View from Rabat
Back to Oaxaca with Conductor Gris
The little Lineas Unidas bus was full, so two of us got to sit up front with a very friendly driver, Geovanni Gris, who, when he learned I am a biologist, shared lots about plants, but also language and culture. He explained how a tall grass, carrizo, I’d mistaken for corn is used for basket-making.…
On to San Jose del Pacifico
I picked up Oliver Sacks’ book, Oaxaca Journal, thinking I’d have lots of reading time at the beach—wrong! Had I read it, I’d have known San Jose del Pacifico was one of the Oaxacan villages where sacred ceremonial mushrooms were traditionally used only with great reverence and care until the psychedelic movement of the 60s…
Puerto Escondido
I ended up going to Puerto Escondido because I was mixed up about how to get to a mountain village Stephan recommended, San Jose del Pacifico. I much preferred little Mazunte and Playa Zipolite, but I met tourists who preferred the larger city.
Festival, fish, and dancing
Playa Zipolite, the only nudist beach in Oaxaca, is just 20 minutes east of Mazunte and hosts an annual nudist festival. You don’t have to go nude on the beach, and the festival starts with a traditional parade (fully clothed), though less clothed events were happening on the beach. Irene, Carla, and I went partly…
Humpback whales, dolphins, and more olive Ridley’s turtles
From Oaxaca, you can take a day trip to the coast for whale, dolphin and turtle watching, but that’s 6 hours plus round trip, and it just made a lot more sense to spend a few days on the coast. Another new friend, the first Andorran I’ve met, Carla, also let me know about a…
The Pacific Coast
The road to the coast passes through a lot of steep mountains, and one area was still pretty rough from a landslide. The fancy bus, ADO, takes only 3 hours on a relatively new highway. Other roads may double the time but you see many more towns along the way. Arriving in Mazunte, a delightful…
Museum of Oaxacan Painters, street music and flowering trees
On my way back to Oaxaca from the coast, I learned the dry season in Oaxaca can be from October to June, July, or August, though rain used to arrive more typically in April. That’s way longer than the dry season in Peten, Guatemala, where I worked as an intern for many months in the…
Museum of Contemporary Art
The museum is in a beautiful colonial building with a wide range of art. Just sharing a few pieces that caught my eye. The main exhibition was Endemism and it was so nice to have the English easily accessible. Some museums have QR codes for info in English.
Mezcal
Since I’m not much of a drinker, I didn’t think I’d try much mezcal, but it was really interesting learning about how it’s made. The agave plants are harvested right before they bloom and roasted in pits, then distilled. If I’m remembering correctly, it takes about 7 years for the most commonly used species of…
Weaving in Teotitlán del Valle
Our second to last stop of the day was to learn about some of the traditional dyes and weaving techniques. The 13 year old daughter of the shop owners spoke to the English-speaking group. She let us try carding wool (and see what hard work it is), showed us how it’s spun, and explained what…
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The view from the rooftop chez moi is filled with the ocean!
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Wild Bee Plantings 