A day in the life

Ok, so, so far we haven´t really described our typical day in Melaque, so here we go...

First off, you would think that being in Mexico and not having to work, that we would take advantage of the luxury of a regular sleeping-in.....not so. 

On the days that we dont surf, we meet with Benja and his little dog Botas at 8am for our morning swim or paddle at the nearby beach.

On days that we do surf, we are up around 6 or 630 to get ready for our morning outting with Benja, Lupe and his wife Carmen, and any number of others depending on the day. We usually head for one of the regular spots: Ranchito-which is the closest, Boca De Iguanas - which is the most frequently surfed by us, or Arroyo Seco - which includes two separate beach breaks: Las Brujas and Las Brisas. 

After surfing (or attempting to...depending on the day) until at least noon, we head back to Melaque. Once back in Melaque, we chill with Benja at his arcade or work on the mini ramp for a few hours until lunch time. Here, lunch is around 3 or 4 oclock in the afternoon. We have been extrememly fortunate to have very generous friends here in Melaque, and have been invited to have lunch with Benja, Rosy and their two daughters every day since we´ve arrived in town. We have been treated to a huge (delicious) variety of traditional vegetarian mexican cuisine.  Thanks Benja and Rosy!!!After lunch its either back down to the arcade, work on the ramp or back to the bungalow for a siesta. Then around 6pm we go out for surf #2 and surf until its dark out....then back to town. Next is dinner time. Dinner is typically eaten at the restaurant of Benja´s family, its called Hacienda San Miguel, and is the BEST restaurant in Melaque, in my opinion...

After dinner, we always do something different depending on the day, the weather etc. Last night for example we ended up getting dressed up and driving to Manzanillo with Benja, Rosy, and another friend Alonso to start celebrating Alonso´s upcoming birthday. It was a lot of fun. The great part about it was that when we paid the $100peso ($8) cover charge at the night club, it included either 4 beers or 3 drinks of your choice. Not something that we see very often in canada. And the dancing!!! well! lets just say, the dancing is quite different than what I´m used to! It seems that people have a lot more fun at the clubs here.....from what I can tell!

 

So, thats a typical day in the life of Erin and Owen right now. Its tough I tell you.

Crocodiles, surfing and rain.....whatelse?

We have officially been in Mexico for over 2 weeks now. Its amazing just how quickly time flies, and Im a bit sad to have to leave Melaque in a few more weeks. We initially planned to stay only until the 23 of October, but have since changed our minds and will stay for another week to join our friends in their halloween celebrations. So now, Owen and I must figure out our costumes and get them made in time.  The weather here in Melaque has been on and off....one day really sunny and hot, and then the next day really rainy and hot....so the humidity is insane. We had planned a big ramp party for yesterday to celebrate the restoration of the skateramp in the back of my friends old theatre, but due to a torrential downpour on Wednesday, it had to be postponed until next week, because the ramp ended up getting flooded and we had to wait for the rain to stop and for the ramp to dry up before we could continue working on it. Luckily, the new supplies (masonite and ply) weren´t yet on the ramp, so it wasn´t destroyed. We will continue to work on the ramp tonite as long as we can get a saw.... finding tools here is impossible unless you go buy them.
On the plus side, Owen and I ordered custom formed surfboards from a mexican brand called ATL....they form all the Squalo boards as well, and we went to Guadalajara last week to pick them up. They are beautiful. I recieved a 6'1 fish, and owen a 6'4 egg with a fish tail. I love my board, and have been extremely fortunate to be able to go surfing at least once everyday, if not every morning and every night. 

The most commonly surfed spot for us is a place called Boca De Iguanas, and is home to a break for surfers of every level. It is also home to some crocodiles, and in the wet season, to get to the beach to surf, it is necessary to cross the waist deep lagoon.......fortunately for us, its dried up right now, but the crocs are still there and very close. The other day we arrived for our evening surf, and the big guy, about 10 feel long was just strolling on the beach a few feet away from us. It was unreal!! I wish I had my camera for that. We watched him walk across the beach from his little lagoon and go into the ocean where we are usually surfing. Luckily for us he was heading for a place called La Manzanilla to visit his girlfriend and was not looking for lunch. We surfed up the beach from him....it was crazy tho.