#7 - Mexico!

The bee exists! After years of watching the cartoon bee on the Simpsons yelling “aye chihuahua!!” we couldn’t believe our eyes when the real thing appeared on the tv in front of us. Of course we had to take a photo…

Entry to Mexico

After over-nighting in Rio and setting a new world record for the most customs clearances in a two day period (7 in four countries) and passing the rigorous 5 minute inquisition to simply transit through Miami for 3 hours, we finally landed in Cancun.

The first thing we did on landing (after a Mexican beer at the airport) was jump on a bus to Playa del Carmen which was about 45 minutes down the coast. Although a little touristy and still in the tail end of spring break, the white sand and aqua waters of Playa were absolutely stunning!

Playa del Carmen

The week was leading up to our two year wedding anniversary and Playa del Carmen was a beautiful setting to splurge a little on accommodation and enjoy some sunshine and cocktails. Much to our delight the margaritas were delicious and we didn’t suffer from the once familiar margarita hangover that had made us both wary of tequila.

We took advantage of the American tourism to indulge in some tex-mex to segue into Mexican cuisine and had some great guacamole prepared table side.

We mostly relaxed in the sun but Dave did commemorate our wedding (and the broken finger he received on his bucks party) by stumbling down a step and breaking one of his toes on the day of our anniversary (this had nothing whatsoever to do with the obscene amount of cocktails and beer he had drunk in the preceding hours).


Isla Mujeres

Recommended by multiple people who were all very correct (thank you!), Isla Mujeres was way less touristy, had whiter sand, bluer water and cheaper beer than Playa del Carmen… so we were very happy!

Not much to report on activity here, the average day consisted of sitting on the beach, taking turns at SLOWLY reading Harry Potter in Spanish and drinking $5 buckets of beer.

$5 buckets of beer on the beach. Awesome!



More beer

Kate reading Harry Potter (in Spanish) VERY slowly

Ruins

We did sneak in a couple of days to be cultural, hitting the ocean side ruins of Tulum and the grandiose Mayan ruins in Chichen-Itza. We based ourselves in Cancun for the trip to Chichen-Itza but torrential rain made it impossible to see more than the hotel, the hotel restaurant and the bus stop

Ruins at Tulum

The pyramid at Chichen Itza

The area in Chichen Itza where ball games were played.

The mural depicts the captains of each team in the ball game. Note that the captain on the right has been beheaded, presumably for losing. At least they didn't have to face the British press after a defeat...

Rows of skulls around a platform for human sacrifice

A lizard hanging out on the sacrificial platform in front of the pyramid. He doesn't seem too worried though...

Dave vs Mayan warrior

An ancient game of noughts and crosses?

Oaxaca

Oaxaca was a beautiful little city and a highlight of our time in Mexico. Set up really well for tourists, however without a tacky touristy feeling

The streets of Oaxaca

The church in the centre of Oaxaca. A blue bride gets ready for her wedding on the right

The surroundings of the church

There was a great museum in the old buildings off the church

Inside the museum. A real skull this time!! A little creepy...

The food in Oaxaca was amazing and a welcome break from the tex-mex from the Cancun region! Oaxaca is the home of ‘mole’, which are rich complicated sauces. The most famous of which are the dark chocolate moles. The importance of these sauces was clear in the menus, which would say something like “mole with chicken” (rather than the other way around), indicating that the meat was simply an accompaniment to the sauce!

We had to "rough it" at this restaurant in Oaxaca. Not the dodgy taco stand we were expecting!

After eating all the wonderful food in Oaxaca, we couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing it again, so we signed up for a cooking course. Following a trip to the markets (and attempting to remember all the names for the different chillis!) we spent a couple of hours cooking several dishes before sitting down to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Not sure if we can replicate it back home, but we’ll give it a go!

Our teacher (with awesome Miami clothing!!) talking us through the fresh vegetables at the market

Lots of chillies!!! No way we are going to remember all of their names though!

Our food preparation area. The picture on the right are all of the ingredients for the Mole de Fiesta!!

Pressing and cooking our own tortillas. They tasted SO much better made fresh!!

Masterchef toasting some almonds for the mole

Before and after ... squash-blossom quesadillas with fresh tortillas

And the star of the show ... Mole de Fiesta!!

A further surprise for Oaxaca was that it was one of Mexico’s key centres for the drink Mezcal, which is made from the agave plant (Tequila is actually just a type of Mezcal, made from the blue agave plant in the region of Tequila). With the smooth, slightly smoky taste of the Mezcals, Dave was easily able to put aside his long-held aversion to Tequila. Kate was especially brave by sampling the salt served with the Mezcal, which included ground chillis and ground worms! With these aversions conquered, we sampled many (in fact a few too many) Mezcals in Oaxaca.

Mezcal with chilli salt and oranges. On the right ... Kate realises the chilli salt has worms in it!!

Finally, the town served as a centre for artisanal handicrafts from communities in the surrounding areas. Budget and backpack space unfortunately forced us to do a little more window shopping than we would have liked … so next time we will need to return with more money and spare baggage! (Along with big appetites and healthy livers!)

The Oaxacan Coast

A windy mini bus ride tested our stomachs and took us to the south coast town of Pochutle where even the locals couldn’t understand our determination to stay. We then spent the next 3 weeks enjoying the beaches.

Mazunte

Our first beach stop was Mazunte where we stayed in a beautiful cliff top French run hotel. Three days by the pool, waking up to fresh fruit and freshly baked honey bread set the scene for our wind down journey home.

Left: The view from the pool at the French guesthouse.

Right: The breakfast with fresh baked bread ... and vegemite!!

In Mazunte we also found some Argentine ex pats running a local parilla and caught up on some much loved beef and Malbec.

Zipolite

Keen to slow down, we stopped for 8 nights in the beach side ‘town’ (2 streets of restaurants, hotels and mini-marts) of Zipolite.

Zipolite, loosely translated as ‘beach of the dead’, is so called because of the strong currents and powering surf. Knowing we couldn’t swim much, we found a perfect hostel with an ocean front balcony where we spent the rest of the week doing not much else than getting a bit of sun, reading in hammocks and chatting to the ex-hippy owner, before grabbing dinner and falling asleep to the sound of pounding surf.

Basic accommodation at Zipolite .. but with the best location imaginable!!

The general store ... with the key ingredient for the beach!

The beach at Zipolite and the flag system (we never saw any green flags though!)

Puerto Escondido

It is with full but heavy hearts that we will remember our time in Puerto.
On arriving to the lonely planet ‘our pick’ to the only room available, we were delighted to find ourselves in a top floor apartment with a view of the ‘Mexican pipeline’.

The gardens at the guesthouse at Puerto Escondido

The view from the guesthouse at sunset over the pipeline

While the waves here can reach up to 12 metres in July, they were rolling in at about a mere 20ft (on the face) during our stay. The owner, Dan, was incredibly friendly and turned out to be an F1 fanatic which meant that Dave happily was able to see Webber take 1st place in the Spanish GP.

Dan talked a lot about the family vibe of his hotel where a lot of surfers stay long term over the surfing season. We saw this first hand while, watching the stunning sunset over incredible surf, we got talking to a friendly group of guys that included a world class big wave surfer and his mates who were talented enough to brave the waves

Kate takes a paparazzi shot of one of the world's best big wave surfers relaxing after a surf

On our first walk on the beach we were blown away by the strength of the water and the size of the waves up close. We were also a little glad we couldn’t swim here when the beach was lined with washed up sea snakes.

Just after admiring the power of the surf, sadly one morning we stepped outside our room to a frantic bird’s eye search for one of the surfers who hadn’t resurfaced with his snapped board after wiping out. He was found over one hour after disappearing from view and tragically didn’t make it. The overwhelming sadness on the beach and the hotel was all encompassing and it was touching to see how the guys spent the next few days dealing with the tragedy, including an emotional sunset surfer circle.

The surfers at Puerto Escondido gather for a ceremony at sunset for their friend

After the days of sadness some much needed laughter came a few days later when one of the surfers asked us what on earth else could happen when they had been chased out of the surf by a rogue crocodile! (Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this though).

After an emotional week we packed our bags and reluctantly jumped on the bus to Acapulco.

Acapulco

Puerto Escondido marked the end of our “chilled out” holidays and we started to embark on the long road home. A bus ride along the coast brought us to the famous Acapulco. After the sparse calm of the Oaxaca coast, the traffic, sounds and crowds in Acapulco were a rude shock to our senses.

Our first taste of traffic for a long time!! The view from one of the cute little Volkswagon Beetle taxis in Acapulco

Acapulco used to be Mexico’s major tourist destination (until the focus dramatically shifted to Cancun). A relatively pretty beach was unfortunately towered over by highrises, however the real treat of our visit here was a visit to see the cliffdivers.

We decided to have dinner in a restaurant overlooking the cliffs and were greeted with some old school celebrity signatures carved into the wooden walls (Hefner, Connery, Eastwood, Sinatra...). For the actual diving show itself, not only were we blown away by the height of the cliff diving, it was amazing to see how young the divers were (they were babies!) and also that they scaled the cliffs like little spiders before jumping down!

The divers walk through the crowd and then scale the cliffs to the top

Divers at the top of their jump both in the day and night shows

From Acapulco, we sadly (SADLY!!!) said goodbye to the ocean and turned inland for our final bus rides to Mexico City via the beautiful town of Taxco. Stay tuned for our final instalment for the trip home :(