Zipolite and Mazunte: Nudies, yoga, and sun howthisgirltravels / March 16, 2013 Zipolite and Mazunte in a Nutshell

http://howthisgirltravels.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/zipolite-and-mazunte/

Zipolite and Mazunte: Nudies, yoga, and sun

howthisgirltravels / March 16, 2013

Zipolite and Mazunte in a Nutshell

Zipolite and Mazunte are two beach towns in Mexico’s state of Oaxaca and are located about 10 minutes apart, by car. Zipolite is known for being one of Mexico’s only clothing optional (i.e. nude) beaches. Meanwhile, Mazunte is home to the National Mexican Turtle Centre, and apparently turtles like its beaches as a nesting ground (however, ít wasn’t the season when I went in February).

Sunrise at Playa Zipolite

Getting There

While I was freezing my ass off in San Cristobal de las Casas, my friend Toya suggested that I meet her in Zipolite. The idea of a nude beach frightened me slightly (will I have to go COMPLETELY naked? will I be grossed out by the sight of naked people - thin, fat, and everything in between?), but the word “beach” alone was enough to lure me. An overnight bus from Tuxtla Gutierrez got me to Pochutla, Oaxaca for about $320 MXC. From Pochutla, I took my first ride on the back of a camionetta (modified pick-up truck) for $10 MXC to get to Zipolite.

By the way, I thought I was being smart by trying to take combi’s – collective vans - all the way from San Cristobal de Las Casas to Pochutla. My logic being that I made it from Palenque to San Cris in combi’s for a bargain. Nope! Made it as far as Tuxtla Gutierrez, where I was disappointed to find out that the only way to go on was by bus… and that I would have to wait hours and hours in a city where there’s not much to do or see (actually, there’s a really great zoo, which of course happened to be closed on the day I went). Moral of the story: ask around before you try to get somewhere far in a combi!

Accomodations

On my arrival to Zipolite, a German couple pointed me towards Shambhala as a chill place to stay. Shambhala is a spiritual centre with dorms, rooms, and cabanas, as well as a meditation centre on top of a hill. With dorms at $120 MXC, it was a bit pricier than other locations in town, but the moment I saw the view of the beach from the dorm room, I had to stay.

The story behind Shambhala is that the lady who owns it (Gloria) was one of the first Americans to take advantage of the area’s beauty. Back in the hippy days, the police would give shit to the nudies, and she would sound a horn when she saw the police coming in order to warn people that they should clothe themselves, pronto. In a way, she is responsible for making Zipolite what it is today. However, a few years ago a hurricane did some serious damage to her property. Thanks to a volunteer named Dan, I signed up to help bring life to Shambhala by selling some beers on the beach and making signs, in exchange for a free place to stay.

View from Shamblaha dorms

Shamblaha

Making some signs to bring life to Shambhala

The Scene

I dropped off my bags in the dorm rooms of Shabhala at 8:30 am. By 10 am, I had given my first attempt at surfing and seen way more more old-man penis than I was hoping for. The days consisted of early-morning swims, followed by a bit of work, cooking dinner, and a party on occasion. Zipolite doesn’t have too much of a night life, but one night we attended a trance party on the beach (not my type of music, btw).

Getting ready to fiesta at Zipolite

In the evenings, the main street of Zipolite was lined with artists selling their goods. My favourite was a dude who made necklace charms by cutting the negative space out of coins from all over the world.

Artist who makes charms out of coins at Zipolite

Artist who makes charms out of coins at Zipolite

One more thing about Zipolite: the main beach is knows as La Playa de los Muertos (The Beach of the Dead). If that wasn’t creepy enough, two days before my arrival somebody drowned just meters away from where I was staying. To add to the scare factor, during my week-long stay, I saw a dead parrot, two dead fish (one blowfish and one small tuna), and a dead meter-long turtle on the beach. Right. Playa de los Muertos.

Mazunte is a short ride away by camionetta (at $6 MXC), and has some beautiful beaches as well.

Rocky shore near Mazunte

Beach near Mazunte

Art at Mazunte

When we passed by Mazunte, a circus festival was happening. Workshops were being offered in juggling and other circus skills

Mazunte circus workshop

I had a chance to see the work of an artist named Jean-Charles Vignal, who has a travel blog at Petit JC en Amerique (in French).

Jean-Charles Vignal and his art

Art by Jean-Charles Vignal

In Mazunte, a lady was selling fresh fish at three for $10 MXC.

Fresh fish for sale at Mazunte

Comida y Bebida (Food and Drink)

My days at Zipolite usually involved orange juice, coconuts in one form or another, and coconut ice cream (the best).

Coconut on the beach at Zipolite

Zipolite lacked economic food options. As a result, we took advantage of the fire grill outside our (temporary) home. My friend Toya made a great chef on the grill (check out her blog - Breakfast in Montreal)!

Toya cooking  meat and veggies at Shambhala

Breakfast crepes with veggies on the grill at Shambhala

Still, one of my Zipolite food highlights was sharing a shrimp omlette and strawberry smoothie at a hotel called Nude.

Shrimp omlette and strawberry smoothie at Nude (Zipolite)

One affordable food option at Zipolite was sopes (a form of tortillas with beans and cheese) for $5 MXC each.

Sopes at Zipolite

At Oralel Cafe, owned by a Quebecois dude, I had some amazing Aztec soup (broth with avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips, $45 MXC) with the best coffee in town ($20 MXC, Americano with milk).

Oralel Cafe

Aztec soup at Cafe Oralel, Zipolite

At Pochutla, I had the best meal that $10 MXC will buy – a doblada with pollo con salsa roja (chicken in red sauce) and rajas con crema (chile peppers with cream). They also had a bunch of other fillings to choose from!

Doblada stand at Pochutla

Playa Zipolite, Oaxaca, Mexico, Map

1 Hour of Soothing Nature Sounds in HD-Relaxing Sound of Water and Birdsong-Meditation

Strange Things Found by Airport Security rss link Airfarewatchblog

Strange Things Found by Airport Security

 Airfarewatchblog

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Strange Things Found by Airport Security

Posted by Caroline Morse on Wednesday, July 16, 2014

(Photo: Getty Images/E+)

Don't feel bad about forgetting to toss your bottled water before the airport security checkpoint. That's nothing compared to what some of your fellow travelers have been up to. You won't believe these 10 bizarre things found by airport security. And you might learn a thing or two about what you can't bring on board a flight, too.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

Human-Skull Fragments

Carefully check your vacation purchases before heading to the airport. You never know when they may end up containing human-skull fragments. Passengers in Ft. Lauderdale were seriously delayed in 2013 when the clay pots they'd checked in their luggage were found to contain fragments of human skull. According to the TSA, the flyers claimed they didn't realize that their souvenirs came with bonus body parts inside. The pieces weren't considered a security threat by the TSA but were instead treated as evidence in a crime scene.

(Photo: Thinkstock/Image Work/amanaimagesRF)

Flames

Nobody ever intends to pack fire (we hope), but you could accidentally start one in your luggage if you pack the wrong stuff. Take, for example, this incident in Atlantic City, when a flyer's checked bag exploded into three-foot-high flames. The fire was caused by a combination of a leaking can of hair spray and a lighter, which sparked when the bag was being loaded onto the conveyor belt. Even if you're not packing a lighter, it's a good idea to stow all liquids and aerosols (like hair spray) in a plastic bag in case of leaks.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

A Dead Body

Come on, people, Weekend at Bernie's is a comedy, not a great source of inspiration to help you avoid paying extra to transport a corpse. We're shocked at how many people have tried to pass off a body as a "sleeping" passenger, like the family that tried to haul a dead body through airport security in a wheelchair in order to avoid paying a fee, or the mother-and-daughter team that tried to smuggle a 91-year-old dead man onto a flight by putting him in sunglasses and dumping him in a wheelchair.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

Cannonball

Did you know that cannonballs can retain their explosiveness for years and then randomly detonate on their own? Neither did we, but we still wouldn't pack them in our luggage. (Think of the overweight fees alone.) And, unfortunately for the 290 passengers who were delayed at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport in 2012, neither did the diver who tried to bring home an old cannonball he found near a shipwreck.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

240 Live Fish

Hey, we're not here to judge—maybe you went on an amazing snorkeling vacation and were overwhelmed with the urge to start your own aquarium. And maybe you couldn't wait to get home to buy your new pets. That's fine. Most airlines will actually let you ship your new fishy friends home via cargo. But don't be that guy who decides to transport 240 fish in four large hard-sided suitcases—suitcases filled with nothing but water and fish.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

Boomerangs

G'day, mate! Bringing home a boomerang as a souvenir from Australia? You can carry it on Australian flights, but once aboard your U.S.-bound plane, you'll need to transfer that boomerang to your checked baggage. It's considered a deadly weapon stateside. Airport security has confiscated boomerangs in the past, so you'd better check it.

(Photo: Hotel Particulier Montmartre)

Venomous Snakes

We bet the writers of The TSA Blog get some super-weird comments (maybe even weirder than the comments we get here)—which is probably what prompted this update to a story: "A container of dead venomous snakes was found in checked baggage at Newark (EWR). Updated 3/3/12 to add that dead snakes are not prohibited. The snakes were permitted to travel. The large liquid jar holding the snakes needed to be inspected due to an explosive-detection system alarm. No dead snakes were harmed during the making of this post. We just took advantage of the photo op." So take note, travelers. You can totally pack your dead snakes, just be careful if you store them in liquid.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

18 Severed Heads

Packing 18 severed heads in your luggage? Not a problem, as long as you have the right paperwork. Packing 18 severed heads in your luggage and then losing them? Totally a problem. In 2013, some misplaced human craniums made, um,headlines when they were misplaced at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. (They were medical specimens, and there was a mix-up with some paperwork.)

Security kept a cool head about the incident, though. As Brian Bell, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Everybody here is, 'Oh my gosh, you got a box of heads,' and everybody thinks that it's unheard of. It is a potentially legitimate medical shipment. We've seen it at various ports in the nation."

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

A Baby

Parents: Please do not put your baby through an X-ray scanner. Airport security will probably notice that there is a living human inside there. One couple was busted at an airport in the United Arab Emirates when they tried to smuggle their young son (who did not have a visa) into the country by packing him inside a carry-on bag. Unsurprisingly, the jig was upwhen officials spotted the boy on X-ray.

(Photo: Thinkstock/iStock)

Samurai Sword

Remember, people: If you're in doubt about what you can bring on board a plane, you can always go to the TSA'swebsite or mobile app and use the "Can I Bring?" feature. Simply type in whatever you're wondering about and you'll get an immediate answer. This would have saved the person who tried to take a samurai sword aboard a plane at Boston's Logan International Airport earlier this month a lot of hassle.

"Dirt" by Florida Georgia Line--Cover by Tyler and Ryan Falcoa DirtyTAR DirtyTAR

2008 Winter Solstice Fairbanks Alaska

North To Alaska ~ Johnny Horton

Understanding the risks of flying in unfriendly skies

Zipolite Lifeguard & A Deep Day On Playa Zipolite, brydanger 01/15/2013 Bryan and Jen Danger, Driving Mexico and Central America

http://countyrecurrent.blogspot.com/2011/05/parts-5-6-history-of-junior.html

*Added note: Mexico becomes the first Nation to establish Handicapped Junior Lifeguard Program. In 1995 ,Joaquine Venado, The Club Tortugas/USLA, Oaxacan Liaison to that group’s outreach programs, accepted the position to develop a new programs in the region. During this period with the help of Ana Johansen, the director of the Pina Palmera Disabled Children’s Hospital in Zipolite, he developed the world's first disabled Junior Lifeguard Program with Pina Palmera Children's Hospital, and established the first Mexican Lifeguard Championship at Zipolite Beach. During the Category 5 Hurricane Pauline, in 1997, which devastated the coastal areas of Oaxaca, these young Salvavidas that had finished this initial course, saved 20 children that could not walk or who were too young to escape from certain death. They received a States commendation for their heroic efforts. The Club Tortugas continues to support the concept, for all nations to establish a Handicapped Program, in conjunction with their regular Junior Lifeguard Programs.

A deep day on Playa Zipolite, Mexico

brydanger 01/15/2013 Bryan and Jen Danger, Driving Mexico and Central America

We had read that one of the much debated translations of Zipolite was “beach of the dead”.  Sadly, today we found out why.    
We awoke to the calming sound of waves breaking just out the open doors of our cabana.  As morning arrives the mosquito net surrounding our bed adds a gentle glow to the beachscape beyond.  Jen has already climbed out twice to snap photos of a breathtaking sunrise, one which tried hard to outdo even the sunset from last night.  We move slowly, enjoying the tranquil nature of our surroundings.  First coffee, then breakfast looking over the hammock.  This is a life we could get used to.

As the temperature follows the rising sun we eventually wander to the water where we’ve been watching a few locals doing tricks on their boogie boards.  The waves that crash out front seem to range anywhere from gentle 1’-2’ rollers to thundering overhead monsters and these kids on their boards seemed dwarfed in comparison to the wall of water towering behind them.

I wade out to try and snap a few photos of the 100s of hungry pelicans sitting just past the break and we chuckle as the laziest of pelicans doesn’t take off fast enough to fly over the wave and instead finds himself surfing clumsily in to shore.  I try to float along with the crashing waves to get a photo just at the moment when the wave starts to break and the pelicans dart overtop…waiting until the last possible second to momentarily leave their meal ticket.

I play for maybe half an hour before heading back in to jen and karma who have been standing guard in the shallow water- Karma is convinced she’s the lifeguard of every beach we visit.  As i try to show Jen a photo of our surfing pelican, clothingless guys come running up from the point and shouting for help.  Apparently two guys have been pulled into the riptide and then pushed into a churning hole between the rocks and the point.  I hand jen the camera and run into into the water to help (in hindsight, not taking enough time to discuss my plans with jen nor to set her mind at ease).  I swim out into the current and try to find a place to get near the closest guy without getting sucked in and becoming part of the problem, but the rip proves too difficult.  A local with fins and a boogie board is making faster progress towards him and i abort mission, swim with the rip out to sea before swimming parallel to safety and crash with the waves back into shore.

The boogie boarder eventually does the same with guy in tow and we pull him in to shore where an actual lifeguard is arriving from the far end of the beach.  The lifeguard directs others to the point (and to the guys companion), then goes back to work on trying to resuscitate.  Sadly, they work on him forever and cant successfully bring him back.  A tranquil day and happy vacation ruined, and the lives of whoever he has touched immediately have gaping hole that he used to fill.  We never met this man, but our hearts pour out to his companion and to everyone who knew him.

We have since come to learn that this is a tragic but frighteningly frequent occurrence here.  On our walk last night we saw the speed at which the water was gathering at this end of the beach and discussed the force with which that water must be returning to sea, but we certainly didn’t expect this type of outcome hours later.  Zipolite apparently has always had very dangerous riptides and currents the length of the beach. Deaths here used to be extremely high but with the changing of the beach landscape and the creation/training of a lifeguard crew a decade ago the number of deaths has plummeted.  Rescues it seems are still a daily occurrence, and as we set out to walk down the beach later in the day men, women and children are laughing and playing in the massive waves rather than sitting frightened on shore.  It’s only near sunset that we notice the flags alerting swimmers to the danger level.  Todays flag was flying red.

While we sit quietly in our cabana and later wander out to tour the beach and town, our minds keep coming back to this morning’s fateful event.  A good reminder for us on so many levels.  One of safety and security clearly, but more one of respect and of being thankful.  A reminder that life is an excruciatingly fleeting event that is almost completely out of our control.  Every day and every minute is a precious gift.  There are warnings about just about every thing that a person could choose to do and each choice can end good or bad.  If we spend our time worrying about the worst possible outcome we would likely would never leave home, open a window or turn the lights on.  We certainly wouldn’t be driving on any highway, out traveling the world or playing in the waves (on this or any other beach).  Those who warn most loudly not to are often those who haven’t done it out of their own fears.

I live and play with a constant and healthy respect for the ocean.  I am so aware that this thing that we find so beautiful can become powerful and deadly in a moment, and will always remember coming close to losing my own life in a current off another beach.  At moments in the water today i had pauses of fear.  Fear for my own safety, that i had may have made a bad choice by entering the water or that (as it turned out) i was too late or couldn’t help.  Looking back, my current fears are simply not taking advantage of every moment to love and live life fully.

It seems about the only thing we do have control over is how we choose to spend the days/moments that we do have.  To breathe in deeply the air around us, to love/respect/cherish those dear to us, and to strive to live our dreams while there’s time.  Tomorrow i’ll be more thankful for the opportunity to walk down the beach, to be walking with those that i love and to be given the chance to go back in the water to play with the pelicans.

TRAVEL Bittersweet: A Spanish Winter in Basque Country MONDAY JULY 14, 2014

Bittersweet from mikel Yerobi on Vimeo.
FILM & EDIT
- Unai Borda - https://vimeo.com/unaiborda
- Imanol Sorazu - www.isorazu.com
- Mikel Yerobi - www.mikelyerobi.com

VIDEO
Bitter is bad, sweet is good. Something that is bettersweet it has both positive and negative feelings associated with it.

Some winter 2013/2014 moments at Gipuzkoa (Basque Country) coastline. We (Imanol Sorazu, Unai Borda and me) have been recording some big waves sessions around Zarautz and this are some of the best moments that we capture with our cameras.

STARRING
- Axi Muniain
- Ibon Amatriain
- Iñigo Idigoras "Palots"
- Imanol Yeregi
- Pablo Garcia
- Axi "Rotels"
- Ibon Ilarramendi "Koala"
- Manex Otegi

MUSIC
"Radio protector" - 65daysofstatic

Woodpeckers Alan Prudhoe Alan Prudhoe

Helpless - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970) Audio Remaster