Pochutla Monday Markets!! I was up bright and early today: after a very hot night and not too much sleep. I feel very comfortable at Serena's; a lot more so then I did in San Cristobal. I am half thinking to stick around here for a while more, get to know Serena's farm and help the family setup a website for their hotel. At 8:30am when Serena and Carrie finally got up we headed to Pochutla in Serena's car. The trip into the city was interesting and Serena told me about some of the main issues and conflicts going on in Mexico at the current moment. In a short 20 minute car ride to the city I learned more about Mexicos problem then you could hope to learn from the news in a year. Arriving in Pochutla early gave us the benefit that the markets were just getting setup and we beat both the heat and the mid-morning hustle and bus. I love all kinds of markets and this one was no exception with lots of new and interesting things to see and taste. I tried some delicious avocados, some strange foods, some terrible Chicharon (fried pig skin), flor de Jamaica liquor and jam, cacao and panella tortillas, cacao balls, coconut and cacao slice and a real suprise fried grasshoppers with chilli and garlic. Lucky there wasn't any sweets that took my fancy as the mixture of all the things was verging on upsetting my stomach. Serena took me to her favorite shop which sold dried fruits, nuts, grains and organic products and I couldn't help myself and brought everything from dried raspberries to pure cacao butter. I love all the organic and health benefiting goods that in Australia would be incredibly marked up in price and here are sold at average prices. Serena then had to head-off and do some paperwork so Carrie and I walked around for a while before catching a collectivo back to Puerto Angel. Even just sitting - or in our case standing in a collectivo is an event in itself and I couldn't help but notice how friendly people are to one another even complete strangers. When I arrived back at Serena's hotel I chatted with Lulu (Serena's Mum) for a while and then went and got her some vegetables from the shop. I then had a few hours to kill before our late lunch so I headed to the beach to watch the fisherman and the ocean do battle. When I arrived back for lunch I was met with a thanks-giving sized feast of bean soups, garden salads, pumpkin flower salad, guocamole, salsas of every kind and spice, tostadas and Ofcourse tortillas. I ate myself to exhaustion and by the time we had all finished demolishing off the feast we all needed to wedge ourselfs free from the table. It was once again after 4pm when we finished lunch so not to be put off by the days nearing end I put on my hiking boots and took off for a walk out to the tip of the headland. It turned into quite a mission walking up and out of the towns village, through a small shanty neighborhood, through this derelict construction zone and into a bunch of wealthy people's Sunday apartments; which in total conquered the majority of the hill of Zipolite. I watched the sun go down and enjoyed the familiar landscape of ocean and coast whilst thinking about life. I had a bit of a walk back so I left just before the sun had completely dissapeared and found myself back in town just as darkness was overcoming the town. Serena and her daughter and I went up onto the top of their hotel (a beautiful rooftop area) which her father had built for the family to enjoy the views of the bay. We played with Serena's daughter whilst watching the sun finally disappear and all the birds come into land and the trees to sleep. Serena told me a lot about her family, how the hotel was built by her father and about her life and her daughter finally started to talk with me in Spanish and made jokes about my bad Spanish and not knowing how to brush a ponies hair. It was such a magical night and I think I will stay here and get to know Serena, her family and her country more. Serena's daughter had spotted a cloud that looked like a dragon early in the night and as we were leaving I heard her wish the dragon good travels - life through a child's eyes how beautiful.