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

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Sanctuaries prepare for butterflies, visitors Monarchs are en route, which means sanctuaries get ready for visitors

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Sanctuaries prepare for butterflies, visitors

Monarchs are en route, which means sanctuaries get ready for visitors

Mexico News Daily | Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Monarch butterflies are heading south to Mexico and the sanctuaries in which they overwinter are preparing to open to the public.

The butterflies are traveling from the northern reaches of the continent to their overwintering grounds in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the forests of the states of Michoacán and México.

Once the migrating insects are settled for the season in November, sanctuary towns start receiving visitors. The monarchs will remain clustered in hibernation through February.

The small towns that manage the sanctuaries organize tours and hikes within the biosphere reserve, taking groups of up to 100 people on foot or on horseback.

Several of the sanctuaries in Michoacán have organized activities designed to complement and add value to the experience.

The largest sanctuary within the reserve is El Rosario. Located two hours away from Mexico City, the hike to the overwintering grounds is two kilometers long. The admission fee to the monarch sanctuary is 35 pesos for children and 45 pesos for adults (about US $2 each), prices that are the same throughout the region.

Along the way, the ejidatarios, or communal land owners, talk about the different plant species found in the forests and the life cycle of the butterflies.

Five cabins can accommodate up to six guests each, with a cost of up to 800 pesos (about $43) per night. Visitors will also find a small area where prepared meals and handicrafts are sold.

The Agua Blanca entrance to the reserve is located 40 minutes away from El Rosario. A small hotel is the gateway to what could be the main attraction in its own right: pools of hot spring water. The experience is complemented by a temazcal, a pre-Hispanic sweat lodge, and other treatments.

The area is surrounded by waterfalls and grottos, ideal for hiking and sightseeing. Zip lines and rapelling are also an option for the more daring.

A weekend package that costs 1,100 pesos ($58) per adult includes two nights of lodging, all meals included.

San Cayetano is a ranch located in the Zitácuaro municipality, two hours away from El Rosario, and renowned for its creamed honey production. Tours visit the San Isidro river and the first Catholic church built in the state.

Overnight visitors can stay in one of the stone cabins, which are equipped with a wood-burning heater and hand-woven hammocks. A night costs 2,596 pesos ($137) for two people, while more conventional lodging is available starting at 700 pesos ($37) per night.

The second largest sanctuary on the Michoacán side of the biosphere reserve, Sierra Chincua, is located close to the Magical Town of Tlalpujahua. A tour including transportation and a box lunch costs 450 pesos (about $23) per person.

The Rayón brothers, protagonists of the Mexican fight for independence, were born in Tlalpujahua, where a museum celebrates the notable citizens. The Dos Estrellas mine and the Brockman dam are other landmarks worth seeing.

Townspeople also distill artisanal liqueurs and manufacture traditional Christmas globe ornaments, which are sold through December at a fair.

Visitors to any of the sanctuary towns in Michoacán or Mexico states are advised that walking tours can take up to two hours. The use of non-skid shoes is recommended, especially hiking boots. Visitors should also wear or carry a warm jacket, as the higher zones of the biosphere reserve are considerably colder.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Along with the butterflies, hot springs can be enjoyed in Agua Blanca.

Indigenous chef feeds earthquake victims She wanted to open her own restaurant but an earthquake forced a change of plan

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Indigenous chef feeds earthquake victims

She wanted to open her own restaurant but an earthquake forced a change of plan

Mexico News Daily | Thursday, October 19, 2017

An indigenous chef from the small Zapotec town of Magdalena Tlacotepec in Oaxaca had wanted to open her own restaurant until an earthquake halted those plans.

But Grecia Jiménez Osorio has found a new opportunity to cook regardless: she and a dozen others have been feeding hundreds of people who were victims of the September 7 earthquake that devastated a large part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region.

“Cooking, just like music and glamour, has been my passion,” she said, explaining that her dream of setting up her own restaurant was sidetracked by the strongest earthquake in the region in a century.

Jiménez’s passion is now feeding needy residents of the neighboring towns of Juchitán, Xadani, Unión Hidalgo and Ixtaltepec in addition to those of Tlacotepec, and her operations has begun to be known as La Cocina de Grecia, or Grecia’s kitchen.

But Jiménez is also known for her humanitarian efforts through the non-governmental organization Binni Naayexche, a Zapotec term that translates as “Happy People.”

“This is something that we’re known for, it’s something that all muxes are, we’re happy, cheerful people. We always have a smile on our face,” said the 30-year-old chef, who is also a muxe(pronounced moo-shay), a third gender that is common — and accepted — among the Zapotec people.

Meals at Grecia’s Kitchen are ready every day at 1:00pm, when fried fish, vegetables, beans, beef, pozole or traditional coloradito mole are loaded on to a cargo bicycle and delivered hot to people living in shelters or in what was left of their homes.

Jiménez and her co-workers chose to deliver prepared meals rather than food supplies because many people lost their kitchens — “they don’t even have a glass left to drink water from.”

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Magdalena Tlacotepec

Under the motto “Help us give help,” the NGO earned fame on social media, which generated donations of food and money from throughout Mexico and abroad, including the United States and Germany.

The donations have been enough to feed those in Jiménez’s hometown, so she has steadily been expanding the coverage to the other towns nearby.

“As long as we keep smiling, food will continue to be prepared. Grecia’s Kitchen will not close as long as the smiles of the people are alive. Our smile is our happiness and the day we lose it will mean we no longer exist,” Jiménez said.

Source: El Imparcial (sp), Milenio (sp)

Jiménez, in foreground, and co-workers at Grecia's Kitchen.

California not as safe as Baja California Officials speak out in defense of Mexican tourism industry

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California not as safe as Baja California

Officials speak out in defense of Mexican tourism industry

Mexico News Daily | Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Tourists are safer in Baja California than in the U.S. state of California, according to a comment made by the state’s tourism secretary in an appearance before the state Congress in Mexicali.

Óscar Escobedo Carignan made the assertion in response to lawmakers’ questions about insecurity in the northern border state.

“We had 27 million tourists last year, just over 16 million were from the other side [the United States]. There were two incidents that shouldn’t have happened, but [in terms] of the international numbers . . . they’re practically nonexistent,” he added.

Congressman Bernardo Padilla, who is also a member of the state’s Public Security, Civil Protection and Tourism Commission, questioned Escobedo about comments made by internationally renowned chef Javier Plascencia in relation to the security situation in the state and specifically Tijuana.

“. . . How could this affect the work that is being carried out?” the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) deputy asked.

“The voice of chef Plascencia concerns me because it resonates in the gastronomic sector at an international level. He said he was nervous about bringing public figures to Baja California.”

Escobedo responded by recognizing the problem but stressed it wasn’t confined to Baja California.

“What is happening is regrettable [and] concerning. He mentioned Tijuana in particular but in reality it’s in tourist destinations in the whole country like Cancún, Quintana Roo, or Los Cabos, Baja California Sur,” he said.

There have been 1,365 homicides recorded in Tijuana this year as of yesterday while rising crime and violence in Baja California Sur have been blamed for hotel cancellations in destinations such as Los Cabos.

Meanwhile, federal Tourism Secretary Enrique de la Madrid ruled out the possibility that an updated travel warning issued by the United States Department of State in August would affect Mexico’s chances of becoming the world’s seventh most visited country.

Mexico is currently the world’s eighth most popular destination, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Growing violence and insecurity will also not affect Mexico’s tourism growth, de la Madrid said, stressing that the dangers of travel to Mexico for overseas visitors were minimal.

“The chances that you, as a foreigner, are affected [by insecurity] are frankly very low,” he declared at a tourism event in Cancún yesterday.

He also called on Mexicans to stop branding the country as unsafe because of the negative effect it will have on tourism.

“If we manage to convince the world that we are an unsafe country, someday we are going to pay for it with fewer tourists, less employment and less progress,” de la Madrid said.

Twenty-six million international tourists arrived in the first eight months of 2017, representing a 12% increase over the same period in 2016 while a total of 35 million international tourists visited Mexico last year, up 50% on 2012 figures.

Increases in visitors from Argentina, Brazil, France and Canada were all cited by the tourism secretary while he also said that more Mexicans are choosing to vacation at home.

De la Madrid also made his own comparison to the relative safety of tourists in Mexico compared to the United States and beyond.

“In Mexico, we don’t have insecurity where one person guns down more than 50 people at a concert . . . We don’t have insecurity where you’re walking down a European street and a terrorist comes and shoots people who are drinking coffee . . . .”

“In Mexico the insecurity we have, unfortunately, most of it has to do with . . . criminal groups competing among themselves to gain [control] of a plaza.”

Source: Reforma (sp), El Universal (sp)