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Published: October 20th 2008
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Zipolite1
Beach beers under nasty skies Hola mi amigos! Welcome to Chapter 2 of the journey through the centre of the Americas! When we last met our intrepid travellers they were on their way to the coast for some sun sand and surf Mexican style in the rustic beach town of Zipolite. Best laid plans however resulted in our heroes arriving at the beach, backpacks weighing them down, moments before a torrential thunderstorm welcomed them in. This wouldn´t be so bad had a mischevious taxi driver dropped the pair at the correct hostel and not at the other end of a kilometre and a half beach.
So there we were walking down the beach, fully laden with jumbo backpacks when the heavens opened to remind us it was still the rainy season in Mexico! Ever the stubborn one, our hero (and we shall call him Ell) decided we should brave the elements and forge ahead to our hostel with the promise of a hot shower and a nice cup of coffee just around the corner. 20 minutes later, having taken a wrong turn at a poorly signposted crossroad, drenched to the skin, wading through flood waters, we began to think something may be wrong... It was
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Emma was allowed a cerveza too! only having consulted an English speaking beach hippie type (you know the sort) that we were informed that we had managed to walk right past our hostel and into the next town. I of course blamed Emma for this mishap however knowing full well that my inner compass (usually very reliable) had become water damaged and led us astray!
So long story short, we arrived at our hostel, Los Cosmico, drenched through but managed to secure a nice little beach cabana literally on the beach about 10 metres from the surf and perhaps more importantly, 20 metres from the nearest beach bar! Unfortunately hot water did not come with the room nor did the coffee so we did the next best thing and headed to the bar for a cerveza!
Zipolite is a fantastic relaxed beach without all the modern comforts...very rustic. All the accomodation is on the beach, all with beach facing hammocks and lounge chairs. The town is tiny (hence why we managed to walk right through it!) but has everything you need. The weather unfortunately left a bit to be desired. We had planned on having two full days at the beach, leaving the 2nd
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Rainy day at the hostel night to get an overnight bus to our next destination. Both days were overcast with the sun threatening to shine through but never quite getting there. It was still very relaxing and nice to chill out but a few rays would have improved the stay. Emma also unfortunately had her purse nicked on day 2 though thankfully only had one credit card and about USD$20 in it. We left at the end of day 2 intending to get the bus (dodgy taxi drive to the bus stop but will leave out the details so as not to scare the parentals!) but the bus was full so we bought tickets for the following night and went back to Zipolite for another day. Best thing we could have done as the sun came out in full force so we finally managed to get our proper beach time in!
Now I did mention in Chapter 1 that Zipolite was a bit of a nudist beach, not that we experienced much of this on the first two days. But with the sun came the moon (not very funny really). I had to drag Emma´s eyes away from the middle aged hippy gentleman proudly
walking from one end of the beach to the other dsiplaying his wares. Emma tells me he didn´t actually have all that much to be proud of but I was busy ordering more cervezas at this point so will have to take her word for it (thank the lord).
So after some sun, sand and... interesting sights on day 3 we left Zipolite (Emma a nice shade of brown, Ell a blinding shade of red) to get the bus to San Cristobal.
San Cristobal is about 11 or so hours from Zipolite and the bus goes overnight so you arrive fresh as a daisy the following morning....hmmm. Emma managed to catch about 10 hours sleep whereas Ell managed a paltry 1. Unfortunately there´s not much else to entertain you unless you can understand the Spanish dubbed films (sans any English subtitles - though it would be strange to dub from English to Spanish and then put in English subtitles...just a thought). As it happens, I did actually watch two complete films in Spanish but alas I can´t tell you the characters names, the plot or anything else useful about either film except that the pictures were pretty. So
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Found my vocation Ell was a little tired when we finally pulled in to San Cristobal. Emma was fresh as a daisy.
The hostel we stayed in was perhaps the smallest room I´ve ever slept in (though I think I slept in a closet once after a few too many beers...but thats another story). The rooms were clean though and of course cheap so I left my dreams of Shangri La suites at the door and we folded ourselves in. Day 1 was spent just cruising the town after a much needed siesta. The town was very nice indeed with some great little coffee places. We decided to do something a bit more toursity on day 2 and so got up early to join a tour out to some of the local villages. The day turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip to date. Our local guide, Cesar, was a very pleasant and well informed chap who took us around a couple of the very traditional villages in the area where the people still live as they did many years ago. We witnessed some of the rituals that still take place in the churches - sacrificing chickens and
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Nothing better to do offerings of pepsi to the Saints. It was very interesting with Cesar´s explanations of how the customs had developed and what they meant. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting day.
We decided that we´d been rather good on the evening entertainment budget and so decided to have a bit of a night out. Having consulted the local guides, it seemed Bar Revolution was the place to be! Turned out to be a great little bar with some live local music that had the pundits dancing furiously around the bar with the sort of hip swaying that tends to get Emma excited. Emma was asked if she´d like a little salsa session by one of the local chaps but despite my negotiation of a dance with Emma in exchange for a Corona, she refused to play ball. Unfortunately the jive monster (that´s Ell by the way) did not come out to play that night either so we were both content to watch the locals in action and enjoy the music.
Now anyone who knows Emma knows what comes next.... the hangover. I shall spare Emma´s blushes and say no more but needless to say Emma did not
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Zipolite beach...shame about the weather wake up fresh as a daisy.
So after a very pleasant stay in San Cristobal, it was back to the bus station (I´m getting quite sick of bus stations) bound for Palenque, home to some of Mexico´s finest Mayan ruins! But unfortunately children we´re out time today. But remember once again to tune in next time where we shall regale you with stories of ancient Mayan civilisation springing to life, where Pumas go to battle with Eagles for supremacy in the long lost jungles of a bygone era. Or I´ll just show you some pictures of some old buildings. Hasta Luego!
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Mayli
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Emsy - Glad to see you're still stripey in full force!