vampyresheep

Today we were discovering a new district, which, not going to lie, I was a little nervous about, in case we ended up in a sketchy area.  We took an Uber to the Vasconcelos library, deciding that would be a safe place to start  (turned out we had nothing to worry about all day in this area!).  This building, whilst starting to show its age, is absolutely stunning, like something from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. Library blocks and walkways seemingly suspended in the air above us, you almost expect them to start shifting around!

Next door was El Chopo market, the reason for our visit.  This is a massive outdoor market for the alternative scene and far from being dangerous, it was absolutely wonderful.  Felt like being back in Camden market as a teenager, stall after stall of clothes, music, ornaments, accessories etc catering for punks, metallers, goths etc.  We spent a lot longer there than intended, and bought a lot!  So much so that we ran out of cash, and had to search for an appropriate place to withdraw some money so that we could buy food and drinks later.  Armed with more cash, we ended up back in the market buying the things we had thought about the first time around!

Eventually dragged ourselves out and continued walking to Santa Maria La Ribera and its beautiful Moorish style bandstand in the park.  Sat here for a while with a drink and just enjoying the ambience.

Next stop was the UNAM Geology museum next to the park.  Sadly it was undergoing major works, so there was no access to the beautiful art nouveau staircase I had gone there for, but one of the staff kindly allowed me to pop behind the barriers to get a better look and a photo.  It was a lovely museum though, very old fashioned with beautiful wooden cabinets – and dinosaurs!

Walked from here to the El Chopo museum but were too tired to go inside so booked an Uber back to the hotel.  The drive back was incredibly busy and we had a grumpy Uber driver.  The only bad one of our trip, he didn’t bother responding to our greetings, sighed and grumbled at the traffic all the way and after we got out, he reported us for not wearing masks!  (we had worn them in cabs up until then, but many didn’t need it and I was too tired to think - and all he had to do was ask!).  Barred from using Uber, I got in touch with their customer service who quickly confirmed that he was in the wrong, its no longer compulsory to wear masks, and reopened my account.  A sour note to end an otherwise fantastic day.

In the evening, the traffic had got even worse.  Reason being was that many roads had been closed to traffic for the Noche de Bicicletas.  If you can’t beat them, join them! Our hotel had bikes to hire, so soon we were out on the streets, cycling through Mexico City on a bike with no lights, no gears, and barely any brakes. 

The event itself was crazy!  1000’s of people on the streets, on bikes, skateboards, rollerskates, walking, with dogs, in Halloween costumes etc.  At some points it was gridlocked with bikes, but the atmosphere remained jovial and our route took us all the way down the Reforma to Chapultepec Park, back via the Revolution Monument and finishing at a little square a couple of blocks from our hotel – Plaza Tlazcoaque.  An absolutely fantastic way to spend an evening in CDMX, even if I was aching so much by the end.

Photos: Ribera and El Chopo https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/11-05-Sat-El-Chopo-Ribera-and-night-bike-ride

I wanted to visit one of the local villages and Zaachila had advertised some Dia de Muertos events, along with a small archeological site which apparently opened weekends, so we headed south of the Zocalo to find a collective to Zaachila.  Our first collectivo experience. Despite all the covid cautiousness still in place, collectivos still packed as many people in a car as possible, so we were squeezed in with 4 Mexicans, and the driver, for a 30 minute journey.

Zaachila was a colourful, vibrant experience.  We were dropped off near the cemetery, so we visited that first, lured in by the colourful murals outside.  It turned out that the town centre was filled with a market in the run up to Dia de Muertos, so the town was packed full of people and much fun to explore.  The low canopies of the market did make it feel like we were too tall for this place, and we were pretty much the only non-Mexicans there.  Sadly the archaeological site was closed, but there were a few murals around depicting the owl carving I wanted to see, so we went back to the market and sat in the town square for a while, with a huge agua fresca (tuna flavour of course!)

The return collectivo terminated at the Abastos market, where the friendly driver advised us to “be careful” as we departed.  Slightly unnerved, we set off in the direction he pointed to, to overshoot and end up in the red light district!  I only realised, when I stopped to check my map and noticed all the women were dressed in crazily tight clothing and high, high heels, unlike the more modest women out and about in Oaxaca.  Managed to get our bearings and was very relieved to see the familiar sight of the Mayordomo chocolate restaurant, so we stopped there for a late lunch. 

Getting a light snack is near impossible in Mexico and my “I’ll just have a small tamale” turned out to be a massive but delicious gut-filler that swamped the dining plate!

In the evening we met up with Doreen and Kevin, who had arrived in Oaxaca the night before.  We had hoped to catch a comparsa but seemed to have missed it, so instead went down to Plaza de la Danza, where we caught a “muerteada” performance by La Mera Meras.  Kevin observed that the story seemed similar to mummers plays in Europe, for which they did a little background research to learn more about.

We went for dinner at a nearby rooftop restaurant, Terraza Istmo, which had lovely friendly staff, tasty food (a recurring theme for this trip!) and interesting range of local artesan beers.

https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-30-Sun-Zaachila

We had breakfast at the hotel, located on a pretty sun terrace overlooking the pool.  Rob was feeling a lot better but my stomach was really bad (maybe shouldn’t have had a spicy dish last night when I was already feeling a tad fragile).  However we had booked a cycle ride for that day, so I just had to hope I would make it.

Met with our guide, Ivan, a few blocks south of our hotel.  There were 5 of us all together and once he selected suitable bikes for us all, we started off on the bumpy streets of Oaxaca to the cycle path which would take us to Tule.  It was about 10km to get there and once we got used to the bikes, it was an enjoyable way to travel through the suburbs of Oaxaca.  Tule is a pretty little town/village famous for having the widest tree in the world.  On arrival, we parked up the bikes and went to see the tree – more interesting than I expected, a fascinating old plant with so many interesting formations.  We had lunch at the local market and then set off for the bike ride back.  Although the return route was slightly downhill, a combination of tiredness, sore bum (partly from stomach problems and partly from a bike seat akin to a razor blade!) and everyone else eager to get back, did make the journey very tough and uncomfortable for me.  I guess I could have stopped, but pride wouldn’t let me be the fat unfit one of the group that was holding everyone else up, so I struggled on close to tears at one point. 

When we got back, decided we needed to treat ourselves to icecream, so headed to the Merced Market.  Couldn’t find any icecream there but eventually came across a roadside vendor where we had a cup full of the most delicious tuna icecream.  (tuna icecream isn’t fish, it’s the fruit from the nopal cactus, aka prickly pear, and is officially the tastiest thing on earth).  Headed back to hotel but a combo of getting confused by the grid street system and icecream vendor not quite on the corner shown on the map, I managed to mis-navigate us several blocks in the wrong direction, on a day when the temperature was reaching 28c!  By the time we got back to our hotel, the pool was just what the doctor ordered and we spent the afternoon either in or beside the water.

In the evening we headed to Gozobi rooftop bar, where we’d enjoyed a lovely sunset drink last time, and this time decided to have a meal aswell.  The food was fantastic, they had a wonderful range of artesan beers and we had a great view of the parades passing along the street below.  The sunset was pretty awesome too.

Photos https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-28-Tule-cycle-ride-and-Oaxaca

Our last day in Puerto Escondido and we’d still not made it to the beautiful sheltered bays that had drew me to this town.  Decided to start at Playa Carizalillo and took a taxi there.  Described as a hidden bay, its definitely been very much discovered despite the 165 steps to reach it!  Other than the bars lining the edge of the beach, this was very much the tropical beach which was on my wishlist to visit.  We had intended to grab a couple of beach loungers for a few hours but were shocked at the price – pretty much the same as we paid at Villasol but not redeemable against drinks or food! So instead we set up camp on the beach itself, along with another friendly Mexican couple.  They kept an eye on our stuff when we went into the sea – Rob finally came in with me! – and then for the next couple of hours, myself and the other lady continued dipping into the sea, with shrieks of delight when swept off our feet by an unexpected wave!  Again, one had to be careful of the undertow and I was pretty much ankle deep in sand to brace myself at times.  It was awesome to be in the water whilst watching the surfers come towards us (never close enough to be dangerous but enough of a thrill).  We picked the wrong side of the beach to keep in the shade, so as Rob was already starting to resemble a lobster, we sought shelter and lunch at one of the beach bars, taking one of the cheaper tables hidden behind the sunloungers.

We ended up spending the rest of the day here, me going back to dip in the sea, whilst Rob enjoyed the shade of the bar.  Once we’d bought a drink each, there was no hassle to keep replenishing our glasses.  (I will add however, both of us got pretty ill the next couple of days, so I don’t know if the food here was off or if it was us lapsing in hygiene after being sat on the beach and maybe not cleaning hands properly before eating)12

We had seen a few interesting looking cafes up on the high street where our taxi had dropped us off, so we decided to stop there for coffee and cake once we’d had enough of the beach.  This didn’t go quite to plan as the nicest one had actually run out of coffee, and we opted instead for one which was style over substance – the hipster is strong in this part of town.

Went back to our hotel for our final swim in the pool.  For dinner we decided to go back to Sativa, which once again was delicious.  The waitress had some problems with the card terminal though, and it was only once we’d got to Bruja Bar that I noticed we had been overcharged – I would have shrugged off a small amount but this had doubled our bill!  So sadly we had to down our drinks at the bar, to get back to Sativa before they closed.  Thankfully it turned out to be a mistake, she’d just given me the prior customer’s till receipt in the mix-up and she dug out mine from their accounts and all was well.  One thing I have found in Mexico is that 99% of the people are honest, you might get tourist pricing at times but any time there has been a discrepancy, it has been a mistake.  Even times when I accidentally tipped too much, it has been brought to my attention by the waiter.

It was a slightly flat note to end our time in Puerto Escondido, despite it working out, but we had an early start the next day, catching the 12 seater Aerotucan flight to our next destination, so we headed back to our room to finish packing and get an early night.

My first beach holiday and whilst I was sad to leave, 3 days was probably enough for us and I was excited to return to Oaxaca…….

Photos: https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-26-Carizalillo-bay-and-final-Pacific-sunset

Awoke to the sound of a marching band – confused!  I assume there must have been a hall behind our hotel where band practice took place, as that was our alarm call for the next few days.  Had breakfast at our hotel – why go elsewhere when you could sit with such a stunning view, accompanied by great coffee and food.

We had no fixed plan for the day, other than to eventually end up at Bachoco beach by 5pm for the turtle release.  Decided to walk to Playa Principal and the main shopping street via the beach.  I was dressed more practically this time, so once we got to Playa Principal and saw families playing in the sea, this was my chance to have my first dip in the Pacific.  I soon learned that even the so-called safe bays the sea still requires utmost respect and the undertow is very different to what I am used to in the UK.  After a few minutes splashing in the waves, I got pulled off my feet by the undertow and then thrown to the ground by the next wave, sending me crashing into the sharply sloping beach.  I emerged covered in sand with a bruised and grazed leg.  Headed to the Adoquin shopping street to find a pharmacy for some antiseptic cream, then decided that the safest place for me would be in a beach club.  It wouldn’t be a holiday without me injuring myself somehow!

Flagged down our first taxi, who took us to Villasol Beach Club on Bachoco Beach, at the opposite side of Puerto Escondido.  This turned out to be a good call.  For the equivalent of £25, we got a day’s use of the loungers, pool and tennis courts (if we wanted to expend energy!), with our own personal waiter and then drinks and food were redeemable against that entry cost.  The view of the beach was absolutely stunning – another stretch not suitable for swimming on, but it ticked my boxes of white sand, palm trees and crashing waves.  I guess this is how other people go on holiday, just sitting on a lounger all day, chilling out.  Fun for a day but for someone who loves to explore, one day was enough, no matter how blissful it was!

At 4.30, we strolled over to the Vive Mar hut ready for the turtle release at 5pm.  All queued up to purchase coconut shell, with which we would transport a little turtle to the start of its big journey.  There was some confusion over the price as it appeared to have increased by 25% that week, but the money goes to a good cause.  I had researched some other turtle release experiences and had been horrified by photos of people handling the babies, so it was reassuring here that they gave us pretty clear instructions on NOT handling them and to limit our selfie-pics.  We named our babies (Clive and Sid) and set them off for their trek across the beach into the sea.  It was an emotional experience, particularly as both of ours fell into a deep footprint in the sand, but they both got out and made it to the lapping waves.

After a final drink at Villasol, our waiter called us a taxi back to our hotel, getting back just in time to catch the sunset from the terrace.  Our meal that evening was at the beautiful Sativa. This was absolutely lovely.  Great drinks (we both had mocktails and they were delicious) and a small but fantastic menu.  I love mahi-mahi fish.

After dinner we popped across the road to the only alternative bar in town. Bruja Bar.  Run by an ex-punk from Detroit, the décor was fab and a fantastic playlist of 90’s rock and indie (the landlord did say the music gets more alternative as the night goes on).  We had an early start the next day, so we only stopped for one drink, promising to return the next day.

https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-24-Mon-Villasol-Beach-club-and-turtle-release

Monday.