Day 11 Wednesday (2nd October)

Our last day in Oaxaca.  Where had the week gone?  I wasn’t ready to leave and head to smoggy, busy CDMX just yet.  We made the best of our last day though

Started at Santo Domingo where I asked tourist information for how to get to the Xochimilco aqueduct, he also gave me a *tip about going to Jalatlalco in the evening for a comparsa.

We had a look around the artisan market that had now been set up at the end of the Alcala, managing yet more shopping.  (Christmas presents!) and continued up hill to Xochimilco, passing street after street of beautiful murals, skeleton decorations and colourful houses.  This district is so pretty its not real!  The giant aqueduct was a fascinating structure at the end of our walk and then we stopped at a nearby café with pretty roof terrace for lunch – Café El Empedrado.  I had my first enchilada of the holiday, after much enchilada disappointment last time, but this was the enchilada suiza to beat them all! Tasty spiced chicken wrapped in tortillas, covered in a creamy, spicy sauce and lots of cheese on top – food porn for sure.

On the way back we stopped at Xochimilco cemetery (on the advice of the tourist info guy) and this was an interesting place to visit, although we didn’t feel as comfortable here compared to other cemeteries we’d visited, like uninvited guests to a party.  We didn’t stay long and paid our respects to the locals we passed by, then headed back into town.

Dropped shopping at our hotel, had a brief rest and final swim, then headed back to the Panteon General in time for sunset.  This was so different to Friday, packed full of local residents (and visitors like us I’m sure), with a full party atmosphere.  Graves were decorated, candles lit with singers and musicians performing at so many family gatherings.  It was good to go back to see this spot a second time.

Following the tourist information advice, we strolled over to Jalatlalco for a comparsa.  It was a bit of a creepy walk down a dark street, making us wonder if we’d made the right decision, but soon reached the familiar murals and lively atmosphere of the barrio.  *it turns out that the tourist information guy was wrong, and there was no comparsa here, but the streets were full of life and it was good to rest our feet and people watch for a while.

Headed back into town and over to Plaza de la Danza for the final drone “spectacular”.  We stopped at the adjacent Plaza de las Nieves for a final icecream sundae first and then to the main square for the drone show.  This was a great way to finish our final evening in Oaxaca.  Well, not quite finish, it was still early and I fancied a cocktail, however every bar we passed going back to the hotel was full and not letting anyone else in.  We eventually ended up back at Santo Domingo, and chanced the rather posh looking La Rueca, as we could see they had a roof terrace.  It was a bit posh but the lady at reception asked if we minded sitting at the bar, and took us there, where we had attentive service directly from the bar man.  It was a perfect way to finish our time in Oaxaca, with a great Mexican take on an Irish coffee.

 

Xochimilco photos https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/11-02-Weds-Xochimilco

Evening photos https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/11-02-Weds-eve-Panteon-General-Jalatlalco-drones

 Day 3 Tuesday

Today we were off to see crocodiles and I had pre-booked a tour with Robert’s Ecotours.  It was an early start, so we popped to the local OXXO for some snacks for breakfast and ate them in the sunrise on the beach.  And then waited for our car ….. and waited….. after 30 minutes I tried calling, with the help of our hotel reception and eventually got a very flustered and apologetic Robert on the line.  Despite having confirmed our tour the day before, he somehow forgot about it.  Around 10 minutes later he turned up and kept us company until the driver arrived.  A bit frustrating but these things happen and it got resolved in the end.

Our first stop was Laguna Ventanilla.  We were taken by boat to the reserve on the island, with our driver translating for the guide and pointing out wildlife on the way.  Happy to spot a few crocs in the water and some iguanas relaxing on trees by the waterside, along with various beautiful birds.

On the island we were taken around the enclosures – some for safety to keep a barrier between us and the crocodiles, and some for various rescue animals that were also being looked after on the island.  The island is an eco-tourism centre managed by the local community to manage the ecology and provide an income.  We had lunch on the island, a tasty quesadilla and a big glass of cucumber water, before getting back onto the boats and to the van to our next destination.  Our driver took us on a tour of some of the Huatulco bays, Mazunte, Zipolite (the famous nudist beach) before ending at Playa Panteon where we got a couple of hours to spend on the beach.  The tour did actually mention a couple of other stops (mezcal and coffee tasting) which didn’t happen – maybe because of the delayed start – but this was no issue to us as I was eager to get into the sea!  There was a notable difference in tourism at the Huatulco bays, more hassle from traders to buy stuff, so I am glad we made the decision to stay in Puerto Escondido as it felt less commercialized. 

The bay was a beautiful place to swim, despite it being more built up, architecturally and with a similar undertow but more sheltered, so as long as I was wary getting in and out of the water, it felt a safe place to swim, whilst Rob sat at our table with his accidentally ordered michelada (that I had to drink for him!)

Overall, it did feel a bit of a package tour and not something I would usually do, but it was a good way to easily get to La Ventanilla and see a bit more of the coast.  We were fortunate that we were the only people booked on the tour, so it did feel like a private trip.

When we got back to the hotel, we went for dinner to Sabor a Mar, after liking the look of the meals when we drank there on our first day.  It was a beautiful spot to dine in the sunset and I had a very tasty spicy prawn pasta dish. It must have been close to closing time though, as they did seem very keen for us to leave and we didn’t get a chance for dessert.   Instead we grabbed a taxi to Adoquin for the night market.  Not much to write home about, very sparse, consisting mainly of tables set up by the shops that lined the street, selling tourist ware.  First stop was icecream of course – Rob lucked out with a delicious chocolate ice, I went for something strange (I should have learned from last time!).  After around 10 minutes it started to rain, first a light shower and then it just got worse.  There were no bars we fancied going to along this strip, they all looked a tad sleazy or were blaring out loud music, so we flagged down a taxi back to our hotel.  The rain still not stopping, we abandoned plans to go to Bruja Bar and instead had coffee and cocktails in our hotel bar/restaurant instead.

Photos from day 3 https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-25-Tues-La-Ventanilla-Mazunte-Playa-Panteon-/

 Not posted on here since, ahem, an international pandemic halted all travel.  I did still travel, within the UK, once it was allowed, and should have updated this blog with those trip reports but strange times and lack of motivation.  However my 2020 trip to Mexico finally went ahead in October/November this year, so here's what we got up to.

Arrival and Day 1 - Sunday

After a long (11 hour!) flight from the UK, we arrived at CDMX Benito Juarez airport around 9pm.  Pretty much flew through security and with no luggage to pick up, we made it to our overnight hotel in 30 minutes of landing.  We stayed at Camino Real Aeropuerto, and although we were too tired to use any of the airport’s facilities, we were impressed with what we saw, our room was lovely and comfortable and I highly recommend for anyone needing a stopover at the airport.

Sunday morning we were up early and on the shuttle to Terminal 2 for our flight to Puerto Escondido.  All went well with the flight and it was easy to get a taxi to our hotel.  We stayed at Hotel Santa Fe and it is an absolute charm of a hotel!  Yes it is showing its age in places, and I wasn’t expecting the layout to be quite so open (the reception being a kiosk just within the entrance gates and rooms are all accessible from the outside.  It felt like a mini Portmeirion, relocated to sunnier climes.  They let us check in early, and after a quick explore of the grounds – spotting the iguana next to the pool was a thrill – we went for brunch at their restaurant.  We just missed the breakfast menu, so had a lovely small lunch of veggie tostadas, whilst looking out over the stunning Zicatela beach.

Too tired to do much on the first day (and this was supposed to be the relaxing part of our trip after all), in the afternoon we just took a stroll on Zicatela beach, with the plan to get some photos of us looking crazily out of place as goths on the beach.   I knew the sea at Zicatela was dangerous, so I had no intention of going for a paddle, however the sea had other ideas and a sudden creeping bit of the tide caught me mid photo and I got absolutely soaked!  I thought I was well away from the read of the water, having stood and watched the tide for a while but the sea is to be respected, particularly the powerful Pacific Ocean.

This was a perfect excuse to dry out on a sun lounger with a Michelada at the conveniently adjacent Sabor a Mar beach bar and restaurant.   It was pretty hot weather for us pasty Brits, so we went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool to cool down and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing poolside. Early evening we took a walk along Zicatela to check out all the quirky bars, street art and sculptures.   The beach and promenade became quite busy as the evening drew in, in contrast to how quiet we felt it was for a Sunday afternoon.

Stayed on the beach for the sunset and noting that a rainstorm was about to erupt, we took shelter in Bar Esmeralda, where once you purchased a drink, you had unlimited access to a pool table.  The drinks weren’t great (limited range of beers and over-sweet cocktails) but the staff were absolutely lovely and the atmosphere was great.

Once the rain stopped, we headed to Cayuco for dinner. Expecting it to be busy, we were the only diners there and although our meals were absolutely delicious, the menu was a tad limited and atmosphere slightly lacking.  Not the fault of the staff, just due to lack of anyone else being there.

We didn’t expect it to be so oppressively hot and humid in the evening, so once we had eaten, we were glad to get back to our air conditioned room for the first night.

Day 1 photos https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-23-CDMX-Sun-to-Puerto-Escondido-