Oaxaca

We spent three fantastic days in Oaxaca following an eight hour bus ride through the mountains. After a long day on the bus we arrived in Oaxaca with our friends from Hoofbeats and Ticket to Ride. After the six of us schlepped all our gear around and toured several hotels we finally all agreed on the lovely Casa Antigua. Centrally located, it was the perfect base to see see the sites. Oaxaca is walker-friendly colonial city over 500 years old and chock full of museums and gourgeous architecture. Known for it's shopping, chocolate (usually made into mole) and indgenous cultures there was a ton to see an do. Our second day the six of us hired a van to taked us to the ruins of Monte Alban. An ancient city circa 500 a.d., it was interesting to see the remnants from this ancient time. Below are tons of pictures from our three busy days. It was such a photogenic place. The churches are the ancient Santo Domingo which served at both a convent and a monestary during different times in history and the main cathedral in the Zocolo. I hope you have as much fun seeing the pictures as I did taking them.

Huatulco

April 12th, Huatulco, Mexico.... We thought that we'd only have a forty hour passage to get down to Puerto Angel but one look into that little surf torn surging cove convinced us to press on. Being tired from a two night passage we looked into a few more coves on the way down to Huatulco for a calm enough anchorage to get a good nights sleep. None seemed the answer so we radioed the marina and picked our way around a large breaking reef and then up a narrow passage between a cliff and a short jettie to a dredged out lagoon . Here we were welcomed by at least fifteen people out on the docks ready to take our lines. Some we already knew and some were soon to become new friends.
Huatulco is an cute little town that was an attempt by the Mexican Government to master plan a community. There is a small marina which is where we are currently tied to a double wide slip and a more commercial port around the corner where they can berth a cruise ship. In Huatulco, you can take a tour boat of any size or variety out to any one of the numerous gorgeous coves to go snokeling of diving or just swiming. The city itself is unique because of the wide open streets with side walks and grassy medians inviting to pedestrians and especially bicyclistas .. This is our last stop in Mexico and it is here that we'll get our international Zarpe and clear out of the country. Before we leave Mexico, we will take this opportunity to travel inland to yet another one of Unescos World Heritage sites, the town of Oaxaca. Famous for its arts, indigenous people and chocolate, we should have no problem filling a few days with galleries, museums and hopefully, at an elevation of 6000 feet, some cool mountain evenings.
April 26th..... After two weeks fun-filled weeks in Huatulco and a fabulous trip to Oaxaca we are going to tear ourselves away from this easy marina life and head on down the coast. On Friday evening we will leave Huatulco to make a 500 mile passage to El Salvador. It should take us around 100 hours. We have a good weather window for the Gulf of Tehuantepec (250 miles of Mexican coast south of here) which is known for it's gale force winds. If we are lucky it will be a pond and by Monday morning we should be crossing the border into Guatemala. After that we will have approximately 250 more miles until we arrive at Barillas Marina in El Salvador. From there we hope to travel inland to El Salvador and Guatemala before continuing on.
Until we meet again Mexico....Liz & Mark

Acapulco

We arrived in Acapulco on March 29th expecting to stay a few days. After a little exploring, some provisioning and 3 days in the sweltering heat we were ready to go to our next destination. Puerto Angel was the place. Our second to last stop on our way out of Mexico. After almost 5 months in Mexico we were ready to see a new country. We set out last Saturday morning only to realize that our autopilot was not working. For any non-boat people out there, the autopilot is the mechanism that stears the boat so we don't have to. And it's necessary equipment because neither one of us wants to hand stear for our upcoming 40 hour passage down the coast or beyond for that matter.
I will spare you all of the details of the process and all the hard work Mark went to making calls and schleping parts but the good news is that the autopilot is fixed and we can be on our way. There is just one catch. We ordered a backup pump from Canada and the last time we tracked it, it was somewhere in the vortex of international customs in Mexico City. So we could be leaving soon or not......
For the last week we have tried to make the most of our predicament and take in a little more of Acapulco than we originally planned. I know some of you are thinking that Acapluco is quite a vacation destination and a great place to spend a few weeks. All I can say is yes that may be true...in December. In April the temperature is around 98-100 with the same amount of humidity. Scholarship has no A/C!! Mark and I can hardly bear holding hands unless we are in a dark movie theater. Occasionally we can share a bus seat if the bus labeled air-conditioned really is. For those of you where it's cold in the winter. I know you think I am just whiny. For those of you in Arizona, it's like June in AZ but with humudity.
Back to the things we have seen. We did visit the very old Fort of San Diego that overlooks Acapulco Bay and has been converted into a historical museum. We enjoyed it a lot. There was quite a bit of nautical history, cannons and it was even air-conditioned. Yes there is a pattern here.
The only drawback that day was that the view from the fort would have been spectacular except for the huge cruise ship directly across blocking any view we might have had.
Our second adventure was the world famous Acapulco Cliff Divers. For seventy plus years these guys have been climbing a cliff and then jumping 87 feet into less that 12 feet of water. These are guys that cannot have a bad day at work. The performance itself is over in just a few mins. but it is definately worth seeing. This part of Acapulco is particularily beautiful as the waves crash along the curvy coast road that leads to the viewing point. Our taxi driver Tomas was very excited to show us the route and stopped 3 times for pictures and ohhs and ahhs. On arriving, tourists can either pay to watch outside or sit at the cliff-side restaurant and watch from there.
Our third tourist excursion was last night when Tomas (by now our good amigo) picked us up for a dusk/sunset taxi tour of the Acapulco. On Scholarship we are down low in the bay but when looking up it's amazing to see all the dwellings and in the surrounding mountains. Acapulco is huge and this was the view we wanted to see. So Tomas took us up miles and miles into the Mexican barrio to see the view. Along the way he stopped by two different family members houses to introduce his new American friends, Marco & Lily. It never ceases to amaze me how Mark's excellent Spanish skills open all kinds of doors for us. Plus the Mexicans have so much fun and giggle at Mark's jokes. Our night with Tomas ended at the Galleaon Bar near the Zocolo. I think he wanted to take us somewhere nautical. We parted ways with our website in his hand as he told me he was a good student and would learn to use the computer just to see it.
Enjoy the pictures and take good care.
Hasta Luego.....Liz & Mark

Pictures from Zihuatanejo

We are in Acapulco now but here are a few pictures from Zihuatanejo. It was such a great little city. If we look sweaty, it's because we are.

Zihuatanejo, Mexico

After Ixtapa we moved a whole 8 miles down the coast to Z-town. This place is a jem for cruisers. Many people come down here in the fall and stay all season. It's definitely one of my favorite little cities out of our whole trip so far. The bay is large so there is plenty of room to anchor. It's also been pretty calm while we were here. With the exception of the floating disco (thank goodness it does not groove every night) it's a great place to be. Most of the time there is a guard at the dinghy beach. Believe me this is a big deal. Dinghy and outboard theft is a real problem for cruisers. Heck, people even get their nasty flip-flops ripped off right out of the dinghy. I have heard of this a few times, and these were shoes even the owners spouse would not touch. The other wonderful thing about Zihua is the food. Right off the beach there are dozens of bars with 10 peso cervezas andit seems that every block has a place serving mahi-mahi that the owners brother just pulled out of the ocean. The weather...well it's hot. I know some of you are still freezing as winter has not thawwed out yet, but seriously 90 degrees and 90% humidity is a bit much. We literally have to get up with the sun to get errands done before we are both dissolving in puddles of sweat. So it's up early, move slow and take a siesta. Everything moves slow around here. I don't think the buses have schedules, you just wait until you see one and then flag it down. People who work in the shops would not think of multi-tasking. It's common to have one small tienda with 5 people all working and each person is task specific. At the fabric store the one woman could only help us with fringe and zippers. I guess this is how everyone stays employed. I am not judging, just observations from someone who lived in fast-paced city of 4 million people. Our time in Zihua is up though. We are anxious to get going as we have a lot of traveling to do before we settle into our next country. We leave for Acapulco on Sunday and after an undetermined amount time there we will countinue south and start making our graceful exit out of Mexico.
Stay tuned....xo Liz
p.s. I know many of you are only in it for the pictures but there are none now as the signal is not strong enough to add them. I'll post some soon.
p.s.s. Happy Birthday Dad!!!! It's my dad 's b-day today so if you know him don't forget to wish him well or give him a birthday spanking.

Crocodile Rock

Yes that is a crocodile! Yes that is our boat! On the way to Ixtapa I read in one of our cruising books that the marina is no good for swimming (but really no one would swim in a marina on purpose anyway) because of the crocs. We arrived on Monday and spent 5 days skeptically looking for these creatures. Friday afternoon I was in the galley when I heard Mark yelling from the dock.....the following is part of his log for the day.

March 17th ,St Paddys Day
Did I say that the crocodiles were elusive? They may have been.. up until today. The first two we saw on the bike ride through the reserve were behind fences and docile to the point of booooooring.
The third one was tantalizingly close off the docks here in the marina and there was nothing between him and I save for ten feet of water. He was a stout 8 or 9 footer and so incredibly primevil and frightening. We ,that is, the neighbors on White Swan, Liz and I threw some meat chunks at him as he was 3 feet away off the stern of our boat. These he snapped at but didn't seem to grasp. As I shook the head of the deck brush in the water nearby, however , he turned and purposely pursued a straight erie deadly line of attack. He was big and fat and his Stegosaurus like blades and appendages were other worldly. When I touched him on the tail as he was floating away he turned again and went straight for our auxiliary rudder and rammed it with an insolent thud before backing away and looking for more tasty morsels.. Unforgettable...

Gold Coast of Mexico

It's called the Gold Coast because it includes some of the most peaceful and picturesque anchorages between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. Our favorite was Careyes.
A three lobed bay, Careyes is a tropical paradise complete with clear water, sunshine and a beautiful cruiser friendly resort. The only drawback was the swell in the anchorage. It was small and surrounded by rocks. After a little test for Liz and Mark in setting two anchors we were sitting pretty and gazing at the beaches which were mostly deserted. We ended up staying a few days but we never did sleep too well seeing waves breaking over the nearby rocks. This place was wonderful though and worth the extra anchor and little anxiety. The first lobe of the bay is an old abandoned Club Med. It is very dilapidated and we renamed it Club Dead. A sandy unspoiled beach that I am sure saw some wild parties in its day! The middle lobe where we were anchored was Playa Rosa another pristine beach with one lovely palapa restaurant. An amazing path up the cliff led us to the third lobe and the Careyes Resort. The resort is a hotel and condos but the best part is the path. As you start up the hill you are suddenly in an Italian Village surrounded by flowers and trees winding your way through villas painted every bright color. The resort itself was serene but expensive. $17.00 for a hamburger... but even if you did not partake in their expensive menu they welcomed us to sit and enjoy. The pool was refreshing and the view was luscious. The cliffs surrounding all of these beaches are covered with huge mansions many of them for rent. In his fluent Spanish, Mark sweet -talked one caretaker to give us a tour. Above are some pictures from this place. Spectacular. The other big fun in Careyes was the polo match. It seems that this part of Mexico is home to many Italians and one man in particular who owns the hotel decided to build a polo field in the middle of nowhere. We thought we could not pass up this opportunity. One night we hired a driver who drove us to the polo match where we were educated all about polo by the owner of the field. Really cool and then to top it all off there was an Italian restaurant by the polo field where we had dinner with a couple from Minneapolis of all places, that we had met at the match.
There are tons of picures above.