Decisions

Will dinner be Fish a la Diabla (for the second night in a row), or a Pizza? The spicy red snapper, grilled on a wood fire and served right on the sand, won. Life in Mazunte, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, is full of hard decisions. I fell asleep lulled by the sound of waves reaching shore only a few steps from our balcony, and woke up to a hearty breakfast in Dona Lupita's beach-front restaurant. However, after breakfast, I had another choice to make. Should I head for the South beach or the North beach? Both beaches have white warm sand, comfortable easy-chairs, and attentive restaurant service. The difference is in the waves. On the South beach, tall steep waves break on shore with the thunder of canons. They attract the expert surfers, whose graceful athletics I could enviously watch while sipping a cold beer. To the North the waves are slightly smaller, providing a playground for local kids on boogie boards. That day, the North beach was exceptionally calm. None of the local kids bothered to enter. Yet these friendly waves let Adi, who never tried this before, struggle chest-deep into the warm water, jump on her boogie board, and ride them all the way to shore. I ventured a little deeper, and was also rewarded with some wonderful rides.

After three days of enjoying the sand, waves, and the company of good friends, I faced a harder decision. Could I extricate myself from this relaxed Pacific paradise, and begin the journey to Guatemala? Adi, still glowing from the boogie board adventure, suggested that we could tell everyone that Guatemala is really beautiful, while we stay on the beach.

The next day, we loaded Nemo (my pickup) and got on the road. By evening we entered the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrow waist of the North American Continent. Here, five hundred years ago, King Cosijoesa the Zapotec king, repulsed the Aztecs from this strategic region, thus stopping the Southward expansion of their empire. However, few years later, he too was faced with a dilemma. He chose to ally himself with Hernan Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador in his fight against the Aztecs. To this day, the colorfully dressed Zapotecs who populate the city of Tehuantepec, remember and celebrate his victory. Somehow, they manage to ignore his unfortunate decision.