I seem to be on an every 2 (or 3) week blog posting schedule. I was thinking of posting weekly but I am loathe to be on the computer so much. On the other hand all the goings on are more fresh in my mind if I post weekly. Hmm, you will all just have to wait and see where I land on this. I am also looking at buying the domain for the blog so there won’t be all those irritating ads. Stay tuned for that as well.

So what have we been up to? Nick continues to live his best life and spends his days as a man of leisure while I toil away at work. Kinda true, kinda not. He is busy sourcing all the things we need like a new phone charger, groceries, a wireless keyboard and when he isn’t doing that then he’s chilling out and researching bike routes for us to take. Or places to stay. I on the other hand have a 2 hour time change with work so I start early and take a bigger break in the mid morning or afternoon for a bike ride and then close out the day in the evening. By then it’s almost 7pm and we head out to wander the neighborhoods.

We stayed in CDMX until January 6th and then hopped on an overnight bus to Puerto Escondido. The bike ride to the Northern bus station was an adrenaline rush to say the least as we were in rush hour traffic and going through tunnels, multiple lanes of traffic, and merging into larger thoroughfares. It was a little stressful on heavy bikes but while the cars, buses, and motorcycles drive very fast they were also courteous and gave us way. Except for the taxis; they’re a bunch of assholes.

The bus to the coast was 12 hours and largely uneventful. Our bus driver was super cranky and we were told we couldn’t bring Nicks pannier on the bus and it had to go in the hold. No real reason from what I can tell. So we got settled and decided to lie and tell him that I have medication in the bag. So I got off the bus and told him a bullshit story about my health and tada I got the bag. We played some scrabble, went to sleep and woke up gloriously warm on the coast. Away with our sweaters and scarves! Jammed to the bottom of the bags!

We stayed on Playa Zicatela for 8 days in a little hotel about a block from the beach. It was okay; very clean rooms and all the mod cons but there were just little things that were not as advertised that set my teeth on edge. One was the internet, it was very spotty and considering we explicitly asked about a strong connection for my work it was disappointing. So I was a wandering remote worker, overstaying my welcome in cafes all over town.

And it was HOT. So wonderful. We would ride in the morning before it hit 30 degrees and then I would go to work and Nick would go do his thing. We ate out a few times but mainly cooked at the hotel. One place we ate at was Persia in La Punta. So good! If you like Persian food and are in La Punta, eat there. The Zicatela market at the top of the hill is also very good. About a dozen restaurants to choose from and the views are amazing.

As our days on the coast wound down, I started to look forward to our return to San Miguel (SMA). I just feel at home here and really appreciate the modern conveniences that inland colonial cities have. We have two house sits booked in SMA, one for 5 days in the area Ojo de Agua which is in a very hilly area of beautiful homes and then 4 weeks just around the valley in a gated community. Both are walking distance to town and I am happy to be settling in one place for a while.

So back on the bus for us; first to CDMX on the overnight bus and then transfer to another bus to SMA. On thing to note, you have to buy a bus ticket from Puerto Escondido to the South terminal in CDMX; it’s the only option. But just stay on the bus and it will continue to the North station. This is on the ETN bus lines. Our bus left at 6:30pm and we arrived in SMA at 2pm the next day. Ugh. We were looking (and smelling, I imagine) rough by the time we cycled up to our sit.

Now it’s time to settle in; reconnect with friends we made last time, Nick is going to take a painting class, and I am finding a gym to go to. And I found a hiking group, hopefully getting out on the weekends.