The gambler, the fisherman and the tiger.

Today is my second last day in Puerto.  I spent it having a Spanish lesson and wandering around a couple of beaches taking some photos.  Puerto is one of those towns that feels as if you've been there forever after a couple of days, but when it comes time you leave you feel like you've only been here a few days.  I've met quite a few people who have come here and have now returned or never left.

The days are hot and sunny.  I've now adjusted to the ridiculous heat and have bought myself a big sombrero so life is good.  I've been spending my mornings taking Spanish lessons, in which the theory is going well but the practise not so much.  Israel, my teacher is always telling me I should be practising.  This morning I tried practising on a guy playing a flute on the beach; he's now taking me in his canoe in the lagoon tomorrow morning for $300 pesos.  So I'm still up in arms whether that was a success practise or not.  I was also practising with a cabbie this afternoon.  He told me he loves living in Puerto and has for 10 years.  He loves Puerto because this is where his 3 daughters are.  Or he loves Puerto because this is where he has 3 girls on the go.  I'm not sure, I just kept hearing 'tres senoritas'.

So I've been checking out the different beaches, Manzanillo is a small beach where you can go do some snorkelling.  The other day Matt, Dr Kennedy's friend, and I went out there for the afternoon.  The water had cleared up a little since I had last been there and there were a few large schools of fish so it was good.  We swam and snorkelled, had a little nap on the big beach recliners and played cards.  Matt showed me a game called Cabul which I'd never played before and we also played shithead, but his rules were different.  So I kicked his arse at cards and then we walked up the cliff to the bar at the big posh hotel and had a couple of beers while we watched the sun set.

Matt's been fun, we've been playing a lot of cards.  But he likes to have little wagers on the games.  For example, I still owe him a dinner.  But he left Wednesday, so sorry Matt :(  We were also playing at Fausto's place while Fausto was busy prettying himself up for the night.  We were playing that the loser had to put on a mask and wear it for the next game.  So we're playing cards, I'm in a fox mask and Matt is in a chicken mask with a hat and sunglasses as well (obviously I was winning).  But there were also dances to go with the masks.  I also lost a bet where if I met anyone that night I had to introduce myself with 'Hi I'm Kelly and I like to party.' - Hod rod style.  Matt also had to do the same thing but introduce himself as Voltron.

Nadine, a Swiss girl I've met, organised for her, Matt & I to go out to the waterfalls the other day.  It cost us about A$30 each, and the taxi man drove us out there, hung around waiting for us all afternoon and drove us home.  The trip out there was a bit longer than we thought.  We were told half an hour only to discover it was an hour and a half, along windy, dirt roads, so needless to say, the trip ended up being even longer when we had to stop for yours truely to get out and have a vomit.  But the queasiness was worth it.  The falls were big, but not gigantic, maybe 20metres high and they collected into this big pool which was great for swimming in.  The water was alot cooler than the beach and freshwater too, so it was lovely to swim in.  The rocky river it the falls led into reminded me a little of being up at the channels at home, although the vegetation was a lot less bushy.

We've also been eating a lot of good food.  The other night we had these tasty tacos from a street vendor.  We also went to a local restaurant that had awesome burritos and this soup called 'sopa azteca', which is like a tomato-based soup, it's thin and not chunky, but has corn chips, cheese and avocado in it.  Yummo, although I am not a big fan of the cheese here, it lacks flavour and smells like it needs another couple of months to mature.  Nicole, you'll be happy to know that you can get pancakes for breakfast anywhere and everywhere. 

But last night was a great meal.  I went fishing with Nadine, a friend of hers and her husband who is a local.  I feel bad as I've forgotten their names alreadty, but they were really lovely and had a little boy who was just turned 1, so cute as.  The hubby was fishing with a net, so i got a few cool photos of that.  It looks like pretty hard work and it would take a bit of practise.  Once he'd caught a few fish, they invited us for dinner.  So we just had this fantastic fresh fish cooked up for us, along with some guacamole, tortillas and a couple of beers.  Yum again.

So yesterday before we went fishing, Nadine took me for a bit of a ride on her scooter.  That was pretty good fun and the roads here are fairly quiet so it was too hairy a ride.  But those things can get some fair speed up.  We drove up out of Puerto in a direction I hadn't been before which was fun and I got some good photos of us out on the road.  But before that we went into town.  We passed a bus and suddenly were face to face with a tiger.  No shit!  In front of us was a ute with a cage on the back and a real live tiger inside.  I was like WTF?  The poor thing though, stuck in the little cage in 35 degree heat all afternoon while they were driving around with a megaphone on the roof spruking about a circus or something.

Anyway, I'm off to the lagoon tomorrow with the man with the flute and tomorrow evening will catch the night bus to Oaxaca where I will hang out for a couple of days.  And, yeah I'm slack, but photos will be coming soonish.