Pictures II

Puddle Jumper



Puerto Escondido



Puerto Escondido at Sunset




The Pacific

Pictures I

Hiking in the Sierra Madre



Ruins of Monte Alban



Giant turtle

Puerto Escondido, Part III

The Adventures

Monday

So, once we got off our puddle jumper plane, we immediately could smell the ocean and see its deep blue majesty very close to the runway. We got a taxi, arrived at our hotel,which happened to be located right on the beach amidst huge palmtrees and gorgeous tropical flowers, had a delicious breakfast (of course), and rushed off to the beach. The water was very nice and warm, but the waves at "our" beach were a little rough for me (made me tumble underneath the water several times), so I stayed on the shore most of the time, while Meg did brave the current and played with the waves. Puerto Escondido is known as the Mexican "pipeline" and attracts thousands of surfers; they go to a beach several miles from "ours," but the current was still strong where we were. However, lying on the beach and bathing in the rays on the warm Mexican sun was delightful enough for me. We also managed to reserve some trips for the next few days, so we could enjoy our time without worrying about our schedule. Around 4, we went back to the hotel to shower and clean up for dinner to only discover that we became a lot more like red lobsters! We both were burned pretty bad, but fortunately able to find some aloe gel at a nearby pharmacy to help ease our pain. After eating a delicious fish dinner at a beachfront restaurant (see entry from March 15), we walked down the street in front of our hotel that gets blocked off to through traffic at night and gets filled with craft vendors and tourists. After spending some more of our money on souvenirs and enjoying the cool evening air, we went to bed content and a little sore from our sunburns.

Tuesday

Well, that was our morning to sleep in since our turtle watching exursion wasn't until 10am, but Meg woke up around 7, thinking that it was around 8 (her watch was still set to the EST), and shortly after I woke up. Well, we decided to waste our time before the exursion by eating another delicious breakfast. One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Oaxaca is because this particular part of the Mexican coast is famous for being the largest habitat for giant sea turtles. Needless to say, I was dying to see one. We were going further and further away from the shore, but weren't seeing any turtles. I was getting a little desperate till we ran into another tourist boat that had just pulled a turtle on board. After the people in the other boat finished enjoying the turtle, our boat driver put it into ours. Oh man, the next 3 minutes were some of the best moments of my life. The turtle just chilled in the boat while we took numerous pictures, petted her, and even tickled her so she would open her mouth. Our boat driver told us it was a female about 55 years old. I think giant turtles joined the list of my favorite animals along with dogs, llamas, and monkeys (oh and pandas of course).

After the encounter with the turtle, we saw some other pretty beaches and we dropped off at a smaller beach with mild waves where we could actually swim in the water. That afternoon we rested, read, and I took a walk on the beach around sunset while Meg was relaxing in the room. At night, we climbed over the rocks separating our beach from the surfers' beach and had another amazing taco dinner at a nice hotel restaurant. One more day left at the beach.

Wednesday

Another early morning, but again totally worth the pains of waking up. This morning we went to a nearby tropical lagoon where we also got to get in a boat and go around a lake and river while our guide would somehow see all sorts of birds in the trees, stop the boat, and tell us about the bird. We saw all sorts of interesting birds the names of most of which I already forgot, but it was very neat to see them. The river of the lagoon is formed by the ocean waters that overflow during the rainy season. We came to a point where the river and the ocean were separated by a narrow strip of land with huge palm trees along the banks, which really reminded me of the pictures of tropical paradise that I have seen in travel magazines before. On the way back, we were accompanied by little fishies jumping up from the water.

The afternoon was spent on the same beach as the day before, where we rested in the shade of umbrellas, played in the water, climbed the rocks, and ate quesadillas. At night, we walked on the main street again, bought some more crafts, and went back to our room to the sad duty of packing.

I love vacations!!!

Puerto Escondido, Part II

The Food

As I have mentioned before, food has become a major part of this vacation.Once we tasted the delicious tacos in Oaxaca City, we were hooked on the traditional Mexican food. Here in Puerto we have also tried some amazing delicacies. The first night we had an unbelievable fish dinner since Puerto is a fishing community.It seemed as if the waiter would not stop bringing food...first, bread and delicious garlic butter, then crab soup, and then a huge platter of fish and steamed veggies. By the way, the table we were seating at was right on the beach. The next night we had dinner at a Seaside hotel with a very nice candlelit atmosphere, and I had tasty tacos with unbeliavably good quacamole. Tonight, our last night, I had pork (one of my fave things to have ever). Breakfasts have become an important meal of the day as well. We´ve had yummy omlettes, crepes, fresh squeezed orange juice, pancakes, and huge amount of delicious locally grown fruit. We have also had tasty quesadillas filled with amazing cheese and some other local varieties of tacos. Im definitely going to miss the abundance of good and cheap food, especially the homemade tortillas.

Puerto Escondido, Part I

The Flight
In general, I don't like to fly even though I have had to do it a lot. I especially dislike the tiny jet planes that the airlines in the US put you on for short flights. Well, even though I have been on my fair share of those, nothing has prepared me for what I had to experience this morning.
We should have realized that something was weird about our flight to Puerto Escondido when we booked it and received a card with both of our names on it, instead of a real airline ticket.The other cue should have been that there was no check-in for the flight this morning, just a list of 4 names, and our luggage didn't even get tagged.When we saw the size of the plane we were supposed to be on, it all suddently became all too clear. I wouldn't be quite exagerrating if I said that it looked like a fumigator plane of the kind that it used to spray crops. Inside, it was an 8-seater plane with seatbelts but no door between us and the pilots (Praise the Lord, there were 2 pilots that looked professional). After the initial freaking out, I decided that this was a cool experience especially being able to be seating right behind the pilots and watching them fly the plane. It was a 30 minute flight alongside beautiful mountains and then an amazing view of the Pacific and interestingly enough, the runway, which you never get to see on a regular plane. One thing you definitely realize when flying in a tiny Cessna propeller plane is how much your life is in God's hands. Anyway, we are at the beach and loving life.

Monte Alban

Ruins and existence of pre-hispanic cultures was one of the reasons for the choice of Oaxaca for spring break, so today we went to the nearby Zapotec (one of ancient indigenous cultures in the state of Oaxaca) ruins of Monte Alban. This ancient city was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica and the capital of the Zapotec empire. Even though I consider myself being able to handle any kind of winding mountaneous road after my adventures in the Andes last summer, the ride to the ruins today made me a little nervous since the driver was going fast on the narrow curvy road without honking the horn as he approached the curves. Oh well, we got there safely and had about 3 hours to roam around the ruins and visit an adjacent museum.

I had thought that after seeing the grandeur of Macchu Picchu in Peru, no ruins will really ever surprise me. Well, I was proved wrong by what opened to me eyes as I passed by the initial ruins to the main plaza of Monte Alban. It was a rather well-preserved town, very different looking from the Incan Macchu Picchu. It was located on top of the mountain (hence the name, White Mountain), but unlike Macchu Picchu which was all hills, the Plaza here was on a flat plateu with parallel buildings going on each side and a platform with more building at each end. The type of architecture and remaining stone caligraphy was very different from the Incan style since this culture used mortar to seal the stones together. The ancient city had many stairs which led to platforms for temples which unfortunately had been destroyed.It appeared as if the Zapotec culture was a warrior culture ruled by a priestly class of nobility.

While roaming through the ruins, we turned into two red lobsters, ie got sunburned. Meg is part italian, which means she is not supposed to burn at all..alas, she is pinker than me, and we haven't even got to the beach yet. After an amazing nap, we saw the inside of one of the main churches, Iglesia de Santo Domingo, and were going to visit a museum of Oaxacan history, but of course it was closed despite what the Lonely Planet guidebook said.

Meg is at the Mass right now being a good Catholic and after the service is done, we are going to walk towars the Zocalo (main plaza), try to see the inside of the main Cathedral, eat some more delicios tacos and finish up with a chocolate-covered banana. We did try Mole today, which is a typical Oaxacan dish made with cacao powder and served with a tortilla and delicious string cheese.Yeah, food has become a major part of our trip.

Off to the beach tomorrow morning!

Cuajimoloyas

After getting a good night of sleep, we got on a bus and in 2 hours arrived at the rural community of Cuajimoloyas located in a somewhat remote area of the Sierra Madre (main Mexican mountain chain).There we met several fellow hikers: 2 girls from Germany, 2 girls from the Netherlands, and an American couple, both of whom are medical students. Together accompanied by a guide we embarked on what was supposed to be a 3-hour, but turned into a 4.5 hour hike in the highland forest. We saw many interesting trees and plants, climbed through a canyon, and saw some incredible views of the Sierra Madre.The hike was a bit strenuous since after all it was at the altitude of 3,000 meters above sea level, but we thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful and beatiful woods. What was most interesting to me as a development student is the level of community development evident in this tiny pueblito.It is a part of a group of 8 communities in the area who are organized in one entity and have started 5 different businesses together (ecotourism, lumber, purifying and bottling water, and some others). The communities are doing well and are an example of successful community-driven development. Our guide, who was one of the initial founders of the ecotourism business, talked a lot about the forest and how the pine trees are being plagued by some caterpillars that make the trees dry up, but how the communities refuse to use insecticide because it was bad for the environment and made the bugs more resistant. His love for the forest and pride of what the communities have achieved was evident.Cuajimoloyas was a clean and tranquil town where everyone waved at each other and participated in one of the businesses or agriculture.In addition, our guide would often stop and point out a plant that had some medicinal value or was used in food preparations. I was proud of my Russian background since I recognized quite a few of them. After getting back to Oaxaca City, we ate some incredibly delicious tacos with the American couple. Now we are off to exlpore the zocalo (main plaza) and most likely stopping by the taco place once more.

We have arrived!

After a sleepless night waiting to leave for the airport, we drove to BWI and got on a plane to Houston and then ran from one end of the airport to another to make our connecting flight to Oaxaca. The minute we got off the plane I knew that it is going to be a wonderful vacation...the sun was shining, there were palm trees and beautiful exotic flowers, and mountains in the background. I can already see God's provision and grace...our hotel, which we booked over the internet, turned out to be a lovely bed and breakfast close to the historic center of the city. We were able to find a good travel agency and got a flight to the beach (Puerto Escondido) and a hotel room there right on the coast. At another place, we arranged for a hiking exursion in the mountaineous indigenous villages that we are taking tomorrow. After eating a delicious Italian dinner and walking around the city a bit, we are off to rest and get some sleep before tomorrow's adventures.

Packing, etc

So, spring break has officially begun for me this afternoon! Since we are leaving DC at 3am tomorrow morning to catch our 6am flight from Baltimore Airport (I get cranky just thinking about it), I am in the midst of packing. I have to keep in mind Im going for about 7 days (6 without travelling time), so Im trying to exercise as much reason as possible while trying to decide what to take (my tendency is to overpack). Meg has made a strategic mistake by letting me borrow her huge backpack, so now Im resisting the temptation to fill it to the top.

***Things Im not taking:
-Anything related to school or work (yay!!!)
-My computer (you can almost hear the sobs)
-Scarves, gloves and other winter weather articles (yay for warm weather)
***Things Im taking:
-Several non-school books (yay!!!)
-Summer clothes (I'll pretend that I don't know that it's going to be in the high 60s-low 70s in DC next week)
-My favorite article of summer attire: FLIP FLOPS!!!
-Several of my favorite DVDs (thanks to Meg's portable DVD player)

Well, I better get back to packing. The picture of baby Tai Shan (or locally known as Butterstick) is a bit random, but he sort of represents the side of DC that I love and will miss.

How it came about

So sometime before Christmas I woke up one morning and remembered the promise I made to myself last spring break when I was stuck in my apartment doing schoolwork that since this is my last official springbreak, I want to spend it somewhere exciting. Im not exactly sure how Oaxaca, Mexico came about, but I have heard that it's a beautiful place. Besides, it meets my three requirements for a worthy destination spot: ancient ruins, cool animals (giant turtles on the Oaxaca coast), and hiking. After convincing my tried and true travel buddy Meg and working out a compromise between Oaxaca, baseball, and St Patrick's Day (those darn Irish), we are embarking on yet another adventure early Friday morning. We are going to spend about 6 days in Oaxaca, touring around the city and nearby ruins, hiking in some indigenous villages, and snorkeling in Puerto Escondido (even though Meg is sure we are not going to see giant turtles this time of the year). I can't wait!
P.S. The picture is from Macchu Pichu, but brings back great memories.