Saturday, June 8, 2013
Puerto Escondido (is fun to say)
I get antsy if I don't see the sea for more than a week or two so we decided to head south to Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast. From Oaxaca we had two options: an 11 hour bus ride overnight that went around a large mountain range OR what numerous posts on TripAdvisor told us was a hectic, nausea inducing but spectacular 6 hour ride straight up and over said range in a mini-van.
After some deliberation we opted for the latter. This turned out to be an opt that I would regret. Most of the people describing the trip on the internet had complained about getting car sick but I don't really suffer from this affliction so thought it'd be fine. The real difficulty came from having to spend the entire journey clinging to my chair and trying to stop myself from flying out of the seat. The novelty of this wore off after the first 30 minutes and then it was just annoying. Even the promise of some spectacular views during the descent on the other side turned out to be over-hyped and was nothing particularly special. I'm starting to think some false or misleading information might have accidentally made it onto the internet.
It was kind fun to watch young children clambering all over each other trying to sell you coke and nuts whenever the van stopped for gas (or if the driver just randomly decided to pick up one of his mates on the side of the road). Presumably they all go to school during the week and are only doing this on the weekends to earn some extra pocket money.
I realize I'm starting to sound a bit like a whiny toruist but whatever, it sucked and as a result I arrived in Puerto Escondido incredibly sweaty and exhausted. I say "I" because apparently Audrey really enjoyed the ride and thought it was "authentic" and "fascinating". Bloody French - they're always so positive and never complain about anything!
We'd opted to stay in a hostel a little bit out from the main town since it was cheaper and the photos on hostelworld seemed really nice. It also said it was "a 5 minute cab ride" from the main town. We caught a cab and 20 minutes later arrived at our hostel. To be fair it was quite a nice place and we had our own little cabin. The surrounding neighbourhood was completely empty, save for a few stray dogs and one or two bars which were closed (this was a Saturday night after all). We asked the (American) woman working at our hostel if there was anywhere around that we could get some food and she told us no. So we caught a cab back to town (mea culpa: Audrey may or may not have suggested that we should eat as soon as we got off the bus and I may or may not have grumpily said I just wanted to get to the hostel first to take a shower and that I was sure there'd be somewhere to eat nearby). God... I am a whiny tourist. Poor Audrey.
Fortunately Puerto Escondido turned out to be really nice. Ridiculously hot, but really nice. It's really different than all the other places we'd been to in Mexico thus far. There are no colonial buildings because prior to the 1930s there wasn't really a town here. It's basically a surfing / tourist town and is home to the "Mexican Pipeline" which is supposed to be one of the top surf spots in the world (they've held the X games and various other big competitions here). While we were there the surf didn't seem all that big but apparently it gets much, much bigger (like 16m waves bigger) in November when they hold the annual surf comps. There are also plenty of more secluded spots for swimmers like us to enjoy the (ridiculously warm) water. Oh and there are some really pretty sunsets too.
I sensibly fell asleep under an umbrella but apparently umbrellas in Mexico don't work as I still managed to get sun burnt through the damn thing! You may now all feel sorry for me.
After some deliberation we opted for the latter. This turned out to be an opt that I would regret. Most of the people describing the trip on the internet had complained about getting car sick but I don't really suffer from this affliction so thought it'd be fine. The real difficulty came from having to spend the entire journey clinging to my chair and trying to stop myself from flying out of the seat. The novelty of this wore off after the first 30 minutes and then it was just annoying. Even the promise of some spectacular views during the descent on the other side turned out to be over-hyped and was nothing particularly special. I'm starting to think some false or misleading information might have accidentally made it onto the internet.
It was kind fun to watch young children clambering all over each other trying to sell you coke and nuts whenever the van stopped for gas (or if the driver just randomly decided to pick up one of his mates on the side of the road). Presumably they all go to school during the week and are only doing this on the weekends to earn some extra pocket money.
I realize I'm starting to sound a bit like a whiny toruist but whatever, it sucked and as a result I arrived in Puerto Escondido incredibly sweaty and exhausted. I say "I" because apparently Audrey really enjoyed the ride and thought it was "authentic" and "fascinating". Bloody French - they're always so positive and never complain about anything!
We'd opted to stay in a hostel a little bit out from the main town since it was cheaper and the photos on hostelworld seemed really nice. It also said it was "a 5 minute cab ride" from the main town. We caught a cab and 20 minutes later arrived at our hostel. To be fair it was quite a nice place and we had our own little cabin. The surrounding neighbourhood was completely empty, save for a few stray dogs and one or two bars which were closed (this was a Saturday night after all). We asked the (American) woman working at our hostel if there was anywhere around that we could get some food and she told us no. So we caught a cab back to town (mea culpa: Audrey may or may not have suggested that we should eat as soon as we got off the bus and I may or may not have grumpily said I just wanted to get to the hostel first to take a shower and that I was sure there'd be somewhere to eat nearby). God... I am a whiny tourist. Poor Audrey.
Fortunately Puerto Escondido turned out to be really nice. Ridiculously hot, but really nice. It's really different than all the other places we'd been to in Mexico thus far. There are no colonial buildings because prior to the 1930s there wasn't really a town here. It's basically a surfing / tourist town and is home to the "Mexican Pipeline" which is supposed to be one of the top surf spots in the world (they've held the X games and various other big competitions here). While we were there the surf didn't seem all that big but apparently it gets much, much bigger (like 16m waves bigger) in November when they hold the annual surf comps. There are also plenty of more secluded spots for swimmers like us to enjoy the (ridiculously warm) water. Oh and there are some really pretty sunsets too.
Marzo en playa zipo puesta del sol
Friday, June 7, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Professor and Novelist Daniel Quirós Encourages Students to Grow Together as Intellectual Community
Professor and Novelist Daniel Quirós Encourages Students to Grow Together as Intellectual Community
Zipolite, the second novel by Daniel Quirós, which he expects to publish soon, tells the parallel stories of the main character, Julio Flores. In the even chapters, Julio returns to Costa Rica after 10 years abroad to contend with his sister’s suicide. In the odd chapters, which take place a year later, Julio travels to Mazunte, a small beach community on the Mexican Coast of Oaxaca to investigate a hidden aspect of his sister’s past.
Julio must not only confront the loss of his sister, but also rediscover the pieces of himself buried under years of indifference and apathetic solitude. Eventually the stories converge, and Julio’s journey becomes “a metaphor for the lost and nonexistent utopia of our youth, and for everything that is born, and destroyed, under time’s passage.”
Professor Daniel Quiros teaches a class in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights.
For Quiros, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures (Spanish), teaching allows him to develop and articulate complex ideas such as these both as a writer and a scholar.
“A classroom to me is an intellectual community that shares and grows together,” says Quirós. “They say two minds are better than one. Well, imagine 20. Class discussion, student research, and multiple perspectives on films and readings can only strengthen and deepen one’s engagement with cultural texts. Undergraduates at Lafayette are very bright people, and they can help question, revise, and expand my own work. I do a lot of teaching, but I invariably do some learning as well.”
It is no surprise then that Quirós, an accomplished fiction writer, views the development of critical reading and writing skills as essential for students to investigate, question, and critique their world. Ideally, students stop striving to express what they believe their professor wants them to say about issues raised in class and communicate what they actually think.
“I believe that our reality and our identity are mediated through texts,” says Quirós, whose teaching interests include crime fiction and Latin American cinema. “I want to play a part in forming good students, but also good citizens of the world. In relation to Spanish learning, this is very important because it means a development of cultural competency and awareness, as well as a growth in the responsibility to participate in and change the world around us.”
Quirós’ first novel, Verano rojo (Red Summer) (2010), earned the National Literature Prize Aquileo J. Echeverría, Costa Rica’s highest award for literature. The murder of an Argentine café owner in Guanacaste, the northwestern province of Costa Rica, sets the stage for the novel’s exploration of Costa Rica’s declared neutrality during the U.S.-Nicaragua Contra War. The novel also explores the acceptance of neoliberal socioeconomic policies that have stabilized the country economically, but have increased inequality, violence, and crime. As one of the victim’s friends, don Chepe, investigates her murder, he unearths her connection to various guerrilla movements of the 1970s and ’80s. The novel also delves into the famous, but often forgotten, La Penca bombing on the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border in 1984. At its core, Verano rojo challenges Costa Rica’s self-identification as “the happiest country on Earth” or “the Switzerland of Central America.”
Quirós is working on his third novel, Lluvia del norte, a quasi-sequel to Verano rojo, in which the same character will explore the murder of an undocumented Nicaraguan immigrant. Quirós has researched immigration issues extensively, and his findings have inspired the themes for his course Transnational Perspectives: Contemporary Film in the Americas. The first part of the course examines migration through a cinematic perspective. For example, the class will discuss films about migration such as Which Way Home, Los que se quedan, El norte, and Sin nombre.
Quirós also is the author of the short story collection A los cuatro vientos (To the Four Winds) (2009), which he completed as a graduate student at the University of California-San Diego. The stories cover a range of geographic regions—Brazil, northern Mexico, Costa Rica, and southern California—as well as diverse topics. A washed-out thirty something who dreams of bringing the heavy metal band Iron Maiden to Costa Rica. A dog thief who expounds his life views to a fellow bar patron. A play on crime fiction in which a man becomes an accidental detective. A metaphysical reflection based on a voyeur who spends his days spying on his neighbors across the street. All of the stories are linked by their search for a “sense of place and belonging amidst a globalized world shaped by asymmetrical relations of power.”
In May, Quirós will give a presentation at the Latin American Studies Association Conference in Washington, D.C., and this July, he will present at the IV Congreso Centroamericano de Estudios Culturales (IV Central American Cultural Studies Conference) in San José, Costa Rica.
Lost in time in Zipolite, Mexico – The Register-Guard
Lost in time in Zipolite, Mexico – The Register-Guard
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Zipolite, Mexico – “You’ll love it here in Zipolite”Daniel Weiner, owner of Brisa Marina hotel grinning as he handed me the keys to his Registerapartment. “You do not want to leave in five days.”
A few days later, lazy, I began to understand why so many guests rent their rooms for a month. Whether it’s a laid-back atmosphere and peaceful environment, Zipolite is a way to get people to stay longer than expected.
Sleepy town with one main street and no ATMs, Zipolite (pronounced ZEE-PoE-Li-Tai) is one of many small coastal pueblos that dot the Pacific Ocean in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Stretching from Puerto Escondido, Huatulco, Oaxaca region sometimes called theRiviera.
Zipolite crowd of hippies discovered in 1960 and since then it has gradually evolved into an unusual tourist destination with a certain type of visitor. Its pristine beach stretches 1.2 km between two high cliffs on both sides, and the audience is fairly evenly distributed between the middle-class Mexicans and return liberals from around the world. Old hippies, young adventurers and locals mingle with flowers baby kind of harmony.
It feels light years away from the tourist areas of Mexico that are now avoided because of drug violence. Not only is the U.S. Department of State of Oaxaca relieved of their travel warnings about Mexico, but Zipolite particular, seems lost in time, a place where visitors do not hesitate to leave your belongings unattended on the beach and tourists sleeping in hammocks.
Zipolite also has several claims to fame. The highlight of the scene on the beach in the Mexican blockbuster “Y Tu mama tambien” was filmed here. He gained fame as one of the few nudist beaches in Mexico, although the majority of customers keeps clothes. (Further east, near Bay outcrop known as “Playa de Amor,” where nudity is more openly practiced.)
Mike Ball, a retiree from Vancouver, Canada, said he was visiting the area for the past 10 years without any “accidents, issue or injury.”
“I’ve only ever seen the nicest and friendliest eclectic mix of locals and visitors – a return to the 60s,” said Bolli. “So that’s all well and safe from my point of view.”
Zipolite no high-rise hotels. Many of the structures with thatched beach Palapas, umbrella huts without walls.
Visitors expect a party-all-night Cancun-like atmosphere with Margaritas aquarium size and waitresses in bikinis handing out tequila will be disappointed. There is nightlife here, but it’s nothing like that. Instead, people gather on the beach at the end of the day ritual of watching the brilliant sunsets. Many restaurants and bars that offer live music and entertainment. I just asphalt in the city was transformed into a carnival scene at night, with artists and jewelers sell their products, while musicians, dancers, jugglers and fire tips on the street.
“Zipolite after six awesome,” Bolli said, “with all the dreadlocks children hoping to sell their creations with a wide choice of restaurants.’s Not too much, but you can find many, if you will.”
Some of the most interesting tidbits can be found at Posada Mexico, oceanfront restaurant. One night I watched Cirque du Soleil as an acrobatic performance, the other evening I was rocked to Cainn Cruz, an incredibly gifted child who brought the house down guitar with his cover of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and AC / DC.
Adding to the atmosphere is Groovy Shambhala retreat perched high on a hill in a pastoral setting. Tourists are welcome to pull up the ladder path area, where is the point of meditation is sitting on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Name Zipolite, is said to have come from indigenous languages.
Some say it means “thorny place”, which refers to the local hills, and other sources translate it as “beach Dead”, a reference to the strong currents. The beach has lifeguards and volunteers in areas with dangerous currents are marked with red flags.
Weiner, who has a deep suntan, a working form of government, shorts and flip-flops, and a solid, light-hearted humor, divides his time between California and Zipolite. It belonged to his hotel since 1997, it is estimated that about 50 percent of its guests regulars.
“To us pass the time of swine flu, protests, scary war on drugs, etc.,” said Weiner. “People come back knowing that we are right and they tell their friends too.”
And sometimes you have a hard time leaving. Weiner as expected, after a few days in Zipolite, I called the airline to change my flight. I had to stay another week.
How to get there: The nearest airports are in Puerto Escondido, an hour’s drive west or Guadalajara, an hour’s drive south. You can take a bus or taxi from the airport either. The nearest bus stop is in Pochutla, 20 minutes by taxi or shuttle.
Where to stay: Brisa Ocean Marina offers rooms with balconies and hammocks, as well as cheaper options yard. Guests can also relax on the large beach Ramadi (shaded open space). Nightly rates range from $ 16-51 U.S. dollars, depending on the season (www.brisamarina.org) retreat, Shambhala, offers accommodation on a hill at the western end of the beach (shambhalavision.tripod.com)
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