The dream of the Mex trip was to surf endlessly on beautiful waves, and what better place to start than the surfing capital of Mexico, Puerto Escondido. Within an hour of making ourselves at home in our ‘baller mansion’ from Airbnb, a neighbour was around and we were testing out his boards in the pool.

We busied ourselves buying boards and getting set for a week in paradise, all we needed was some waves…….. that rarely came, and when it did, having a wave to yourself was near impossible. But without the waves we still packed a lot of accidents into our Puerto stay. 

As usual I took the honours of first injury. Walking down a street and some fishing line got tangled in my toes, not realising this i kicked my leg out to dislodge it but accidentally sent the hook deep into the back of my thigh. It came out easily and with only one stitch needed, but I can now tick off a third countries hospital system for this trip. Mexico, you passed the test. 

With the ocean still as flat as a tack we headed inland in search of a rumoured waterfall. To start off the day in typical fashion our Chevy Blazer just wanted to blaze it and chill. But after shocking it with a good few volts from the Jeep it got the message it was go time. Long story short we never found a waterfall but we did get to meet some very happy locals and a beautiful river to cool off in and freshen up. 

It turns out the Bblazer that morning had been trying to give us a warning not to go. Because after finding our way back to the highway, Harry thought he had heard something funny so he stuck his head out the window and bam, a bolt rocketed off the wheel. And then another one. By the time Paige found a place to pull over there was only one bolt holding the wheel onto the car. So the only thing to do that made sense was load all 9 of us into the Jeep and go mull over the sitch’ while downing a few tacos. The Blazer would have to wait for another day.

After another beautiful sunrise the rescue team set out to save the Blazer which we left on the side of the highway. We made it a solid 400m before a cobblestone road rattled the jeeps transmission apart. A tow truck ride to the mechanics established that it was a simple fix, but costly for the time required. So there we were, one week into our road trip Surf Safari and we had one car with a broken transmission, and the other half an hour out of town with a wheel being held on with just one little bolt. Luckily, Mexico came to the rescue. The mechanics had a handy little towing device perfect for the blazer and by the next morning the wheel was as good as new. And with the group splitting up with people heading home and travelling elsewhere it was time to downsize our fleet to just one car. So the Jeep drew the short straw and was sold for parts. We lost money on it but that’s what we expected buying it, and at least despite being short lived, it was a very fun car to drive and made some great memories.

Finally some swell made its way into town and while we were pretty useless, Haz and the other locals ripped it up.

Pat stayed in Puerto for a few extra days to see Mylen off, so with the group now down to five we piled into the blazer to send it south in search of an epic sounding surf break - Barra de la Cruz.

Details on that to come.

Lachie