And now we are in Guatemala!! yay!

We stayed 9 days total in Oaxaca, the extra five for free because I had landed a painting commission.  The hostel, Los Amigos, just moved locations and didn't have a sign out front to say they existed so I offered to paint them a sign on behalf of Leo's suggestion. I did not design the logo but mearly drew and painted it on their wall but it was a good way to get back into painting.

On the last day in Oaxaca we finally decided to get on a bus and out of Mexico, we've spent tons of time here and all of Central America is waiting.  We bused that night to Tapachula arriving in the blasting heat at 7:30am. The bus cost about 500 pesos each. In Tapachula we ate some breakfast at a cafe/restaurant across the street and then started biking towards the border by 10:30 (after we soaked our shirts of course). Once we reached the border it was a little confusing to really know who was legit and who was just being crazy but we made it through with a stamp and carried on up a super steep hill. Border crossings I guess are just super sketchy places to be...we crosed at the northern crossing in Talisman. Once we were a little ways from the border we stopped for some tacos and quesadillas for lunch after enjoying a small bag of ice cold water one of the local shop owners gave us after climbing the super steep hill. Awesome.
We passed a funeral procession on the road with a large group of people walking behind the cars and one woman on the edge of tears smiled so big when we passed by, it was a such a beatutiful moment.

Around that time the sky started to darken and rain. And then it started to pour, thunder and lightning all around so we took shelter under a small shelter on the side of the road. So far the biggest differences between Mexico qnd Guatemala are the three wheeled tuk-tuks acting as taxis, the van taxis that leave the side door open with a guy hanging out cause its so full, the trucks acting as taxis with usually 20 people standing in the back hanging on and the truck almost bottoming out from the weight, and of course the the chiken bus which are basically school buses painted pretty colours which for some silly reason look like the safest ride...hmm...oh and theres the men on the side of the road sharpening their machetes. All of these crazy amazing things with a lush green, mountanous background.
After waiting out some of the rain we carried on only for the sky to start dumping on us again. We decided to start looking for a hotel..we came across a couple but they were rather expensive. We went through a small town called Catarina that had a church with a large roof over their courtyard that looked like prime camping space. We asked and they allowed us to set up our tent for the night. They even made us coffee in the morning at 6:30. Very nice people.

And that ends day 1 of Guatemala

Oaxaca, land of chocolate

At Erin's urging, we ascended the hills on a bus and entered the land of chocolate. Here, sweet brown stuff is expertly stuffed into sauces, and drinks - both hot and cold.  We purchased our second large block of chocolate - a kilogram - for under $9 and mix it with boiled water to make a rich, velvety, liquid dark chocolate. Whenever we walk down to the famous 20 de November market, we necessarily pass by many competing chocolate factory/retailers that give us chocolate samples as a matter of company policy.  Yum!

The city of Oaxaca is a relaxing mix of clubs, restaurants, huge markets, and ancient architecture. The Mezcal, like tequila but mild and a bit smokey is quite good here. It occupies the space between vodka and scotch quite nicely. It is sold in specialized stores that offer tastings and many brands or only one in stores next to eachother and competing. The tradition with tequila still holds in thd drinking of Mezcal, so limes and seasoning salt often accompany an order in the bar.

We went for a hike up the hills on the south side of town near a suburb called San Filipe. The hill is a mixture of cactus and scrub with more than its share of shiny leaved oak. The view from what we surmised is a wedding altar drank the city basin in in a eloquent summary much better than our previous reference of the hostel roof.  We half expected snakes, spiders, or scorpions but our expectations were not consummated in our brief stay in the hills.  Perhaps if we ride out of here we will see more dangerous wildlife.

An ornate church doorframe in the culture museum

There are innumerable comidors selling meals including drinks for 35 pesos, or abou 3 dollars canadian.  Though our hostel does come with a kitchen which we are relearning to use more and more despite the convenience of a ready cooked meal. Making what you want instead of having what someone else decided to make (as is the case in comidors) is a necessity sometimes.
We have made several friends here - Michael, Zoe, David, Elenna - but Leo has been with us here the longest and loves to share time with us for company during meals and to catch leads on stories in Canada.  He is a travelling journalist from Sweden trying to make a living on the road and resist the urge to return home to the drudgery of an easy job and an easy life without adventure.  At his urging, we are considering an alternate route through the eastern jungles of Chiapas for a richer journey and an opportunity to write an interesting piece if only for our own consumption.  These lesser known regions are not well documented in terms of border crossings and the routes seem to be an interesting hybrid of some of the greater challenges we have yet faced - like 200km of a road through the Amazon might be. Still, the opportunity to visit a unique biome rather than transiting quickly through regions all too familiar is certainly very alluring.

Leo and Erin talking and drinking beer

Regardless, we are likely facing one more bus ride due to the time we've spent enjoying beaches and chocolate over the last month. The jungles and mountains await!

Zipolite 2

The first week of our stay wasn't enough so we stayed an extra week once Bryan and Maggie arrived.  We spent most of the week meeting lots of people, lazing on the beach and swimming in the waves.

One of the swinging beds we lounged on in the afternoons for the price of a beer - and came with that beer!

For valentines day we spent the day together on the beach and didn't do any cooking.We had chow mein for lunch that was just spagetti with a nice sauce and chicken at 'a nice place on the beach' which really is a nice place on the beach. For dinner we went to a pizza place and had a vegetarian pizza and the best shrimp and garlic pizza ever! and we took shots of mezcal. Spent the evening at the raggae bar by the fire.

Had to move from where we were staying because they were about to start construction. Moved into a room next door that a guy was renting out. Paid 115 pesos a night for seven nights. After that we had to move again because the week was up and the room was going to be rented out to another couple. Then we went to the hostel which finally had a room open. Paid 80 pesos. Wished we had stayed our entire stay at the hostel. Super cool people and there were puppies!! It even included free use of their boogie board. Rad.

Rigel lost his glasses in the ocean so we got them replaced in Pochutla. But a couple days later they started falling apart so we took them back to be repaired. In trying to fix them they scratched the lens. Made an appointment to redo the lens but they never opened their doors. The wife who seemed to just do the sales was trying to repair the glasses and had no idea how to use pliers on them without damaging them. Unfortunately, to wait a day for them to open would mean another $50... So instead we decided to makd our way to Oaxaca by bus so we didn't have to put ourselves through agony climbing the mountains. Here we come chocolate!!

View from one of the beachside hotels

Zipolite

The ride from Puerto Escondido to Zipolite was to be a longer one for the climate. About 70 km. We planned to leave with the sunrise at 7am, but didn't get away until 8:30am. There were quite a few 100 - 200 meter climbs and they got quite steep closer to Zipolite. We were getting hot at 12, and ate leftovers from clearing out our fridge in Puerto Escondido. Still, we had only gone 40km, and had 30 or so to go.  Erin wanted to stop, but Rigel pushed for doing the whole thing in one day.  It was a difficult ride, and we didn't arrive until after 3:30. Along the way we saw many small lizards on the roadside, and passed thru several beautiful beach towns beconing us to stay.

More crazy Mexian grafiti\art

Once at Zipolite, we ate immediately and began searching for a beach side hotel. We found the hotel roca blanca, though we did not rent a room. We rented a half finished room with a glorious view of the beach where we could set up our tent and swing on a hammock;  actually, we had rented a single hammock which normally goes foe 100 pesos a night, and shared it for 75 pesos a night, and then setup the tent under it instead.

With Maria, our Italian hammock neighbour for two nights

During our stay, many people commented on our bicycles. And since it is a beach, they also tend to compliment the bodies we have developed from cycling.  The beach is quite long, at 2km, and very picturesque.  There are many rock formations, and even a spot where the waves create a 'boof' as they crash into a rocky funnel shape.
The entire beach is strewn with restaurants and hotels servicing many price points and lifestyles. One night we spent the evening on our backs on a beach blanket listening to raggae music and watching a laser show. Another day, we spent the day with a friend we made named Joel Black at one of the more expensive hotel\restaurants sitting under the umbrella on the beach and lazing around on swinging beds with sun blocking curtains.

We decided to go on a snorkeling adventure to see whales off the side of boat and some of the sea life. We didn't see any whaes, but we did watch rays doing flips out of the water and watched the sea foam up with fish activity in localized areas.  while snorkeling, the different colours of fish in the ocean were very surprising.  shouldn't they be dingey colours for camoflauge? They were vibrant oranges, and fluorescent yellows, and blues that looked battery powered.