Sunday Jazz at Dan’s Café Deluxe Posted on November 3, 2013

Viva Veracruz & Viva Puerto Escondido

Musings from and about living in Mexico

Sunday Jazz at
Dan’s Café Deluxe

Posted on November 3, 2013

Dan stopped at our table, “Is the music too loud?” This question poised to the Gringo that makes all the noise! Of course I assured him the sound level was just fine.

Welcome to Dan’s Cafe Deluxe!

“I asked the trumpet player to use one of those…what do you call it…?” He said.

“It is called a mute, Dan”

“Yea one of those. A mute.”

The trumpeter was playing a solo with a mute. Of course various mute types lower the volume and alter the timbre. It was fine, better, without as far as we were concerned.

Dan went about his business of moving chairs, seating as many as possible and engaging in small talk with  several tables of guests he knows as regulars, or not.

Dan (in blue) Holds Court

We have waited too long to write about Dan’s Café Deluxe; but we were waiting to actually get together with Dan and get some more personal details. And we will do that soon. But here is what we know so far:

We have known Dan for several years. Know him for instance to stop in Super Che, the local grocery, and chat for a bit kind of know him. Dan and I have touched on 60’s Rock N’ Roll – we being comrades of that period. It think Dan might have been at Woodstock (of course who wasn’t?).

Yes, There is Always Ping Pong if You Do Not Love Jazz

Dan is a foreign fixture here in Puerto. He had started the very popular Cafecito Restaurant with his then wife many years ago. She got the restaurants (there are two). Dan moved on and started the Deluxe along with constructing lovely vacation rental units. Apartment style rentals mostly for short term.

Dan is laid-back. Puerto suits him to a “T”. He never wanted Puerto to be Cancun like so many wanted Huatulco to be. But the man has a flare for detail and first world dining and renting. The food is consistently good and very reasonably priced.

We have breakfast at the Deluxe often. Today’s fare: fried eggs, potatoes, wheat toast and fruit (papya, watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple). Nicely done and plenty to eat for 35 pesos ($2.75 usd). For another 80 cents they toss in tocino (bacon) for you non-vegetarians. All good and tasty – consistently.

Live Jazz on a Sunday morning in a grand setting for cheaper than the cost of an Egg McMuffin – wow! After breakfast a walk along the beach and a dash home as it started raining! Remarkable already four raining’s in 14 days. In the previous five years we had not had that much rain in between September to April.

We arrived in La Punta and picked up our recent housekeeper helper, Anna, who was walking in our direction. She reported there had been no rain in La Punta.  It works like that around here.

So the sun is out and so is one of our Iguanas. I just cannot resist taking photos of these amazing creatures.

A good and restful Sunday in Puerto Escondido.  If you are here or plan to be here do not miss the opportunity to eat at Dan’s and to be entertained with some smooth Jazz on Sundays. Viva Puerto Escondido.  Stay Tuned!

Posted in Around Mexico, Expatriots, Friends, Frugal Travelers, Mexico Moment, Mexico-Travel,Oaxaca, Opinion, Puerto Escondido, Restaurant Review | 14 Comments

Puerto Escondido Zona Hueca

Propuesta de Matrimonio a Jackie - Zipolite, Oaxaca 2013

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Laid-back beach a ‘throwback to the ’60s’ BY JODY KURASH, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Laid-back beach a ‘throwback to the ’60s’

BY JODY KURASH, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NOVEMBER 4, 2013

• STORY
• PHOTOS ( 6 )

This Jan. 6, 2013 photo shows visitors bathing in the surf along the beach in Zipolite, Mexico. A sleepy town with one main street and no ATMs, Zipolite is one many tiny coastal pueblos that dot the Pacific in Mexico’s Southern state of Oaxaca.

Photograph by: Jody Kurash , AP

ZIPOLITE, Mexico — “You’re going to like it here in Zipolite,” Daniel Weiner, the owner of Brisa Marina hotel said with a wry smile as he handed me the keys to my quarters. “You’re not going to want to leave in five days.”

A few lazy days later, I began to realize why so many guests rent their rooms by the month. Whether it’s the laid-back vibe or the tranquil setting, Zipolite has a way of making people stay longer than expected.

A sleepy town with one main street and no ATMs, Zipolite (pronounced ZEE-poe-LEE-tay) is one of many tiny coastal pueblos that dot the Pacific in Mexico’s Southern state of Oaxaca. Stretching from Puerto Escondido to Huatulco, the region is sometimes called the Oaxaca Riviera.

The hippie crowd discovered Zipolite in the 1960s and since then it has slowly evolved into an offbeat tourist spot popular with a certain type of visitor. Its pristine beach stretches two kilometres between two high cliffs at either end, and the crowd is fairly evenly split between middle-class Mexicans and freewheeling liberals from across the globe. Old hippies, young adventure-seekers, and locals all mingle with a flower-child type harmony.

It feels light years away from the areas of Mexico that tourists now avoid due to drug violence. Not only has the U.S. State Department spared Oaxaca from its travel warnings about Mexico, but Zipolite in particular seems lost in time, a place where visitors think nothing of leaving their belongings unattended on the beach and backpackers sleep in hammocks strung along the coast.

Zipolite also has a few claims to fame. The climactic beach scenes in the Mexican blockbuster movie “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” were filmed here. And it’s gained notoriety as one of Mexico’s few nude beaches, although the majority of sunbathers remain clothed. (Farther east, past an outcropping of rocks is the cove known as “Playa de Amor” where nudity is more openly practised.)

Mike Bolli, a retiree from Vancouver, says he has been visiting the area for the last 10 years without “accident, issue or injury.”

“I have only ever met the nicest and friendliest eclectic mix of locals and visitors — it’s a great throwback to the ‘60s,” Bolli said. “So it’s all good and safe from my viewpoint.”

Zipolite has no highrise hotels. Many of the beachfront structures are thatched-roof palapas, umbrella-shaped huts with no walls. Brisa Marina itself started off as a wooden structure with a palm roof, but after a major fire in 2001 that destroyed 23 buildings, Weiner rebuilt it with cement.

Visitors expecting a party-all-night Cancún-like atmosphere with fishbowl-sized margaritas and waitresses in bikinis passing out shots of tequila will be disappointed. There is a nightlife here, but it’s nothing like that. Instead, folks gather on the beach in an end-of-day ritual to watch the brilliant sunsets.

Many restaurants and bars offer live music and entertainment. And the only paved road in town turns into a carnivallike scene at night, with artists and jewelry makers selling their wares, while musicians, jugglers and fire dancers perform for tips in the street.

“Zipolite after six is awesome,” Bolli said, “with all the dreadlocked kids hoping to sell their creations along with a great choice of different restaurants. It’s not overcrowded but you can find a crowd if you want.”

Some of the most interesting diversions can be found at Posada Mexico, an oceanfront restaurant. One night I watched a Cirque du Soleil-like acrobatic performance and another night I rocked out to Cainn Cruz, an amazing child guitar prodigy who brought the house down with his covers of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.

Adding to the groovy ambience is Shambhala, a spiritual retreat perched high on a hill in a bucolic setting. Tourists are welcome to hike up the resort’s stair pathway where a meditation point sits atop a cliff overlooking the Pacific. Shambhala advertises the “Loma de Meditacion” as a sacred location where visitors may experience a higher consciousness and oneness with nature. The centre rents rustic cabins and hosts visiting artists and healers.

The name Zipolite is said to derive from indigenous languages. Some sources say it means “bumpy place,” a reference to the local hills, and other sources translate it as “beach of the dead,” a reference to strong ocean currents. The beach has volunteer lifeguards and areas with dangerous currents are marked with red flags.

Weiner, who has a deep tan, a working uniform of board shorts and flip-flops, and a crusty, carefree sense of humour, splits his time between California and Zipolite. He’s owned his hotel since 1997 and estimates that about 50 per cent of his guests are repeat customers.

“This gets us through swine flu times, protests, drug war scares, etc.,” he said. “People come back knowing we are OK, and they tell their friends too.”

And sometimes they have a hard time leaving. As Weiner predicted, after a few days in Zipolite, I called the airline to change my flight. I had to stay another week.

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