A little about Playa Zipolite, The Beach of the Dead . . .

Playa Zipolite, Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean. A little bit about my favorite little get-away on this small world of ours.

Zipolite, a sweaty 30-minute walk west from Puerto Angel, brings you to Playa Zipolite and another world. The feeling here is 1970's - Led Zep, Marley, and scruffy gringos.

A long, long time ago, Zipolite beach was usually visited by the Zapotecans...who made it a magical place. They came to visit Zipolite to meditate, or just to rest.

Recently, this beach has begun to receive day-trippers from Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido, giving it a more TOURISTY feel than before.

Most people come here for the novelty of the nude beach, yoga, turtles, seafood, surf, meditation, vegetarians, discos, party, to get burnt by the sun, or to see how long they can stretch their skinny budget.

I post WWW Oaxaca, Mexico, Zipolite and areas nearby information. Also general budget, backpacker, surfer, off the beaten path, Mexico and beyond, information.

REMEMBER: Everyone is welcome at Zipolite.

ivan

Friday, December 23, 2011

Village :: Mazunte

Lattitude	15.663453
Longitude	-96.556177

Quiet beach village and sea turtle center, located very close to the southernmost point of Oaxaca state of Mexico (and also close to better-known Puerto Ángel and Zipolite).

Wikipedia says that there are two etymologies for the name of the village. Some sources state that "Mazunte" is derived from a Nahuatl phrase, "maxotetia" which means "please deposit eggs here" (Mazunte is famous for sea turtles!). However, older residents of the community state that it is from the word "mizontle", used by locals to refer to a crab species that used to be very abundant in the area. Both ways, you can see that name is closely related to the ocean, which gently rolls its waves over Mazunte's sandy beaches.

Before the mid 20th century, it had nearly no population, but that changed when a market for sea turtle meat and eggs developed. Until late 1990s, killing turtles was the main business here, but then Mexican government quickly reacted to sudden drop in turtles population and banned trade of turtle meat and eggs and promote ecotourism as a healthy alternative for income of the villagers.

The federal government established the Mexican National Turtle Center as the center of an effort to promote sea turtles as a base for tourism, and in the years, families that lost their primary income because of the ban, started to recover and now household income has improved by an average of 17%. Before many residences had no running water, electricity, schools or health centers, which exist now. All this shows a great example for other nations that are blessed by marine biodiversity and gives hope for the future.

Mazunte is a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) stretch of beach with a secluded cove on the far west end, which is bordered by Punta Cometa ("Comet Point"), also called Cerro Sagrado ("Sacred Hill"). It is the southernmost point of the state of Oaxaca and an important stopping place for migratory birds and marine mammals such as whales. On the other side resides National Mexican Turtle Center. From the beach, boat tours are organized to Zipolite, Puerto Ángel, Estacahuite, La Mina and La Boquilla. Depending on the season, it is possible to see whales, dolphins, sea turtles, manta rays and other aquatic species.

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