Mexico: San Cristobal to Puerto Escondido

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We made it through our last major border crossing in Central America back into Mexico. None of the borders were difficult to cross, maybe just a little hot and stuffy while we waited for our passports to be stamped. We made our way back to San Cristobal for a short visit because we really enjoyed it the first time around. While there, we ate delicious tacos at the market, made fresh guacamole from market ingredients and visited Vina de Bacco a cute downtown wine bar that has a glass of wine and a tapa for the equivalent of CAD1.80. The excitement of our time in town was the twister that hit in the shanty town just north of the hostel. From the roof we could see winds picking up corrugated tin walls from the houses, that is until it began hailing so we ran for cover. As a funnel cloud formed above us, ice pellets began dropping from the sky and bouncing off cars and walls. It was a little scary but we were in what felt like a safe place so it was mostly exciting. Unfortunately, on our last day, Ashley started getting sick which made our 12 hour night bus to Puerto Escondido that night pretty miserable.

Sometime during the bus ride, Dan began feeling as crumby as Ashley so we found a hostel straight away and went to sleep even though it was on 08:00. We were both sick for a few days with sore joints and full body rashes; the symptoms hitting Dan about a day behind when they got Ashley. It was unpleasant to say the least but at least we had our own room in a hostel. One day we ventured out of the hostel, thinking maybe salt water would be good for the rash. The first spot we went to was Playa Carazillilo which was a gorgeous cove but very built up with lots of people milling about. We walked a little further south to Playa Zicatela which was wide open but had huge scary waves. The beach was lined with restaurants so we stopped for a bite to eat. While we were sitting there, enjoying the view and our drinks a guy named Francisco came up to us trying to sell us a fishing tour. We weren't much interested since we weren't feeling great but he pulled up a chair and kept chatting with us anyway. He asked about the rash and disappeared for a while. When he returned, he brought us two large branches of aloe. Ashley rubbed it all over and felt immediate relief. We gave him a couple bucks for the effort. We don't really know if the illness had run its course or the aloe worked but the rash was gone the next day.

After getting ourselves slightly better, we made our way to Oaxaca City.

More pictures here.

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