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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

Monday, June 24, 2013

Tropical Storm cosme

Mazunte Center Events | Hridaya Yoga This Calendar lists all activities at our primary center in Mazunte, Mexico. Please note that you may join Agama's First Level Intensive Course at any time, ... hridaya-yoga.com/calendar/mazunte-center-events/

Mazunte Center Events | Hridaya Yoga
This Calendar lists all activities at our primary center in Mazunte, Mexico. Please note that you may join Agama's First Level Intensive Course at any time, ...
hridaya-yoga.com/calendar/mazunte-center-events/



Casa Orquidea Zipolite

Hey Man Respect The Beach


Julio, mes de la Guelaguetza 2013 22 y 29 de julio


Sunday, June 23, 2013

23junio2013

Huatulco – A Fishing Village Turned Resort Posted on June 18, 2013

Huatulco – A Fishing Village Turned Resort

Sunrise at Huatulco
A hazy sunrise at Punta Fandango, Bay of Santa Cruz, Huatulco
On Tuesday, April 30, we woke up in port on NCL’s Pearl. It was our ninth day on the cruise, so we must be in Huatulco (Wa-tul-co), our second stop in Mexico. The area, after being plundered by pirates in the 17th century, survived as a fishing village. In the 1980s, the Mexican Tourist Agency, (FONATUR) decided that the area’s pristine beaches and natural beauty would make an attractive tourist area.
Rugged Coastline
The rugged coastline of Bahia de Santa Cruz, Huatulco
Though not as popular as Ixtapa, Cabo San Lucas and Cancun, other resorts developed by the same agency, Huatulco holds its own as a beautiful place to visit. There are lots of tourist options, from simply hanging on the beach to renting a bicycle, boat or taking a tour bus to visit the area.
Resort Beach

One of the beach resorts near the cruise ship terminal and marina
Our choice for a shore excursion was titled, “Old Huatulco & Mexico Traditions,” which turned out to be a very popular venue for the tourists on the Pearl and her sister ship, the Sun. As it turned out, we were some of the last people to be herded onto a bus, the last bus and apparently the backup and overflow bus.
The excursion would wind its way through the local shopping and hotel areas into the countryside. We would visit the town of Santa Maria, tour a facility that makes Mezcal, and walk through a herbal medicinal garden. As it turns out, the bus we were given had no functional audio system. The poor tour guide had to resort to delivering his story twice, once at the front of the bus, and once toward the rear.
My wife, Lynn, and I ended up near the very back of the bus. We couldn’t even sit in the seats directly behind the people in front of us as the window in that seat was, shall we say, less than perfect.
Tour bus window
View from the window in the seat in front of us. Sitting one more row back, made it that much harder for us to hear the tour guide, even when he was speaking to the group in the rear of the bus.
Our tour inland to Santa Maria was a pretty drive, but we only heard part of the narration. Fortunately once we got to our destination and left the bus, our tour guide became much more easily heard. The small town we visited featured a town square, and a Catholic Church. The church is the only one in the village, which should come as no surprise to anyone as Catholocism is the religion of 85% of the Mexican population.
Plaza
The Plaza at Santa Maria. The closest bust is the likeness of General Vicente Guerrero Saldaña, second President of Mexico and revolutionary war hero in Mexico. The building in the background is the Catholic Church.
Church Ceiling
Ceiling of the Church at Santa Maria Huatulco.
The church, our first stop on our walking tour, is a typical example of the beauty of Mexican churches. The ceiling in this church is what struck me as most beautiful. One of the more recently built churches, it was constructed in 1908. Inside the church was a plaque documenting the legend of Quetzalcoatl, a bearded white man who wore a white robe, a Christian who arrived long before the Spaniards.
From there, we visited Ciudad Centro, the government building. Except for  a mural painted on an inside wall, there was really not much to see there. Continuing our walk, we visited a local blacksmith shop where we saw a demonstration of smithing.
Blacksmith
The blacksmith heats the metal to be worked while his son in the background pumps the manual air bellows to stoke the fire.
Veggie Delivery
A young girl approaches a residence to knock at the door. The children were delivering vegetables to customers along their route.
Soon we boarded the bus to head our next stop, an artisanal mezcal factory. Mezcal, like tequila, is a product of the Agave plant. Actually, tequila is produced only from the blue agave. Mezcal, on the other hand, is made from any of many varieties of agave plant. I was disappointed that we would not actually see any production. Instead, we were shown the round pits where large round stones were pulled by mules, crushing the agave cores to create the Mezcal.
We were given various samples of Mezcal, some of which were very flavorful. We were also given a small snack. Neither Lynn nor I could actually eat the grasshopper laying on the chip, all dead and all. I’m sure, though, that after removing the offending bug, we still probably consumed some insect parts. We were not impressed.
Tortilla Chips
Our snack consisted of a tortilla chip with a spoonful of chocolate sauce, some cheese, a spice, and a spoonful of grasshopper.
After leaving the Mezcal sampling area, it was back on our bus, headed for a medicinal garden. The garden was a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. Prior to entering the garden, we were given a demonstration of tortilla making as it is still done today, from scratch, on a tortilla press and cooked on a wood fired oven.
Tortilla Making
To make a tortilla start with a corn or flour based mix. The clay-like mix is worked, rolled into a ball and flattened on a tortilla press. A few moments on the wood fired oven, and the tortilla is warm and ready to eat.
Once inside the garden, the guide pointed out many plants used for medicinal purposes, able to cure everything from gout to cancer, so they said, anyway. If this medicine is as good as he described, it’s a wonder there is any illness or disease left in the world. In other words, I was skeptical. I was most interested in the flora found in the garden, especially several types of plants that appear to be similar to pitcher plants. Unfortunately our guide didn’t know anything about these specific plants. When I searched for photos of pitcher plants, I could find none that look like these. If you know what any of these specimens are called, please leave a comment. I am interested in knowing. A small gallery of these plants will close this blog post.
Leaving the garden, we headed back to the cruise ship dock. When we arrived at the dock, we wandered through some souvenir shops. On our way back to the ship, we rounded a corner near the dock entrance and noticed several people from the cruise ship, smart phones out, iPads and laptops open. Apparently hungry for free Wi-Fi, someone had found a free access point and a cluster of “geeks” were getting their Internet fix.
All in all, the tour was interesting, and except for the condition of our tour bus, we had an enjoyable tour. We headed up the gangway toward our room to get ready for a well deserved dinner. One gets hungry when all there is to eat is a shared tortilla snack. Of course, it was our fault that we didn’t eat our only source of protein for the day.
Our next stop on the cruise is Puerto Vallarta.
John Steiner
What follows is a gallery of unusual plant photos taken in the medicinal garden.
12-Pitcher_Plant
11-Pitcher_Plant
13-Pitcher_Plant
14-Pitcher_Plant
15-Pitcher_Plant

Juanita's Cooking Class in Huatulco, Mexico




Explore Three Levels of Huatulco, Mexico




Calle 13 - Latinoamérica

Oaxaca Mexico Coast - Viewpoint at Puerto Angel - Whale Sighting

Vive Latino, Mexico’s Biggest Rock Festival (2012)

Vive Latino, Mexico’s Biggest Rock Festival (2012)

Huge spotlight beams shoot into the air. The small square platform in the center of the outdoor stadium lights up and begins to rise.
Earlier in the day the strange structure draped in black looked like part of the sound booth. But now four tiny figures squeeze in there together, two with guitars and one behind a keyboard on a stand.
From up in the bleachers I see a sea of 70,000+ fans turn all at once to the exact center of the stadium. The crowd surges forward as the keyboardist strikes the opening chords of El Baile y El Salon.
This is Café Tacuba, one of the most popular rock bands in Mexico. Since 1998 the biggest names in Latin rock have played the Vive Latino Festival in Mexico City every spring, as well as more and more Western groups. Other acts in 2012, the 13th installment of the yearly festival, included Mexican rap-rock rebels Molotov and Fatboy Slim.
The site, Foro Sol, is a baseball stadium surrounded by a racetrack. Huge speakers and Indio beer advertisements dwarf 10-or-more-piece bands on the main stage. Three side stages are arranged on the grounds outside, where you can sit on the lawn or push your way inside a sweaty tent.
Tickets are affordable at around 40 dollars per day. Big 24 ounce beers cost five dollars. Then as you leave the stadium you can buy all kinds of bootleg merchandise – t-shirts, posters, and shot glasses – for just a couple bucks.
Out on the track are t-shirt vendors, smaller stages, autograph signings, CD exhibits and hordes of smiling people. Surprisingly, there isn’t much for food – no tacos or antojitos mexicanos, little tortilla-based snacks with lots of cheese and sour cream. But beer is plentiful. In exchange for something like ten empty cups, fans are given free compilation CDs, so plenty of drunken folks stumble around carrying long stacks of them.
Most fans are jeans and baseball-hat wearing everyday folks, weekend warriors who don’t mind pounding big beers and raising a fist to some good ol’ rock and roll.
Rock rules at Vive Latino. Rockers proudly strut through the crowd – black clothes, ripped jeans, patches on jackets and hats, and straight black hair hanging in the face.
The festival is so rock-oriented that reggaeton/rap/fusion artists Calle 13 were even booed off the stage in 2007, although they have since become widely accepted in the world of Latin popular music by collaborating with Café Tacuba on the huge hit No Hay Nadie Como Tu.
In the dry heat of early afternoon, the stadium floor before the main stage is full but not yet oppressively crowded. People up front jump and mosh to Argentinean ska/fusion group Los Caligaris. Farther back near the sound booth, fans pull up black cloth tarps, using them to launch each other high into the air. Other folks wave long neon balloons, clapping and singing along.
Before sundown I move high up in the bleachers, first to see Foster the People and then Kasabian. The sun sets and Foster the People brings out a mariachi band for their final song, the big hit Pumped Up Kicks. This extended version includes electronic touches and big cheers from the rowdy audience.
After Kasabian, anticipation grows for the closing act. The sky is darker, the floodlights are brighter, the fans drunker and their smiles bigger. The air gets a little chilly and a never-ending army of vendors sling beer and small cardboard boxes of Domino’s Pizza.
Hometown heroes and Saturday night’s closers Café Tacuba changed Mexican music forever with their self-titled debut album in 1992. Later releases saw them expand their style from alternative rock to a mix of genres including hip-hop and boleros.
Café Tacuba plays four or five songs on the little stage in the center before running like wrestlers up a fenced-off path though the crowd to the main stage, where they join their drummer (still an “unofficial” member) and take up electric instruments. At times it seems like the whole crowd is singing along, so many people all in unison on the clear spring night.
Traffic is a nightmare, dehydration abounds, and the lineup is full of bands most gringo native sons will have never heard of, but Vive Latino offers a peek into the universe of popular music in Spanish, a great mass of bands and styles kept from fame in the English-speaking world by little more than a language barrier.
Click for info

Puerto Escondido

Puerto Escondido

19JUN
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Voladores de Papantla en Huatulco 2013

Bahía de Santa Cruz, Huatulco, Oaxaca, México

Paseo Punta Santa Cruz, Bahías de Huatulco, Oaxaca

Santa María Huatulco, Oaxaca, México