Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Introducing Oaxaca
Introducing Oaxaca
Welcome to one of Mexico’s most beautiful and vibrant cities. A colonial city with a lovely, tree-shaded central square, El Zócalo, Oaxaca is the heart of a region whose highly creative populace produces the country’s finest range of crafts and some of its most exciting contemporary art. Artists and artisans alike are inspired by the state’s deep-rooted indigenous traditions and by its bright southern light. Oaxaca has top-class museums, lovely architecture, charming inns and hotels and its own flavorsome version of Mexican cuisine. The easygoing southern pace breaks out into frequent lively fiestas, and there’s some event going on in the streets or plazas almost every day.
Despite its cultural riches, Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s poorest states, and the city is the stage on which many of the unresolved tensions between the largely mestizo ruling elite and the largely indigenous poor are acted out. The city’s fringe settlements of migrant villagers are as impoverished as any inMexico, and the violent confrontations between the state government and protestors here in 2006 highlighted Oaxaca’s deep economic and political divide. The troubles wiped out the city’s important tourist industry for more than a year, but by late 2007 calm, and the tourists, had returned.The city is surrounded by fascinating archaeological sites and by colorfully traditional villages and small towns. The dramatic valley and mountain landscapes provide abundant opportunities for hiking, biking, horseback riding and climbing, and good active-tourism operators and successful rural tourism programs make it easy for visitors enjoy these experiences.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Monday, May 6, 2013
Zipolite beach | Active Naturists Zipolite is known for its strong currents and crazy waves, and nothing illustrates it better than massive amounts of water pouring through that arch with immense ... activenaturists.net/2013/04/26/zipolite-beach/
Zipolite beach | Active Naturists
Zipolite is known for its strong currents and crazy waves, and nothing illustrates it better than massive amounts of water pouring through that arch with immense ...
activenaturists.net/2013/04/
Zipolite is known for its strong currents and crazy waves, and nothing illustrates it better than massive amounts of water pouring through that arch with immense ...
activenaturists.net/2013/04/
Zipolite beach
The beach of Zipolite on the Pacific coast of Mexico was probably the first naturist place in Mexico that I heard of. It is a beautiful long sandy beach,
but what makes it special is its hippie history.
Hippie culture has been diminishing since 1960-’70s and now it’s being more and more commercialised,
but there is still a very laid-back liberating atmosphere. Freedom of being naked is definitely a big part of it. This place is perfect for soaking in the sun’s energy during day and adoring its colourful spectacle as evening approaches.
A peculiar addition to Zipolite’s landscape, is a natural arch at the north-western side of the beach.
Zipolite is known for its strong currents and crazy waves, and nothing illustrates it better than massive amounts of water pouring through that arch with immense power and noise!
The legend goes that Zipolite means ‘beach of the dead’ in an ancient language, but I read that it is probably not the case. There is definitely something to it, as its waters look quite turbulent indeed. Pelicans don’t seem to mind it and come in flocks to catch fish.
There are many fishermen too, but I found it more fascinating to see how pelicans dove with full speed.
There were a lot of birds, actually… including chicken! They were not wild, of course, but they were roaming free in the greens.
I stayed at a small guest house of Posada Lua, and a fisherman family next to us held those chickens just like that, free out there.
The concept of a ‘happy chicken’ is definitely becoming more and more popular with advent of eco-conscious and ethical farming in the West, but could there be a happier chicken than this one?
Zipolite itself is not suitable for snorkelling, but there are organised small boat tours that promise you whales, dolphins, sea turtles… On my tour, we didn’t see any of those, but we did get to coral reefs. Again, I decided to give it a try and ask our tour guides and the company whether they didn’t mind me skinny-dipping. The guides were fine, but there was a tricky part with other tourists. It was a group of deaf guys. I tried to explain them but was not sure they got it until I took off my shorts. Regardless, a couple of them showed thumbs up 
Back on the beach, I played volleyball a couple of time, but although it is a quintessential naturist sport and there was a decent amount of naked sunbather, nobody played volleyball naked :-/
There was one more thing that I was desperate to do at the Zipolite beach – surfing – and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to do this one naked! As I was still inexperienced in surfing, I asked local surfer teachers – Aguila and Cali – to assist me.
They were very helpful, so ask for them if you’re around and need some guiding, but there is one thing you need to take into account: people of Zipolite do not wear wristwatches… and they don’t like carrying mobile phones either. Renting a board from them, might be a better idea than setting exact times for classes…
Unfortunately, I took photos of me surfing only on the last day…
and it was the worst time for surfing out of 4 days that I stayed there :-/
There were a lot of double waves breaking unexpectedly, and the currents were all messed up as it was between low and high tides, so I could hardly get on the board at all. I guess I’ll have to come back to take some better photos
I was sad leaving that place, but on the way to the bus stop, while looking for dried grasshoppers, this shop put a smile on my face:
‘Tienda naturista’, ‘naturist shop’ is not what I thought it would be, but I liked the name nevertheless.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
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