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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

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Lopez-Negrete: Texas' warning about travel to Mexico goes too far Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, Special Contributor



Published: 5:52 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Over the course of the next three months, Mexico will play host to a who's who of the world's most influential leaders.
In April, the World Economic Forum on Latin America will take place in Puerto Vallarta. In May, leading tourism industry figures will converge on Cancún for the regional summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council. The culmination of this trifecta will take place in June, when leaders from the world's 20 largest economies will meet in Los Cabos for the annual meeting of the G20.
This hardly sounds like a place to be avoided en masse. Yet, this is precisely what the Texas government has urged its citizens to do in its most recent warning about travel to Mexico, released Tuesday and simply entitled, "DPS Advises Against Spring Break Travel to Mexico."
This warning paints Mexico with a massively broad brush, discounting nuance, logic and facts. Mexico remains Texas' No. 1 trading partner and largest export market — in other words we are "friends" and as such, are disappointed by this travel warning.
In 2011, 22.7 million international tourists visited Mexico (not including those who arrived by cruise line or border crossings), trumping our previous tourism record, set in 2008. Furthermore, Mexico continues to

Lopez-Negrete: Texas' warning about travel to Mexico goes too far

Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, Special Contributor

 be the No. 1 destination for American travelers. The overwhelming majority of these tourists enjoyed our beautiful beach resorts, gastronomical delights and world-class cultural offerings without the slightest negative incidents.
How can we not then question the motivation and intention of the language used in this warning from Texas — particularly as it was released in the lead up to one of the busiest tourism seasons on the calendar? This is not the first travel warning the Texas has issued with regard to travel to Mexico and no doubt it will not be the last. In 2011 alone, the Lone Star State issued three such warnings.
We do not at all dispute the fact that there are parts of Mexico that are prone to violent incidents and are not currently safe for travel. The same could be said of Austin, Houston or Dallas, for that matter. But I would never discourage people from visiting these cities in totality — that would simply be unfair and unreasonable.
We also understand the inherent desire of the Texas government to keep its citizens informed and educated — this is indeed the job of government and moreover the job of the Department of Public Safety.
What we do take exception to is the insinuation that the entire length and width of Mexico is riddled with crime. To be clear, the majority of drug-related incidents referenced in the warning emanate from select areas in Mexico.
These are located far from Mexico's iconic tourist destinations of Cancún, Huatulco, Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos, to name but a few. To say that "Mexico" is dangerous is misleading, unwarranted and insulting. To claim that "drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat," even in some resort areas, is hyperbole.
Similar travel warnings recently issued by the U.S. State Department have been crafted with far greater precision and nuance. We are deeply troubled by the latest travel warning issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Travel guidelines must be couched in context; they must be precise and specific. Framing information in this way will be to the benefit of the American traveling public.
Lopez-Negrete is chief operating officer of the Mexico Tourism Board.
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Texas to spring breakers: avoid Mexico


Home > Campus Life > Texas to spring breakers: avoid Mexico

Texas to spring breakers: avoid Mexico

By Josh Dehaas | March 7th, 2012 | 11:47 am

Even resort towns may be unsafe
Photo by shinya on Flickr
The State of Texas has released a warning for “Spring Breakers” telling them to avoid traveling to Mexico as a result of nationwide violence.
The report is significant, because it references resort towns like Cancun, Acapulco, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. “Rape and sexual assault continue to be serious problems in resort areas,” as does petty crime, wrote Department of Safety Director Steven C. McCraw in a statement.
“The Mexican government has made great strides battling the cartels,” McCraw noted. “However, drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat, even in some resort areas.”
The release says that 13,000 narcotics-related homicides were reported the first nine months of 2011 and the number of U.S. citizens murdered in Mexico rose from 35 in 2007 to 120 in 2011.
The question of whether Mexico is safe for travelers has been hotly debated in Canada recently too. Last March, Maclean’s asked Why do Canadians still vacation in Mexico? Here’s an excerpt:
Canadians visit Mexico more than one million times every year. Most are untouched. But at least 17 Canadians have died in Mexico since 2006, and more than 120 have reported being assaulted to Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs (last year saw six murders and 35 assaults). These figures are higher than those for other top winter vacation spots, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Compared to other destinations, tourist facilities in Mexico are often more closely integrated with local communities. And Canadians assaulted and murdered in Mexico include those targeted in and around such supposedly safe enclaves, with the attacks frequently bringing responses from authorities that victims and their families consider to be incompetent, or worse.
But how’s the situation one year later? Well, the number of murders in Mexico in 2011 is expected to set a record, when full figures are released. On top of that, a handful of Canadians were reported beaten or killed in Mexico this winter, including Ximena Osegueda, a graduate student from the University of British Columbia who was found dead on a beach near Huatulco in December.
Still, Canadian, U.S. and British authorities generally agree that most resort towns are safe.Foreign Affairs Canada advises “exercis[ing] a high degree of caution due to a deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country,” and avoiding non-essential travel to two northern border states, Chihuahua and Coahuila. They also suggest avoiding crowds and demonstrations in the run-up to the presidential elections on July 1st, which could bring even more violence than usual.
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Solar flare radiation could impact communications, GPS On watch » Sun surface’s high-activity area will face the Earth for the next 10 days.


An image released by NASA on March 5, 2012 is a view of a X1 solar flare in a new active region on the sun, region 1429. It has let loose two M-class flares and one X-class so far. The M-class flares erupted on March 2 and on March 4. The third flare, rated an X1, peaked at 10:30 ET on March 4. A CME accompanied each flare, though due to the fact that this active region is still off to the side of the sun, they will likely have a weak effect on Earth's magnetosphere. (AP Photo/NASA)
Solar flare radiation could impact communications, GPS
On watch » Sun surface’s high-activity area will face the Earth for the next 10 days.
By Sheena McFarland
| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Mar 07 2012 02:39 pm • Last Updated Mar 07 2012 07:51 pm
The sun is coming out of a long slumber, and scientists are bracing for the impacts of heightened solar activity here on Earth.
A Tuesday-night solar flare shot the biggest wave of radiation and electrical and magnetic emissions in five years straight toward the Earth, meaning that by early Thursday morning electrical grids, GPS navigation and radio-wave transmissions could be affected.
The sun has been in a quiet phase for the last several years, but it’s coming out of it. And Coronal Mass Ejections, which spew a billion tons of plasma from the sun’s surface, will become more frequent, Rutledge said.The emissions are expected to come roaring into the atmosphere between 1 and 5 million miles per hour just after midnight on Thursday morning, according to Bob Rutledge, lead of the forecast office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center.
"The sun has solar flares often, but these are shooting toward Earth," said Patrick Wiggins, NASA solar system ambassador to Utah. "When that stuff gets here, it interacts with the upper atmosphere."
That’s when people in places like the northern parts of the United States and Canada get to see auroras, but the other effects might not be so positive.
Rutledge says car navigation systems shouldn’t be too affected, but mining and drilling companies that need accuracy to the centimeter will not be able to get that kind of precision.
Airplanes completing long-haul flights often travel near the poles to save fuel and cut down on flight times, but the geomagnetic storms are affecting the high-frequency radio communications needed to communicate over the horizon, Rutledge said. Several airlines have been warned they may need to reroute flights to travel at a lower latitude.
Delta Air Lines has not yet had to alter any flight paths, but they are continuing to monitor the situation, said spokesman Anthony Black.
Geomagnetic storms caused by large solar ejections can also cause damage to electrical transformers or trip safety switches, shutting down power. However, this storm shouldn’t be that intense, Rutledge said.

No paragraph style ]"> Utah’s lower latitude has protected it from issues associated with the electromagnetic interference of such flares, said David Eskelsen, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power. His engineers, though, do keep track of space weather forecasts.
No paragraph style ]"> The next 10 days could bring more flares and more disruptions, Rutledge said.
No paragraph style ]"> "The one thing to keep in mind is that the active region is still there and it still has some potential," he said.
No paragraph style ]"> The sun’s activity, especially sunspots, is easily visible through with the naked eye — protected with a special filter for safety, Wiggins said. To see real-time images of the sun, visithttp://sohowww.estec.esa.nl/data/realtime-images.html
smcfarland@sltrib.com
Twitter: @sheena5427

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Full Day Huatulco Eco Tour by Bus


Full Day Huatulco Eco Tour by Bus

Full Day Huatulco Eco Tour by Bus
Duration:8 hours
Languages:
  • Spanish,
  • English
Location:Huatulco, Mexico
Explore the Emerald Coast of Oaxaca on this exciting day tour. Begin your tour in Mazunte. Relax on the beach of Zipolite. Enjoy the local catch from the sleepy village of Puerto Angel.

Highlights:

Enjoy Mazunte ecotourism and sea turtle conservation center
Relax on a beach in Zipolite
Admire scenic Puerto Angel

Availability:

When do you want to go?Select a date »
Product & Pricing Options
Begin your guided tour in Mazunte, a small ecotourism community on the pacific coast in Oaxaca, Mexico.  Here you will see a variety of ecofriendly businesses and conservation centers, including: a natural cosmetics factory and the exclusive Mexican center of Turtles where seven of the eight species of marine turtles are protected. See turtles in all different stages of growth and learn what the Mexican government is doing to protect these very special creatures. Some of the marine turtles swim to the local shores to lay their eggs every year.

Continue on to Zipolite, one of the most unique and famous beaches along Mexico's Pacific coastline. Relax and take in the beach's peaceful ambiance as you lay in a hammock enjoying the refreshing ocean breeze.

Next you will stop in Puerto Angel, notorious for its fresh seafood and fish.  Don’t miss out on the local catch from the village fisherman, as this is the specialty of this sleepy village.

Included:

• Round trip transportation from Huatulco area hotels
• Admission fee to Mazunte

Not included:

• Gratuities (optional)
• Meals and beverages

Additional Information:


This tour requires a minimum of 2 passengers to operate.
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