hello up there. hope all are well. i had a fun weekend last weekend. i went to huatulco with two other english profs, one from tehuantepec and another from a town in the mountains of oaxaca (i cant remember the name). we had fun, went snorkelling, ate great seafood, slept in hammocks, i got stung by jellyfish(but not bad), and in general had a grand time.

unfortunately, i returned with a sore throat which turned into a cough and now has progressed into a cold. as you might expect, this does not mix well with the heat. either way, i have been taking frequent cat-naps in my office so i should be good as new come next week. hopefully this explains my recent silence.

let´s see, funny story....

so caroline, abby and i (these are the two teachers) have our snorkel equipment and are ready to go on monday morning. we jump out of the hammocks (25 yards from the ocean), eat breakfast and head to the water bc caro tells us that in the morning the fish are active (she has been here b4). after i comment that it is absolutely impossible not to look dorky in the mask and snork(i have no idea what the breathing tube is called so bear with me), we head into the water. the first 10 yards or so of the reef are spectacular- lots of colors, abundant and varied species of fish, tranquil waves. we push a bit further and i take off my mask bc it is blurry. i clear it, making sure to spit in it a little to keep it from fogging and go back under.

the truth is that it is not foggy or blurry or that there is poor visibility. the answer is that there are millions of little jellyfish hovering in the water like mines in some wwII submarine movie. they are quite small, none larger than a chicken egg, so as the girls press on, i follow behind. i must admit that at this point i am a bit apprehensive and the fun is starting to wane.

50yards out, the waves become stronger and the jellies are multiplying. i am using my arms and hands to try and clear a path in front of me as i swim out, but to no avail. the critters are everywhere. i get a little freaked out as one glances off my cheek and come up out of the water for a second. immediately, a wave pushes me into the reef and i scrape my butt, both cheeks, on the razor like surface. i wisely put my hand down to free myself and slice my fingers as well.

as you are guessing, this is where the fun starts.

i imagine you know the soothing and cooling feeling of salt water and open wounds. compound this by realizing that my tender tush, which rarely if ever sees the light of day, has been scaped up. we gave been out for less than 40 minutes at this point so i tell the others i am fine when they notice i am no longer with them taking in the beauty of the reef.

we are nearing the mouth of the bay, or at least the border of the reef, and there is a large system of buoys that separate swimmers from aquatic craft. there are some young men fishing, two manning the paddles, another tossing a line in the water which he pulls in by hand, and when the boy standing up notices us, he makes a strange comment. caro has lived in spain for 2 years and mexico for 1.5, so i assume she knows what he is saying. however, her reply seems kind of odd.

for example, imagine someone asking you, ¨what time is it?¨ and you respond with, ¨no, i´m fine.¨ exactly.

so the young man resorts to hand movements. it dawns on me after a few seconds (this is normal in that sometimes it takes me a second to realize what someone has just said- and yes i am only talking about spanish here, smartypants, i can almost hear the smartass comments you are thinking all the way down here) that the boy is saying pica, which means to sting. indeed, the young man on the sea is telling us ¨hey, whitey, there are tons of jellies in the water, what are you thinking? they sting you, jackass, get out of the water!¨ i translate for my friends and make for the shore.

on my way back, or at some other earlier point, the ¨when¨ of this is not important to the story, i am stung on the leg and back by some evil jellyfish. how do i know they are hell-spawn? because the small clear ones i was swimming through (and i mean swimming ¨through¨ as the sea was infested with them- imagine this ratio: try to separate the salt from the sea water. you will undoubtedly be able to picture the scene) were fairly benign. there were these larger ones, however, painted warrior purple with tiny blac dots (which i can only assume is where some higher power directly injected both poison and a tendency toward all things evil) and ready to attack, which gave me a fright, and two large red welts. these were clearly the spawn of either satan, or some aggressive and angry lineage, and as we are english teachers and not biologists, i cannot tell you the genus, species or anything. so i have named them myself- evil. simple? yes. descriptive? maybe. conveying what a swimmer who comes into their midst immediately needs to know? clearly.

after waiting a few hours, we went back out for another two hours and had a grand time- except for the feeling i decribed of salt water and open wounds. that, not so much.

keep in mind i was only thinking of a funny story when i began this little tale. i did not promise you anything. if you read the above expecting funny and ended up not laughing, then you and i have different humor. the minor pain and embarassment of others is often hilarious to me. and in the end, the pain and embarassment are all mine. so go ahead, laugh a little. if you need a touch more, keep in mind where i scraped the reef and that i am sitting in a chair typing this. thanks for mocking my pain. what a jerk.