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

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

909deaner

Regina, Canada

posts: 38

reviews: 16

Save this Post

Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

Oct 21, 2013, 4:35 PM

Can someone tell me if there is a Walmart located beside the Sam's Club in Salina Cruz? I have been to Sam's Club last December and believe they were building a Walmart beside it, but didn't pay that close of attention. Am looking to go back there this December to restock the condo again, and would like to know about Walmart.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

Punta Arrocito

Reply

Report inappropriate content

5 replies to this topic

TeddySaskatchewan

Saskatchewan

posts: 218

reviews: 24

1. Re: Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

Oct 21, 2013, 5:44 PM

Yes the two stores are pretty close together, along with a high end department store called "Liverpool"(which by the way has a fantastic buffet style restaurant in it! ) The Walmart exterior was being upgraded, hence the construction last spring. Once you check out the new coppel store and Soriana in LaCrucecita, you may not need to go all the way to Salinas Cruz. We go in 2 weeks, so I will be checking them out for supplies also.

Reply

Report inappropriate content

909deaner

Regina, Canada

posts: 38

reviews: 16

2. Re: Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

Oct 21, 2013, 5:52 PM

Thanks for the note. I have been in the new Coppel a few weeks ago and is nice with lots of things, but need some other items such as cheap wine and vodka haha. Sam's club has a great price on liquor among other items. I have been at Liverpool as well and it has some nice household things in it as well. I like the drive to see some other country.

Reply

Report inappropriate content

vinman7

Vancouver, Canada

posts: 680

3. Re: Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

Oct 21, 2013, 11:52 PM

How far to Salina Cruz from Huatulco?

Thanks

Vince

Reply

Report inappropriate content

909deaner

Regina, Canada

posts: 38

reviews: 16

4. Re: Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

Oct 22, 2013, 8:15 AM

its about 2.5 hour drive, give or take depending on traffic and time of day. The three big box stores (Liverpool, Sam's Club, and Walmart) all in the same area are worth a day trip if you need lot's of household stuff. Sam's Club requires a membership so that took me 1 hour last Christmas and that was with a translator with me.

Reply

Report inappropriate content

huatulcopedro

Huatulco, Mexico

posts: 990

reviews: 2

5. Re: Sam's Club and Walmart both in Salina Cruz?

Oct 22, 2013, 8:49 AM

There are several new stores in the Wal-Mart Mall as well.

Cabanas Biuzaa Carret. Puerto Angel - San Agustinillo Zipolite OAX 70902 Mexico 1-866-599-6674

Cabanas Biuzaa (Zipolite, Mexico) | Expedia

Book the Cabanas Biuzaa from \$41.31 - Situated near the sea, this resort is close to ZipoliteBeach, Amor Beach, and Camaron Bay. Also nearby are Panteon ...

www.expedia.com/Zipolite-Hotels-Cabanas-Biuzaa.h5636742....

Cabanas Biuzaa

Carret. Puerto Angel - San Agustinillo Zipolite OAX 70902 Mexico 1-866-599-6674

Oz LoZipolite Playa del amor en la playa de los muertos 2013 acrilico 60x40

Oz LoZipolite

Playa del amor en la playa de los muertos
2013 acrilico
60x40

Monday, October 21, 2013

PUMPING IN PUERTO ESCONDIDO

Pumping In Puerto Escondido - X Games

Summer isn't over until you say it is. For Greg Long and a fortunate crew in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, the warm water and south swells just keep coming.

xgames.espn.go.com/gallery/9858167/null

http://xgames.espn.go.com/surfing/gallery/9858167/pumping-puerto-escondido

PUERTO ESCONDIDO OAXACA MEXICO

Zipolite Beach Billies, Come celebrate original ZBB member, Don Karp's 70th with us!!! — with Brian Legg.

Zipolite Beach Billies

Come celebrate original ZBB member, Don Karp's 70th with us!!! —

with Brian Legg.

Tere muy buza - Buceo realizado en Bahías de Huatulco, Oax. México. Octubre del 2013

Get Deported From Spain And Go To Mexico Instead Tuesday October 15, 2013

Expat Focus Columnists

(meet all our columnists here)

Ted Campbell

(read previous articles here)

Get Deported From Spain And Go To Mexico Instead

Tuesday October 15, 2013 (12:47:54) (335 Reads)

1

Ted Campbell

After years of working at UPS and, more recently, studying evenings at the local community college, Sam finally took a vacation. He got two weeks off. He bought round-trip tickets to Spain, with an arrival in Madrid and departure in Barcelona. He planned to backpack around, maybe even visit Paris or Morocco.

He was detained at the Madrid airport, kept in a holding cell overnight and then shipped back to the U.S.

Now, four days later, he sat with me in the wide, airy second-floor hotel lobby in Tulum town, Mexico. Loud party music blasted from clubs and restaurants on the street below. We ate mangoes and shared caguamas of Victoria, big 40-ounce Mexican beers. It had been a long day in the hot sun of the Mayan Riviera, Mexico’s Caribbean coast.

Two hours south of Cancun, Tulum is famous for seaside Mayan ruins and a bigger, less developed beach, both also called Tulum. Cheap hotels, fish restaurants and travel agencies line Tulum Avenue, the main drag in town.

Earlier that day at the ruins, big iguanas lounged on green grass while we peered at strange inscriptions on the blocky fortress. Thousands of years ago Tulum was a seaside stronghold built of white limestone on rocky cliffs and beaches of powdery white sand over turquoise water.

Sam had taken a passenger van from Cancun that morning. A day before he’d flown in from Atlanta. Sam was chicano – a Mexican American, born in Mexico but raised in LA. His accent was more California than Mexico. He was dark but not tan, short and stocky with a shaved head and big black sunglasses, wearing flip-flops and a black sweat-soaked t-shirt. He was 34 years old. He had a good story.

Spanish immigration at the Madrid airport

Four days earlier he got off the plane at 8:30 a.m. in Madrid. Like everyone else, he waited in line for immigration, U.S. passport in hand. Then it was his turn.

“How long will you be staying in Madrid?” the officer asked.

“Just a day or two.”

The officer looked up from the computer, expressionless. “Why?”

“I’m going to travel around for two weeks.”

More questions – travel plans, job, family, financial resources, and finally, “What’s the name of your hotel?”

“I don’t have one yet.”

Fast typing on the computer. Fast scribbling on the immigration form. A stern look at Sam. Another look at the passport.

The officer handed him his passport and immigration form. “Please follow this officer upstairs.”

The holding cell, aka immigration jail

They kept Sam in a holding cell overnight and then flew him back to the U.S.

“What was immigration jail like?” I asked.

“First they had me in an interrogation room for hours. It was like the movies – big mirror on the wall, metal desk, good-cop bad-cop. One of them yelled at me, and the other said, ‘Everything’s gonna be alright.’ I thought I was doing well, but then they took me to the holding cell.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t have hotel reservations. I showed them my return ticket from Barcelona, told them I was going to backpack around. I said I was going to find a hotel on foot.”

“Right. Everyone does that.”

“It was weird. They kept calling me Mexican. I told them, look at my U.S. passport! You have it right there!”

The holding cell was down a labyrinth of white-tile hallways. The immigration officers took his belt away and put him in the room, a sad, sterile grey room with leaded-glass windows. Young and old, male and female sat on the bottom bunks of stiff bunk beds and at metal tables in metal chairs, playing dominoes, checkers and chess. A 20-something Brazilian with a long beard drew crayon portraits of everyone.

“Why did they take off your belt?” I asked.

He laughed. “So I couldn’t hang myself!”

Most detainees were Latin Americans, with a family of five from Michoacan (Mexico), five Brazilians, a few Venezuelans and one Guatemalan. The rest were Turks who didn’t speak English or Spanish but knew the Spanish word for Turkey.

“Were they guilty?” I asked.

“Of what? None of them had enough money or a letter of invitation. Those were the reasons for not letting them into the country.”

“Except you.”

“Yeah, no hotel.”

Whenever the Brazilian finished a crayon portrait, he asked the subject whether they wanted to take it. Everyone said no except the children from the Michoacan family.

“Did you take yours?” I asked.

“No, he never got to me.”

They ate at 3:30 p.m. By 4 they were all let out, escorted to airplanes for the trip back home, all except Sam and one Turk. The Turk didn’t talk and didn’t play games. The lights went out at 11:30, but the TV stayed on at full volume all night.

A homecoming of sorts

They released Sam at 10:30 the next morning. They didn’t fly him back to L.A., but to Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport and mostly likely the cheapest flight from Madrid. He simmered down on the long flight and thought about what to do next.

“You must have been mad,” I said.

“Yeah, but what could I do? I didn’t want to ruin my vacation.”

At the ticket counter in the Atlanta airport, he figured out that a flight to Cancun was cheaper than to L.A. “So here I am. My girlfriend will come in a few days. We’re going to Chichen Itza.”

Chichen Itza is the most famous pyramid complex in Mexico and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. It’s about 3 hours from Cancun.

“Cool. I haven’t been there yet myself,” I said.

Now in Tulum, we ate mangos and drank beer on the balcony of our cheap hotel. He hadn’t been to Mexico for years, and never down here in the Mayan Riviera.

Sam looked forward to seeing his girlfriend. She didn’t have enough time go to Spain with him, but she could take a long weekend off from work to see him in Cancun. She was the first person he had called from Atlanta.

“You know, Spain would have been awesome, but here I am! Those ruins were amazing.”

The sun began to set over Tulum town. A breeze picked up and music from the bars got louder. We went out for fish and beer.

“I guess Americans get deported too,” he said. “But I wasn’t running away. I was running ahead.”

Ted Campbell writes about travel, music, culture, food, and mountain biking. He lives in Mexico and writes a blog called No Hay Bronca.

Read Ted's other Expat Focus articles here

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Learning Spanish Through Music

My Spanish Notes

Learning Spanish Through Music

Posted: 19 Oct 2013 11:37 PM PDT

Today I have something special for you all. My friend Ted who writes the blog No Hay Bronca, has written a great post for us. No Hay Bronca is where Ted writes about his experiences living and traveling in Mexico and Central America, Mexican music, culture and a whole lot more. I clearly remember being instantly hooked on his blog after reading just one entry, so be sure to check out his blog, No Hay Bronca.

And if you plan on traveling to Cancun be sure to check out his post Having a great time (and cheap) in Cancun without doing the all-inclusive thing. It's got some great travel tips. I plan on traveling to Cancun myself this year and I've already gotten some great ideas and advice from him.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Ted's going to take it from here. Enjoy!

Learning Spanish Through Music

by Ted Campbell

I joke that when I first moved to Mexico three years ago, I only knew three words of Spanish: cerveza, bonita, andgracias. All those boring years of high school and university Spanish were totally wasted.

But the truth is I’d already done some traveling in Latin America before and was quite confident when ordering food, getting a hotel or having some light chitchat on the bus. But Mexico – especially Mexico City – is another story.

At times Mexican Spanish seems like another language. It’s full of slang, and much like American slang, the meaning can change depending on the situation.

Imagine yourself at a party where everyone speaks gibberish. The music is just loud enough that you have to lean in close to hear what people say. And when the words come through, you can hear but you still don’t really understand.

You experience a strange mixture of boredom, frustration and odd contentment. And what makes it worse is that the people keep coming because you speak just enough gibberish to encourage them to talk more.

And it goes on until 5 a.m. And when you wake up it starts all over again.

I had this experience countless times during years of parties and weekend trips with friends before I became reasonably fluent in Spanish. Once on a 5-day trip in Puerto Vallarta, after days of barely understanding nonstop conversations in Spanish, I sat next to my buddy on the beach and pulled out my notebook, asking him to explain some of the words I kept hearing.

I jotted down about 20 words and their many meanings. From then on those words jumped out at me as the trip went on.

I like this blog and asked to write a guest post on it because it teaches Spanish the way I learned it – straight from the street. I suffered through a lot of parties but picked up something from every one of them. I hit the books and worked my way through Spanish grammar.

And I learned a lot from listening to music in Spanish, as well as discovering really good bands that few English-speaking folks north of the border have heard of.

If you want to learn Mexican Spanish the natural way, but don’t have a Mexican friend to sit down with and explain it to you, then listen to music. Listen to Panteon Rococo, Molotov, Celso Piña, Los Tigres del Norte, or one of the many other great groups from Mexico.

Café Tacuba plays in many styles, but can best be described as alternative rock. Chilanga Banda is their take on rap/hip hop. It’s chock-full of Mexican slang, many starting with ch-.

I can’t claim to understand everything he’s saying, so I won’t explain the whole song. Instead I listed some common Mexican slang that appears in it. Please add to my list in the comments!

Chilango: Someone from Mexico City, known as D.F. in Spanish. Chilanga Banda means Mexico City Band.

Chamba: A job, and not a fun one. The verb is chambear

Chava: gal, kid, or a child. Chava is for a girl and chavo is for a boy.

Chafa: something cheap or low quality

Chela: beer

Ñero: A low class person, aka naco

From the chorus:

Pacheco: stoned; high on marijuana

Cholo: Mexican hip-hop kids, who wear baggy pants and flat-brimmed hats

Churro: Mexican donuts, a long tube of fried dough covered in sugar. Or it’s the word for a blunt, an above-average sized joint.

It’s easy to find the complete lyrics on Google, for this or any song. Search for Chilanga Banda letras – letras is the word for lyrics in Spanish.

Do this for any song you like. Better yet, sometimes kind souls make videos on YouTube that have the lyrics:

Ted Campbell

nohaybroncablog@gmail.com

http://nohaybronca.wordpress.com/

I write a blog about living in Mexico called No Hay Bronca. Most posts are travel stories, but one of my most popular is called TopTen Mexican Slang. Thanks to Rodney for letting me contribute this guest post.