February 22, 2018 - Puerto Escondido - Playa Blanca

We had a quiet, peaceful night last night and took a short walk on the beach today. There was a surf school located right on the beach in front of us and several surfers in the water. Not many waves in the area where they were surfing, but some big waves were crashing in further along the beach. I obviously know nothing about what makes a good wave and am impressed when I see surfers read and catch the waves. Even though the water was pretty, we both decided this area was too busy for our liking. Crazy as it seems, we actually turned around and headed back south 18 miles to Playa Blanca, a place we stayed six years ago. The area has grown up some since we were here and the restaurant we parked by has closed. There was a building and tree blocking the view we had, so we are parked about 600 feet south of our old spot. There is a lifeguard stand in front of us, but we are between two smaller buildings.

We spent time walking on the beach, sitting and reading for a while and just enjoying the sound of the waves crashing on the sand. Unfortunately, on the way back to the RV this sharp thorn found its way into my big toe! Gosh, it hurt. Blood, too! Fortunately, a quick shower and some antibiotic cream helped.

We had dinner at Restaurante Olguita. Tobey had the shrimp ceviche and I had the pescado al ajo (fish made with garlic). Both were delicious! Dinner, one Pepsi (which made Tobey a happy guy!) and tip was $260 pesos (about $14.00 USD) There was a nice Mexican family at the table in front of us – grandmother, three sisters, two husbands and their three children. The oldest of the children was Kevin Alexander who was in the 6th grade. He spoke English and we spent most of our time talking to him while we ate. He said his parents sent him to live with an uncle in Indiana for a year so he could learn English better. He was curious about what our favorite beaches were, where we have traveled in the United States, where we were going from here. His family lives in Tonamec - about 30 minutes from here and they sometimes come here to this beach area. The family was friendly and their son was a nice young man.

We were treated to another beautiful sunset before heading back to the RV for the evening. We can hear the waves crashing in and hope for another restful night. We have no cell service so we will post this later!

February 21, 2018 - Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido, Mexico

We were up early today. We dumped and filled the RV with fresh water and left the campground by 7:30 this morning for our journey to the Puerto Escondido area. It was a long drive – almost 9 hours on winding roads through the mountains out to the ocean. We followed MEX175 most of the way before catching MEX200 north. Besides watching the narrow road, we watched all of the road signs!

One of the main hazards for us are the “topes” (speed bumps). In some areas they must feel that if one tope is good, four are better!Sometimes the topes are marked well, other times it is just luck if you see them!This was a sign indicating how sharp some of the turns were – almost the entire trip!And if the turns weren’t sharp, it was just curvy!Decrease speed – increases safetyDrive with caution – winding roadDo no leave the pavementWe passed through pine forests as we crossed the mountains.Sometimes the road was one lane!We spotted this truck in one small town. He was loaded with baskets and brooms for sale. We went into Mazunte to visit the Turtle Museum which we had tried to see when we were here six years ago. It was open today, so we went in after paying our $34 peso entrance fee. ($68 total – $3.60USD) It isn’t really a museum, it was more of a turtle zoo with several species of turtles on display. It only took us about 30 minutes to see the whole place, but it was a nice break.We continued north on the MEX200 to the “La Punta” pullout from the ioverlander camping recommendations. Google maps was going to take us down some pretty narrow dirt streets, but we stopped and walked to the site, finding a better route. It was pretty crowded with surfers and people on the beach waiting for the sunset, but we managed to finally get a spot to park for the night.

We changed into to cooler clothes because it is HOT – about 86 degrees. We took a walk on the beach and joined the folks watching the sunset. It was beautiful!We had dinner at one of the little restaurants on the beach road – fish tacos for Tobey, shrimp tacos for me. They were quite tasty and we are stuffed! Dinner, drinks and tip $290 pesos ($15.40 USD). Pretty cheap eats!

We are back to our little home and are listening to the sound of waves crashing on the beach. We will decide in the morning whether we stay here of find another beach. Until then, goodnight!

February 20, 2018 - Oaxaca, Mexico

We had a lazy day mostly hanging out at the campground, trying to catch up on email, figuring out our next stop on the trip, and just resting.

When we first arrived here there was an RV caravan with 7 BIG RVs here, and two other campers. The caravan pulled out early this morning – probably 6:30 and one truck camper left around noon. The monster-truck looking camper moved and another camper came in. Busy place!We are not using electric because the voltage here fluctuates so much that our high voltage regulator shuts the electricity down before it comes into the RV. That protects all of our electronic things, as well as the microwave and water heater from being fried! The cost for this gated campground without hookups is $225 pesos per night and $50 pesos for the dump station. $725 pesos ($38.75/3 nights = $12.92/night). Pretty reasonable camping with WIFI included!

We did ride the motorcycle in to the Walmart to pick up a few things and when we got back we discovered our brake lights and tail lights are not working. It looks like someone cut the wires, but we can’t be sure. We will need to have it looked at, but we should be okay to ride during the day. No more night time rides!

We plan to get the grill going in a while and fix some dinner and finalize plans for the next few days.  We’ll do the last minute chores of dumping and refilling with fresh water in the morning before taking off toward the beach.

February 19, 2018 - Oaxaca, Mexico

We took the motorcycle back into the city this morning to meet Stephan and Ashley and visit the ruins of Monte Albán.

Monte Alban is the most important archaeological sites of the Valley of Oaxaca. Inhabited over a period of 1,500 years beginning about 500 BC to 800AD by a succession of peoples – Olmecs, Zapotecs and Mixtecs – the terraces, dams, canals, pyramids and artificial mounds of Monte Albán were literally carved out of the mountain.

Admission to the ruins was very reasonable – 70 pesos per person (about $3.75USD). We found an English-speaking guide who gave us a tour of the site.  We entered the site near the North Platform. There was scaffolding around the side of the ruins shoring up damaged areas from the September 2017earthquake. The ball court below was also damaged in that quake. Our guide asked if we felt the tremors that were in Oaxaca last night, but none of us had. Apparently it registered 5.9! The main part of the ceremonial center which forms the Gran Plaza is roughly 300 x 200 meters running north-south with a platform at either end.  It was huge! Our guide explained that the people were known for their healing and medical abilities, as well as knowledge,  traditions and artistic expressions. There were several stone carvings showing medical procedures, fertility, childbirth, and even birth defects. He called it the Mayo Clinic of Monte Albán. Our guide also stressed that there was no paper here, all of the writing was done in stone.At the end of our tour we climbed to the top of the South Platform and had a view back to the north. The site is impressive with its size and number of buildings which have been excavated.We stopped in the museum to see several of the stone carvings discovered on the site. Many reproductions of carved stones like the one below have been placed outside the structures near the areas where the originals were found. It gives visitors the opportunity to visualize the site while preserving the original stonework.After our visit, we headed back into the city with a stop at a small roadside restaurant for lunch. We tried four different kinds of tacos and they were so good, we ordered four more! It was Stephan and Ashley’s first time eating at a roadside restaurant and they liked it, too!

Back in the city we decided to check out the Centro – old part of town. We walked to the Zocalo (town square). We were surprised to see the square filled with tents and tarps. We found out the National Torch Movement, a left-wing political group focused on poverty reduction, is staging demonstrations in Oaxaca and Mexico City. Some 10,000 people are expected to participate in a march to the Zócalo tomorrow so we won’t go back into the city!

Just south of the square is one of the local markets. We did enjoy walking through to see several of the booths where the local people shop. One of the local delicacies we did NOT try were the dried grasshoppers. They say they are good for you, but we decided to pass!We went into the Temple de Santo Domingo de Guzman. From the outside we could tell it was very large, but the simplicity of the structure hides the incredible beauty and wealth inside!Begun in 1575, the church and monastery were constructed over a period of 200 years, between the 16th and 18th centuries. The monastery was active from 1608 to 1857. In the period of the revolutionary wars, the buildings were turned over to military use, and from 1866 to 1902 they served as a barracks. The church was restored to religious use in 1938. The church has been fully restored. Its highly decorated interior includes use of more than 60,000 sheets of 23.5-karat gold leaf!In our wandering around the city, we went by the Teatro Macedonio de Alcala. After a long day of sightseeing and walking, we had dinner at Tobaziche. It is rated #14 on Tripadvisor, so we thought it should be great. Not so much. I had a pulled pork torta (sandwich) and Tobey had something I can’t even describe. The best part of the meal was the Agua Frutas (fruit water drink). I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the internet!!

With some fun, new memories made with Stephan and Ashley today, we said our goodbyes and headed back to our campground. We look forward to seeing them both again soon! They will head to Mexico City and we will head to the Pacific coast. Buenas noches!

February 18, 2018 Oaxaca, Mexico

We got moved into the Oaxaca Campground this morning and quickly settled in. We are looking forward to spending a few days in the area.

The campground owners are from Canada and Kate recommended we visit Tlacolula de Matamoros Sunday market. She was planning to go on the bus and she offered to take us along. It was 10 pesos each and took about 30 minutes to get there. We first visited the the parish church, called La Asunción de Nuestra Señora. It was founded as a Dominican mission in the mid 16th century. It looked like a humble church on the outside, but the inside was amazing! It consists of the main church and the Chapel of the Señor del Tlacolula. It also has a large baroque pipe organ from the 16th century!One of the notable features is the Baroque chapel dedicated to a crucifix called the Señor de Tlacolula, one of several "black Christ" images that appeared mysteriously, and to which miracles are attributed. People come to touch the statue or robe and pray. We saw one woman come and touch a handkerchief on the statue then rub it on the head of her daughter, praying to the statue. It was interesting.After a stop at the church, we joined Kate for lunch at her favorite food stall, Comedor “Dona Adolfa”. I had a soup with meat and Tobey tried the tacos. Tobey also tried the Chocolate Atole which was a thick hot chocolate served in a bowl. We enjoyed wandering around with Kate as she did her weekly shopping. At one of the meat stands, she was getting ground beef. They trimmed the fat from what looked like a tenderloin or ribeye and ground it there to make hamburger! The fat is valued by many locals and they pay extra for it!In the center aisle by the meat counters, there were grills and people would cook your meats for you there!Many of the indigenous people are Zapotecs and they come from all around for the Sunday market, bringing their wares for sale. Many of the people are quite short. This woman was next to Tobey was quite old. We noticed several of the women with their hair in braids, then cloth braided in to make their hair look longer. On our way back to the bus station, we saw several of the three-wheeled taxis in town. We had seen these before in other areas of Mexico. They work well in some of the tiny narrow streets! We headed into Oaxaca City this evening to meet up with our former exchange student, Stephan and his girlfriend, Ashley. We had an enjoyable evening and shared a great dinner. The plate on the right was an appetizer plate. the one in the back was a large, crispy tortilla with vegetables and meat. The seven bowls were different types of mole. Mole poblano contains about 20 ingredients, including chili peppers and chocolate, which works to counteract the heat of the chili peppers, but the chocolate does not dominate. It helps give the sauce its dark color. DELICIOUS!We headed back to the campground and about 9pm on the motorcycle and will meet them in the morning to do some sightseeing.