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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

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Viva Veracruz & Viva Puerto Escondido, Time to Pay Up

Time to Pay Up

Following along lately? Then you know we are in full Home Improvement mode here at Casa La Punta Es! Now we need your help.
We are tile flooring fans – even more so than wood flooring (the defacto U.S. standard). This is a good thing when living in Mexico – Mexico is all about TILE.
Locally here in Puerto Escondido there are a half dozen or more tile vendors and many installers. Our favorite, while somewhat frustrating occasionally, is Zetuna.
Lorena is our GO TO Salesperson – very knowledgeable 

We have some tile options for the master bedroom. We want your opinion on the best of a few choices we have narrowed things down to. Please don’t be shy – help us out here.
We will call this Sample 1:
We call this Sample 2:
Sample 3:
Please concentrate on the main tile(s). The rose border tile and the small designer trim does not count – just looking for your choice of best tile.
Please place your votes in the comment section. We need your help on this.
We have our work cutout for us – literally – Stay Tiled and Stay Tuned!

Viva Veracruz & Viva Puerto Escondido, More Banking News

Viva Veracruz & Viva Puerto Escondido

More Banking News

We interrupt our work in progress entry for this important update regarding expats and visitors to Mexico and the U.S. banking system.
If you have been reading along here then you know Bank of America has recently changed its free ATM withdrawal agreement with Santander Bank and Scotia Bank. Previously Bank of America customers could make ATM withdrawals for free at those Mexican banks.
Additionally they provided a favorable exchange rate of about two tenths of a peso fee for each U.S. or Canadian dollar exchanged. That was increased to one half peso taken from the exchange of each dollar to pesos.
Bank of America ATM withdrawals are now costing  from about $2 USD to as much as $20 USD..
Many expat residents in Mexico have maintained Bank of America accounts specifically for the reason of free ATM withdrawals and favorable exchange rates. Many.
There is now a petition circulating which it is important for everyone to sign.
Please sign the petition. Sign it even if you are not currently in Mexico or currently exchanging dollars for pesos.
In regard to all this Karina a member of Puerto Escondido Tom Zap Forum writes (we reproduce here with permission) BOLD emphasis is mine:
Karina [ PM ] [hide msgs from this user]Re: Bank of America Petition
December 05, 2013 12:51AM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 124
I spent a rather unremarkable hour yesterday with the assistant manager, Scott Poindexter, at my local B of A branch in the U.S.
When I initially asked Scott to verify the new rules regarding ATM withdrawals outside of the U.S., he had not heard anything about it.
Fortunately for me, Scott and his new wife are interested in buying a place in the Playa del Carmen area and so will be spending some time in Mexico. Therefore, he had some particular motivation to find out the answer to my query.
After a number of phone calls on his part, he verified that B of A is no longer allowing withdrawals from Santander ATMs without a $5 transaction fee and a 3% foreign currency conversion fee. He wasn’t very happy about it either. According to the information he was given, B of A has not left the Global Alliance Network and still allows fee-free ATM transactions in other parts of the world. It was just severed its relationship with Santander/Scotia.
When I told him that there was a petition being circulated online against this move by B of A, he encouraged me to sign it and said that B of A actually pays attention to this sort of action by its account holders. So, for what it’s worth, it can’t hurt to sign the petition. For those who think it isn’t their problem because they don’t bank with B of A, your bank/credit union may be next.
And from another source:
“It’s fair to say that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) is the pariah of the banking world. It found itself at the bottom of the heap in a J.D. Power survey of mortgage customers; it was the worst-performing bank on last year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index; and the industry publication American Banker recently announced that it has the lousiest reputation among both customers and noncustomers of any large lender in the country.” (Source HERE)
‘If I want to ruin my day, all I have to do is call up Bank of America,’ one commenter noted. ‘Bank of America engages in the biggest legal thievery in the USA,’ noted another. And ‘[Bank of America] takes perverse pleasure in hurting its customers,’ said a third.”
As suggested within the many comments made on our Forum taking all your money out of Bank of America has a profound effect on them. We suggest you consider changing banks if you have that option before you. Our current pick is Charles Schwab – you can read about that Here and Here.
Next time back to what we are up to.  Stay Tuned!

Poor Man’s Wood Posted on December 2, 2013 One knot in the clear finish of life at the edge of the Ocean is termites. Here at Casa La Punta Es and all of Puerto Escondido the termites are endemic.

Viva Veracruz & Viva Puerto Escondido

Musings from and about living in Mexico




Poor Man’s Wood

One knot in the clear finish of life at the edge of the Ocean is termites.
Here at Casa La Punta Es and all of Puerto Escondido the termites are endemic. A cannonade of these bugs were here before us. Our beach casa came with a lot of pine furniture. We are not sure what the previous owner was thinking because soft pine is a consistent treat for these wood recyclers.
They are quite simply insuperable when owning anything of wood including but not limited to picture frames, books and doors: for example:
Three Years Ago This Was a Regular Looking Door
The Calypso Couple came to the beach as neophytes when it comes to termite experience having lived most of our lives in arid climes. Of course everyone has heard of these insects, but truly their ability to rapidly destroy wood is quite amazing to experience. Clean a sawdust pile from the base of a table leg only to find a still more heaping handful from their handiwork the next day.
A nice stout china cabinet was a feature of buying our beach chateau. It represented a reparation to the battle of hammering out a deal. But alas in short order we had to sadly cut the cabinet up in garbage collection sized pieces to remove it and the insect city within. As we pieced it out it was amazing to see the tubular paths winding within the thin cellulose remains of that fine cabinet.
Disappointed to be losing all the pine furniture we went on a mission to learn how we might battle these bugs. According to Wikipedia we read:
“As eusocial insects, termites live in colonies that, at maturity, number from several hundred to several million individuals. Colonies use decentralised, self-organised systems of activity guided by swarm intelligence which exploit food sources and environments unavailable to any single insect acting alone. A typical colony contains nymphs (semimature young), workers, soldiers, and reproductive individuals of both sexes, sometimes containing several egg-laying queens.”
SWARM INTELLIGENCE! OMG this was starting to take on the flavor of Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. We were under attack!
In the end we felt one needs to accept the vagaries of termites at the beach if we are to be happy here. So we started to convert everything wood to plastic and metals (which have their own susceptibilities to the beach climate).
All this while remaining wood lovers – especially me. Mostly known to the Calypsos in hearsay and cartoons termites soon became a total vexation.
Eventually we learned about some hardwoods that were termite resistant, even perhaps impervious to the critters. High on the list of surviving madera was Parota wood, described as “A poor man’s Koa Wood.”
We checked into Parota finding there were few if any poor men that could afford the stuff! Nothing was falling down. We tried to ignore the problem. Now in our third year here the framework around the side door which as is often the case is our principal entry portal was alarmingly exposed to rot (see top photo). Atop our things to do to the casa punch list became a new door and frame – side door.
Our neighbor Fernando who recently built some beautiful apartments contiguous to our property (short-term rentals – contact us for more information on availability) had some beautiful woodwork done there. We inquired as to who did the woodwork.
That tied us into Primitivo Soriano; better known as Tivo. A wood craftsman with a good reputation in our area.
Tivo came out and assessed all of our six wood doors (we have inside and out) as well as surveying our cabinets, tables and chairs etc.
One of two nice pine armoires that were here was on our list as the next item to be deconstructed for garbage pickup. Tivo declared it to be salvageable – for a price. Money was rapidly becoming a ‘price is no object’ condition – we wanted the bugs GONE!
With Tivo we prioritized the mission to eliminate termites! First would be the entry door, then the frame around the front door, then the munched armoire. The list started to grow and ‘price is no object’ started to swing back towards reality (you know how that pendulum sways).
Saturday the first item from our agreed upon list arrived for installation.
Undeniably Lovely Grained Parota
Three hours with Tivo and assistant working finally achieved door number one.
Installation Complete!
If you are moving to any of the fine beaches of Mexico consider termites; the bottom-line.Stay Tuned for more to this story.

Great Gildersleeve Christmas Leroy Scooter 1946



How To Plan Your Finances For This Year’s Travel by paradise

New post on This Way To Paradise

How To Plan Your Finances For This Year’s Travel

by paradise

Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage.-Paulo Coelho

The excuse most people give who want to travel but don't is that they can't afford it.  I am here to tell you that you can.  It just takes a bit of planning.  You have to make traveling a priority and put all of your focus on it if it's something that you want to do. Here are my recommendations on how to plan your finances for this year's travel.

how to plan your finances piggy bank
Photo by Images Money/Flickr CC

1.  Compare Bank Accounts

It is  on my list of things to do to compare bank accounts in January.  January is when many banks offer promotions to try to get your business.  Some of them will even offer cash to get you to move your accounts over to them.  I would like to find a bank that offers cash back when I use my debit card.  You might as well earn interest on the money you are spending as well as saving, right?

2.  Have a Savings Account For A Travel Fund

Having a savings account for travel is a great way to plan your finances for travel.  My goal this year is to try and improve my savings account balance.  I have decided that when I receive money that I will put ten percent in my travel savings account before I do anything else.  This is a great way to build a travel fund.

3.  Make Your Coffee And Meals At Home

It's so easy to spend $3 here and there at coffee shops, but did you know that if you do this every day, you can easily spend almost $100 on coffee!! What would happen if you put that in your travel fund instead?  You would have $1200 at the end of the year.  Eating out is also so much more expensive than cooking at home.  There are so manygreat recipes on the internet that you don't even have to go out and buy a lot of expensive cookbooks to get started.  This is one of the greatest ways that I save money for travel and is a great way to plan your finances so that you are saving money each month.

 4.  Get A Credit Card That Gives You Cash Back For What You Spend

There are a lot of credit cards that will give you cash back for the money that you spend with them.  I actually make more money on the money that I spend than on what I save.  However to benefit from this, you must pay off your credit card balance every month.  When I use my credit card, I deduct the balance from my check register as if I've written a check.  I then have the credit card automatically deduct the full credit card balance from my checking account each month.  Do not fall victim to credit card debt!  So many people are in debt because they are paying interest on items that they didn't really need in the first place.  When you spend money, ask yourself if you would rather have the item you are buying or a dream trip around the world?  You will find yourself spending a lot less when you think about each purchase before making it.

5.  Make Use Of Free Travel Apps And Travel Websites

There are a ton of travel apps and websites that can save you money for your trip and help you plan your finances. With these apps, you can find cheap airfare, hotel rooms, and discounted meals at restaurants. Don't forget to consider alternatives to hotel stays such as couch surfing or house sitting.

paradise | December 11, 2013 at 2:10 pm | URL: http://wp.me/p359Wl-UV

Open Mic Night, Livelula bar, los miercoles 8:30pm, with The Zipolite Beach Billies


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Puerto Escondido Trip

Babel Cafe 12 de Diciembre, 10pm, Los Mino Lagunas, Blues, Funk Soul, Surf


Andrew Sisters Christmas Special 1945




The Lone Range Christmas Tree 1950




Casa Orquidea Zipolite


Bienvenidos a nuestra casa ... privada y segura en Zipolite, con vista espectacular... excelente lugar para sus vacaciones!
Welcome to our... private and secure home in Zipolite, with spectacular view...-excellent place for your vacation! (Translated by Bing)
Casa Orquidea Zipolite is a beautiful, large (1600 sq. feet/150 sq meters) and private new vacation rental home overlooking Zipolite town and beach with a spectacular sunset view from all rooms of the house, outdoor patios and garden. It has two spacious bedrooms on the second floor with ceiling fa...




Pedro Robledo aprende a hacer arte en chaquira en bastidor en zipolite desde manana!! Learn how to make art in beadwork in casting in zipolite from tomorrow! (Translated by Bing)



aprende a hacer arte en chaquira en bastidor en zipolite desde manana!!
Learn how to make art in beadwork in casting in zipolite from tomorrow!(Translated by Bing)


Aloha Bar 2nd Aniversario, Sabado, 14 de Diciembre, 2013


Posada Itzama, Playa Zipolite, Oaxaca, Mexico, On the Beach!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Posada Itzama

Located on the beach of Zipolite, a wonderful place to enjoy a great vacation with friends or family.
Zipolite is a beach famous for nudity which is practiced by its visitors, with 2 km long to enjoy the sun, sea and sand ...  Here some photos taken on December 7, 2011






Colony "The plamas".


The beautiful guardian of the inn ...
23/01/13
Here is a picture of a pet of the inn. This raccoon was found after the hurricane "Carlota" and adopted by the Vasquez family.