Life in Punta Gruesa at the 5 week mark

As mentioned earlier in the blog, our first few weeks here at Punta Gruesa were, at times, rather trying indeed. There was the heat, the new surroundings, living life without luxuries with practically a bunch of strangers – not to mention the mosquitoes! But as time has gone by, these difficulties have simply melted away. Everybody has come to know each other and has begun to feel perfectly comfortable. It is incredible actually just how open and honest everybody has become. I guess that is the magic of being suddenly transported out of your everyday life and surroundings and all of the mundane concerns that go with it. In the same breath, sleeping in a wooden hut without electricity and going without flushing toilets has become perfectly comfortable and has even begun to seem normal. What has helped this is that both the heat and the mosquitoes have relented as we move towards the Mexican winter. Be reassured though, it is still 30˚C in the shade and water temperature consistently sits around 28˚C.

All of these things came together perfectly last Thursday night. After a great day of diving, in which one group intimately met a loggerhead turtle in relatively poor visibility, perhaps the best kitchen group cooked up a smashing dinner which included pizza (a rare treat) then we all congregated down by the waters edge. It was a windy night so the air was cool and the mosquitoes were deterred so shorts and T shirts were fine. The thunderstorms that we had witnessed developing all day broke out all around us but didn’t actually fall on us. Due to this the moon and stars were out too. Panoramically around us, lightning cracked and snapped showing us majestic cloud formations broken only by the silhouettes of rugged palm trees. It was a beautiful moment. Conversations weaved in and out. At times we talked about why we all came to Mexico. Even if none of us had an exact answer, nights like these bring as all closer to finding out.

Life in Punta Gruesa at the 5 week mark