Torneo de Surf

As part of the Fiestas de Noviembre here in Puerto, there was a surf tournament that stretched over three days this weekend. You have to get up early to see it, because the waves die down later in the day, but nobody seemed to mind. We had fun watching the surfers and the spectators, and listening to the announcer switch between English and Spanish. His favorite English phrases were "Sh**, brother" and "Shake it, but don't break it." Funny, with an announcer's cadence and a thick accent...

The waves weren't all that big, especially Saturday and Sunday, and some of the heats had really long stretches without much at all, so the better surfers seemed to switch tactics and ride smaller waves with more show-boating.

June and July are the best months, with waves reaching 20 ft., according to our downstairs neighbor - a tranplanted Australian surfer. Still, some were big enough to be intimidating.

Once the contest was done and we had enjoyed a snack of pescadillas (salted-fish tacos) we caught a collective-truck downtown to what was supposed to be some sort of dance, at least according to the events calendar we had found. No dancing unfortunately (maybe we'll find it tonight), but there was a vibrant soccer game between the Puerto Escondido Pumas and Barro something-or-other.

I think that the teams in Tule were better, but it was still entertaining, with a spectacular corner-kick-header goal just at the end of the second half to tie the game. One of the spectators on our side (Pumas, of course) was so excited that he ran out on the field to celebrate. (He had been drinking quite a bit, to be fair, and, as the game got a little out of control, also taught us - and all the kids within earshot - quite a lot of dirty words in Spanish.) Here he is congratulating one of the Pumas after the game. If only he knew what his daughter had just been listening to.

Just one more week in Mexico, then off to Peru. It goes by so quickly!