June 30, 2008

Russian roulette - Part 2

Yesterday I lost about 3 weeks of photos, due to my own stupidity.  The last 20 or so photos that I posted here are all that are left of the last 3 weeks.  Most of the Internet Cafes computers in the world are pure garbage, pieces missing, keyboards unreadable, viruses galore.  I had trouble backing up my last 2GB photo card and then I did the unthinkable … somehow I put the wrong camera card back in my camera and re-formatted it.  That was it.  Two seconds later all of the last 3 weeks was gone.  Uruguay, southern Argentina, Mexico.  Gone.  I was sick. 

At least I have the 20 or so photos posted here on ‘snowfree.tumblr.com’. 

If there are lessons to be learned here they are. 

  1. When travelling you can not rely on Internet Cafes.  Most have viruses and most do NOT have DVD drives.
  2. Back up often.  Not easy … photo stores that can burn DVDs are not always as close to where you are staying as you would hope.
  3. We didn’t bring a computer, but we should have purchased one of those tiny PCs to do a daily backup of photos. 
  4. Bring more camera memory cards than you need.  More is better.
  5. Before re-formatting any memory card have someone with higher intelligence than yourself verify it.

What’s done is done.  Maybe I can resurrect some of the photos from the re-formatted card.  I doubt it but who knows?  At least the posted ‘tumblr’ photos are still available.

Warren McBride

June 27, 2008
We went turtle and dolphin watching off Puerto Escondido.  Dolphins are very difficult to photograph because they seem to be a tad quick, hence no dolphin photographs.  Our captain, Robert, wanted to supplement the trip and set out three lines to catch fish, with no success.  This is an early morning sky over Puerto Escondido, Mexico. 
We went turtle and dolphin watching off Puerto Escondido.  Dolphins are very difficult to photograph because they seem to be a tad quick, hence no dolphin photographs.  Our captain, Robert, wanted to supplement the trip and set out three lines to catch fish, with no success.  This is an early morning sky over Puerto Escondido, Mexico. 
LIghtning strikes the Pacific.  Scene from the house that we rented on Bahia Puerto Angelito at Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  Exposure of this photo was more than 8 seconds. 
LIghtning strikes the Pacific.  Scene from the house that we rented on Bahia Puerto Angelito at Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  Exposure of this photo was more than 8 seconds. 
June 25, 2008
This is a 17 second video of Silas, Connor and Alannah’s surfing teacher at Playa Carrizalillo in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  As you can see from the video he has quite the skill … and likes to have fun on the waves.  While chatting with Silas I discovered that he as born on November 23, 1973.  He was six weeks old when I last visited Puerto Escondido back in January 1974. 
Connor and Alannah ‘breeching like whales’ in our pool at Casa Sheila overlooking Bahia Puerto Angelito at Puerto Escondido, Mexico. 
Connor and Alannah ‘breeching like whales’ in our pool at Casa Sheila overlooking Bahia Puerto Angelito at Puerto Escondido, Mexico. 
Relaxing in the pool at Casa Sheila.  What a place to spend some of the final days of our trip before returning to Canada !  
Relaxing in the pool at Casa Sheila.  What a place to spend some of the final days of our trip before returning to Canada !  
This photo shows the power of the waves at Playa Zicaleta in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  Some say that this is the third best surfing beach in the world. 
This photo shows the power of the waves at Playa Zicaleta in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  Some say that this is the third best surfing beach in the world. 
Surfing at one of Puerto Escondido’s beautiful beaches.  This photo was taken at Zicaleta beach, occasionally mentioned as the third best surfing beach in the world.   Sometimes the ability of my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 camera just amazes me !
Surfing at one of Puerto Escondido’s beautiful beaches.  This photo was taken at Zicaleta beach, occasionally mentioned as the third best surfing beach in the world.   Sometimes the ability of my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 camera just amazes me !
This is the beach that Alannah and Connor took their surfing lessons.  It is called Playa Carrizalillo.  Beautiful. 
This is the beach that Alannah and Connor took their surfing lessons.  It is called Playa Carrizalillo.  Beautiful. 
June 24, 2008

Connor In Puerto Escondido

From Mexico City we took an overnight bus to Puerto Escondido. The bus left at 8 pm and arrived at about the same time the next morning in Puerto Escondido. For the first hour and a half or so we hung around a café named El Cafecito. Apparently it was considered the best place to eat in the city. After having a much better breakfast than the vacuum-packed matter that we had on the bus. We got picked up by one of the property managers of our house that we rented. He drove us there in his van. The house is located in a gated community that has no name. When we use the taxis we just tell than to go next to El Pueblito, the community next door. Our house has an ocean view and its own private pool. We are sure living in the lap of luxury.

For the last few days Alannah and I have been participating in surfing lessons. I still have not succeeded in standing up for extended periods but Alannah has somehow managed to been able to ride the wave all the way to the beach.  Must have something to do with her dancing.

Puerto Escondido did not have a giant supermarket until 2008. The name of the market is the Super Che. According to the property mangers that we regularly run in to, shopping for groceries used to be a day long chore since you had to go all around the city to find all the items you needed.

The first night in our huge house was rather traumatizing. At about 10 pm the sound that a large cat would make came through my bedroom window. I was terrified. I automatically assumed it was some kind of jaguar or something. That moment has haunted me since.

Puerto Escondido is home to one of the top 10 surfing beaches in the world, Playa Zicatela. The waves are said to reach several meters in height.  No one will see me surfing there in the near future.

In two days we will be taking a boat out to see dolphins and turtles.