Mazunte

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Hey everyone!

I have just returned from a great 5 day trip to Mazunte in the state of Oaxaca. Now, when I heard about Mazunte I wanted to go there right away. This was also one of the options for Sydney and I during Christmas, but I think Chiapas was a better choice for that time. Anyways, Maria and I left late Thursday night on the bus to Pochutla, which is about one hour from Mazunte. The ride was long... 14 hours. We made it safe and had a great bus ride despite the selection of terrible movies and incredible amount of curves the road had (we took two Dramamine throughout the trip).
Arriving in Pochutla there is not much to do except try a famous Tlayuda. Tlayudas, are similar to most Mexican foods in that they consist of cheese, meat and vegetables (cabbage, letuce, onion, avocado) accompanied by corn in some shape or form, a tortilla in this case. These are typical to Oaxaca, and were a great snack before heading to Mazunte. It also was great to beat the heat with some spicy food and a cold beer.
After a quick "combi" ride we arrived in Mazunte. The first step was to look for a place to stay. We arrived at a really good time, about two days before semana santa, which means the rates were cheaper and there were plenty of places available. We checked out a few ranging from $100 - 500 pesos a night and settled at one for $200 pesos ($15) a night right on the beach. The place was great, it had a shady/sandy bar and restaurant with ping pong and hammocks. Upstairs they rented rooms and places to camp or just simple hammocks which cost $50 (about $4) a night I think. Hearing about the mosquitoes we opted for the bed with bug nets. The day we left the place was charging $450 pesos a night for the same room. Good timing. The rest of the day, we didn't do much. We got some food, went to the beach and relaxed in the 95* weather. I soon realized, that nobody in the area seemed to no what time it was, and I stopped carrying my watch like the rest of the natives. It was nice.
The next day I really got to know Mazunte better. It is a tiny coastal village about an hour south of Puerto Escondido. The local market in Mazunte was dependent on turtles, for; meat, souvenires and who knows what else. But in 1990 the sea Turtles became protected animals so Mazunte had to change. The town turned into a kind of eco-tourist hot spot. Mazunte offers hikes, horseback rides, and boat tours to nearby nature reserves such as ventanilla. So the place became kind of a hippy destination. Now, tons of foreigners and Mexicans come here every year for a cleaner more untouched beach, which it is.
This same day, Saturday now, we decided to head to ventanilla ourselves for a little day trip. We arrived to the entrance, hot and sweaty, at about mid-day and saw what we could do. We had 2 options, a 30 min boat ride in the lagoon and a 3 hour horseback ride down the beach and literally in the lagoon. We chose both! The boat ride was amazing. These guys were strong too (syd and dad would be impressed). They paddled a large row boat with just one paddle and 10 people on board. On the tour we saw everything, 3 types of birds which I have now forgotten the names, crocodiles, iguanas and insects. After leaving the boat we immediately bought a cold water and some fresh coconut with chile and lime... mmmmm. We had a couple of hours to kill so we decided to jump in the ocean.
When our tour guide for the horses arrived, he looked at us like we were crazy. We wanted to go horseback riding with swimsuits and sandals. I told Maria I thought it would be a good idea to bring pants and tenis but she said "no, no importa". Well it did matter haha. Luckily the guide had some extra jeans, that just happened to be the perfect size for both of us! We started on the horses with a nice trot a long the beach. Seeing as how I hadn't road a horse since I was about ten, I told the guide I wanted a tame horse. Well, what I got was no bigger than many mules I have seen. This horse was good, but very slow.
After about 30 min on the beach we the wreckage of a plane. The guide told us a story about some drug-traffickers crashing there. I am not sure, but it looked cool at least.
As we started off again, one of the other two who were with us started loosing clothing out of his bag. I informed that his bag was open and he stopped to close it, when all of the sudden he through it on the ground furiously. I was a bit confused, when he told me 'tenia un lacran!!' (it had a scorpion). I thought "what kind of a crazy person brings a scorpion with them on a horse ride". As it turned out, it did have a scorpion, but it wasn't his pet. It had sat itself outside of his backpack sometime in the afternoon. This was a big one too, maybe 3 inches in length, and black and orange. uuuuh. This event made me jittery while walking in the sand for the rest of our time there at Mazunte. After that brief side note, we arrived at the entrance to the lagoon. Where we dismounted and were shown some impresive tricks with the horses. Later the guide told us to put on our suits, cause we were going bareback into the lagoon. This part was really fun and refreshing. After that, we took a quick break, cleaned our horses and sattled-up for the ride back. That night we encountered cucaracha #1 in our bathroom (actually number two, but don't tell Maria haha)
The next day, we had planned to go to the nearby beach village of Zipolite. Zipolite is similar to mazunte but a little bit bigger and more touristy. Here we spent the day playing in the sun and relaxing with pina coladas in the shade. Before coming to this area heard rumors that it was popular for nudists. They were partially confirmed, although, the nudists were definitely the minority.
The last full day at the beach, we took a hike to punta cometa (comet point) where we found a nice private pool in between the rocks to relax in. That night we prepared our things to leave the next morining and had our 2nd and 3rd cockroach sittings. eeeeeew. The last day we swam in the beach and played cards to pass the time before our bus ride at 5 pm. All and all it was a very good vacation. Here I am the day after one long bus ride, a bit tired and dirty, but with lots of time to write as I don't start work until Monday. That being said, anyone who wants to talk this week, should send me an email and a good time to call.

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Photos

Tlayudas
MMMMmmm.

Kids on horseback..
The sand was extremely hot

A milisecond late...
Can you see the crab legs?

Cooling off
This was our own private pool basically.

View of Mazunte
from punta cometa

The moon
A 30 second exposure and it looks like the sun. It was beautiful

Comments

[Dad]

same moon
Hi Jake, The moon has been beautiful here too. The big lakes are still mostly frozen, but it's about 70 degrees F. What a great trip, and great photo's! I am off to church for singing tonight, and lots more singing this weekend. We sang Bach's St. John's Passion last weekend, and of course we will sing Handel's Messiah this weekend.

[chad]

Nice
like the pics a lot Jake. I think I'll have to go. ciao