Day 85: Christmas without water

Today we had a very nice Christmas dinner with the girls from the house. There were Mexican main courses, Lithuanian drinks and British desserts. Muy rico! (delicious!)

Anyways, while we were preparing food, the water stopped coming out of the taps. This left the landlady half showered (that awkward moment when you're all in soap and the water stops...) and me with a freshly burnt finger that couldn't be cooled down. Luckily, I've found some ice in the freezer, so don't worry about my finger; it's still very much burned, but my granny's advice of putting salt on the burn took away the pain.

The dinner was lovely, though. The food was amazing and the company was great. Now it's 11.30p.m. and I can't imagine going to sleep because of my full belly. Even though I am very tired.

I had to brush my teeth outside (the only water we have (barely) comes from a hose). But this water shortage has one advantage...

My housemate asked "can we do the dishes tomorrow?" and the answer was... yes, you guessed it right! "There's no water. So there's no way we can it tonight"
So all I have today are spectacular memories of the dinner and no nasty cleaning up! (And tomorrow I'm working, not like the other girls, so there's quite a chance I don't have to do the dishes at all...)

And next Thursday I've got another Christmas dinner to attend. This time with my co-workers. Seems like this year I'll have four Christmases...

Day 84: Ingredients

We're having a Christmas dinner tomorrow at the house and I am responsible for the drinks. We're having wine for sure, but I also want to make a Lithuanian Christmas drink - a thick cranberry drink, called "kisielius".

All I need is fresh or frozen cranberries, water, sugar and a bit of starch. I was told that cranberries are for sell all year round, so wasn't supposed to be a problem and starch is just such a common product so there shouldn't be a problem either. How naive I was...

First of all, everyone I asked told me that cranberries are very easy to find and told me where to get them as well. The little problem was that there were no cranberries anywhere they told be they should be. After three days I finally found some. They were dried. Anyway, that will have to do. And you know what, the next day that I was making the drink, my landlady told me she saw very cheap fresh cranberries at the market... Yeah, could have told me about that before...

OK, the next on the list is starch. That should be easy to get, right? Just go to the supermarket. No, love, no, that ain't so easy. First of all, the guy at the supermarket got brought me to the house supply aisle for "arandano" (starch) and got angry at me when I told him it was supposed to be food. Then another man came to help me and it took me quite a while to explain him what I wanted after which he said they don't have starch in stock. So no luck in the supermarket. I later asked the my landlady where to get it and she told me to go to the market. That is not so easy to do, because the market is only open during my working hours. If I wanted to get starch there, I should have skipped my lunch to go there. Luckily, the secretary at the office offered to have a look in some tiny shop she passes on the way home. And so, that shop sells starch, but they don't have it packed in small quantities. And I only need 100g (3,5oz). They can sell minimum 250g (8,8oz), which is fine too. So the lovely secretary went again to that shop the next day during her lunch break to buy me some starch. The ridiculous part is that 250g of starch costs only 4 pesos (0,24Eur or 0,31USD). But it took me four days to get it.

Anyway, I finally have all the ingredients and I'm ready to make some cranberry drink.

If you're interested in how it tastes, here's how to make it:
Boil 4 cups of water with 200g (8oz) dried fruit (cranberries in this case) for 10min. In a cup of cold water stir 1 table spoon of potato starch (or 2tbs of corn starch). Add the starch "milk" to the boiling fruit drink. Be sure to pour it slowly while stirring. Keep stirring the boiling drink for a few more minutes until it thickens. As soon as it gets thicker, stop boiling (the longer it boils, the thinner it gets. So 3-5min after added starch is perfect timing). Serve hot or cold. If it's very thick, you may serve with whipped cream. Yummy!
-If you're using dried berries, you might want to take the berries out of the boiling water when they rehydrate and blend them. Then add to the water again. 
-This drink can also be made with fresh of frozen fruit. In that case you'll need 1,5-2 cups of fruit for a litre (0,26 gallons) of drink.

In case you're wondering, the International Girl Team of the House loved it!

Night 82: Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

Thanks to my awesome British housemates we've got a Christmas tree! We've spent the late evening/early night decorating it and listening to Christmas songs, which was very very nice. Now the whole house smells of Christmas tree. Amazing.

What seemed to be enough decorations for us, Europeans, was not enough for the local folks. We're talking 8 boxes of silver balls, countless fake Christmas' flower blooms and two sets of lights. There were talks about adding candy and tiny dolls as well as an attempt to wrap it all with a ribbon. Luckily, so far the tree stands humble (to the Mexican standards) - and fully loaded with beauty (to European standards).

Day 82: Back to D.F.

So I packed my backpack and went back to Mexico city...
What I left: 

 Where I went:

Day 81: Cooperativo

Basically Cooperativo is a kind of public transport here in Puerto Escondido. It costs 5 pesos (0,29EUR or 0,39USD) to get a ride. What is interesting is that a Cooperativo can be any car. Sort of. As far as I know, there are three kinds of vehicles:
1. a taxi car (green-white car is a taxi that will cost you 35-50pesos, but burgundy-white car is a cooperativo and will cost only 5 pesos)
2. a bus
3. a pick-up truck
The latter one was the most interesting to ride in, because I was sitting in the back... Just have a look:

Day 80: Salty mist

The weather in Puerto Escondido is very very humid. As much as it is hot. But what surprised me was the salty mist. In the late afternoon, just as the sun is not that hot and bright anymore, visibility is only about 100 meters (33feet) - everything further seems whitish. And my skin feels salty, no matter that I recently had a shower. As soon as I get dry - I get salty. And as the sun goes down, the sand gets wet as well. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been sitting on a towel for an hour on the beach. As I got up the picture resembled the one then the car leaves a dry spot after the rain. You might not always see it, but the salt is everywhere...

Day 80: First day of winter

 First day of winter was very hot and very exciting. At 8a.m. I was in the water for my second surfing lesson. It was much better than yesterday. I managed to stand up every time and quite a few waves were perfect...

It might not look very good, but it felt really cool. So I am extremely happy.

 

Although the waves weren't "good" for real surfers, for me - a beginner - they were great. Interestingly, although waves didn't break further in the sea, they were still strong enough to surf. Which means, I could stand on and ride the wave before it started breaking. Good memories...

Day 79: La Punta

Feet together. Hands by the chest. Nose in the middle. No knees. Ready?! Yes! Stand up! One: kick left leg. Two: Push up and pull in right (back) leg. Three: Turn and stand on left leg (front) - and squat.

So I got my first surfing lesson today. Unfortunately, since it was only me and the teacher (and more people in the water) I don't have pictures of me surfing. Trying to surf is a better expression. But I did stood up; three times were good. And the last wave today was perfect!

 My board was about the size these guys in the back have.
And I took the class at La Punta, which is this rocky place at the end of the Zicatella beach.

The beach is so wide that it seems that everything is very close, but it's actually not. So "I can just walk here" doesn't really work.

Day 78: Secret Spot

I flew to Puerto Escondido today. Puerto Escondido used to be called Punto Escondido, which is literally Secret Spot, and I really understand why. Honestly, Puerto Escondido is the third largest beach in the world (or so I was told) and it's very popular with surfers. That makes it not very "secret", but it's not the point.

Point is, Secret Spots are usually kept secret because of how great they are, and trust me, this is fantastic!

I haven’t done much today, actually. But I did swim in the Pacific Ocean today for the first time. So I can proudly say I have swum in 3 out of 4 oceans in the world. And do not have a dream of swimming in the Arctic. I was very surprised by the warmth of the ocean here. It was about 28C, I think. Basically, it’s as warm as the air. And since the air is very VERY humid, there isn’t a great difference between being in the water or on the shore…

Also, I have forgotten how salty the oceans can be, so jumpig in the Pacific was kind ofa surprising reminder. Just so you get me completely, the water is Extremely salty. You could marinate meat or make pickles in that water without adding anything else.

So far I was  dazzeled by the spirit of the town. I already met a few nice people, whom I might not meet ever again (maybe on the beach this weekeend?), but it doesn‘t matter , because so far it‘s about the surfer-holiday mood I‘m in.

And tomorrow I‘m getting my surfing lessons.  OK, I don’t assume I will be as good as these guys immediately, but since I am in a surfing town I should definitely learn how to stand on a board. So wish me luck!

Day 72: So I'm walking on the street...

In the middle of a very good and decent neighbourhood  there is a big poster on the pole (if I think of it, a pole is a very good choice for such an ad):

"Room for rent in exchange for sex". No preference for a gender though...

Day 71: X'mas is in da hous

OK, that was cheesy. But it was a WOW moment when I entered the house tonight. Christmas decorations 
are not in their places yet, but it's probably even more impressive seeing all the surfaces covered with soon-to-be-hanged decorations. Decorations of all kinds of styles and ages...

Day 71: Respect

It also has something to do with the cars. This is a very common sigh on the garage door:

"Respect my entrance and I will respect your car". Brilliant, witty and truthful sign. You can imagine the consequences of not following it...

Day 71: Cars

Probably the most common car here is a VW Beetle or VW Bus. I've found a few original (non-VW) vintage cars as well. So here is my collection. Have in mind that I did not need to look hard for the Beetles. They are EVERYWHERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both white. The "only" differences are the size and the age.

 

How many?

 

  

Old and new

 

Can you spot it?