y atrapasueños 
en Solsticio 
.Amigos el Jueves es fresco!!
❤️🔥
https://eatsdrinksandsleeps.com/city/zipolite/life-lessons-and-learning-to-surf-in-zipolite/
So as I somehow landed in Zipolite, a nudist, surfer beach and had braved getting naked, I figured I should give surfing a shot too.
Bearing in mind I have little in the way of hand eye coordination this was going to be a challenge, although I do have something in the way of balance – if being able to trip over and keep a tray of drinks alive counts!
I was told to go to the surf school in front of Hotel Nude. It’s 600MXN for a one-to-one surf lesson which is around £20.
The sea is remarkably cold today and quite choppy. After a quick 10 minute instruction on the sand with Cali, my instructor, I was handed a waterproof and a board and we dived in. The beach is beautiful, the sea wild and I’m feeling truly blessed to have this freedom.
I want to make some clever analogies between life in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic and learning to surf. I mean learning to surf is brutal, wading out only to be beaten round the head and face by wave after wave is not easy or always enjoyable but while it’s testing and it hurts at times, it’s exhilarating and can be fun. Thankfully I had a good guide who could pick out the best waves for me to attempt to ride.
It’s actually pretty amazing seeing these waves form and come for you, and there is this moment of calm before I’m spun around and given some encouragement to do it. I crash and burn so many times. The first few times I’m just laughing – I knew I’d be shit at surfing but it was fun to be trying. After 20 minutes of being bashed around by the waves, falling, sliding into the sand and grazing my legs and ass – I have a moment of ‘okay I tried this, I wasn’t very good at it, let’s move on’. The old perfectionist in me – that thought if I couldn’t do something right almost instantaneously I might as well not bother – was talking. But Cali is awesome and encouraging, we take a breather on the beach and go back out again.
This time I’m determined. I am going to get up and ride a fucking wave if it kills me. I get half way up and he’s like what happened? You need to let go. Your arms are only on the board to propel you up, then you need to let go and take a leap of faith literally in one swell movement. I almost do it a few times for mili seconds. I spend a lot more time being bashed around by the waves, smack my head on my own board, graze my legs and knees some more. But I almost did it! I’m close now.
I’m eying up each enormous wave thinking yes this one is mine, eso es. I’m making a mental note of how the wave looks and crests in the distance before it hits me. I want to remember my first wave in exquisite detail. Cali is willing me to take it on and thinks I can do this, puedes, puedes he shouts.
But it’s not working. Frustrated, we take another break. I recalibrate. What am I missing? Why is this so freaking hard? I ask to go back to do some drills on the beach – and then realise I’ve been missing a step out. I am getting cold now, my hands are sore, my body is battered, I have swallowed and practically snorted a whole lot of salt water. I am not having fun right now. I’m almost done with it.
But we head back out, and like everything in life really, it finally happens when I least expect it. That first wave on the way back in, I catch it, I’m half up, I propel myself up, feet in the right position and fuck I’m standing up riding a bloody wave – it feels amazing!
I could call it a day there, I’ve done what I wanted to, what I’d defined success as for today. But that’s the funny thing about goals, the moment you reach one, you get a taste for it and want to push it some more and make new goals. Can I do it again? Can I do it better? Differently? Last a bit longer? Style it out better? So we go some more, I get back up a bunch of times and ride waves, I crash and burn others. Now Cali is looking at me after each crash like ‘what happened?’ To be fair, the first time I crash and burn after that first success is because I was distracted by two nude women walking into the sea. I’m still getting used to this nudist beach stuff.
Almost two hour after we started we call it a day, I didn’t go out on a high – I burned on my last wave but it left me wanting more.
I got beat, I got back up, I got beat some more until I thought I would never figure this shit out, then I took a little rest, looked back at the instructions, checked myself and went back out. All those waves I studied like they were the one, burned me, the one I didn’t overthink and just went with worked. It gave me a taste for it, to want to do more, better. It still wasn’t easy, but it was fun and exhilarating and exhausting. I am battered and bruised and loving it. What a way to celebrate freedom and push myself out of my comfort zone.
Travelling alone sometimes you feel like you’re missing the experiences without anyone to do it with or share it with, but today I had one hell of an experience. And I survived.
So I’ll try and attempt the surfing is like dealing with life in a pandemic analogy again, somewhat messily. Don’t try and fight the wave and swim against it, you’re going to lose – it’s way more powerful than you. Don’t swim with it and let it beach you either – you’ll just end up fucked for a long time. Turn a little, not a lot and see if you can cushion yourself from the full force and find a way to break through. With surfing you swim sideways in the sea, a little along but not against the wave, make a slight pivot not a full 180 and you’ll survive to ride the wave and live to tell the tale.
| Pueblos tradicionales de México poco conocidos Otro de los clásicos menos conocidos es Zipolite, un pueblo muy tranquilo donde se puede disfrutar de la mejor comida tradicional, ambiente relajado ... |
| 8:44 AM (13 minutes ago) |  | ||
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Hi Mexico-loving friends,
I hope this email finds you well. There are a few changes to the covid-19 traffic light system across the country, especially in popular vacation spots like Baja California Sur, Yucatan, Mexico City, and Quintana Roo.
For those that are new around here, last year Mexico's federal government created a traffic light system to help businesses and people understand the risks of Covid-19 in each state around Mexico. It was then up to the state governments to decide how to interpret these traffic light colors.
Red means the highest risk of covid and that hospitals are near capacity. It has been interpreted in most states at total lockdown. This past Monday began the 16th straight week with no states in the red here in Mexico.
Orange is a level below red status and means that there is still a high risk of covid-19 and many restrictions are still in place, but for the most part, hotels, restaurants, and shops are allowed to be open with about 30% capacity (again this depends on the state's interpretation). Several states remain in orange with a risk of possibly moving into the red because of continued increases in severe cases and hospitals becoming overrun. States currently in orange include Baja California Sur, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Tamaulipas.
Read more about the rise in cases in Quintana Roo and Yucatan here.
Yellow means lower risk level and most places are allowed to have up to 50% capacity. States in yellow are allowed to have fans at sporting events and bars are allowed to be open (in some states clubs are also open in Yellow). Museums and other tourist attractions can be back open with restrictions. The biggest change to this is that Mexico City has moved back into the yellow due to an uptick in case numbers and a reduced capacity in hospital space. All of the states currently in yellow include Campeche, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Colima, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Veracruz.
For over a month running now, more than half of the country's states are in the green, a huge step for getting kids back to school this coming September. Green means that there is a very low risk of Covid, that many places can have more than 75% capacity and almost all services can resume. Precautions like masks and temperature checks are still taken, especially indoors. There is only one more state added to the list this week and that is Baja California. The states that are currently green in Mexico include Aguascalientes, Baja California, Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, México state, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala, and Zacatecas
You can read more about these changes in this article.
I am still working on getting all of the videos edited and uploaded from our road trip around Baja California Sur. You can find the most recent videos here:
My Baja California Sur guidebook is ALMOST ready! I cannot wait to share it with you. As soon as it's ready, I'll be announcing it via this newsletter as well across social media, so keep your eyes out for that towards the end of the month!
I will also be changing up these bi-monthly newsletters starting in July. Since there aren't as many changes happening week-to-week in Mexico anymore and much of travel across the USA and Mexico has opened back up, I think a monthly update will be more than enough to keep you posted on what's happening around Mexico.
I will also be creating a new monthly newsletter where I will be sharing more personal stories of our travels and expat adventures. Things are changing quickly for us and we are about to embark on a very new and exciting adventure. For those that are interested in joining that newsletter, please simply click here and you will be added to that list!
Mexico's traffic light system is ever-changing, as is the interpretation of these guidelines. It's impossible for me to know exactly how each state and indeed each municipality within these states is interpreting the traffic light system. So I highly recommend seeking out people who are currently located within the town or city in Mexico that you want to visit. Here are some of the people that I recommend following:
For updates about Mexico City, as always I recommend following Ubish Yaren on Instagram. You can also follow Anais of The Curious Mexican for updates on the restaurant and food scene in Mexico City and what is back open.
For updates about what's going on in Oaxaca, Susan of Brooklyn Tropicali has been sharing her updates of what's going on around the city and even more of Mexico as she begins traveling the country again (she was just in Mexico City for a month sharing so many great tips!).
For regular updates about life in Merida and around the Yucatan, check out Mexico Cassie who has also recently written a fantastic guide about Traveling Yucatan with Kids. The Yucatan Times is the local English newspaper in Merida that shares local updates and news reports.
To keep up with what's going on in and around Queretaro, follow Alex of the Backpacking Brunette.
Trisha of P.S. I'm on My Way regularly shares updates about life in Nayarit where she balances time between Nueva Vallarta where she lives and Sayulita where she works. Vallarta Daily is the local English news there where you can learn about any changes in the situation.
Claire's Itchy Feet is a great page to follow for updates about life in both Nayarit and Playa del Carmen where she splits her time. Riviera Maya News is the local English newspaper there where you can keep up with changes.
For updates about Acapulco, follow Raphael of Journey of Wonders.
As always, a great place to keep up to date with news about what's happening all over Mexico in English is Mexico News Daily.
If you are planning a trip to Mexico soon, I hope you'll have a browse of the different locations on my blog to help you plan your trip!
I also have three extensive guidebooks available for Mexico City (updated this year with tons of new content!), Merida, and Guanajuato!
As always, you can find me most often on Instagram with daily updates and photos, but I also post very regularly on Facebook if you prefer following along there.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me by simply hitting reply on this email.
Speak soon,
Laura
