Virgins, mermaids and Frida Kahlo arrive in Puerto Escondido Posted by Michele on Jan 27, 2013 in

Virgins, mermaids and Frida Kahlo arrive in 

Puerto Escondido

Posted by Michele on Jan 27, 2013 in 

Eco-travel, Life in Mexico | 4 comments

Irene R Aguilar Alcantara and one of her ceramic mermaids

I didn’t expect to see mermaids when I woke up this morning. But I just got back from the annualDreamweavers Women’s Weaving Cooperative sale, hosted by Patrice Perillie at Casa Tejesuenos, and realized even Sundays in Puerto Escondido can hold surprises.  The event features weavings from the Tixinda Cooperative in Pinotepa de Don Luis, a community high in the mountains above Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Weaving demonstration at annual Dreamweaver’s sale

They weave magic on their backstrap looms using yarn dyed blue from the anil (indigo plant), red from the cochineal (cacti bugs) and purple harvested from purpura snails. The weaving is rare and beautiful and, judging by the huge turn-out of shoppers at the event–highly-prized.

You had to get there early for the best selection

Gina Machorro ( Tourist booth fame) and a family of visitors

What surprised me most this year was seeing mermaids, fantastical figures and Virgens of Soledad among the weavings.  Then I met master artisan Irene B. Aguilar Alcantara and it all became clear.  She’s a member of the Aguilar family, renowned folk art craftspeople from Ocotlán de Morelos. You can read about their work on Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art but Irene is best known for her sculptures of musicians, Frida Kahlo, ”women of the night”  and catrinas, the elegantly dressed female figures for Day of the Dead.

A human catarina in Patzcuaro

I was first introduced to the cult of catrinas in Morelia, Mexico (read more about my experience inCelebrating Life and Death in Patzcuaro). Today  I was  thrilled to be reunited with the magical quality and humour of Mexican folk art ceramics. Irene’s imagination  shines through in her work and is a perfect fit with the Dreamweavers resilient spirit.

I can’t wait to see what surprises await at the Dreamweavers 2014 event.

Credit: Irene Aguilar

Contact Irene at artesanairea@yahoo.com.mx or visit her studio in Ocotlan de Morelos, Oaxaca.

To keep up to date on news and events in Puerto Escondido, download the Puerto Escondido Travel Essentials app for iPhone, iPad, iPhone  or Android. Find it in the App store or on Google Play.

1. 

   esperanzaJanuary 28, 2013
   

   LOve the whimsical statuettes and the glowing colours of the tapestries, all original and beautiful

   Reply
2. 

   Carol PerehudoffJanuary 28, 2013
   

   That Frida really gets around. Wasn’t she just in Toronto? All that and mermaids, too. Sounds lovely.
   Carol Perehudoff recently posted..Oh la la! Paris has a fancy new wellness centre at Shangri-La

   Reply
3. 

   Colleen FriesenJanuary 28, 2013
   

   What a fabulous photo of Irene B. Aguilar Alcantara. Wow. She’s so beautiful. So sorry I missed this event.

   Reply
4. 

   Lesley PetersonJanuary 29, 2013
   

   What gorgeous ceramics and weavings! That purple is so vivid–wow:o
   Lesley Peterson recently posted..ArtSmart Roundtable: Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto

Perfect Place, Stay & Hosts - Hotel Flor de Maria, Puerto Escondido ... Hotel Flor de Maria: Perfect Place, Stay & Hosts - See 85 traveler reviews, 49 candid photos, and great deals for Puerto Escondido, Mexico, at TripAdvisor. www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g153373-d153570-r15...

Perfect Place, Stay & Hosts - Hotel Flor de Maria, Puerto Escondido ...
Hotel Flor de Maria: Perfect Place, Stay & Hosts - See 85 traveler reviews, 49 candid photos, and great deals for Puerto Escondido, Mexico, at TripAdvisor.
www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g153373-d153570-r15...

This photo of Hotel Flor de Maria is courtesy of TripAdvisor

ALE Y ALDO EN PUERTO ESCONDIDO OAXACA

PUERTO ESCONDIDO – beach street photos

PUERTO ESCONDIDO – beach street photos | ciapannaphoto
Puerto Escondido, in Oaxaca, Mexico, is endowed with several stunning beaches . But you won't catch this street photographer lounging around on a towel… …
https://ciapannaphoto.wordpress.com/.../puerto-escondido-bea...

PUERTO ESCONDIDO – beach street

 photos

Puerto Escondido, in Oaxaca, Mexico, is endowed with several stunning beaches. But you won’t catch this street photographer lounging around on a towel…

Playa Zipolite | pursuit of life satisfaction Posts about Playa Zipolite written by sofia the traveler. pursuit-of-life-satisfaction.com/tag/playa-zipolite/

Playa Zipolite | pursuit of life satisfaction
Posts about Playa Zipolite written by sofia the traveler.
pursuit-of-life-satisfaction.com/tag/playa-zipolite/

Daytrip to Masunte, Zipolite and Huatusco

Posted on 21/01/2013

Yesterday, saturday, I didn’t have any surf lessons because I went on a small excursion with some surfers from here. Jesús, one of the surf teachers, and his friends do this small trips to the beaches and cities close to Puerto like twice a month and had space over in their van so they picked me up like 8 in the morning.

We started at a beach called Masunte, everyone has told me to go there because its beautiful, and I really liked it a lot. We bathed there and stayed for an hour or something before heading to turtles museum there, quite funny touristy thing there.

Panorama misunte

Bathing! woho. oh, and I’m like the tallest. hehehe.

at the turtles museum

Then we went to another beach called Zipolite, which actually is a nudist beach, but I only saw like 3 nude men. Haha. We sat at some hammocks and ”beds” that were hanging like hammocks, ate some nachos, enchiladas and slept a really good siesta.

Angelo and I had a chat before about our differences, like that I’ve never tried coconut directly from the coconut before (he was like ”whaaat?”), and he told me that he never touched snow (I was like ”whaaat?” haha, no, not really), but it’s weird that we have so different lives, what’s totally normal to one it’s completely exotic to the other.

There are always a lot of sellers passing by selling necklaces, clothes, hats, drinks etc. There was one coconut-seller, so Angelo bought me one, costed 10 or 15 pesos or something. We asked for some ice from the bar so it was cold, and it was delicious. So exotic! :) You eat the inside too. Angelo likes to eat it with lime, salt and chile. Tasted good :)

fixing the coconut! :) at zipolite beach.

After the Zipolite beach, we went to Huatulco, which is a city about 2 hours from Puerto. We went to their beach and watched the sunset. It was meant for us to go to the cinema but they didn’t show anything good. We ate dinner in the center instead and then headed home. On our way we got stopped in a military area and they search all the van, our things  and us trying to find drugs or weapons. I think it’s good that they do that, but it’s  a weird feeling, because you sort of feel like a criminal even if you haven’t done anything, haha.

To get to huatulco beach you had to walk through here.. weird.. haha

So cute. ”laundry Chelita and her 10 grand sons.” :)

I got back home around 21.30, the others at the beach house had made a bbq which I missed. But we sat and talked and drank for a while before heading in to Zicatela to a place called Panorama. It was calm when we got there and we sat at some hammocks at the beach, but later it got really crowded. Later we changed to Bar Fly (or sky bar, or sky fly or something like that). Everyone from Panorama also went there. And later, we changed back again to Panorama when Bar Fly was about to close. They are both very cool places, really laid back, since this is the beach, a lot of people are walking around either in flip-flops or barefoot, have easy-going clothes (t-shirts and bath shorts or something is fine here). Yeah. I really like the feeling here, very much ”mañana mañana”. And also, everyone is soooo nice. Very talk active and really easy-going.

Publicerat i Mexico, North America | Märkt Hammock, Huatulco, Nude beach, Panorama, Playa Zipolite,Puerto Escondido Oaxaca, Zipolite | Lämna ett svar

The Beatles - "20 Greatest Hits" (U.S. Version!)

01. 00:00 "She Loves You"
02. 02:19 "Love Me Do"
03. 04:38 "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
04. 07:05 "Can't Buy Me Love"
05. 09:17 "A Hard Day's Night"
06. 11:50 "I Feel Fine"
07. 14:09 "Eight Days a Week"
08. 16:55 "Ticket to Ride"
09. 20:05 "Help!"
10. 22:24 "Yesterday"
11. 24:29 "We Can Work It Out"
12. 26:45 "Paperback Writer"
13. 29:03 "Penny Lane"
14. 32:05 "All You Need Is Love"
15. 35:55 "Hello, Goodbye"
16. 39:23 "Hey Jude" (Edited)
17. 44:32 "Get Back"
18. 47:45 "Come Together"
19. 52:02 "Let It Be"
20. 55:53 "The Long and Winding Road"

From: Doctor Ebbett's Vinyl Transfer... Enjoy!

Twenty years after the Beatles released their first single in the UK (Love Me Do), Capitol and Parlophone commemorated the event with the compilation called 20 Greatest Hits. Three different track lists were produced: for the UK and U.S. markets, and a third for "Europe." The reasoning was that the selection of the twenty greatest Beatles hits varied from market to market, as not all singles were released in all countries. This would be the last LP in the discography of the Beatles to have different versions for the U.S. and the UK. The release dates were October 11, 1982 in the US and October 18, 1982 in Britain.

This compilation sold reasonably well, but did not pass number 50 in the U.S. or number 10 in the UK. Beatles historians took this as an indication that this British rock-band phenomenon of the 1960's had finally been supplanted by newer trend setters in popular music. They had joined the nostalgic, "Oldies" category for good.

The U.S. and European versions of the LP include a trimmed-down version of Hey, Jude (to 5:05). The version in the UK and the releases on cassette in all markets kept the original, 7:11 track. The U.S. version also was distributed in Canada, in spite of the fact that Can't Buy Me Love only went to number 3 there, and two number one hits, All My Loving and This Boy, are not on the record.
Ten of the twenty greatest hits appear on all three versions of the record. In comparison with the UK track listing, the U.S./Canada version has 14 songs in common. Six from the UK release were omitted: The Ballad of John and Yoko, Day Tripper, Don't Let Me Down, Eleanor Rigby, From Me to You, and Yellow Submarine. In their place appears: Hello--Goodbye, I Feel Fine, Ticket to Ride, Penny Lane, Come Together and Get Back. The European track list has 15 tracks in common with the UK version, and omits the following six: Don't Let Me Down, Eight Days a Week, Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road and Yesterday. In their place the European LP inserted: Get Back, Hello--Goodbye, I Feel Fine, Lady Madonna, and Ticket to Ride.

Zipolite Beach Billies

Brian Legg 10:45am Jan 29 ZBB is hosting an open-mic on 2013-01-29 at 20:00 @ Colibri... in Playa Zipolite, OAX http://www.reverbnation.com/c./poni/171477822 Facebook Player for Zipolite Beach Billies | Other Music, lyrics, videos, concert schedule, and more at ReverbNation.

Van Morrison - The Philosopher's Stone - HD

Casa Pan de Miel, Cerrada del Museo de la Tortuga s/n, Mazunte 70946, Mexico

A true gem - Review of Casa Pan de Miel, Mazunte, Mexico ...
Casa Pan de Miel: A true gem - See 243 traveler reviews, 156 candid photos, and great deals for Mazunte, Mexico, at TripAdvisor.
www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g658264-d636405-r...


This photo of Casa Pan de Miel is courtesy of TripAdvisor


This beautiful small stylish and intimate boutique hotel is perched high above the San Augustinillo Beach with spectacular views of the ocean from every outlook. Anne, the owner and her staff have created a relaxed atmosphere whist seeing to their guests every need in the most friendly, efficient and unobtrusive way possible. After navigating the steep driveway in an old rental car, we arrived at Pan de Miel to be greeted warmly by Haliva, who offered us a drink before explaining how the hotel works ( guests have open access to the kitchen where there is hot and cold water on tap, tea, coffee as well as a fully stocked drinks fridge with a good selection of beer and very good wine) If one wants to help oneself all they ask of you is to write it down on your invoice block. I loved that aspect of the hotel, as one could get service if wanted, as well as feel at home and help oneself. 
Sipping our delicious cold beers on the terrace looking out to sea I almost immediately felt the stress of our journey being replaced by a tranquility which did not leave me throughout our stay. I had been unwell and Anne immediately brought me some homeopathic pills . My only moment of stress was the sudden realisation that I had forgotten my Kindle in a hotel in Acapulco. My stress was quickly alleviated when Marianna called the hotel and helped with arrangements for me to get it back and Anne offered me a book in English to read. The staff were also very knowledgeable about local restaurants and all that the area had to offer and helped with reservations etc.
We stayed in a large,tastefully decorated room with a huge bed, fan and air conditioning. The bathroom was spacious, the shower powerful and the locally made organic soaps, shampoo and conditioner provided on a daily basis lovely to use. From our room and balcony we could see both the sunrise and the sunset-- spectacular. The balcony felt totally private and was large enough to have a hammock, two deck chairs and a table. A fridge and microwave was also provided.
The terrace of the hotel which leads onto the beautiful infinity pool is spacious and comfortable. I spent hours in the pool, gazing out at the sea crashing onto the rocks, looking at the flocks of Pelican and other birds fly by. There was great excitement when some whales were spotted and all the guests bonded around looking out for more whales and sharing the binoculars which suddenly appeared from one of the staff. Breakfast, which was served at a large communal table overlooking the infinity pool and the sea,consisted of various homemade breads, delicious jams, thick rich yogurt and lots of tasty local tropical fruit which kept on being replenished. The papaya and mango were so delicious that I ate more than my fair share. One could also order different kinds of egg and I have never had such perfectly fried eggs on a consistent basis before. The expresso menu was extensive which is unusual to find in Mexican hotels. Pan de Miel seemed also to attract an interesting group of like minded guests, so having breakfast or lunch around the communal table gave one the chance, if one wanted, to meet interesting people and share recommendations and travel tips.
As all nine of the rooms in the hotel were occupied I wondered whether there would be a problem, as it seemed as if there might not be enough sun loungers around the pool. Lo and behold, the minute more sun loungers were needed, more appeared. The service was so good that one didn't have to ask for certain things. As the need was seen, whatever was needed was provided. 
A beautiful place in a spectacular part of Mexico which was made even more special due to the friendly,helpful and professional service from Anne and all the staff. Pan de Miel offers 5* service without the stuffiness and formality of many 5* hotels. We spent five blissful days there and we will definitely return. Thank you for making the last week of our holiday so special and we hope to be back soon.

Room Tip: All the guests seemed pleased with their rooms so hard to say as it depends on the individual needs.