Our final days at Zip have been great but it is time to move on... Yvonne finds the surf a bit hard on her knees and she doesn't like having sand in her suit every time she gets out of the water...
We've had a great time here in Zipolite, especially getting to know the people at the bar on the rock. Artist Fred Peters showed us albums of his art work. Wow, wish I had the money to buy one! He's so talented!
Good-bye Zipolite!!!
About 15 minutes up the coast from Zipolite is the next beach town called Mazunte. It is much smaller than Zip but quaint and lovely too.
One of the main streets in Mazunte.
This morning when we had breakfast in town a fellow just placed 2 fish on a table that he wanted to sell. The largest one was a 30 kg sailfish and the other was an 80 cm mahi mahi. We'd never seen these before... the sail on the sailfish was very interesting to see especially when he stretched out the sail, plus the long snout! This one was almost 2 m long and was considered to be medium to small in size. Ha!
We found a room for $35 right on the beach at Posada Ziga. A new experience here was the mosquito netting that we have never had before. For those of you that have never experienced this... this is how it works... Imagine a 4 poster bed... Tied in an x from the top of the post to post is a string. Then tied to the center of the x is a gauze cloth that then drapes over all the four posts to below the mattress with one opening to get into the bed. It seems to be effective as we had no mosquito bites in the night.
Most nights we would go to our upstairs patio and watch the sunset or just sit to cool off. What a view!!
Mazunte is also famous for the location where "Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, visited Mazunte. The purpose of her visit was to get Mazunte to provide The Body Shop with natural organic materials for the production of their body supplies. However, after some time, the people of Mazunte realised that they too could own and operate their own cosmetics store and of course, families working together is better than one doing it alone, they joined hands and started a cosmetics cooperative."
We've had some good snorkeling here, but as in many of these areas the surf really churns up the clear snorkeling view so I haven't had much luck with underwater photos.
Drinking and snorkeling is way safer than driving after a few beers.
We've started swimming to neighbouring beaches, rather than walk the road or take a collectivo. Most of the beaches are around the next point and that means a bit of a snorkel, looking at fish, getting into deep water (abt 10 m plus}. We stick some drink $$ in à baggie, take sunscreen, sunglasses and are good to go for the day. Just have to watch the tide etc and head back before dark. Lots of swim time, way offshore and lots to see under water.
Looking back at Mazunte.
We've started swimming to neighbouring beaches, rather than walk the road or take a collectivo. Most of the beaches are around the next point and that means a bit of a snorkel, looking at fish, getting into deep water (abt 10 m plus}. We stick some drink $$ in à baggie, take sunscreen, sunglasses and are good to go for the day. Just have to watch the tide etc and head back before dark. Lots of swim time, way offshore and lots to see under water.
Looking back at Mazunte.
We were lucky enough to hear about a turtle release that was going to be happening one early evening at a neighboring bay called Ventanillo.
So, off we went in a taxi for 10 minutes to this 20 family village whose members seem to be the protectors of the local turtles. We understand that in the 70's the turtles were so severely hunted that they almost went extinct! With the banning of turtle hunting they have made a remarkable comeback. When 3 species of turtles come ashore, these villagers take the eggs and move them to a gated area where they re-bury the eggs at 70 cm and tag the hole with the name of the turtle and when she laid her eggs. 45 days or so later they check them to see if they are hatching.
Protected turtle area.
Once they are ready, they release them, which is what we were a part of. We did have to pay 30 pesos each ($2), and the money goes for some of their expenses, we hope! These little guys were about 4 cm across... it was great releasing them on the sand and watching the waves push them back. We clapped when they were finally successful!! Ha!
So, off we went in a taxi for 10 minutes to this 20 family village whose members seem to be the protectors of the local turtles. We understand that in the 70's the turtles were so severely hunted that they almost went extinct! With the banning of turtle hunting they have made a remarkable comeback. When 3 species of turtles come ashore, these villagers take the eggs and move them to a gated area where they re-bury the eggs at 70 cm and tag the hole with the name of the turtle and when she laid her eggs. 45 days or so later they check them to see if they are hatching.
Protected turtle area.
Once they are ready, they release them, which is what we were a part of. We did have to pay 30 pesos each ($2), and the money goes for some of their expenses, we hope! These little guys were about 4 cm across... it was great releasing them on the sand and watching the waves push them back. We clapped when they were finally successful!! Ha!
.....drink more for better understanding....So, after the success of our little turtle release...Shayne called his little guy (he thinks it's a hombre) Thomas! Go Thomas and away he swam. Brought a tear to the eye.....
we then decided to do the crocodile tour in the lagoon. After talking with a local about it, we thought we had it all figured out. This was to be a pretty good adventure into the local jungle lagoon to see some wild crocs.
We'd be able to see some salt water crocs in a lagoon while we paddled canoes. Nope - instead, we spent half an hour being paddled around, looking at jungle foliage, iguanas and birds.
But, no crocs. We stopped at a mangrove island and were shown several fenced areas. One did contain a croc. It looked to be alive - but, made no attempt to move.
Another pen held several dozen baby crocs.
Other pens held a monkey and deer! Yes! We came all the way down to Mexico to see deer! After that we sat under a palapa and had a beer! Finally, back in the boat and headed back to our starting point.
As we got out, there in the shallows was a real live, baby croc. .drink more for better understanding... Wise words
Leaving the turtle/croc area we took a truck taxi back to Mazunte... now that
was crowded and fun as we had to climb up several steps and over the hatch of
truck that had two benches in it. It was too crowded for us to sit, so we had to
stand holding on for dear life as the truck swayed back and forth going up a windy
mountain road. People would pound on the hood, wall or floor to indicate they
wanted to be let off... we couldn't stop laughing!!!
We found an almost perfect beach at San Àgustinillo. Small, quiet with many small rock islands off shore. It has a stretch of beach with little development.
Punta Elefante - the point looks like an elephant.
We may end up staying there for a few extra days rather than head into the larger center of Puerto Escondido where we fly to Calgary from. Dec 12 in Mexico, the day before we fly home is a big religious holiday to do with the virgin Guadalupe. Supposed to be parades, music etc.
Should be interesting! Until next time.
Adios! Shayne y Yvonne
