We had a really nice Christmas time with Tom and all of his friends, people from France, Belgium, Italy, Australia... such a diverse group of people bringing an amazingly diverse array of foods to the holiday table! For Christmas dinner we spent the whole day cooking our dishes - Ian and I made a delicious mediterranean salad with olives, tomatoes, goat cheese, chickpeas, etc and squeezed a liter of fresh orange juice from the fruit tree in Tom´s front yard. Mmmm. There was Thai curry, baba ganoush and humus, ponche (a traditional Mexican holiday drink, similar to cider but made with a variety of fruits, or just pineapple, with posh or tequila) ... quite the feast. All enjoyed by a toasty fire.
That night we went to see MU FAYA, one of the bands Tom produces (he has a recording studio in the house and like a dozen guitars). They´re an intense couple of French reggae guys, and mu faya is their version of MORE FIRE because they don´t speak English. Youtube it.
We´ve been having a very nice time staying with Tom and his roommate Anna. We wake to a pot of coffee in the garden, the walls absolutely covered with orchids and bromiliads that Tom has collected from the woods, parrots and parakeets who live nearby in the belltower of a church sqwaking in the morning. They have a great set of friends, most of whom are expats or travelers from other countries, always ready with stories and advice about their travels.
San Cristóbal is a wonderful city, so similar to Pátzcuaro in the architecture and narrow streets, with a modest vibe. There is a diference in the size, and the amount of people here, and this means there´s actually a night life (nothing happened past 8 pm in Patzcuaro) which is great for Tom and these guys because they´re so into the music scene of the town and Mexico. Especially durning Christmas, there´s an excitement in the air. We've been hearing (and barely seeing) fireworks all day, a sure sign of celebration in Mexico.
We´ve had a nice hike to some very well hidden ruins nearby, completely unexcavated. The people in town don´t even know about them - they like to make the people think no one was in San Cristóbal before the Spaniards.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
de las Casas
Ay Ay Ay.
So we left Zipolite, sadly. It was a spectacular few weeks on the beach, though most of what we did was lie around. We did a couple more trips to other beaches nearby, Playa Panteòn for
safe swimming, Playa del Amor for a super tiny private beach. We spent a lot of time in a hammock, barefoot 24/7 unless we needed to go into Pochutla for cash - an annoying trip - ate good food like chow mein and pizzas with blue cheese, found a good cup of coffee. We took advantage of the hotels inner tube and surfed some waves!!
One day the water was calm enough for them to put out the green flags. That day I got stung by a sting ray. They like the calm... pros and cons I guess. It felt like my foot was stabbed with a knife, but I knew exactly what it was as soon as it happened-I was already aware of them,
shuffling my feet and whatnot, running into something flat and fishy here and there.
The lifeguard pointed me towards the closest thing to a doctor the town has and he gave me a couple of shots for the pain. My entire foot still hurt for hours afterwards, and a fun sore bruise for a couple of weeks!
On the day we were supposed to leave, we had left our room and gone the half hour into Pochutla to catch a bus, but they were all full. So we returned to spend one more last day at the beach, what a shame.
After ten hours on the bus, we arrived in San Cristòbal de las Casas, Chiapas and we`re staying with a friend we met a couple months ago in Pàtzcuaro. We will be a part of the holiday dinner and parties, and the town is a great place to be for Christmas time. Lights, music, magic in the air.
So we left Zipolite, sadly. It was a spectacular few weeks on the beach, though most of what we did was lie around. We did a couple more trips to other beaches nearby, Playa Panteòn for
safe swimming, Playa del Amor for a super tiny private beach. We spent a lot of time in a hammock, barefoot 24/7 unless we needed to go into Pochutla for cash - an annoying trip - ate good food like chow mein and pizzas with blue cheese, found a good cup of coffee. We took advantage of the hotels inner tube and surfed some waves!!
One day the water was calm enough for them to put out the green flags. That day I got stung by a sting ray. They like the calm... pros and cons I guess. It felt like my foot was stabbed with a knife, but I knew exactly what it was as soon as it happened-I was already aware of them,
shuffling my feet and whatnot, running into something flat and fishy here and there.
The lifeguard pointed me towards the closest thing to a doctor the town has and he gave me a couple of shots for the pain. My entire foot still hurt for hours afterwards, and a fun sore bruise for a couple of weeks!
On the day we were supposed to leave, we had left our room and gone the half hour into Pochutla to catch a bus, but they were all full. So we returned to spend one more last day at the beach, what a shame.
After ten hours on the bus, we arrived in San Cristòbal de las Casas, Chiapas and we`re staying with a friend we met a couple months ago in Pàtzcuaro. We will be a part of the holiday dinner and parties, and the town is a great place to be for Christmas time. Lights, music, magic in the air.
Friday, December 12, 2008
fotos
This is Zipolite... there are waves nig enough to surf, too big to swim, but fun for body surfing.
Chillin on the beach with fresh coconut milk
This is where we stayed the first night.
This was our new and improved tent set up behind the restaurant at Lake Catemaco. That`s the RV that parked on top of us.
The lancha that took us out
This is at the San Ulùa Jose fort in Veracruz. They called this the last bridge you`d ever cross because it leads into the prison that no one came out of. 
That`s me at the fort in the endless set of arches where they stored food and collected water that seeped through the coral walls and made it drinkable - this is the coral 
Rolling some fatties at Te Amo cigars.
A nasty-huge grasshopper we picked up on the walk. It was like the size of a rat
Chillin on the beach with fresh coconut milk
This is where we stayed the first night.
This was our new and improved tent set up behind the restaurant at Lake Catemaco. That`s the RV that parked on top of us.
On Lake Catemaco
On the docks at Nanciyaga on the lake
On the docks at Nanciyaga on the lake
The lancha that took us out
This is at the San Ulùa Jose fort in Veracruz. They called this the last bridge you`d ever cross because it leads into the prison that no one came out of.
That`s me at the fort in the endless set of arches where they stored food and collected water that seeped through the coral walls and made it drinkable - this is the coral 
Rolling some fatties at Te Amo cigars.
On the road to the waterfall in Xico.... Veracruz was more tropical than we`d seen so far
A nasty-huge grasshopper we picked up on the walk. It was like the size of a rat
Thursday, December 4, 2008
barefoot breakfasts
Zipolite beach is hippie town on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca. Once a sleepy fishing villiage on the costa chica, in the 70s a bunch of hippies came here to watch a solar eclipse, and ended up building a permanent community. Everything is on the beach, and all the accomodations are little tropical paradises - there are cabañas and huts, they rent out hammocks to sleep in, and many places let people pitch tents in the sand.
After a long day on a bus and a pirata, we got into Zipolite without any reservation. A guy shouted at us on the street "room for 2, 100 pesos!" so we took it. Anything else is at least 200 pesos a night. A hole of a room, but right on the beach, like every single place in town. The next day we got money changed at a hotel, and talked to the owner for long enough that he offered us a better cabaña for only 80 pesos!
So we`ve spent the last few days absolutely soaking up the sun - a southfacing beach enjoys the sunrise and sunset! We lay in the hammock in front of our cabaña looking out into the water. We swim and swim and swim all day long. It`s a pretty dangerous current, but the lifegaurds are always up running after something so I feel safe. I`ve been working on my tan, but it`s still a burn. The food in this town is rather different than anywhere else. The majority of people here are Europeans, so there are a few Italian restaurants and bakeries, there`s a creperie, chow mein, a wide variety. And what we`ve eaten so far is pretty economical. An awesome Mexican man barbecues whole chickens, cuts it in half and slaps it on your plate with rice and mac salad and tortillas for 25 pesos!! The only thing he serves. So delicious, huge... Ian has had dreams of the chicken.
Yesterday we went on a boat ride that lasted all morning long and snorkeled at a beautiful beach called Playa Estacahuite, a tiny tiny little beach, really private compared to others, still with the bar and couple hotels on it. Snorkeling was sooo much fun, felt just like I was a little fishy chasing after all the pretty fishies. On the boat we spotted a pair of humpback wales several times, even really close to the boat. We could jump out in the middle of the ocean and float beside the boat. It left from Playa Panteòn, another super cute beach with more families and boats anchored close to shore.
We are really enjoying ourselves and are probably planning to stay for another 2 weeks....
I haven`t worn shoes a minute since we got here.
After a long day on a bus and a pirata, we got into Zipolite without any reservation. A guy shouted at us on the street "room for 2, 100 pesos!" so we took it. Anything else is at least 200 pesos a night. A hole of a room, but right on the beach, like every single place in town. The next day we got money changed at a hotel, and talked to the owner for long enough that he offered us a better cabaña for only 80 pesos!
So we`ve spent the last few days absolutely soaking up the sun - a southfacing beach enjoys the sunrise and sunset! We lay in the hammock in front of our cabaña looking out into the water. We swim and swim and swim all day long. It`s a pretty dangerous current, but the lifegaurds are always up running after something so I feel safe. I`ve been working on my tan, but it`s still a burn. The food in this town is rather different than anywhere else. The majority of people here are Europeans, so there are a few Italian restaurants and bakeries, there`s a creperie, chow mein, a wide variety. And what we`ve eaten so far is pretty economical. An awesome Mexican man barbecues whole chickens, cuts it in half and slaps it on your plate with rice and mac salad and tortillas for 25 pesos!! The only thing he serves. So delicious, huge... Ian has had dreams of the chicken.
Yesterday we went on a boat ride that lasted all morning long and snorkeled at a beautiful beach called Playa Estacahuite, a tiny tiny little beach, really private compared to others, still with the bar and couple hotels on it. Snorkeling was sooo much fun, felt just like I was a little fishy chasing after all the pretty fishies. On the boat we spotted a pair of humpback wales several times, even really close to the boat. We could jump out in the middle of the ocean and float beside the boat. It left from Playa Panteòn, another super cute beach with more families and boats anchored close to shore.
We are really enjoying ourselves and are probably planning to stay for another 2 weeks....
I haven`t worn shoes a minute since we got here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
