Feb 28. The Zipolite paradox

From Huatulco where the tourist population is reputed to be 80% Mexican to Zipolite where over half the toursits are "whities" like us--what a difference. 

In Huatulco, The Mexicans are so friendly with "hola" , smiles and waves coming from most of them to Zipolite where it is rare to get any sort of smile or eye contact from the Canadians, Europeans or Americans. It is obviously a cultural thing, but the Mexicans make you feel much more at ease in a matter of minutes if you are able to overcome the language predicament. Even with the language block, Mexicans make every effort to try to help you. My Google translator app has helped us immensely-- to the point where my Spanish has started to evolve in my own unique way!

Sunrise this morning was spectacular, as usual. 

We decided to extend our stay here another day--our camp spot, restaurant, sand and water was too nice to hurry ourselves. 

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Feb 27. Hello Zipolite

Since the late 1960's this village has been a haven (heaven?) for "back to the landers", draft diggers and just plain old hippies.  The mile stretch of golden sand is also a retreat for surfers and nudists!  

During my previous 2 visits of 9 and 14 years  ago, it still retained the flavour of its roots. However popularity and legend have resulted in significant development and changes. There are many more small hotels with more guests. The roads are now paved, and most of the hippies have been replaced by Yuppies or old timers trying to regain their youth--I guess like us!😃😃. 

One place that has not changed is located at the north/west end of the beach. Since 1972 it has operated under the name Shambala. This place is a timewarp for want-to-be hippies, Music, meditation, probably some drugs, and free love. It is one of the few places in this town that has not changed much in over 40 years. 

We got lucky and we're able to stay in the same hotel as we did years ago. It is great. We just set up the van in the parking lo under a shade tree about 20 meters from the beach and a table with a shady palapa over it. 

Fabulous waves, a few surfers, good sandy beach to paddle in and walk, plus a few nude bodies to spice up the view make Zipolite an interesting stay. 

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Feb 26. Sunday at Huatulco

This morning, we take a little bit of a hike up a very grand walkway behind our hotel and into the village of La Crucecita. The government certainly had a bundle to spend on this promenade as 50 ft blasting scars border each side of this half km. walk. 

Even though it was 8:00 in the morning, at the end of the promenade there was an open building in a park with very loud music playing. Over 200 Mexicans were doing rock dance exercise moves led by a city recreation worker. There were people from 6 to 70 having a great time to the music. It is done every day and day workers participate before their day shift at work!

In the village we have a snack and returned in the evening for a scrumptious taco dinner with 2 new friends. 

After an enjoyable walk through shops and the town square, plus 2 deserts in local storefronts,  we headed back on the "chicken" bus. 

In the afternoon we did have a bit of a surprise. The air conditioning unit in the room leaked water on the floor and beds--a bit of a mess but staff fixed things up in a few hours while we killed time in the pool. Tough day again. 

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Feb 25. Arrocito bay

This is one of the bays that we had visited, last time through. It was about a 3km bike ride from the hire this morning but we arrived about 9:00 am. After a good walk down many stairs, we had the pick of the restaurant tables with umbrellas right near the water. 

Being a beautiful swimming bay, with a restaurant that served good, we settled in for the day. 

Yesterday we thought we found the best restaurant in town for a late dinner. Today we actually were able to match it when a couple of our new Canadian friends waved us off the street to join them. 

Tough day!😃

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Feb 25. Caught with my pants down

Today we were talking to a couple of women from Kelowna and Campbell River (formerly from Princeton). 

The question came up. "What are you doing for our 150th birthday this year?"

I was caught in my tracks. Neither of us  have even thought about an activity to celebrate our national birthday other than our usual "ho hum" spring-summer-fall activities. 

One of the ladies was describing her birthday celebration activity and it made me feel a little sheepish. She was taking a plane trip for a week that stopped in locations from White Horse to Iqualuit in the north and back to Vancouver via a southern route. Each of the stops has a CANADA celebration activity. 

Adrienne and I started brain storming to come up with something unique--a place like a national park we have not seen, or some activity we have put off or place we have yet to see. 

If you have any good ideas for celebrating our National Birthday, let me know. We might even join you in doing it if it works out. 

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Feb 24. Yesterday's shaker

I forgot to mention that yesterday, at 4:27 AM we experience earthquake.  It woke us up with a shock. The hotel sounded like a huge vehicle hitting the rumble strip in the side of a highway. Although it lasted for less than Ten seconds, it felt much longer. We did not quite know what to do. We jumped out of bed but could not go outside because we are on the second floor and it was dangerous standing on the balcony because there is another cement balcony above our heads. 

We got back into bed thinking about an escape plan. I was on the internet searching earthquake history in the area, when sure enough a half hour later a second tremor occurred. This one lasted longer than the first.  It was certainly a bit unnerving. 

The first quake was 4.8 in the richter scale and apparently quakes of this magnitude are common in this area. No damage was reported, but as can be expected, Ade had a hard time getting back to sleep. I just crashed, but with my clothes on!!

Today I had a day full of fun. Ade took a break and I rented a scooter for the day. From 9:00 until 11:00 I just drove throughout Huatulco from bay to bay, get a complete "lay of the land". Next it was off to Entrega bay to resume my scuba adventure. 

Sure enough my guide from yesterday was there with three other clients to take me on a free dive and get the pictures that failed to come out yesterday. 

We saw the same sorts of fish and she got some great video of them eating from a shell in my hand. Along with one of her clients, she took us into the ocean cave again. It was much easier overcoming my claustrophobia today as a swell propelled us through the narrow waterway into the open cave area. The 15 year old from Brooks Alberta was beside himself with excitement--especially on our way out as experienced divers seemed to soar below us as they were diving right below us through the narrow entry way. 

The guide was so good to me as she took my email, assuring me that the pictures would be on my computer tomorrow. 

Next, I was back to see Ade for a bit before doing a bit more exploring in the afternoon. It was sad when 5:30 came and I had to return my machine. 

Village of Bocano Capalita where Chay and I stopped and tried our luck at surfing. 

The restaurant we are going to this evening only had one reservation left at 9:00. It will be a late dinner. 

Wow!! What a great dinner. Can you imagine? A French restaurant in Huatulco, Mexico?  I thought our hotel restaurant meal was great last night. This meal definitely raised the standard!  The entries and drinks were great and the fresh made lava cake (cooked while you eat so you order it at the start of your meal!) was more than we ever expected along with the home made ice cream (made each morning in the restaurant) sent the meal over the top!  All for just over $20!!!

The late stroll home topped everything off with the stars and perfect evening temperature with slight breeze. 

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Feb 23 Huatulco on an ATV

As I mentioned another entry on the blog, Huatulco is not really a city. It is an enormous park and within the park are three communities. These communities are Santa Cruz, Tangolunda and La Crucecita. 

 There are about 9 distinctive bays within the Huatulco park. Each one has a distinctive character with a nice clean sandy beach. We road our bikes to look at 2 of the bays yesterday.  

Huatulco' location on the North American continent is rather unique.

Because of the way Mexico bends around at the lower quarter , the coast line runs directly east and west, rather than the traditional north and south in Canada and USA. It takes a bit of getting used to when following or giving directions. Also, the sun does not set over middle of the ocean, it rises and sets near the shoreline here. 

An interesting point about tourism in this area is that traditionally 80% of the business in this town is generated  from within Mexico. Although you would find that figure hard to believe at this time of year when everywhere you look you can find Canadians. There is now a direct Air Transat flight from Vancouver!  A couple of our new surfer friends took it on a seat sale for only $500 CND return!

Of the more than a dozen people we have met, not one was American--all Canadian from Oliver, Campbell River, Brooks, Calgary, Regina , Toronto, Quebec and a whole bus load from the Bochello resort that we all Canadian. 

Our Mexican guide told us there are basically 2 kinds of tourists here--Mexicans and Canadians. 

Yesterday, after a rather warm bike ride, it was the pool for a refreshing dip. Then lunch--same delicious shrimp salad on the beach. 

Today it was an ATV trip along the beautiful landscape roadways of Huatulco. Traffic is so light that our tour rider had permits to allow us on any road in the Santa Cruz area!

Eventually she took us to a couple of kilometres of trails within the park. Then we ended up on a totally secluded bay for about 40 minutes. Here we took a swim and truly enjoyed the isolation of the area.

Next we were back on normal roadway driving. The colours and palm trees along the roadway are a treat.  Our next stop was a lighthouse at one of the points within the park. Stunning views were on three sides of us. Our final destination was another cove where we parked our ATVs beside a restaurant. Here we had lunch and then she took me snorkelling to a reef area within one of the bays. It was quite magical in the Clearwater viewing the coral and the hundreds of multicoloured tropical fish. At one point I had an old shell in my hand and there were dozens of fish eating from the shell in my hand. She took several pictures of it, but disappointing me they did not turn out.

The upside of this was she offered to take me again tomorrow, to redo the pictures.  Typically Mexican--very accommodating!

Here is an interesting shot of OUR HARBOUR BAY. There is actually a a small bay behind the cruise ship pier. It forms a marina with at least 200 boats in it behind the buildings with red roofs. We are located at the end of the marina behind the red roofs in the white building called the Skippers Club. 

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Feb 21. A fond farewell to San Augustin

The Today saw us in our 6th and last day here. It was a pleasant 22-3 degree morning with a slight breeze. However, the stillness of last night made our sleeping time feel almost too warm. 

The ordeal of loading the bikes and getting everything ready usually takes an hour but we were in no hurry this morning, as Adrienne walked through the restaurant to the beach to enjoy last thoughts of this beautiful spot. 

Our not too distant neighbours, Darryl and Val dropped over to say good bye. They also were on their way to pick up eggs. It was a fortunate stop for them as we decided to give them our eggs and a few other things from our cooler. We would be in a hotel for the next 4 nights so it was also lucky for us, not to have to throw good food away as we would be turning off our cooler during our stay. 

We had a fun few games of crib last night and I mentioned how frustrated I was at not being able to purchase a beer-cozy in this country. With the heat a cold beer remains cool for only minutes without an insulating cover--but I guess Mexicans do not mind. Darryl must have realized my frustration with warm beer. This morning as he said good bye he handed me an extra beer-cozy from his van and they  wished us "safe travels". 

The 13 km of washboard and gravel was again a slow go for Dahlia but we eventually made pavement and the short run to Huatulco. 

We arrived a couple of hours before check in so it gave us time to get caught up on banking and other internet tasks. Next was lunch at a beach restaurant--and order of shrimp salad that was so large it satisfied both of us!

Before heading back to the hotel to check in we strolled through parts of the tourist-retail section of Santa Cruz  (one of the 3 communities that make up Huatulco). 

Adrienne picked up a very pretty Mexican tie-died dress with highlighting embroidery for only $15 and I topped up another month talk and cell data for only $7.50

The cell data has proved very valuable as we use it constantly in the car for communication GPS--it makes driving  so easy. Also, Google on-the-fly can be handy, and the unlimited call feature throughout North America has helped us keep in the loop at home and with anyone who we need to catch up with. 

As mentioned earlier in the blog, we really like the location of our hotel, The Skipper's Club. Apart from the normal outdoor restaurant, it has 3 pools, and a billiard-pool room with small bar resembling the inside of a well maintained ship's recreation room with natural wood finishing throughout--even and ancient roulette wheel in wood and leather to play with. One of the pool tables is enormous but has no pockets!  I have not figured that one out yet. 

We wrapped the day up with a romantic dinner on a quiet sandy beach, in a bay, nearby an enormously large but quiet pier that from time to time hosts  cruise ships that visit the town. Adrienne and her mom made such a stop a few years ago. 

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Feb 18. San Augustin

Sun rises like this are easy to take. 

Our restaurant location makes it difficult to turn down meals like this Snapper Platter last night. 

With a morning temperature of 22 degrees and day time projected to 30, we think we made the right decision to hang around for a few more days. 

It is interesting that such a nice spot as this, being so close to Huatulco, with almost new Palapa sleeping accommodation for under $15 per night--and it is not rented. Strange how tourists flock to the higher priced city accommodation for two weeks. This little "change of pace" is available at a fraction of the cost and, for a short stay, is much nicer in our opinion. 

Adrienne and I were talking about personal safety tonight. Not only have we felt safe in past trips but she actually feels safer this trip. The people seem to go to no end to try to accommodate your stay. We are sure that if we needed help or a ride anywhere due to circumstances, there would be a smiling face there to help us. Unlike Canada, USA and Europe, eye contact, waves and smiles are not a lost cultural trait in Mexico. 

Our hosts at "our" beach restaurant have been more than we could have ever hoped for. We get the best drinks, great food and a table on the beach (with gentle waves for background only 15 ft from our chairs) each day. When we are too cheap to purchase their drinks, we head back to Dahlia mix a drink, return to our beachside table and ice is "on the house". 

Today, being Saturday, was a fun day. 5 busses and two barge boats brought mostly Mexican families to "our beach". However when you spread 300 tourists between almost 20 restaurants it seemed pleasantly busy and the Mexican kids are so much fun to watch as they spend hour after hour having fun in the ocean waves. 

In the evening two of our new friends (Darrel and Val) from Saskatchewan dropped by to set up a Yahtzee game for tomorrow. Oh the stress of this place!! Time for a bit of Bob Marley!!

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Feb 17. San Augustin

Another uniquely beautiful Mexican beach. 

This quiet little spot has most things you would want in a beach vacation with only one problem. There are NO HOTELS or even camp grounds! We are only able to stay here because we have a small enough vehicle to negotiate the rough winding gravel road and to be able to park at the back of a beachfront restaurant. Even being behind our restaurant, we have an ocean view, as we are only separated from the water by a beachfront palapa with no walls--and we even have power with a tiled shower and washroom only a few steps away. 

There is surfing, swimming, snorkelling, fishing, a few craft stores, and hiking Rocky trails overlooking the bay. 

Another unique thing about this spot is it is on an isthmus of land that extends directly south. Because of this location, we get an ocean sunrise in the morning. By walking across to the other side of the spot you get an icean sunset at night--a truly unusual spot. 

There are basically only two sources That feed the economic health of this community. One  is the few adventure seeking tourist in Huatulco who takes  a taxi to the spot. The other is the large tourist "barge boats" that ferry people from Huatulco here so they can enjoy the atmosphere and snorkel throughout a unique corral bed. The coral here grow like broccoli, with stems and the actual corral look like the florets on your everyday store bought broccoli. 

These corral florets extends about 15 feet above the sea bed to within a few feet of the water surface at low tide. It is beautiful to see the hundreds of multi-colours fish swimming throughout the corral. 

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Feb 16. Huatulco and San Augustin

After I laid back 5 days in Barra, we on our way to Huatulco. It was only 3/4 hour drive north. This city is actually made up of several smaller communities within an enormous park on south shores of Mexico.

It is truly one of our favorite spots. It has numerous bays and a reasonably large amount of accommodation. To us it is a much more interesting all-inclusive location than the Mayan River Riviera. There are a number of rock encircled bays, each with a unique relatively secluded sandy beach. For very little cost one is able to take a taxi and go from one bay to another to enjoy the warm water and beaches.

Accommodations are very reasonable. We are booked at the Skippers Club. It is a hotel right on the waterfront by the yacht club and had a pool and very nice rooms. With our bikes we could get to many locations. The price was a mere $25 per night.

Because it was fully booked we had to time our stay for 5 days from now. To fill this time we went to another of our favoured beach resort spots about a half hour north of Huatulco called San Augustin.

13 km gravel road into San Augustin is definitely a little on the rough side. However when we did arrive, it had not changed much from the last time we were here about nine years ago. In fact we actually got to stay at the back of the same restaurant that we did years ago. It is truly wonderful spot. We are on the beach side of the road, camped behind the restaurant with a palapa roof and beach where the waves sometimes come right into the sandy floor of the restaurant. 

 

We booked in for five days to enjoy ourselves prior to going back to Huatulco and spending 5 days at the Captain's Club hotel.

One of the interesting things about staying at the restaurant we were at nine years ago is the same family still owns it. Two children that were nine and 10 then, are now 18 and 19--Of course they do not remember us but we certainly do remember them.

Finally, being right on the ocean. made it feel a little cooler because of the slight ocean breezes--a great spot to kill to time before our Huatulco stay.

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Feb 15. Good-night at Barra de la Cruz

Today was our last laid-back day on the beach at Barra de la Cruz. 

The subculture there is 100% surf. The point break makes it fun to watch but when it came surfing I never even got to a standup position!😃. For us it was a some good water time then good shrimp cocktails under the beach palapa and a few drinks. I even had time to "listen to" a great book. 

At Pepé's it was a bit of Yahtzee  with people we met from to Tofino. Patrick was a biologist and his girlfriend, Gwen, formally worked for the city Chamber of Commerce. They had been at Barra de la Cruz for two solid weeks enjoying this surf. 

Patrick's job was very interesting. He works at a relatively new aquatic museum in Tofino. Every year they release all of their specimens back to the ocean!! The next season they start all over again collecting ocean species of plants and animals. They study them for the season and then release them again. It's a sort of catch-hold-study-release program where tourists can visit a new set of specimens each year!

Some of the other people were Frenchy (from France ) who we liken to a bantam rooster as he bounced throughout the cabins and campers talking to everyone. Then there was Scotty (from Australia) who is stretching a two week vacation into two months! Beside us was Ryan. He was a highly skilled data-high tech guy who quit his job in San Francisco and was starting a 1.5 year trip to Patagonia in Argentina. Others were from Switzerland, Austria, France,  Germany, and of course Mexico. 

Our spot at Pepe's cabins was an interesting study in people and languages and where they congregated from around the globe. 

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Feb 14. Valentine's Day at Barra de la Cruz

I Surf, sand and sun. For a few days, it does not get much better.

Not much to do here but enjoy the weather, water, and the company of the few surfers that frequent this mecca of surfing.

There are not a lot of people here but they come from all over Europe and North America. The point break is great to watch some top-quality surfing. Also the laid-back lifestyle is something that many people seek out.

The private beach costs a $1.50 a day and you get is a restaurant palapa bar and shade along with the sandy beach and perfect-temperature water. 

A bit of partying in the distant homes sites adds to the flavour. 

We  decided to enjoy a bit more time  here and then it is pack up time and we are heading about an hour north to the resort town of Huatulco. 

Since it is a well-known tourist destination Huatulco will be a little more crowded. It offers the amenities of the city plus the tranquil bays, surfing,  snorkelling , and night life in the South Pacific of Mexico.  Also there is two beautiful looking golf courses adjacent to this medium size tourist town.

Of all the locations we have been in Mexico over the years, we think Huatulco is the best if we ever want to do an all-inclusive Mexican holiday.   There are many things to do plus the town has a much more interesting geography than anywhere else on The Mayan Riviera or North Pacific resorts in the country. 

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