Ms. Poiesis

Wanting to see some of the less well-known Mayan ruins in the area, but not wanting to drive ourselves, Ty and I decided to do a day trip with a driver from Yucatan Connect to the Lol Tun Caves and the sites along the Puuc Route, south and south east of Merida. The word “Puuc” means small hill or mound and this is the only area in the Yucatan where the landscape is other than perfectly flat. Ruben picked us up in the van about 8 am and we were off south east to the caves, the farthest point away from Merida.

We understood that there were six tours a day in the caves, beginning at 9:30, and knew that we couldn’t enter without a guide. Luckily, we arrived at the cave site right on time and were escorted into the caves by Pablo, a guide with whom we negotiated a tour price. [The entrance fees and guide prices here are quite high, especially compared with Guanajuato and other places we've visited - apparently, the usual guide price is 500 - 600 pesos (about $40 - 50); because there were ony two of us, we paid half this amount, and 204 pesos to enter].

Like the Karain Cave north of Antalya which Tracey and I had visited together, this cave is also lit with many lurid coloured lights, casting wonderful shadows on the walls. Here, too, is evidence of 15,000 years of human habitation, along with the remains of mammoth, bison, felines and deer. The only wildlife in the caves today are bats and cave swallows. Some of the cavern areas are huge and cathedral-like; others are small and quite claustrophobic. In one of the rooms are two hollow columns which, when struck, ring out deep musical notes.

On the walls are carvings, one of a warrior figure, and one of two flowers, the latter giving the cave its name (Lol=flower; tun=stone). From Yucatan Today: “The tour starts at the entrance of Nahkab, or beehive, where the famous bas-relief known as El Guerrero de Loltún (the Loltún warrior) is located, who seems to be emerging from the caves and is believed to be the God of the underworld. Another attraction of great interest is the cave paintings: on one wall one can see negatives of hands, on another there are more elaborate paintings representing faces, animals and staggered fret patterns.

In the diverse halls, galleries and chambers – almost 60 m deep and extending over more than 700 m – diverse archaeological pieces, ceramics, stone artifacts, marine shells and petroglyphs have been found, corresponding to the Mayan culture in its different stages of development.”

Our guide complained that the caves are not well-visited; they are too far away from Merida and Cancun for most people – that’s too bad because they are really quite cool.

Our next stop was Labná, once a city of some 1,500 to 2,500 people, inhabited between 750 and 1000 AD. Presently, four buildings have been  restored. The large palace houses 70 chultunes (water cisterns), used for collecting rainwater, a supply that allowed the Maya to survive the hot dry season; at least six months of the year here there is no water.

Passing the palace we also saw a large private home, and the el Mirador, a watch tower, as well as the arch that is thought to have been the center of the city and the entrance to the sacbé (white road or Mayan highway) that went to Uxmal.

While I was walking around, I slipped on the red mud and, putting my hand down on a rock wall to steady myself, was stung by something that raised a welt and really hurt (still hurts now!).

Interestingly, as in Cambodia’s ruins, here, too, you can see that the architects did not have the hang of the rounded arch; all the arches here are pointed with flat stones at the apex.

Leaving Labna and continuing down the winding road we came to X-Lapak, a name which means “unglued walls”, a site of some 14 mounds and three somewhat restored pyramids. This site and neighbouring Sayil have not been restored and manicured, so we were able to see what the sites looked like when they were discovered.

While Labna’s buildings exist in a park-like setting, reminding both of us of Cambodia’s Angkor Thom, X-Lapak is situated in a beautiful forest of deciduous trees, including one tree that looks very much like a eucalyptus and another that looks like a giant banyan.

Five km from X-Lapak is Sayil, whose name means “The Place of the Ants.”

At the entrance is a small outdoor museum under a thatched roof. This site is home to a beautiful palace that included 90 bedrooms for some 350 people; unfortunately, visitors are no longer allowed to climb the staircase here. Workmen are putting parts of it back together so perhaps in the future …

From there we travelled to Kabah, famous for its incredibly ornate “Palace of Chaac Masks” (Chaac is the Mayan rain god). “Kabah” means strong hand, and it was the second most important city after Uxmal and the largest site in the Puuc Region.

As in the other sites, here, too, rain water collection cisterns were built.

A turkey vulture was happily sitting atop one of the palaces here; I wondered whether it was waiting for one of us to expire from the heat. Although it had been overcast and somewhat cloudy earlier in the morning, here it was hot as the sun broke through the clouds. Ty and I were starting to wilt so our next stop was the Pickled Onion Restaurant for some very tasty chicken fajitas.

These four ancient cities were all built between 500 and 1000 ad. At all of them, we were the only visitors and we shared the landscape with enormous clouds of yellow, blue, and black butterflies and hundreds of iguanas, large and small. However, when we rolled up to the Mayan piece-de-resistance of Uxmal (meaning “three times built”), all this changed. Uxmal is big business, with a large parking lot for buses, a restaurant, and a gift shop complex. Unlike the smaller sites, whose entrance fees are either 42 pesos or free, Uxmal costs 177 pesos to enter. However, luckily, the city is big enough that it still seemed relatively uncrowded during our visit.

Uxmal’s architecture, some of the most majestic of the Yucatán archaeological sites, is characterized by low horizontal palaces set around courtyards, decorated with rich sculptural elements and details. Uxmal was the greatest metropolitan and religious center in the Puuc hills in the late classical period and thrived between the 7th and 10th centuries ad. Its numerous architectural styles reflect a number of building phases.

The most impressive structure and the tallest at 100 feet is the House of the Magician which we found just beyond the entrance. According to ancient legend, this pyramid was built by Itzamna in one night. It actually appears to have been built in five phases, and it was situated so that its western stairway faces the setting sun at summer solstice. Unfortunately, visitors can no longer climb the great staircase leading to the temple’s peak. The Nunnery, another large building on the site, was so named by the Spaniards because it reminded them of a European nunnery. It was probably used as a school for training healers, astrologers, shamans, and priests.

The Governor’s Palace is an excellent example of stone mosaic work probably created by hundreds of masons and sculptors. It occupies five acres and contains many beautiful sculptures of the rain god Chaac, serpents, and astrological symbols. Uxmal also has a large ball court, enclosing a playing field that is 110 feet long and 32 feet wide.

(Information from the Yucatan Today website). We were able to climb the Great Pyramid and from its top, we had a fantastic view out over the entire site, as well as the Yucatan beyond.

“The UNESCO World Heritage citation for Uxmal recognizes also “its three related towns of Kabáh, Labná, and Sayil”. Their histories have been closely intertwined. At the collapse of Uxmal in the early 10th century A.D., Kabah, Sayil, and Labná seem to have been part of a confederation or regional state under the authority of Uxmal. However, a century before, Kabah may have been as large as Uxmal and its political equal.

Only about 30 kilometers (19 miles) separate the 2 farthest of the 4 cities. A causeway (sacbe) runs 18 kilometers (11 miles) from Uxmal to Kabah, and the general lack of fortifications indicates some form of evolving alliance. Although the 4 cities may originally have been settled at different times, most of their monumental architecture was constructed between the end of the 8th and the middle of the 10th centuries and share similarities in urban design, architectural style, and modes of construction.

To understand the Puuc region, we must recognize not only the ways in which it shares the remarkably widespread Maya culture, but also the aspects of Puuc society that differ from those of other areas. At its peak the Puuc region achieved the highest density of cities of any Maya area, with more than two hundred cities and smaller settlements. In some areas the residential areas seem to have been almost continuous from one city to another. This, along with the lack of fortifications at the major centers, suggests more sharing of power, a more federated society than in other Maya areas. It seems reasonable to suggest that this might be connected with the most esthetically refined, most carefully crafted, least militaristic architecture created by the Maya.” (http://academic.reed.edu/uxmal/cities.html)

See more pics here.

Monday dawned cloudy but very warm so Ty and I decided to visit the nearby Mayan ruin site of Dzibilchaltun, about 15 kilometers north of Merida. On our last visit to Merida seven years ago, we had ridden bikes to this place; unfortunately, on that occasion Ty’s bike had crapped out, leaving him with only one working pedal to get back home, not a very happy scene. So, this time we decided to take public transport. One website we read recommended taking a hired combi (minibus taxi) from San Juan park south of the main plaza, so we jumped aboard a city bus, walked a few blocks to the park, and negotiated a (ridicuously large) fare with a sleepy driver to take us out to the site. We knew that we’d agreed to pay way too much when the driver jumped up from his prone position on one of the back seats and made the sign of the cross while gazing heavenward in thanks before hopping into the driver’s seat and heading down the road.

We were amazed at how much farther north the city had expanded in seven years; what before had been large tracts of undeveloped land was now miles and miles of new shopping malls, big box stores, and auto malls along a ten lane highway. After turning off the main Merida-Progreso highway, our driver pulled over to pick up a couple of local people who were also heading towards Dzibilchaltun. I watched steaming in the back seat as the driver took money from them (and in Spanish told them how much we were paying as they all laughed) for what was supposed to be the private ride for which we’d negotiated a huge sum of money. If he’d asked us, we would have let them ride with us for free; but when he took money from them, that was too much. When we reached the site, I mustered my Spanish to tell the driver off; demanding to know how much the others had paid him for our ride, I deducted that amount from what we paid him.

The last time that we’d visited this place, we had been the only ones on the site. Today, though, there were several tour groups, likely from one of the cruise ships that comes into nearby Progreso on Mondays and Wednesdays. Once again, I was surprised to hear so many American accents all in one place (the last time this happened was in St Lucia on cruise ship day). It is still possible to climb the structures here and from the top of one small pyramid, we caught a beautiful breeze and could see far in all directions.

Down at ground level it was very hot and humid. After walking around the open chapel and through the main plaza, we headed towards the large cenote (fresh water sinkhole) in which many of the visitors were swimming, watching them from a nearby structure.

Although these waters seem clean, since there are fresh water organisms in Mexico which can give serious disease, neither of us swam.

As we climbed the stones, Ty’s flip-flop broke – damn! However, ingeniously, he was able to repair it using one of my string bracelets and a small piece of wood – huzzah! – enabling him to continue our walking tour.

Many small, almost invisible, lizards zoomed out of our way as we walked. Larger ones, almost the same colour as the ground, sunned themselves on the warm rocks.

We climbed the most important structure on the site, the Temple of the Seven Dolls, whose four entrances face east and west, and from there we had a great view across the most important structures of the area.

Since the site’s Museum wasn’t open on Mondays, we headed back out to the parking lot, trying to figure out how to get back to the city. After having paid a fair bit of coin to get there, and a fair bit to get into the site, we were not inclined to pay for a taxi back. One of the drivers told us that a local bus would be coming from the village in fifteen minutes so we made our way out to the main road and, amazingly, only waited for a couple of minutes before the big old bus approached, for which we paid a twentieth of what it had cost to get there.

From Yucatan Today: “Dzibilchaltún” means the “place where there is writing on the stones,” referring to the many memorial stones found at the site. There were settlements here from 500 BC until the Spanish conquest, around 1540 AD. It covers an area of about 19 square kilometers, with somewhere around 8400 structures in the round enclave. It is believed there may have been a population of as many as 40,000 inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities of Mesoamerica. [...]

The Temple of the Seven Dolls is also known as the Temple of the Sun, a square structure which was the focal point of the city. This second name may come from the phenomenon which takes place twice yearly, at the spring and fall equinoxes, when the rising sun is visible through one window and out the other, a tribute to the incredible mathematical knowledge of the Mayas. The temple is connected to the rest of the site by a sacbé, or “white road,” so called because they were originally coated with white limestone, built over stone and rubble fill.

The more well known name, Temple of the Seven Dolls, comes from the seven small coarsely made effigy dolls found in the interior of the temple. The one-story square building has a central chamber surrounded by a corridor. There are four entrances with windows alongside each one, facing east and west. It may have been used as an astronomical observatory. The roof was like a tower, which projected upwards from a vaulted ceiling. There are steps on all four sides of the building, which was built on a pyramid-shaped pedestal. There are eight stucco masks on the frieze of the temple, as well as serpents and glyphs, and beads, sea animals, and feathers, all made in carved stucco. It wasn’t until the 1950s that archaeologists discovered the temple buried under another building: for some reason around 800 AD, the temple was filled with rocks and then covered by another larger building. The remains of this second structure still partially cover it.”

Once back in Merida, we stopped for lunch at a newly-opened German restaurant downtown, a nice change from tacos …

Ty’s improvised shoe repair lasted until a couple of blocks from home, whereupon he had to replace the disintegrating stick with a fresh one he’d had the presence of mind to put in his pocket.

Such are the small joys of life on the road …

The large cactus near our casita is blooming; huge white flowers open in the night and, as soon as the sun hits them in the morning, close and die. While the blooms are still open, clouds of large and small bees enjoy them.

See more pics here.

It is often hard to tell what’s behind the old walls here in the colonial town of Merida – could be a fabulous mansion, a car garage, a building supplies store, or a parking lot. And many of the houses in Centro are abandoned, decrepit, and falling down, perhaps waiting to be reclaimed.

Wanting to experience Merida en Domingo, the pedestrian friendly market and manifestation day in the historical centre of Merida, Ty and I jumped on one of the local buses down 61st.

After being dropped downtown, we waited while all the vendors set up their booths in the park.

Below is the Casa de Montejo, the house of the first governor of Merida, built in the 1500s by Spanish conquistadors.

Merida en Domingo sees all the local women out in their Yucatecan garb, illustrated in the photo below – very colourful, with floral patterns and lace.

Since the day was a bit overcast, it wasn’t as blazing hot as it otherwise might have been – only 40 rather than 45 degrees …

After having indulged ourselves in a couple of somewhat mediocre tortas, drawn by the outdoor sculpture display, we decided to check out the Macay Gallery, Merida’s modern and contemporary art gallery, featuring work by contemporary Yucatecan artists, none of whom I was familiar with.

The gallery is housed in a beautiful colonial building, with a sculpture courtyard in its centre.

We saw some interesting acrylic on paper works by a German artist depicting his vists to North Africa.

Some of the art pieces on permanent display were vaguely reminiscent of West Coast First Nations artists,

while others could have illustrated a science fiction novel.

I quite liked the work of the artist below, especially this mobile of tiny ceramic figures.

For Merida en Domingo, the streets downtown are blocked to traffic and people are encouraged to cycle; the family below took advantage of the opportunity to pile all five of them on a single stretch bike.

All that art viewing in the heat makes for a very thirsty couple of Canadians; naturally we had to stop for a cervesa or two.

After watching locals dance to Yucatecan trova music performed by an excellent one man band in the Santa Ana park, we finished off our Sunday enjoying the spectacle of Merida’s well-known troupe perform folkloric dances in the Zocalo.

Amazingly, even in the 40 degree heat, these folks looked cool and dry … unlike us.

See more pics here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After having found out, one day before we were due to leave, that our flight from Mexico City to Merida had been cancelled, we decided to reroute ourselves through the Puerto Escondido airport rather than drive all the way back down to Huatulco. Twelve hours and two flights later, we rolled up to the Casa de Cielo Grande in the Merida Centro neighbourhood of Santiago. Here we have a one bedroom casita (small house) at the back of a compound owned by two Canadians originally from Kelowna who enjoy their cervesas and make a mean bean dip.

The compound has a very nice kidney shaped pool and a lovely garden area, as well as five Chihuahua dogs, all of whom came racing and barking out to greet us (and do so every morning when we sit outside for our coffee). The little guy in the picture below next to my feet is very cute and very friendly; he loves his pats.

Who knew that May was the hottest month of the very hot year in Merida? May is just before the rainy season begins, when the temperature can soar upwards to 45 most days.

Afternoons here are blazing hot; about the only sensible thing to do is swim in the pool and lie inside under the air conditioner.

Since arriving Thursday night, we’ve walked down to the Main Plaza a couple of times, visited the Governor’s Palace there to see the wonderful Pacheco murals depicting the results of the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish, the Main Cathedral, and today, the Lucas de Galvez market, the so-called “old market”.

Lo Zocalo, the main plaza, is surrounded on all four sides by beautifully painted colonial buildings and arched arcades. Inside the square locals and the few tourists still about compete for shaded iron benches beneath the Indian Laurel trees, the ones in full sun being way too hot to serve as seats. Shoe shine guys ply their trade and tourist touts driven from Cancun by the lack of tourists try to get people to visit the many shops selling Mayan crafts and souvenirs.

One guy took us to the Mundo Maya, one of the more elaborate set-ups, where upstairs the gallery was illuminated especially for us so that we could see all the jewellery, carvings, and sculptures at their best.

One of the saleswomen showed us “live brooches”, small wood bugs with fake jewels attached to their backs; these are collected as pets.

We managed to escape without buying any of their pricey stock, beautiful though it was. Walking back to the ranch, we stopped in at the small gallery/studio of Juan Pablo Bavio and purchased a signed reproduction of one of his Mayan-motif paintings. I felt a bit bad for him sitting in a screaming hot space with the sound of busy traffic constantly rumbling past his door. Unfortunately, his location is just a bit too far off the square to attract more than a few visitors a day.

The old market is enormous, with many acres of stalls and a dizzying array of stuff for sale,

from thousands of cheap shoes, to baby animals in tiny cages, to fresh fruits and vegetables, to fish, to meat, to you-name-it … We wandered around there for a couple of hours while I looked for some plastic flowers and paper products.

Compared with Puerto Escondido, Merida is an enormous city with the crowded busyness to match. The plaza has changed in feel since we were last here seven years ago; it’s been cleaned up and the buses and combis are no longer allowed in its vicinity, with the result that fewer people are patronising its businesses. But a few blocks away from the zocalo, Mexican life hustles and bustles. Pounding music emanates from every second shop, competing with the jack hammers of construction projects, the traffic, and the shouting of merchants. After a few hours the noise was just too much for me, and, having decided to take the bus back, Ty and I made the mistake of jumping on one heading in the wrong direction, ending up paying our fare to go just three blocks before running to catch one headed the right way.

See more pics here.

 

I had a vision of colourful flowers in the small pool here at the Swiss Oasis so, a couple of nights ago, when all the other guests were out, Ty and I set up the camera and I had some fun playing Ophelia floating amongst the flowers.

See more pics of this project here.

Puerto is still very much a fishing town, and lately the fishing seems pretty good, at least judging from the catch brought up on the Playa Principal, the main beach.

You just never know when you’ll run into a juggling clown …

or a piggie at the market.

On the weekend the beaches here at Puerto Escondido are packed out with local families, all laughing, having fun, and playing in the surf.

The kids here get introduced to the water very young; many of the families with tiny babies were in the waves with these little cuties, enjoying jumping in the big surf.

One couple had their very small child quite far out in the water on a tiny inflatable device.

At Playa Manzanillo the waves have been high for the last few days – olas altas took a number of people off guard, including one granny sitting on a walk who was completely engulfed, and the oyster lady, who suffered a gigantic wave up her shorts and jumped up laughing.

The Babylon Cafe near us has a fabulous collection of painted wooden masks – I am coveting all of them … (click on the link below to see more of them).

And we discovered a sushi restaurant on the beach … not as good as the one we go to in Vancouver, but not bad (don’t order a tequila drink, though – just juice, no juice).

Just a couple of days ago we discovered the Camino al Mirador, a walkway along the sea travelling from the Playa Principal to near the Playa Manzanillo.

It reminds me quite a bit of the Lovers Walk section of Italy’s Cinque Terre hike, with the same concrete and stone walkways along a steep rocky shore.The cacti here are absolutely enormous – like trees, and some have very soft brown fluffy attachments, flowers, I suppose.

In spots, this walkway has broken down and bits of it can be seen in the ocean; in other areas, the concrete is starting to crack and deteriorate – Ty figures that it will only last another few years before it drops into the ocean.

Along its length anonymous artists have tagged the shoreline and street philosophers have inscribed their thoughts into and onto the rock.

On today’s walk I floated some flowers on a small seaside pond,

while the female dog who joined us sat panting in the shade,

and installed 20 strands of coloured ribbon on a promontory viewpoint to watch them dance in the stiff breeze. These we left behind for passersby to enjoy.

Just another hard day at the office … Puerto Escondido is great – highly recommended!

See more pics here.

We’ve only been in Puerto Escondido for 5 days but it feels like it’s been a month – what a wonderful place!

In addition to the three km long Playa Zicatela, the surfer’s dream beach, there are quite a few small bays and coves to the north with beautiful small swimming beaches. The other day we spent a few glorious hours at Playa Manzanillo, one of them.

Yesterday, we, along with Miguel, Brandy, Tina, and Shawn, were off on a beach-hopping road trip south.

After picking up Miguel’s friend’s car, the six of us, plus Shawn’s surf board, headed down the road. This car, an old Chevy, is a very low rider with small back tires and every time we drove over a speed bump (and there are lots of them), the car bottomed out with a horrible scraping sound as its undercarriage connected with the concrete. It didn’t help that there were three of us (two of them big men) in the back seat. However, even so, we made the trip without leaving the muffler, or any other engine part, behind on the road.

Our first stop was Playa Agua Blanca (White Water Beach), where a loud man still drunk from last night’s bender latched onto Ty and insisted that they were friends for life (or at least until the tequila ran out).

After breakfast under the trees and a walk along the almost deserted beach, we were back in the car and rolling down the highway towards the Iguanario, an iguana sanctuary.

At the sanctuary, a two person operation, are hundreds, if not thousands, of the beasts, hatched, raised, and released in the area. We saw lots of small iguanas, one of whom, a two year old girl, was given to Ty to hold as we made our tour.

She seemed to enjoy her time in Ty’s company. We watched as the caretaker chopped up two giant papayas and whistled to the huge iguanas watching from the nearby tree branches; one, the boldest, came out of the trees and strolled up to the breakfast feast, which he proceeded to chow down on with apparent delight, his pink tongue and big jaws making short work of the orange fruit. Later another large beast joined the first, while a tiny iguana raced up, grabbed a tasty morsel from his mouth and ran off with it.

Our next stop was the National Turtle Center in Mazunte, the turtle capital of Mexico. This oceanside facility has both outdoor ponds – two very large ones – and an indoor aquarium and this day, being Sunday, was visited by a horde of school kids who ignored the “Do Not Touch” signs.

We saw an amazing variety of land and sea turtles, large and small, as well as tropical fish.

The day was hot and a dip in the ocean imperative. We stopped at nearby Playa San Agustinillo, a beautiful bowl-shaped beach with high waves plyed by local boogie boarders.

It was an interesting experience being in the water here because the waves strike both coming in and, after bouncing against the sand bowl of the beach, going out again.

Standing at the right place in the water, Ty and I were hit by waves and reflections of waves, their interaction creating a huge fountain of water that blasted me into the air about three feet when the waves were particularly high.

Every once and a while a set of enormous waves rolled in, tumbling the boarders over and over, before shooting them out the other end.

Last stop on the beach-hopping tour was a trip to the Playa Ventanilla Eco-Center about five minutes drive north. On this thirty five km deserted beach is another turtle sanctuary, one restaurant, and a couple of camping spots.

Here we took a lagoon tour in a boat rowed through the mangroves by a local guide. Laguna Ventanilla is an estuary that supports a whole community of people who in turn are striving to conserve the ecosystems there. The community consists of about twenty families, all related and working together to protect their area, who offer tours in lanchas done with oars only, so as not to damage the estuary and plant life there.

Just as we were getting going, the guide pointed out the massive head of a crocodile resting against the embankment – wow!

He whistled and the head slowly slid down the bank and turned our way; not only did the head turn our way, but so did the entire beast, making its way through the water towards us as the guide paddled the boat away.

Although we did not see its body, our guide told us that the croc is four meters long. He also pointed out a couple of other smaller crocodiles as we proceeded. Their primary food source is dogs, so he said … yikes, not a pretty mental picture!

As we paddled farther into the lagoon, we saw an incredible number of birds, including white ibis, fly catchers, turkey vultures, herons, tiny finches, egrets, king fishers, and spoonbill ibis.

The sounds they made were incredible. One area was full of nesting ibis – we saw some babies in a couple of the nests. Two types of mangroves grow here, white and red.

The red mangroves are enormous and cruising slowly through the forest of their roots and trunks was fabulous. Wow, what an incredible way to end our day trip!

Once back in the car, we headed back towards Puerto as the sun, a glorious golden-red orb, was starting to set. Unfortunately, we found out that said car had no lights; even though the dashboard lit up, the road did not. Pissed off at our dark ride, someone coming from the other direction on our side of the road almost ran us off the pavement – shit! Luckily we rolled into town without further incident just as it got completely dark. Many thanks to Miguel for the fantastic tour!

For more info about the Turtle Museum, click here.

For more info about Ventanilla Lagoon, click here.

For more info about the South Pacific Coast of Mexico, click here.

For more pics, click here.

Needing groceries (the hotel has a community kitchen), Ty and I, accompanied by Helen and Belinda, two Aussies also staying at the Swiss Oasis, hopped aboard the camionetta (a small pickup truck with bench seating in the back like Thai songthaews) to the market.

Puerto Escondido’s market is very clean and well maintained, with a good selection of food and small restaurants. We had a jugo verde at Myrna’s juice stand and tortas (for which Ty developed a taste in Guanajuato) for lunch,

bought a big bag full of produce, did a small walkabout downtown, and jumped on the camionetta once again for the trip back. Back at the ranch, I enjoyed a swim in the pool. Puerto Escondido is hot – the day after we arrived the temperature hit 38 degrees.

The Hotelito Swiss Oasis supports the Escondido economy by recommending local people with whom to do eco-tours. Brandy had done a turtle release and lagoon tour and highly recommended it, so yesterday evening was the moment to give it a go. Chop (not sure about the spelling), a fellow who lives at the lagoon, arrived to pick us up at 6:40 and we were off in his car to Playa Delfin (Dolphin Beach), a twenty five kilometer long beach a ways north of Escondido, to release turtles.

This beach is almost deserted along its length; a few housing developments, most shuttered or unfinished, dot the area, and one small town lies near its middle but other than that, the beach is undeveloped.

It is home to a couple of species of endangered sea turtles, the Green Turtle and the Leatherback (although leatherbacks are rare in this part of the world, apparently). We were driven to the turtle release area, which consists of a couple of small camping tents, a wooden lean-to, two quad motorcycles, three nesting areas, and one crazy dog who keeps the fellow who looks after the area company.

This place is a one man operation; the caretaker works here alone, without pay, subsisting on the tips of people who visit to participate in the turtle release. He live here all year round in one of the small tents.

This evening, in addition to Ty, myself, and Coco, there was a van load of Mexican tourists for the release of four baby turtles, three tiny greens and one larger leatherback, born that morning and ready to start their life in the ocean. The four turtles were kept in a small pink plastic tub and, after we washed our hands, we were allowed to pick up and examine them (I wasn’t sure about the merits of handling them …).

After waiting for a while to watch the sun descend in the sky, and watching a couple of kids pretend to be turtles crossing the sand, the moment for the release arrived. The caretaker drew a line in the sand and told us that we weren’t allowed to go beyond it.

I had thought that we would guide the turtles down the beach but that wasn’t the case; once released from the tub, they must make their own way down the beach to the water without human help. This enables their location to imprint and helps to ensure that they can return to this beach later on; if we simply put them into the water, or helped them out, they would likely die.

All of us lined up and each small group was given one turtle; we received the leatherback and I put it on the ground facing in the direction of the ocean. It started moving towards the water but then got disoriented and headed back up to us again. I really wanted to pick it up and turn it around but the guide said that we must leave it to make its own way. It was painful to watch the four tiny beasts attempt to crawl towards the ocean and life.

“Our” turtle, the largest and strongest of the bunch, figured out the correct direction and headed off at a fast crawl towards the huge waves; finally, after a couple of false starts, a large wave caught it, and lifted it out to sea – we all clapped.

This same process was repeated for each of the other three, one of whom was particularly weak. Although they all reached the sea eventually, the weakest one had to be helped out a couple of times by being lifted down towards the water (I don’t think that it will survive, unfortunately).

After it was washed out to sea by a wave, one of the tiny turtles was washed in again farther down the beach by another wave; Ty saw it struggling and gently put it back in the water again – hopefully it will live.

I found the whole experience very moving; it’s hard to believe that these creatures, only one day old, have to go through that onerous process in order to begin their lives. Very few turtles survive; many die on their way to the ocean, picked off by predators, and many die in the ocean from ingesting plastics they mistake for jellyfish. Cut up all plastics before disposing of them and don’t dump plastic – better still, don’t use plastic.

After the turtle release, which probably took about two hours or so, we were off north again to the six kilometer long Manialtepec Lagoon, a body of water surrounded by mangrove swamp vegetation, its tropical climate lending itself to a diverse ecosystem. Dozens of migratory bird species such as herons and ducks make Manialtepec lagoon their home at various times of the year. Chop told us that, in addition to birds and fish, crocodiles live here.

We, and six other people, boarded the small tour boat and headed out on the cloudless night to tour the lagoon and see the phosphorescence created by the water’s phytoplankton. Beside the boat, we could see streaks of bright silver zipping hither and yon; these were fish. Running our hands through the water produced long streaks of brilliant white and silver; resting in the lagoon, our hands appeared white and skeletal because of the phosporescence. Encouraged by Chop, several people, including Coco, jumped in and swam,

their bodies making white and silver patterns in the dark – fabulous (unfortunately, it was impossible to get a decent picture of the phosphorescence). We were told that, in the rainy season, the area is completely dark and the falling rain makes the entire lagoon shine brilliantly against the black background. That would be amazing to see.

See more pics here.

On our last day in Puerto Vallarta, as we were sitting on the Malecon having coffee, we felt the earth move … it was a small 4.7 earthquake with the epicentre 177 km south of PV, one more in a long series of west coast quakes this Spring. In addition, the volcano that dominates Mexico City’s skyline is waking from its slumber; Popo began to erupt at the beginning of April and is threatening to derail air traffic through Mexico City’s International Airport. Once again I had to worry about an ash cloud screwing up my travel plans (as in April 2010 when Iceland’s grand volcano erupted and almost put the boots to our trip to Turkey). But, luckily, we were able to take off with no difficulty and wing our way towards Huatulco – you can see the ash cloud in the above photo.

After a short one hour flight, we touched down in Huatulco, about 1,000 km south of Vallarta on the Pacific coast. As soon as we got off the plane, I could feel the heat – it reminded me of arriving in Siem Reap, Cambodia – dry and hot – about 8 – 10 degrees hotter than PV. Upon being told that a taxi to Puerto Escondido, 98 kilometers north, would be 1,590 pesos, we opted to take a collectivo, less than half that price. With us in the van were a local family, all of whom were hacking and coughing; we spent the trip north trying to avoid getting sprayed with illness producing vapours. About an hour and a half later we arrived without incident (and so far without colds) at the Hotelito Swiss Oasis, a small eight room facility with a pool half a block from the Playa Zicatela, Mexico’s top surfing beach.

The hotel is run by a great Swiss couple who have a golden retriever and four cats, one of whom tries to sneak into our room. It’s the beginning of the surfing season here and the town is beginning to fill up with young surfing folk. Staying at the Hotel with us are Brandy, a wild life biologist and college instructor from Montreal, Coco, a Dutch film maker, three Israelies, and an Australian couple who surf. Several of them are taking Spanish lessons at the school just up the road and Coco is doing research for her next film.

Playa Zicatela is a three kilometer long strech of beach onto which enormous Pacific Ocean waves roll. Great for surfing, it is extremely dangerous for swimming; in addition to the big waves, it also has bad currents and rip tides. The beach reminds me quite a bit of Long Beach or Chesterman Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

We had a very pleasant dinner on the beach our first evening.

This place is all about the surfing (sort of like Tofino … only bigger).

Yesterday, after a tasty breakfast at Mango’s just around the corner from the Hotel, we headed off down the beach to check out the area before meeting Brandy, Coco, and Tina at Playa Carrizalillo, one of the smaller swimming beaches about 2 or 3 km north of us.

Between Playa Zicatela and Playa Principal is a set of stairs to a viewing platform in the design of a castle battlement, from which is a great view out over the beach to the lighthouse.

Since we were travelling without a map, I had to stop and ask directions a few times; the guy in the picture below walked us part of the way to the beach.

Puerto Escondido is still very much a Mexican town; it’s about one tenth the size of PV and maintains its local character. Many of the townspeople have small restaurants in their homes, quite a few with pots of something or other on open fires, very hot in this warm area (just like the folks boiling huge pots of corn in 50 degrees on the highway in Turkey).

Ty was over-heating so we had a quick cervesa pit-stop at the top of the hill before trudging on to the beach.

From the top of the cliff 167 concrete steps down to the beach have been made.

Carrizalillo Beach is a small bay with a few restaurants and bars and beautiful water for swimming, snorkelling, and beginners surfing. Here, unlike Zicatela, the waves are manageable (although even these ones seem big to me).

Quite a few folks spear fish here; one couple used a paddle board to get out past the bay – she paddled while he fished.

Both Tina and Brandy are taking surfing lessons here; in Puerto, they learn the sport young.

This dad and daughter combination spent almost the entire afternoon in the water.

Later in the afternoon, an even younger dad and child combination gave it a go.

This boy could not have been more than a year old, maybe not even that, but he was obviously loving the experience.

Several times, dad put him on a boogie board, gave him a gentle push, and off he sailed toward the beach.

Unlike the very developed, urbanised experience of Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Escondido is much more mellow and laid back, with no concrete highrises and seemingly relatively little catering to the gringo presence. We like it.

See a few more pics here.

 

Just hanging on the beach yesterday, we were treated to an Aztec Fire Dance by a troupe of five dressed in fabulous traditional regalia.

For a change of pace from the beach, we decided to visit the Isla Cuale, a small strip of island dividing the River Cuale into two channels and centro Puerto Vallarta from the south end.

The island can be accessed from the beach or by a couple of pedestrian only foot bridges. Its western end comprises a huge restaurant, pumping out “YMCA” as we passed this day, a small Pre-Columbian museum containing mostly pottery artifacts, an art-cafe,

complete with three parrots in a huge cage and lots of colourful abstract and surrealist paintings, and the usual stalls vending the same old stuff we see on the beach all the time.

Beneath an overpass, a couple of artists had their paintings set up in the shade.

Ty took advantage of the opportunity presented by this display of Jesuses to join his brothers.

We saw an iguana in a huge tree, moving slowly along the branches and sunning itself.

After my encounter with Peter the iguana at Yelapa, the first lizard I’ve ever been really close to, I’ve realised that these beasts are really awesome – very sentient.

At the eastern end of the island are several cafes and bars, some with live music, and the Cuale Cultural Center, a series of small studios for the visual arts and music, as well as a small theatre.

This morning none were open but they do offer courses at various times during the week.

For more info on the Isla Cuale, click here.

See more pics here.

We were interested in seeing some of the less developed areas of the coast south of PV and decided to take the bus to Boca de Tomatlan, the last town on the route south. We were up and out the door by 8:30 for the half kilometer walk to Insurgentes and Basillo Badillo and the bus stop. Just as we rolled up, the bus arrived and off we went down the winding coast-hugging road. Almost all the fancy waterside villas along this road seem to be for sale by “Timothy” real estate – is this the only real estate game in town? And what is not for sale is for rent. There are lots of high rise hotels and condo developments south of PV about as far as Mismaloya, famed for the 1960s movie Night of the Iguana with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. After this point the real estate pickings are slim and Boca does not have much in the way of newer accommodation, although a few palatial residences do dot the bay there.

Boca seems to be a town in transition from its earlier incarnation as a fishing village and its not-yet-established identity as a tourist centre. When we arrived there at 9:30 there were a few bodies about and some drunks sleeping off last night’s bender under a restaurant veranda.

Seeing that there wasn’t too much of interest there for us, we decided to keep on heading south, and caught the ten o’clock water taxi to Yelapa, the last stop on Banderas Bay, accessible only by water.

The water taxi was about half-full and the seas were high; seated at the front, I just about got blasted into the air as one huge wave hit us. Luckily, I held my ground, or boat bench, and we were deposited, after a ride of about 40 minutes and three stops at smaller settlements, at the pier at Yelapa.

We crashed at the first shaded restaurant we saw, the Lagunita, for a breakfast burrito and coffee – big and delicious – and spent our time under a palapa on the beach, watching dogs chase seagulls, kids play frizzbe, vendors vend, and iguanas walk.

I had my picture taken with Peter the iguana (he’s very forward – I’d only just met him and already he’s feeling me up …).

In the afternoon parasailers rode the sky, and paragliders swooped down from the surrounding hills. The vendor parade wasn’t as active there as in PV but, for a small burg, there were still quite a few people plying the sand.

As we were driving down the coast, we had noticed what looked like a sewage outflow pipe dumping crap into the ocean. And while on the boat to Yelapa we saw a slick of yellowish-white bubbly crud floating on top of the water along the current all down the shore, ending its run in Yelapa Bay. We weren’t sure whether this was indeed effluent but it did not look very appealing so we didn’t swim – too bad.

After we got back, I read the following account of the foam, which explains the phenomenon (although that pipe is definitely pumping out sewage, so that’s there as well):

In Banderas Bay during February and March you might encounter what looks like stretches of filth and foam along the coastline. It is NOT sewage or filth. Professor Fabio Cupul explains (in the PV Tribune) : A word about ‘Sea Foam’ … For a couple of months, usually February and March, Vallarta has a strange ocean phenomenon which appears as, well, filth floating near the tides of the beaches. This foam is due to the presence in the water of an infinite number of acorn barnacles or sacabocados (animals related to shrimp that live attached to rocks). These organisms shed their skin every time they increase in size. There are also small fragments of plants and animals within it, that complicate matters.

These elements gather along the coastline of the bay and on the surface of the water to form a net that catches small films of sea water as the waves break on the beach, creating a dirty looking color, a situation that makes many think of contamination. A fraction of the material is generated by the acorn barnacles and the rest comes from the mechanism of an action known as upwelling. Cold water, rich in organic matter, upwells from the ocean’s depth to its surface. As the temperature on the bottom is lesser and it receives the waste and offal of plants and animals that live along that area of water, that precipitate and accumulate on the ocean floor, thus enriching it. This results in important economic benefits, maintaining the health of the biological ecosystems. This dirty looking sea foam offers an infallible indication of the beginning and continuation of life within the natural environment.

(http://www.netresult.ws/anitashideaway/pvevents.htm)

Yelpapa is hotter and drier than Puerto Vallarta and has a river leading inland to a waterfall, an attraction we did not bother investigating, having seen many over the past several months, most disappointingly small or dried up. After several hours under the palapa enjoying the sun and breeze, we ran across the sand to catch the 3:30 boat back to Boca where the bus was waiting as we climbed the hill to it for our ride back.

For more Yelapa info, click here.

See more pics here.