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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Things To Do In Mazunte, Oaxaca
Things To Do In Mazunte, Oaxaca
Whilst planning our itinerary for the Oaxacan Coast, we heard good things about the quiet eco-tourism beach town of Mazunte. We came across a Spanish school there called El Instituto Iguana. So we decided to stay for two weeks to study and take a break from bicycle touring in the 35 degree heat (our new daily grind). We have concluded that Mazunte is a great escape from noisy Puerto Escondido to the northwest and the all-inclusive resort city of Huatulco to the northeast.
El Instituto Iguana Spanish School
Lars and Janet after finishing the morning class at El Instituto Iguana.
Upon arriving in Mazunte, we met with Ana and she helped us decide on our class structure. We opted for two hour classes five days a week. We were visiting during the low-season, so the group classes were not available. However, this meant that we had our own private teachers at a reasonable rate of $145 pesos/hour. This might not be as cheap as the schools in Guatemala, but it’s less than what we found in Puerto Escondido, and with a nicer atmosphere. High season pricing is shown on the Instituto website here.
Our three maestros at El Instituto Iguana. From the left, Daniel, Janet and Ana. Daniel and Janet are also expert rafting guides who run Ola Verde Expediciones in Mazunte. They offer 10% discount to students at El Instituto.
Rafting With Ola Verde Expediciones
Loading the river rafts for a day trip with Ola Verde Expediciones.
Our spanish teachers Janet and Daniel offer fantastic river rafting at Ola Verde Expediciones and students of El Instituto receive 10% the normal prices. If you enjoy paddling rivers, this is definitely recommended! We did a half day on the Rio San Francisco, just north of Tonameca (link to our GPS route here). Rio San Francisco is home to an incredible variety of beautiful birds and trees. If you have more time, you can run a longer section of the river which includes a great canyon, also known as Daniel’s playground. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get any photos on the river because we don’t have a waterproof camera. However, there are plenty of other photos on their Facebook page.
Eat Oaxaqueña Style With Doña Sara
La cocina de Doña Sara
El Instituto Iguana has an arrangement with a local family who offer habitaciónes and comida de casa at very reasonable rates. Our room was $100 pesos per night and our food was $40 pesos each per meal. The rates may be different during the high season. We stayed with Doña Sara and her family whilst enjoying her traditional Oaxaqueñan cooking, eating two and sometimes three meals a day! Any time we got hungry, Doña Sara was quick to prepare hearty meals. We both put on some of the weight we had lost whilst staying there. She said that she was trying to make us mas gorditos (chubby) to prepare us for our trip! It definitely worked! Doña Sara and her husband Feriman have been living in Mazunte for over 30 years, in which time they have seen the end of the turtle hunting trade, the growth of eco-tourism and endured the destruction caused be Hurricane Pauline in 1997. Their storytelling was a great way for us to improve our Spanish comprehension.
Mole con pollo y queso de Doña Sara
Homemade tacos pescados de Doña Sara
Jenny even learnt how to make tamales de pollo from scratch. With the help of Ali (left) and Rosa (right), they made about 200-300 tamales in this little makeshift fabrica.
Enjoy La Playa Rinconcito
La Playa Rinconcito, the main beach in Mazunte, has several restaurantes with WiFi and protected in the bay for nice swimming.
Playa Rinconcito looking West towards Punta Cometa, as seen from El Arquitecto
Playa Rinconcito looking East, as seen from El Arquitecto
Walk To Punta Cometa
We met an interesting Hungarian/Austrian guy named Atilla who lived in Mazunte making and selling organic yoghurt. He guided us out to Punta Cometa, where you can get an amazing 210 degree panorama looking east and west, for amazing views of both sunrise and sunset. We posted some photos of Punta Cometa in our recent post here.
Visit Centro Mexicano De La Tortuga
Turtles are Jenny’s favourite animal, so this is something we had to see. The Centre has a huge variety of different species of sea turtles and a few land turtles as well. It’s great to see these little buddies being protected and appreciated. See our video post of some sea turtles at the Centre here.
Mountain Biking Near Mazunte
A cloudy, smokey sunset looking SW about 20km northwest of Mazunte.
There is excellent off-road riding to be had near Mazunte, especially in the hills above Tonameca. It helps to talk to someone who knows the roads and bring a GPS if you have one! I wrote up a separate post about mountain biking in Mazunte here.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
8ª FESTIVAL DE JAZZ INTERNACIONAL MAZUNTE 2013
Published on Jun 17, 2013
EL JAZZ ES VIDA ES ARTE ES LA INTEGRACION DE DOS CULTURAS, EL JAZZ EN MAZUNTE ES EL MEDIO CULTURAL QUE INTEGRA A UNA COMUNIDAD SUSTENTABLE Y MULTICULTURAL, LAS ARTES ESCENICAS REUNIDAS EN UNA COMUNIDAD QUE BUSCA CONSOLIDAR SU CAMINO HACIA LA SUSTENTABILIDAD TAN NECESARIA EN EL SIGLO 21, LOS JOVENES FINALMENTE SON EL FUTURO; IMPULSAR EN LA COMUNIDAD A LOS JOVENES POR MEDIO DE LAS ARTES ESCENICAS ES UNA MANERA LUDICA DE ABRIR CONCIENCIAS Y FORTALECER UNA COMUNIDAD QUE YA ES MULTICULTURAL TRADICIONES CULTURALES COMO LA CALENDA Y LAS MOJIGANGAS COMBINADAS CON EL TEATRO PERFORMANTICO Y LA MUSICA JAZZ HACEN DE ESTE ENCUENTRO UN FESTIVAL TAL VEZ UNICO EN MEXICO, MAZUNTE ES Y SERA SIEMPRE UNA COMUNIDAD INNOVADORA POR LA SU CALIDAD DE COMUNIDAD SUSTENTABLE Y MULTICULTURAL FINALMENTE LA HISTORIA DEL JAZZ ES LA HISTORIA DE LA INTEGRACION DE DOS CULTURAS LA AFRO Y LA AMERICANA DE AHI SURGIO EL JAZZ Y DE AHI SURGIERON PRACTICAMENTE TODAS LOS GENEROS MUSICALES CONTEMPORANEOS. EL JAZZ ES EN SU TIEMPO LO QUE FUE EN SU MOMENTO LA MUSICA CLASICA. LOGRAR QUE LOS JOVENES CONOZCAN ESTE GENERO, INTERPRETEN ESTA MUSICA Y QUE CONOZCA SU HISTORIA ES EN SI SENTAR LAS RAICES DE LA INTEGRACION COMUNITARIA NECESARIA EN UNA COMUNIDAD SUTENTABLE QUE DEPENDE DEL TURISMO Y LO QUE ESTA RELACION IMPLICA. EL JAZZ ES VIDA
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Friday, June 28, 2013
Help Sea Turtles in Huatulco!
Help Sea Turtles in Huatulco! - AmstarDMC
Help sea turtles near Huatulco, in a secluded village. An exclusive opportunity to help protecting the ecosystem and the turtle population.
www.amstardmc.com/blog/help-
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Help sea turtles near Huatulco, in a secluded village. An exclusive opportunity to help protecting the ecosystem and the turtle population.
www.amstardmc.com/blog/help-
Published on June 26th, 2013 | by Sheila Baird
Help Sea Turtles in Huatulco!
The remote village of Playa Ventanilla, set 45 minutes from the resort area of Huatulco, receives thousands of sea turtles that come each year to lay their eggs. Hosting both the turtles and the turtle release events that follow gives this village the opportunity to help sea turtles and the ecosystem while providing an incredible experience for those who participate.
People come and help sea turtles in Oaxaca
Amstar Huatulco, together with certified guide Alberto España, operates an exclusive tour called Turtle Release. Part of the income from this tour is goes toward protecting the ecosystem and the projects that the town of Ventanilla has in conjunction with a turtle protection program in the area.
This memorable excursion is operated only when there are baby turtles to be released into the ocean. It provides an awesome chance to release a baby sea turtle into the open Pacific Ocean while helping preserve its future home. It will be an experience you will never forget!
After the turtle release program, you will even have a chance to take a canoe ride through the lagoon channels in Ventanilla, where you will discover hundreds of species of tropical birds and wild crocs swimming around leisurely.
If you want to know if this tour will be available at the time of your visit, contact us! The more, the merrier!
Take a canoe tour after you help sea turtles
Fifteen years ago, Playa Ventanilla was nothing more than a coconut plantation with three families living there. After Hurricane Pauline in 1997, more families moved into the area to build a small, close-knit community. In December 1999, the town finally got electricity. This peaceful village is as close to paradise as one can get, especially for travelers seeking a tranquil getaway and getting in touch with nature.
Featured photo by USFWS-Southeast.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
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Children in Zipolite, Mexico | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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Children in Zipolite, Mexico. ... href="http://www.flickr.com/
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Zipolite "La Playa De Los Muertos" - Beach | Facebook Zipolite "La Playa De Los Muertos". 0 likes · 0 talking about this · 1 checkins. Local Business. www.facebook.com/pages/Zipolite-La.../633206153376019
Zipolite "La Playa De Los Muertos" - Beach | Facebook
Zipolite "La Playa De Los Muertos". 0 likes · 0 talking about this · 1 checkins. Local Business.
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Zipolite "La Playa De Los Muertos". 0 likes · 0 talking about this · 1 checkins. Local Business.
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Hoop Dreams in Oaxaca's Hills New York Times (blog) Call it the postcolonial era — for the last 80 years, the people who live in this mountainous part of Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, have been crazy about basketball. Introduced to the region by a president who wanted to unite, or perhaps distract ...
Hoop Dreams in Oaxaca's Hills
New York Times (blog)
Call it the postcolonial era — for the last 80 years, the people who live in this mountainous part of Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, have been crazy about basketball. Introduced to the region by a president who wanted to unite, or perhaps distract ...
New York Times (blog)
Call it the postcolonial era — for the last 80 years, the people who live in this mountainous part of Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, have been crazy about basketball. Introduced to the region by a president who wanted to unite, or perhaps distract ...
Hoop Dreams in Oaxaca’s Hills
By DAVID GONZALEZAny proper town in Latin America has a church facing a plaza — except the towns of the Sierra Norte region of Mexico, where Jorge Santiago is from.
“In my part of the Sierra, the basketball courts are like the zócalo in the colonial city,” Mr. Santiago said, using the Spanish word for “plaza.” “It’s really the most important part of the town. A respectable town has a church, and a basketball court in front of the church.”
Call it the postcolonial era — for the last 80 years, the people who live in this mountainous part of Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, have been crazy about basketball. Introduced to the region by a president who wanted to unite, or perhaps distract, the various indigenous groups, the sport has taken root and become more popular than soccer. It occupies a physical place of honor, with the courts built on the few flat stretches of any town.
“Basketball was really important to me,” Mr. Santiago said of his childhood in Guelatao de Juárez. “There was nothing to do. The only place to get some satisfaction was on the basketball court. I really believe it was one of the only things that offered an opportunity for the people of the Sierra to be different from the rest of Mexico.”
Just how different is evident in “Identity at Play.” The series explores basketball and the attendant rituals that have come to surround hoop culture in the Sierra, where basketball tournaments are intertwined with local customs and celebrations. As unlikely as it might sound, the sport has helped foster a sense of community.
Not that Mr. Santiago knew that growing up. In his town, there were 300 people and two television stations, one of which carried N.B.A. games. He left to study business in Mexico City, but returned to Oaxaca after graduation. He had already begun taking photographs, thanks to a workshop he had participated in as a teenager.
At first, Mr. Santiago was interested in documenting migration. While researching that topic, he came across “True Tales From Another Mexico” by Sam Quinones, which had a story about an Oaxaca native who started a “basketball movement” in Los Angeles.
“That’s when I realized how important basketball is when you don’t have it,” he said.
When he first started taking pictures, he concentrated too much on the sport itself. It was not until he moved to Pittsburgh, where his wife was studying, that he realized he needed to place the sport in the region’s cultural context.
“People will sacrifice the flattest space in a town to build a basketball court,” he said. “Then they end up using it just like a plaza, like a social place. It’s not only the space where sport happens. There are weddings there. All the dances take place on the court. There are political meetings there.”
Tournaments are held in dozens of villages, timed to the feast days of the town’s patron saint. That adds yet another dimension to the sport’s significance, with political and religious beliefs coming together.
“There is one photo where they are sacrificing a bull at the same time they are cutting the ribbon for the court,” Mr. Santiago said. “It’s interesting how all these get combined in basketball.”
Players from different teams go from feast to feast, vying for prize money, which ranges from 15,000 to 40,000 pesos (about $1,100 to $3,000). The big event of the season is in Guelatao’s Copa Benito Juárez, named after the Mexican president who was born there, which attracts as many as 200 teams over a five-day period.
The prize money is often supplied by migrants from the area who now live in the United States. Many of them come back for the festivities, sometimes playing on courts whose color schemes mimic N.B.A. courts.
Mr. Santiago, who stopped playing basketball once he took up photography, is now following another aspect of migrant life.
“I’m doing a project on the houses built by migrants in their hometowns,” he said. “Most of them are abandoned. They start building the house after having been in the States a while. But most of them never come back.”
Follow @santiagophoto and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.
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