Hello there!
Here’s an update for all our friends and family following along on our journey about where we are and what we’ve been doing. We’re still in Mexico. See below for more specifics.
We left the Yucatan Peninsula (see last update) and ended up spending 15 nights in the city of Oaxaca (wuh-hah-kah), which is in the state of Oaxaca in the southwest of Mexico. We loved the city, which is in a valley in the mountains.
To name a few of the things we did there:
- several mezcal tastings
- went to Hierve el Agua (petrified waterfall)
- visited Monte Alban (Zapotec city from 500BC)
- attended mass in a very old ornate church
- visited an alibrije (painted mystical animals) workshop and a black pottery workshop
- rode bikes to the biggest (circumference) tree in the world
- went to a chocolate seminar/tasting workshop
- visited several museums and the botanical garden
- rode horses in the countryside
- took a cooking class
- joined in a nighttime bike ride party around town
- saw the orchestra at a fancy theater
- did a language exchange
- ate. a lot.
We then took an 8 hour overnight bus journey (that David just barely managed to not barf during) through the mountains to the Pacific coast. We then spent 5 nights in the village of Mazunte (muh-zoon-tay; pop. 702). There isn’t really much there, but a few beautiful beaches and some restaurants. We stayed in a thatched-roof-hut hostel and spent our days going to the beach, eating, and watching the sunset. It felt hard to be motivated to actually do anything, but we did manage to go on a boat tour (and saw tortugas, whales, and dolphins!), take a beach sunset yoga class, and hike out to a point (for the sunset). It felt nice for the days to revolve around the sun and to not wear proper clothes or footwear for a week.
To leave, we hopped on the back of a pick up truck (collectivo) for the 10 minute ride out of town to the highway, where we caught a bus to Puerto Escondido, which is about an hour from Mazunte.
We enjoyed 3 glorious nights in Puerto Escondido and crammed a lot in (maybe to make up for the lost time of being in the abyss of Mazunte?). We went out to 2 fancy delicious dinners, took a surf lesson, liberated some turtles (blog entry coming soon), went bowling and to a salsa club with our hostel family, watched the sunset every night, and did a long walk exploring Playa Zicatela – home of the famous “Mexican Pipeline” for world class surfing.
Now we’re on to Mexico City for 3 nights (squeezing in more lucha libre and a few other things we missed on our last visit) before heading a bit north to San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, where we’ll spend Semana Santa and Easter.
There’s more to write about than we have time – so what interests you most? What do you want to hear more about?
jd - To Infinity & Beyond! 