By Skip Hunt

16 June 2008

Seems like it's been a month since my last dispatch, but it appears to be only a week. Well, I finished up shooting photos of my host's home in puerto escondido. Lovely home! And, they're considering selling and building a new one. Here are the photos I took of it:

http://www.poppinfreshmedia.com/puertohouse/

Just a bit after my last dispatch, I was walking back to my villa when I saw a girl walking towards me. I couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying. As she got closer, I noticed she was definitely crying. I tried not to stare, but she said "hello" and told me she was crying because she'd just been robbed. She was walking along the beach passage when a Mexican man demanded her bag. She said she didn't speak Spanish (didn't speak English too well either as she was a German girl), and she said she was trying to tell him to wait so she could get out some money to give him. Apparently she'd just changed money and had about 3000 pesos on her. She said he then just started beating her and hit the back of her head forcing her to the ground. Her knee was bloodied up as well.

I asked if she was going to report it to the police and she asked, "do you think I should? I mean.. I'll never see the money again anyway..." I told her she definitely should and I translated for her at a nearby tienda. Seconds later the man of the house was on the phone to the police, and just a couple minutes later a police truck showed up. I gave them the description and the direction he went and 3 of the policia jammed cartridges into their machine guns and took off down the beach. The other had the girl get into the truck and they were off. This is all inside the space of 15mins at the most. I never saw here again, but the Mexican man who phoned said he was certain they'd catch him because the direction he went was very difficult to pass.

Later in the day, I noticed a very nice garage just outside my villa. Inside was an amazing silver car and my host was tinkering around with it. Said it was a 1965 Shelby Cobra and wow!.. when he started the engine... it made the most amazing sound. You could tell it was his pride and joy... so, I asked him if he might like a few photos of it. He seemed thrilled with the idea and a couple hours later when the light got better we were off. I'd gone earlier to scout a nice spot.

He said he needed to take it out anyway to see if the carb adjustments he'd just made were good. Asked if I minded if he opened it up a bit. I said, sure.. no problem. ;-) Man or man!!! Could that car move. When he hit the accelerator, I dropped my camera on the floor and my head went straight back. I was scared he'd hit a donkey or something, but it was such a rush... I didn't care.

Here are the photos of his "baby" that I shot:

http://www.poppinfreshmedia.com/cobra/

I was going to only stay in the villa for 2 or 3 nights and move on to Mazunte. But I figured it was just another beach an hour away and I might as well take advantage of the nice villa while I could so I asked if they minded if I stayed until Thursday. They didn't mind at all and he also suggested a great ride into the mountains to Juquila. Fantastic ride! Two hours of constant twisted road going up with magnificent scenery and about 10k of dirt before I got to the town. It rained a bit after I'd finished up some delicious mole in Juquila, but cleared within an hour and I was heading back down the mountain on the other side. Even better road with non-stop twisted curves all the way down for another 2hrs. Ahhhhh!!!! That was just what I needed.

Well, I felt I was getting a little too comfy in the villa and found myself just lazing in the pool, etc. and not getting out much... so it was time to hit the road again. I stopped off in Mazunte to get some shots at the turtle reserve and had some lunch. I didn't think it'd been so long since I'd been to Mazunte, but it had completely changed. I figure it'd been about 10 years since I was last there. As I recall, there wasn't even a paved road and only a few palapas. Now, the road is paved and there's a whole complete town there. The restaurant I ate in is about the oldest in town and wasn't even built when I was last there. Amazing how some places in Mexico haven't changed in the slightest in nearly twenty years that I've traveled in Mexico... while other towns can communities spring up out of nowhere.

After Mazunte, I headed up highway 175 up into the mountains to San Jose Pacifico where I am now. The road is REALLY dangerous but one of the most exhilarating rides I've been on to date. VERY sharp hairpin curves and you go up to about 10k in altitude at the highest point. The temps drop rapidly and you're riding in the clouds. The road gets kinda slick due to the sap from all the pine trees dripping on the road. Some Mexican guy in a small red car passed me toward the bottom and almost hit me. I tried to catch up to him and it became somewhat of a race. I saw that he almost lost it around a couple of corners and nearly hit a bus taking one of the curves too wide. I almost lost it because the buses and trucks knock down the over-hanging tree branches to the road and there were rocks that'd fallen to the road as well. I decided, although sorta fun playing this race game, it almost certainly wasn't going to end well for one of us. So, I slowed back down a bit.

It's very peaceful up here in the mountains. Kinda hot during the day and the sun is just tearing up my skin... and, then very cold at night. This place is pretty famous for it's mushroom variety, but alas... I'm about 3 weeks too early. Still, it's been nice just soaking in the amazing scenery without getting all obsessed with a "trip".

Next, it's onto Oaxaca City. I've been warned that the policia are very corrupt... that there are Mexican mafia problems there.. some crazy man named Flavio who's riling folks up and not only killing military and police.. but killing regular citizens as well. Well, he apparently just got out of jail and the teachers are protesting and striking. That apparently is why I've seen so much more military and policia than usual. Still, others tell me there's no problem at all.. that it's all just hype.

I guess I'll just go see for myself... and, keep my head down in the process. ;-)

All for now.

For your pleasure, here are some of my latest images since my last dispatch:

http://www.poppinfreshmedia.com/mexico08three/

Hasta luego!

Skip Hunt Austin, Texas

http://www.skiphuntphotography.com

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