Days 166-170something: Ventanilla

From Puerto Escondido to Ventanilla I traveled about 42 miles. Not very far. And once I was there, I hunkered down for another extended stay. 

Fisherman netting fish between Puerto Escondido and Ventanilla.

My first beach was La Ventanilla. I used this as my basecamp while I made day trips to the nearby beaches for the next four or five days.

I've really lost track of the date and days and all that.

It is an ecotourism spot that protects sea turtles, a lagoon containing crocodiles and endangered green iguanas. I did not know any of this when I went there. I just asked how much it was to camp, found the price agreeable, and then before I knew it a pair of French travelers were telling me about all these amazingly cool things. They first told me about the crocodiles that hang out at the edge of a lagoon. So we went and to my surprise there was a gigantic crocodile. Then as we were walking back they asked if I was going to watch the turtle "liberation" that was happening.  I had no idea I would get to witness one of nature's great miracles happen before my eyes!

Crocodile at lagoon's edge.

They have a fenced off area where they allow the endangered sea turtles to hatch without the danger of being preyed upon.  Then in the evening, when predators are fewest, they gather the tourists, make a starting line and people watch as the little buggers scuttle towards the sea. It's funny to watch them go into the water and then get pushed back by a wave, and then get pulled down towards the sea again as the wave recedes.

La Ventanilla is an interesting place because they rely completely on the fees for tourism. The fees are well worth the experience. The guide explained that similar projects that are funded by the government tend to come and go depending on which politician gets elected, and by being independent they are able to operate my stably. The guide was really cool.

Gentle creatures of the sea, start your flippers....

Go!

 The turtles were the night I arrives. I spent the next day wandering the beach, reading, and going on a short but amazing tour of the lagoon. As I said, the guide was very knowledgeable. He spoke very fast, but I was proud to be able to understand everything he said! My Spanish has improved after all!

The largest crocodiles in the lagoon are 9 meters long. This was one of the bigger ones.

I got to see these crazy little critters. They are endangered because of habitat loss and because they are delicious to eat. I did not build any roads across their lagoon, or cut down any of the mangrove trees that they live in. I also did not eat any. I did my best to be a friend to these beautiful creatures.

The male is the larger, orange one. The females are smaller and green. They are all green iguanas.

This male iguana apparently wants to mate with me!

A turtle sunning itself on a log.

 So that was what I did my first day. My second day, I set out to find the fabled "Zipolite." Zipolite was recommended to Daisy, Jason, and I by a man we met our last night together in a Hostel in San Miguel Allende. He said it was great because a bunch of hippies live and/or visit there and who smoke marijuana and walk around naked at the nude beach. I did not partake in the marijuana, but of course I did do a little skinny dipping. I did not want to go through a case of sunscreen so this was a short lived thing.

That same day I met Ruth and Will, (not at the nude beach) who are cyclotourists from London! They are in for the real long haul, coming up from Brazil. They have been on the road for over a year. Way over a year. They are journalists and so you know their blog is worth checking out.

San Agustina beach at sunset.

After chilling in Zipolite for a day, I decided that for my last day I would rent a surf board and learn to surf. This was a bad idea because surfing is hard. I was cocky thinking that because I get good at every sport I try I would be able to get up on a surf board by the end of the day. I was wrong. After an hour long lesson I was on my own. Because my instructor didn't tell me how to  how to read them the probability of me even getting a chance to stand up was diminished significantly. Two hour later I decided that I would need another week of surfing to be successful. It left a bad taste in my mouth, so I decided to stay another day so that I could have a positive experience to remember my last day at the beach by.

I decided to go on the whale/seaturtle/dolphin watching, cliff jumping, snorkeling tour. I am glad I did because I was able to see dolphins, a giant sea turtle, a GIANT sea turtle, and go snorkeling. We weren't lucky enough to see a whale, so to make up for it our guide did a legitimate cliff dive. The rock he jumped off is 2-3 times higher than the one we jumped off. It was impressive and reminded me of Casa Bonita in Denver, Colorado. I have to say this was way better than Casa Bonita in every way.  

So after 5 or so days on the beach, I decided it was time to get a move on.
While typing this I had a sudden realization: The Pacific Ocean has been a recurring theme on this trip. I have seen a lot of the west coast coast! Anchorage is on the ocean, I saw it again in Canada when I took the ferry from Prince Rupert down to Vancouver Island, then the Washington coast, then San Diego, then multiple visits in Baja, then Mazatlan, then finally Oaxaca. For an inland dwelling soul that is a lot of saltwater! It's been great, Pacific ocean. Goodbye!