Day 22 - Hotel Las Olas, Puerto Escondido

Being a rest day doesn’t necessarily mean we get to lie around on the beach and drink beer all day. Sure, there will be beers drunk, and there will no doubt be some beach time, not to mention a session at Jackson’s Bar when the sun goes down. However, we had a few chores to do with regards to the bikes. The brakes have been spongy for a few days now and whilst we did top up the brake fluid in Jocotepec, they really needed a good clean and bleeding to get shot of any air bubbles and a top up new clean brake fluid. The pads were looking fine and as we already had spare pads (if needed), a fresh can of brake cleaner from a recent stop at an AutoZone, we didn’t have a clear tube, which is needed to check for a point when any bubbles stop to come out of the calliper, so we needed to run into town for a few bits. We also needed to top up the coffers with cash, so we jumped on the bikes early, before it got too hot, and went into the town proper. Jorik commented on just how much it had changed since he had been here in ’95. The whole area has grown massively since then and whilst I have nothing to compare the current town with, it was evident that it was being thrown together at a rapid pace. There weren’t too many modern buildings, just 2 or 3 storey buildings at most with 1 or 2 hotels here and there. We did our jobs and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was stifling. We decided that bike maintenance would have to wait until the next morning when it was cooler, but that rather than do bike maintenance, we would chill at the hotel and catch up on other admin tasks. Jorik had editing to do, as always, and my left riding boot needed some serious attention. I set up a space on the balcony and set about trying to perform boot surgery on my ever-worsening situation. In clearing off the old superglue, I ended up taking a chunk straight out of the top of the boot, nowhere critical, but if rainwater gets in there, my foot will be constantly wet and uncomfortable. I tried supergluing the section back in, but the boot has cracked in a number of places, and I wasn’t comfortable with the result. Jorik suggested glueing on some off-cut tire tube, which we had unfortunately ditched in La Paz. I thought it over and considered that maybe some leather would be a better option, but where the hell would I find a piece of leather. Anyway, I got the boot put back together as best I could and considered how I would improve on my repair job down the road. Following a spot of lunch, it was beach time and a few cervezas. We also managed to drop off our washing, which means we have clean clothes on the way, I was on my last t-shirt, which I would have to wear that evening with my swimmers as even my shorts were in the wash. It was a pretty chilled out and lazy afternoon. Jorik went down to the beach to watch the sun set go down and take some pictures in the different light, and I took the opportunity to smash out about 2 hours of catch-up on the laptop. Never a fun task, but once I have completed a day, I feel I can clear the space that previous days are taking up in my head to store more information until I get a chance or have the energy to catch up again and clear more days. To be fair, it was a pretty awesome sunset from the balcony at the hotel and I had a cold beer to boot. Jorik came back after the sun set and had some great footage of guys surfing, which I was a bit disappointed I missed. That evening we headed over to Jackson’s Bar for a few specials. We were going to grab some food in a beachfront restaurant directly across from the hotel that had loads of pool tables and that looked reasonably priced but made the mistake of dropping into Jackson’s Bar first. There is a street food vendor right outside his bar called Oscar, who runs the place with his missus. There is clearly bad blood between Jackson and Oscar, but both of them wanted the business, and as Oscar doesn’t serve any alcoholic drinks, this seemed like a win-win to me. Jorik had some tacos, and I had a burger with a slice of pineapple, perfect for the seaside, tropical location. However, the pineapple wasn’t cooked, which is clearly not the right way to include pineapple in a burger. Oscar and his missus were then informed on how to serve pineapple burgers correctly in the future. I’m not sure my advice will be taken seriously. It all ended quite friendly and following some further shenanigans in Jackson’s Bar, who by the way has “Action” tattooed on his right bicep, and “Jackson” tattooed on his left bicep, you go it “Action Jackson”, we headed back to the hotel way past our normal bedtime.