Acapulco, January 15
Packing and planning is always the same: Some weeks, even months ahead of time you tend to imagine what you’ll need, and how you’ll pack it, and how you can get it from A to B, then when the time comes, it all turns upside down on you… Or so it may seem, while you’re lugging or being lugged through the landscape, hopefully towards your destination.
Considering that I was carrying my big tent, along with the small personal sleeping tent, as well as my Spirulina cultivator, I arrived heavily packed in Acapulco. In fact, you could almost say as heavily as it was still possible to walk down the street carrying it all. Which is why I didn’t venture too far from the bus terminal, but sat down at the nearest place that offered coffee, an electric socket, and possibly Internet: the chain diner at the shopping center. Otherwise not the first place of my choice, but for a meeting place good enough.
I sat down, ceremoniously unburdened myself, ordered a coffee, juice, and a set of toasted baguettes, and decided that I would not move from here until my friends arrived, possibly in a hour. They had gotten into Acapulco two days previously, to attend an electronic music festival on the beach, before heading on down the coast towards Mazunte. As for me, I could do without the festival, but I really wanted to get a ride on the Magic Bus, the one that’s made it from Oregon all the way to Southern Mexico.
There were several options for coming to the coast. The son of one of my colleagues from the market was driving down, and even had enough space in his truck to give me a ride. On top of this, he was also interested in natural construction, so we could have had good discussions at the least. However, he was leaving two days before I wanted to go. That way I could have met up with Stef and Julia, and even attended the festival (not likely), or at least enjoyed the free camping on the beach (as much as I like all three components of free, camping, and beach, in combination with the festival enjoying it might not have been the final result). Besides, I had tons of stuff to take care of, which I didn’t even manage to get done in the end. Still, I think it would have been even less had I accepted the ride.
So instead I rolled into Acapulco on the night-bus, dozing semi-comfortably in my travel-pillow, listening to the smooth voice of Leonard Cohen. (Man, do I enjoy getting old!) Sure, the bus left at 2:30 a.m. but that was well calculated, as it arrived right after day-break, when at least I could expect to find a place to sit down and plug in. Of course, this is still way too early for party people, who promised to get me at nine, but I won’t hold it against them if they get here a bit later.
Mazunte, January 19
In the end they did not take too long… not much longer than you’d expect, something that I’d have to get used to in Mazunte and the area I’ll be working in. After celebrating our reunion, we headed on down the coast, first to Puerto Escondido, and then to Mazunte. On the last leg we even gave a ride to a handful of surfer-dudes, trying to hitch a ride, which we were glad to make possible.
The bus, of which I’d only heard stories up to then, proved to be an adventure itself. Though of the same style as a regular school bus, this 1979 International had been used as a party bus to take people to and from parties in Eugene, Oregon. To provide the maximum entertainment to the riders on board, it had a bunch of crazy disco-style lighting features installed, which my friend hasn’t bothered taking out. Instead, he focused on converting the bus into a mobile-home, since that had been its major use for the last three weeks of them rolling down the coast. Now that we’ve arrived in Mazunte, it will have to continue serving this role dutifully, as the property is pretty much without anything, still… or again.
Not being on the site for most of the year, my friends break down camp, and store all their stuff at various sites around the area. Upon arriving we had to re-install the solar shower, make the composting toilet operational again, and set up an outdoor kitchen. What makes everything a bit more difficult, is that many items for the kitchen are still in the truck, parked on a friend’s property, and of course the bastard won’t start.
Once we’ve made ourselves comfortable on the site, I’ll be leaving again, to do the same on the property we want to build the retaining walls on. That will have to be completely from scratch, as, apart from a few visits, we haven’t even touched it. But we’ll get there, and I’ll make sure to post about it.