We took a week’s vacation away from all distractions, over at the coast. It was an attempt to attain clarity of purpose. The idea is to get out of your normal routine and let your mind “connect the dots”. (See www.poyl.com) No computers, no phone, no camera…well, at the last minute Estela asked if we were going to take pictures of the ocean. So we took the camera, and shot a few pictures for her.
We had scoped out the bus situation before, for a possible trip to Puerto Escondido. The tourist office gave us the times of the buses for Pochutla, which is the last big town before the coast 14 miles further. Because of all the mountains, the 150 mile trip takes at least 6 hours. I was not looking forward to it due to a history of motion sickness. Our landlord, Fernando, told us all about it, but recommended the 1st class bus for “seguridad”. Well, that bus station is closer, so we went over there and bought tickets. We discovered on Easter Sunday that the first class bus was a big mistake.  You pay more for the nice big bus, but big means that it can’t negotiate the tight turns of the direct route, so it takes an extra 3 hours to go around the long way!The other road is still mountainous, with lots of curves, and the nausea started about 30 minutes into the trip and was a constant companion the rest of the day. Fortunately, Steve was fine, but he did get tired of sitting on a bus despite the chance to watch “Finding Nemo” and “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” dubbed in Spanish. |
 The mountains along the coast come all the way to the water. This creates separate beaches (each with their own name) and makes the small coastal towns have a single street. We didn’t remember the hotel name quite right, saying Ariglan instead of Arigalan, so we had a bit of trouble finding it, but we got there finally right around dark. |
 It seems strange, but doing nothing while avoiding distractions is a tad difficult. |
 Watching the sun rise above the mountains is awesome. The mountains make me feel so small. A quote from Thomas Moore we were contemplating is: “Our anxieties, our obsessive tendencies, and our frustrations are but the sound of our souls yearning to be heard.” |
 One recurring thought was that there are goods and bads to everything. So while the hotel at the top of the hill was cheaper and had a great view, it was hot and had no ventilation to take advantage of the almost constant breeze. We chose to move down to “Posada La Barca” which is situated between two hills and gets all the breeze funneled through it. |
 We didn’t miss traversing the tortuous “stairs” up the hill either. |
 A beach is a nice place to walk along, letting your mind coast. I kept thinking how cyclic nature is and how the creatures are so adapted to their environments, and man seems so out of place and makes such a mess of things. Another thought: “Life is a gift. Say thank you.” |
 Another thought: “What lasting effect do you actually retain from your experiences?” |
 This is a pretty good beach for swimming.The waves come in pretty tall.Other thoughts: “What is enjoyment? What is happiness? What is worth doing?” |
Steve started looking a bit scraggly since razors are a distraction.
We didn’t exactly figure out all of life, but we each have some dots to think about, at least.