Crocodiles and beaches

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Crocodiles and beaches….

Luckily not in the same place!

We've been eating loads of Mexican food (surprisingly enough).... and come to the conclusion that it clearly isn't as good for the figure as the Asian one!

We spent 4 days in Oaxaca (pronounced wah-hah-kah, sounds more like something from New Zealand), a sleepy place with lots of great food to try. We took a trip to see the oldest tree in the world just outside the town….it was a really big tree! Not sure what we expected really, but we were slightly disappointed that the tree offered no words of wisdom. On the way to some tombs we stopped off at a weaving village. Some of the rugs they sold took up to 3 - 6 months to weave. They made all the dyes from natural ingredients including a cactus moth which they squished and then added different chemicals to in order to create the different colours. The ancient tombs that we visited were pretty claustrophobic. We literally had to crawl in on our hands and knees to get into them. Quite impressive how many earthquakes these places have survived.

After Oaxaca we took another long bus trip (11 hours), this time to the beach at Puerto Escondido! I would like to say we had some big adventures here, but we pretty much lazed around on the beach and in hammocks the whole time - tough life! The beaches were incredible with huge waves. Some of the rip tides were so strong you couldn’t go in above your knees without risking being swept out to sea. We saw one guy (from our hammocks…) very nearly get swept out to sea.

After our lazy few days, guess what….. another long bus trip (14 hours), this time to San Cristobel de la Casa. This was a bit of a strange city, full of pretty Spanish colonial buildings but just a bit depressing. A lot of the locals are indigenous Maya people who’ve suffered a lot with loss of their land and lack of rights. They started a revolutionary group called the ‘Zapatista’ who actually stormed the city and took over a few years ago. We saw a big march through the city and the people seemed genuinely angry. It’s possible to do an ’alternative’ tour of the city with tbe rebels (complete with masks and guns). I was keen but strangely Lisa wasn’t up for it!

From San Cristobel, we went to the Chiapas Canyon which was a 1km canyon that you can take a river cruise down. The wildlife was spectacular. We saw more than our fair share of crocodiles, one of which headed for our boat! There were also Pelicans, Iguanas, Vultures, Herons and Cormorants. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any of the cougars that sometimes hang around there.

Today we had the worst bus trip of all, 5 hours on a very winding road. I was glad to have an empty coffee cup at hand in case the worst happened!

Love

Lisa and Stuart

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Photos

Killing machine!
Though Stu suggested he might have a chance in a fight with it...

uh-oh!
Crocs seems to have taken up Stu's challenge

Muchos big tree
No words of wisdom but it seems to have vaporised Lisa

Hugging a pillar.... as you do
Apparently the further round you reach the longer you'll live. Stu's brother Ian may be immortal by this method!

Comments

[Hazel]

too kushty (as the welsh say)
Hammocks? Lazing in the sun? Sticking to tourist tracks? You're meant to be roughing it!!!

[Suzannah]

Hmmm - I think I can beat your gloating photo. I am pretty sure I can trump your gloating with two simple words - salary planning! There is no way I would swap places with you just now when it's so much fun here - am not sure I have ever been quite so popular in my life!