Before my trip I made three goals for myself, to learn Spanish, how to surf and dance salsa, or the three Ss as I like to call it. My new roommates Bernarda and Nelly in Puerto Escondido as well as my Austrian traveling partner, Helena had similar goals so we all decided to take Spanish and surf lessons together. After doing some research online I found a Spanish school close to our hostel, Instituto Lenguajes de Puerto Escondido. It had good reviews and was reasonably priced at $8 USD an hour, so we decided to head to the school to check it out.

The four of us loaded up into a taxi instead of walking because Helena had sprained her ankle the day before. On the way there we realized it was a little farther than we had originally thought, which meant we would have to take a taxi there every day. Bernarda began complaining about the distance and said she probably wouldn’t end up doing lessons there, Nelly and Helena were in agreement. I was thinking to myself, fine then! Find your own damn Spanish school!

When we got to the school, we rang a bell at the entrance and a shirtless guy opened the door. All of our mouths dropped to the floor. Usually muscles don’t impress me but this guy had the most perfect tan body I’ve ever seen in my life. He had long blonde hair and an Australian accent to boot. Quickly all the ladies changed their minds about wanting to attend the school. We set up our classes and were to begin the next day.

I preferred this Spanish school to the one I attended in Oaxaca. It was set outside over looking the ocean to start and second Helena and I were the only people in our class. Bernarda and Nelly were in their own class since they were total beginners. Having the smaller class sizes we were able to focus on the areas we felt we needed the most help with.

After figuring out our class schedule we headed to Mexico’s chain supermarket called Chedraui! Chedraui ended up being one of my favorite places to visit on my trip. Whenever I felt a little homesick I would visit a Chedraui and for some reason the giant supermarket made me feel at home. Think of Chedraui as Mexico’s Wal-Mart in the sense you can buy anything there for cheap only it’s much classier.

All of us were sick of eating tortillas and meat, we wanted something other than corn in our diet. When we walked into Chedraui, the four of us suddenly became like kids in a candy store. All of the food we had been craving was there! Oatmeal, fruits and vegetables, almond milk, different kinds of cheese! I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten a vegetable. Helena is vegetarian and Nelly is vegan so they were especially excited. We began loading up the cart with enough food to feed the whole hostel and then headed back.

I had purchased some mole paste in Oaxaca and was excited to try it out! Mole is a savory sauce made from chocolate that you can literally put on anything. We cooked rice, vegetables, and made a huge salad. Bernarda and I also spilt some chicken we had purchased. We sat down to dinner and all cautiously put a little mole on our plates. Soon we were putting more and more on. On the rice, on the vegetables even on the salad! Mole everywhere and on everything!!

After dinner we had wanted to join some members from our hostel at a beach party in honor of the super moon. The plan was to meet at 9pm and walk down together but by 9:30pm everyone was still hanging out in the hostel bar drinking.

We decided to head to the roof top deck to gaze at the super moon and have our own party. Bernarda grabbed her Bluetooth speaker and up we went. My Spotify had recommended a Latin workout playlist so we decided to put it on. The four of us sat under the moonlight listening to Reggatone and telling stories of our vacation romances. We talked about the ones who broke our hearts and the ones who’s hearts we broke. It was nice to share the rollercoaster of romances I had in Cuba with other women and to find out I wasn’t alone.

Oaxaca was becoming a distant memory and Puerto Escondido was starting to feel better and better every minute. On the road you become very close with the people you meet in a short period of time. You go from being total strangers to spending every day together. Sometimes you only travel together for a day or two, other times for weeks on end. Then you part ways and become strangers again. Luckily I have kept in contact with most of the people I met while traveling. I hope one day we can reconnect and see each other again.