PPFBUNNY: Vacation

There aren't many more appropriate days to leave for Mexico than on Cinco de Mayo. Though we spent most of the day in the air or in Atlanta, our final destination was to be the Hotel Cozumeleno (I don't know how to get one of those little tilda things over the "n" - so just pronounce it like Monty Python's knights that say "nya")

The "WE" included Trisha, Scarlet, David,

and me.

Fortunately when we did arrive we knew exactly what to do first...

and I think it also involved some karaoke to Neil Diamond... but I can't really remember it all...

David and I spent Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then just David on Friday diving the reefs off Cozumel. We don't have an underwater camera, so we don't have any pictures, but some people that we were diving with us did and they promised to e-mail us photos from the dives.

(Photos hopefully to come soon!)

We dove Palancar Caves and Bricks (apparently named that because a barge turned over there once and dumped a bunch of bricks which you can see while diving), Santa Rosa, Columbia & Columbia Shallows, Dalila, Paso del Cedral, and Punta Tunic. Then David did Devil's Throat and Los Palmas without me (I like air too much to try Devil's Throat). Since I don't have pictures here is a link with some descriptions: http://www.cozumel-click.com/reefs.html . The Divemaster (guide) we went with every day was Sandro from Deep Blue...

Back on land we played with Trisha & Scarlet...
Jeep rides

bars

Mini Golf

...with frogs

and a boat ride

ok, I was going to let it go, but I just can't (call me obsessive if you want), but our little boat guide (Roberto)

insisted on telling people that this...

was a Mexican tradition that has a "special school" in Cozumel and is illegal in the U.S. I'm just not even sure where to begin with that... this is the best I can offer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poi_spinning

Then our last night we enjoyed the perfect sunset

but, unfortunately, there were no pirates.

November 14: David and I set out to visit Oaxaca, Mexico. Our flight was scheduled to change planes in Houston, however due to a previous flight cancellation we were going to have to spend the night in Houston and continue on to Oaxaca the next day. When we landed we were informed that our flight home as also been cancelled now so we would need to return to Denver a day earlier... or two days later. We chose later.

November 15: We reached our destination! We shared a taxi with a guy coming home from Florida to be with his family until after Christmas. He was able to interpret all the spray painted graffiti covering the beautiful colonial buildings of city center. There was only one that was in English...

This was written on the side of our hotel. Apparently every year the teachers of Oaxaca go on strike for better pay, work conditions, etc. But this year there were many other political events taking place to make the strike more of a protest. I can't even pretend to say I understand all the dynamics, here is one link to help explain: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6112142.stm

To help us navigate around the protesters we hired a guide. Toni was born and raised in New York City but married a local while in Oaxaca on an archaeological dig. She is now a teacher in Oaxaca.

November 16: Toni, and her husband Javier, picked us up in their van and drove us outside the city to the town of Tule to see a 1,000 year old White Cyprus tree. Then we went to Tacochuaya to visit the Templo y Ex-Convento, which was an early Dominican monastery now a church. Next stop was the town of Mitla where Javier was born and his family still lives. The church in this town was built on top of Zapotec ruins (for more information: http://www.oaxacaoaxaca.com/mitla.htm). We had lunch at a restaurant that makes their own mescal then headed back towards the city with one more stop at Teotilian del Balle where David learned to weave.

November 17: This is the day we went to Monte Alban, certainly the largest site I think I've ever seen. It was built in 500 A.D. by the Zapotecs. (again more info here: http://www.oaxacaoaxaca.com/monte-alban.htm)

We also stopped in the town of San Martin Tilcajete, Ocotlan where we met the family of Jacobo and Maria Angeles Mendoza. The entire family works together to make the most amazing carved animals. We came home with this bird... (photo is of their nephew that helps with the creation of these wonderful animals).

November 18: David's Birthday! This is the day we flew to Puerto Escondido (on the smallest plane I've ever seen... or ridden on!) We arrived just in time for the International Surfing competition. It was a complete change of pace from the busy city as we sat on the beach drinking our cervezas and watching surfers.

November 19: We drank cervezas and tried out the hammocks (they work well!)

November 20: We found a guy that does bird tours, so we spent a morning bird watching. This is a Tiger Throated Heron...

November 21: More cervezas, more hammocks...

November 22: We read about a Turtle Museum about an hour away from where we were. But with no car of our own we figured out the public transportation methods. First we found a bus, and I do mean "found" since there are no bus stops, you just stand on the street corner and wait for one to come by then you flag it down. It works pretty much the same for when you want to get off, you just tell the driver to let you off anywhere you want. We were on the bus for about 45 minutes till we got off at a small village. Then we found a taxi to take us the rest of the way to the museum. It was in a very tiny village called Mazunte. The museum was very interesting, and we learned a little since everything was in Spanish. We found these posters that took us a little while to figure out. Basically they represent that a major reason for much of the elimination to turtles is from their eggs being taken for consumptions. These posters explain that turtle eggs are NOT aphrodisiacs! To get back to our hotel we couldn't find a bus, but there were collectivos, these are pickup trucks with a bench and a tarp, that for about 30 cents you can hop on the back and they will drive you to wherever you need. We took this back to the main road to find a bus back to Peurto Escondido.