We left Puerto and headed down the road a bit to Mazunte, Oaxaca to soak up the good vibes and tranquil settings of the beach and Punta Cometa. We were there for a few days and enjoyed hiking around and swimming without risk of death. Punta Cometa, a big chunk of rock and red clay perched above, is the most southernmost point in Oaxaca and was a star gazing spot of the Zapotecs. The place emits some good energy and the locals are proud of it and its beautiful beaches and views. The area was a big sea turtle poaching area until some environmentalists from Mexico City stepped in during the 1990s and opened a turtle museum that is not to be missed and some small businesses to help the locals sustain themselves.
After that, we jumped the other side of the hill to Zipolite, old school hippie haunt and only nude beach in Mexico. Its a bit bigger than Mazunte and more developed but still just a slice of sweet sand bordered by rocky cliffs. We got lucky with our place to stay, again, and got to see it all from our room at Shambhala-a well kept rustic-inspired hotel,one of the first built there. They have their own meditation hill looking towards Mazunte that we had to ourselves where they have events and traditional parties and eat mushrooms, which are legal by the way as long as you don't take them down the highway. No we didn't try them, we're like, old, okay.
We finally left the coast after 4 months and started on the 1300 mile journey back to Texas. We climbed straight into the mountains and overnighted in San Jose del Pacifico, another mushroom spot, though legendary, with amazing views and cool weather at about 7000 ft. They have all these cheap wooden cabins there with fireplaces to rent. The cabins overlook the valley which is covered with a beautiful array of flowers and unique succulents.
The next day we drove out of the mountains a bit into the valley that Oaxaca City sits in. When we arrived there was a huge march to commemorate the protests a year earlier,complete with graffiti and lots of hooting and hollering but we somehow missed the whole thing. As we were walking around the zocalo that evening, we witnessed the fresh graffiti strewn around govt. buildings and churches and we started to figure out what was up. The next day all the red spray paint had been removed or covered up. We were there for 4 days and really enjoyed it. At 5000 ft. the weather is nice and we were finally in a colonial city again. We checked out museums, Monte Alban archaeological site, had some draft beer(for the first time since we left home), and good food. Oaxaca City is awesome! Its not too big and there was a lot going on there culturally. We just walked for days enjoying the scenery and international vibe.
After we went to a three dollar ballet and Karlie took a five dollar yoga class, we headed towards Puebla.
We overnighted just north of Puebla, which was nice for a big city, but too much to deal with. The next morning was day one of driving all day in the mountains, so beautiful, checking Teotihuacan archaeological site, the pyramids, on the way to Xilitla, way up in more mountains of deep jungle about 6000 ft. in the state of San Luis Potosi. We stayed at the former house of Edward James, sadly arriving late, as a last hoorah and checked out his surrealist garden, Las Pozas, the next morning on the way out. Las Pozas is an indescribable,massive sculpture garden in the jungle-hot and humid. Just as surreal as promised by guidebooks and TV programs-a dream world among tropical jungle and waterfalls. From there we grabbed some mangoes(U.S.2cents a pop on a roadside stand) and headed towards the lone star state for another breathtaking long drive out of the mountains into the flat coastal gulf areas. We finally had conversation with some military boys and our stuff was sort of checked for the first time in Mexico, I guess just because we were headed north but more likely because they were bored. Around sundown we crossed over at Matamoros and headed on to Corpus Christi hassle free after stopping at Johnny Carino's and drinking Fat Tire with our enormous plates of food. By the way after eating so much FRESH fish the microwaved salmon on our salad tasted a little sad and had the consistency of a day old pop tart. Ahhh...corporate restaurant chains.
So yeah, now we're in Texas again and we'll be in Austin after the 4th of July where we'll stay through the entire summer and likely a little beyond that. We have plans to go back to Puerto Escondido and stay for a minimum of 6months. We'd like to give it another go, continue working on our Spanish, and spend some time becoming more intimately acquainted with one stretch of the Pacific. In the meantime, USA, rock 'n roll! We'll keep you posted. Lots of love.......
