Einstein is not dead
We found him! He changed his name to Carlos Einstein and he owns a hostel on the beach of Mazunte. He is very tanned and he speaks spanish but you can still recognize his white hair that gives him this look of crazy scientist. I couldn´t take a picture (I think he doesn´t want the world to know where he is) but I promise I´ll try to. Before that, please allow me to tell you about these last few days:
The bus we had taken on Thursday at 7 p.m in San Cristobal dropped us on Friday at 6 a.m in Pochotla, in Oaxaca state, where we hopped on a pick-up truck with other tourists, sitting on benches in the boot (I felt like cattle, moooh!) for half an hour and we finally reached Mazunte. Mazunte is quite small but it has a famous "Turtle center" (the sea turtles come to a nearby beach to reproduce) and a gorgeous beach, this one is for tourists and not for turtles. It´s winter time here and it´s like 30 degrees, sunny and the sea is warm with huge waves. Not too bad. The first hostel we found was Carlos Einstein´s. It´s located right on the beach, it has a restaurant, the rooms are clean although very basic with a mosquitoe net and breakfast included. The guy really looks like the old brainiac and he´s cool. We spent our first day sunbathing and swimming.
Yesterday, Saturday (already !) we decided to do more than sunbathing. We took advantage of the hottest hours of the day to visit the Turtle Center. Mexico hosts 7 of the 8 main species of sea turtles and loads of river turtles, pond turtles and terrestrial turtles. The guided tour lasts about an hour and you can take great pictures and learn heaps of interesting things about sea turtles that you forget almost straight away. I only remembered the strange fact that the sex of the turtle is determined 4 days after the mother laid the eggs, according to the temperature. If it´s warm it´s gonna be a male, if it´s cold the baby will be a female. Or the opposite...Anyway, it´s awesome! The guide also clarified that their eggs are not aphrodisiac and it´s illegal to sell or buy them. Then we spent the rest of the day sunbathing, again! It´s a tough life we´re leading here. Oh, wait! Did I tell you about our spot on the beach? It´s the best one (of course otherwise it wouldn´t be OUR spot) at the end of the beach, close to the Pelicans. It´s their territory. We watch them fishing (they literally fall from the sky into the water to catch the poor Nemo, unaware of the danger above his head) it´s quite impressive. When you swim there, you see them soaring only a few centimeters from your head and then splash!, they dive close to you. I actually had an accident with a Pelican. Carole and I were walking on the beach when suddenly one of those big birds thought he was a war plane from the 50´s. He was behind me and he started firing: splosh, splosh and...splosh! On my bathing suit...Time to go for a swim!
Today was a big day. We joined a tour to see sea turtles in their natural environment. They told us we might also see dolphins, but unfortunately we didn´t see any. The boat took us along the coast, so that we could admire the nice beaches and then it stopped when the guide saw a sea turtle. He jumped on it and caught it by it´s carapace, holding it tightly so that we could take pictures. Then it was our turn. I jumped too and grabbed the turtle and posed for the picture. I had never thought I would swim with a sea turtle in my life. It´s unique. Then I tried to get on the boat again to take a picture of Carole holding the turtle. Not an easy thing to do but with the help of the others I finally made it on board. The guide took us to a big white rock, called the bird´s house. It´s white ´cause it´s covered in shit...He made us clap our hands to scare the birds off. It worked well and the birds didn´t miss the opportunity to show us their skill in targeting a boat from the sky. This time I was spared. It´s midday now, too hot to sunbathe so we take the time to tell you a bit more about our trip. We´re gonna go to the restaurant and have a nap in a hammock for an hour or so. See you later and take it easy!