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

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Cold, white Christmas forecast in some areas Heavy rain forecast this weekend in Nuevo León

Cold, white Christmas forecast in some areas

Heavy rain forecast this weekend in Nuevo LeónMexico News Daily | Friday, December 15, 2017

Weather forecasters are predicting a white — and cold — Christmas in northern regions of Mexico.

Residents of Nuevo León in particular are in for a rare meteorological phenomenon that is expected to bring more than three times the normal December rainfall this weekend alone.

A strong winter storm, the presence of cold front No. 16 and high humidity will all converge on the northern state to deliver more rainfall in two days than what is historically registered throughout the month.

Average rainfall in December is between 15 and 20 millimeters, forecaster Abimael Salas Garza told the newspaper Milenio, but 30 to 60 millimetres is expected throughout the state today and tomorrow.

In some regions, he said, especially in mountain areas, rainfall is expected to be over 60 millimeters.

Conditions are expected to improve beginning Sunday.

Snow is also in the forecast but unlike last week it is only expected above the 1,500-meter level.

“But it is important to point out that in those mountains above 3,000 meters, in [the Nuevo León municipalities of] Galeana, Santa Catarina, Santiago, and Arteaga, Coahuila, there could be over 50 centimeters of snow,” Salas said.

Temperatures across the country are rising after last week’s cold front and winter storm, but conditions are expected cool again by the 24th or 25th, just in time for the Christmas celebrations.

An official with the National Meteorological Service said that even though temperatures will be higher in the coming days throughout the country, “we must take into consideration that this is winter and mornings and nights will continue to be cold.”

Still, there will be a few days of respite from the below-freezing temperatures, said Jesús Carachure Bautista. In Mexico City, for example, low temperatures are expected to range between 0 and 5 degrees, “not below zero, as was recorded on Sunday and Monday.”

But staring December 24, temperatures will start to drop again, bringing snow to northern Mexico, especially in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and San Luis Potosí.

Ride of the Dead

Video: Ride of the Dead

December 16, 2017 Helena Kotala BIKE CULTURE, RIDE ADVENTURES, VIDEOS 0

Ride of the Dead takes us into the world of the Mexican mountain bike culture during the famous annual celebration known as Dia De Los Muertos. This film follows Oaxacan-born-and-raised rider and trail builder Yefra Ram through some of Mexico’s best mountain bike trails as he honors the passing of loved ones and competes in the first annual Tran Sierra Norte race.

The Trans Sierra Norte is a multi-day enduro mountain bike race that rips through the Oaxacan highlands, offering more than 3,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. The trails are thousands of years old and were predominately used to connect local villages and exchange goods, further making the bike event a cultural rarity, especially since it finishes in Oaxaca City right about the time the fireworks are blasting off for the Day of the Dead fiesta.

Yefra Ram builds and maintains the trails nestled within Oaxaca’s backcountry and works with the local villages and the Tran Sierra Norte administration to develop a network of world-class trails once used as donkey-trodden trade routes.

This is one man’s journey to share his love of riding with the world.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Six places in the world where you might bump into Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle has been known to clink glasses with celebrities at The Bowery Hotel in New YorkCREDIT: GETTY

1. Food and fashion in New York

The Lower East Side is one of Meghan’s favourite neighbourhoods in New York. She has been known to clink glasses with celebrities at The Bowery Hotel (theboweryhotel.com), which she has praised for its “cosy charm and the who’s who nightlife scene”.

Her insider food tips include the six-course, $74 (£55) tasting menu at Contra, Clinton Street Baking Company’s blueberry and banana-walnut pancakes, and bagels and schmear at Russ and Daughters, a family-run Jewish deli more than a century old.

The fashion-loving former blogger picks up retro pieces at Narnia Vintage and oversized turtlenecks at Frankie Shop. She loves the Tenement Museum.

2. Wildlife and deserts in Botswana

It was in this astonishing country of spectacular wildlife, lily-flecked deltas and river water collapsing on to the Kalahari Desert sands that Prince Harry and Meghan enjoyed their first official date last August. Somewhat unusually, that took the form of a five-day holiday. They stayed at Meno a Kwena tented camp, a hideaway wedged between the Okavango Delta and Central Kalahari Game Reserve – he also whisked first love Chelsy Davy there in 2007, and the staff are so familiar that they call him by his first name.

Camping at its finest: Inside one of the tents at the £1,000 plus a night Meno A Kwen

Think the kind of place where meerkat safaris and scenic flights over the local salt pans are standard, and guests can witness elephants bathing in waterholes from the comfort of their tent’s own rose-petalled tub. botswanatourism.co.bw

3. The Northern Lights in Norway

In January, Meghan and Harry reportedly holidayed together in Tromso, the Norwegian city that boasts the world’s most annual sightings of the Northern Lights. This gateway to the Scandinavian tundra is a tangle of gingerbread-shaped houses, high-end art galleries and hot chocolate joints hemmed in by crumple-faced fjords weighed down with snow.

It’s also an extremely popular base for Arctic activities; the couple – who stayed in a no-frills isolated lodge – apparently enjoyed whale watching and a trip to Prestvannet, an iced lake that acts as a vast frozen mirror to the green-glowing acrobatics of the Aurora Borealis above. visittromso.no/e

4. Beach activities in Jamaica

Meghan - who we first husband Trevor Engelson at Ocho Rios’ Jamaica Inn – continues to hold a candle for Negril in Jamaica, a swooping, chaotic coastline of flying buttresses, caves and twisting inlets. She recommends morning beach yoga, cliff jumping, diving for sea urchins, climbing ackee trees with the locals, and “jerk sauce covering my face after a perfect meal”.

Her base of choice is Rockhouse Hotel (rockhouse.com), a boutique hewn from volcanic rock where thatched villas have outdoor showers. At 3 Dives restaurant she orders the grilled chicken and lobster washed down with a Red Stripe beer, before dancing to a reggae band.

5. Culture in Mexico

One of Meghan's most vivid childhood memories is travelling to Oaxaca aged nine for the Day of the Dead festival, where the self-confessed foodie recalls eating a lot of moles (traditional sauces). “The culture, food, people and varied landscapes make Mexico a favoured destination of mine year after year,” she says.

The Day of the Dead festivities in Oaxaca, Mexico — Meghan recalls travelling to Oaxaca aged nine for the Day of the Dead festival CREDIT: GETTY

These days, she also rates Sayulita – a psychedelic fishing village and surfing hub on the Pacific Coast – for its seafood tacos, “beautiful beaches and boho-chic sensibility”.

Baja California is equally special: this beach destination twice the size of Belgium – all pale blue volcanoes, humpback whales and Asian-inflected cuisine – is where her dad lives. oaxaca.com

6. A Mediterranean escape in Malta

Her favourite getaway in the Med is Malta. Meghan’s great-great-grandmother was Maltese. She described eight-suite Casa Ellul in Valletta as her “favourite property” for its “Calvin Klein meets Game of Thrones” interiors (early Victorian meets romantic classicism is probably more accurate).

Top of her hit list are St John’s Co-Cathedral where Caravaggio’s only signed painting hangs, the rabbit spaghetti at Diar il-Bniet, a restaurant-cum-larder in Dingli, and Meridiana, a winery owned by the Antinori family (they make Tignanello wine, which inspired the name of Meghan’s lifestyle blog The Tig). visitmalta.com