bans abortion. That scares the shit out of me! I know I’ve said it before, but I seriously think I’ll leave this country if Roe v Wade gets overturned.
Wednesday was definitely the low point in the trip. It started off well enough- we rolled out of bed very early and went for a run. We followed the beachside road out of town and ran on the dusty, hilly trail for 20 minutes and then retraced our steps. It was actually a pretty challenging run! We then went back for showers and breakfast at the hotel. After we ate, I double-checked my cash situation. I hadnt let me purse out of my sight until our run, when I opted to leave it in the room. Upon counting, I realized I was short about $100. G and I spent the next hour or so mentally retracing our steps to see if there was ANY other time I hadnt had my purse with me. We also wrote down everything we had bought to see if I had spent the $100 without realizing it. Ultimately, we convinced ourselves that the only possibility was that it was stolen from our room. We reported it to the manager, which resulted in a number of conversations and e mails about the situation. A staff member was suspended and that was basically the end of it. It wasnt the loss of $100 that was a huge issue, but it made us a lot less secure and did, in fact, cause some interesting problems for us later in the week.
With that situation behind us, we headed for the beach. I soon became very aware that something was wrong with me. By the end of the day, I was convinced that I had a common traveller’s affliction (which shall remain unnnamed). So the afternoon and evening included 1 trip to the hospital and 2 to the pharmacy. Since no one in ANY of these places spoke English, we struggled to communicate the problem. We ended up spending a few minutes in the nearest Internet caf so we could look up the Spanish words for my various symptoms. It was a very amusing set of exchanges and we finally left with over-the-counter antibiotics. They worked well and I had some relief quickly.
Although I felt like going straight to bed, we decided to check out a Flamenco performance instead. Im so glad we did- it was one of the better ones weve seen, despite the fact that its a Spanish (not Mexican) tradition. Amidst theft and illness, the day ended on a decidedly high note.
Tuesday morning we headed out right after breakfast (The Coffee Cup again). It took us 1 local bus and 1 regional bus to make it to the little town of San Pancho. This time we opted for the public transportation route instead of a cab. We found our hotel easily enough. Theres basically only one main drag with a few side streets so it would have been hard to miss. Our hotel was EXACTLY what I had hoped it would be. Very clean, lots of Mexican artwork and tiles plus another beautiful courtyard. The place had a total of 8 rooms and for the 1st few days, we seemed to be the only guests. If you ever find yourself in the area, I highly recommend Hotel Cielo Rojo.
After checking in, we headed down to the beach. It was nearly deserted, very broad and mostly unswimmable. Theres a strong current and big waves most of the time very conducive to surfing but not much else. I didnt get in the water all week. We lazed there for the rest of the day, eating an average lunch on the beach.
Normally, we dont make a big deal of Valentines Day. This year was no exception, but we did have to eat somewhere. We set out from the hotel in the early evening to explore and found almost nothing open! Many things were closed due to it being a Tuesday but there were also 2 separate events in town, which effectively closed a number of places. We finally found ONE place open on the beach. The good: we sat under a beautiful starry sky with candles littered across our table. The bad: the food! Yuk. It was a good thing we could barely see it or we might not have eaten it. Im sure both plates were swimming in grease. Oh well, we were relaxed and sleepy and stumbled home on the empty streets.