wow, it's seriously been ages. sorry
and I didn't write a single post from Mexico. Next time I am bringing our laptop. Can you beleive that? It seems that with a sprog in tow the best time to blog is at night. Besides, during the day (while travelling) , I'd rather be doing other things than sitting in front of a computer. The laptop would also be useful for uploading our photos.
Anyhow, Mexico was brilliant.
We started in Mexico City. Unsurprisingly, both Darren and I loved it - our continuing love affair with the polluted, intense megalopolis. Unfortunately, we only had 2 and a half days. We managed the Museo nacional de antropología de México
- The Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. I would call it an absolute 'must-see' on any tour of Mexico City.
Click on the photos to see other photos from the museum.After the museum, Gus woke up so we went to the Zoo in Chapultapec Park. A very well done zoo, the animals had decent accommodation and seemed healthy and happy. As zoos go...
We also spent some time in the Centro histórico - or historic centre, which includes the zócalo, and colonial buildings such as the gubernatorial palace and cathedral. The cathedral is sinking (sorry no photo of this) - it was built on an Aztec ceremonial centre (a ploy by the conquistadors to conquer the spirit of the Aztecs), but the joke is that it is the Aztecs' revenge. Click for some photos of the zócalo.
Our hotel, Casa Gonzalez, was lovely and we'd highly recommend it to anyone staying in Mexico City. Especially with kids - I spent a lot of time looking for a place with a nice grassy courtyard (a real oasis in a big noisy city) so that Gus would have a place to run around. The breakfasts were great, the staff excellent and helpful, and the place offered everything we could possibly need. We didn't take a lot of photos of it but you can see them here.
You can also find info and photos on Tripadvisor, along with reviews - I discovered the place on Tripadvisor. In my opinion, one of the best sites for researching hotels.
The stay in Mexico City was too short, we'll have to go back. We would have loved to visit the Frida Kahlo house in Coyoacán, among other things, but we did not have enough time.
We flew to Puerto Escondido on Jan 18. PE is a quiet town of fishers, surfers and snowbirds. I was there 15 years ago when it was still a hidden surfing mecca. Many things has changed, Zicatela Beach had gone from a quiet palm tree lined surfers' beach with a few palapas selling refrescos and cerveza out of coolers to a booming strip of bungalows, small hotels, restaurants and surf shops. Aside from the highway, the only way to get to Zicatela was to walk along the beach from Playa Principal. Now there is a road so you can take a taxi. The town is quickly spreading as more folks from the US and Canada build condos and houses to retire or winter in. Surprisingly, I felt the town's vibe had remained intact. Development, though booming, is tasteful. No huge ugly compounds with huge walls, no big chain restaurants, stores or hotels (yet, although a chain coffee shop from Oaxaca has just moved in, so we'll see.).
We really didn't do much in PE. Slept, swam, drank margs at Ben-Zaa
, went to the beach, ate some fantastic shrimp cocktail (I swear the shrimps were about 2 ounces each!), swam and drank more margs. It was hot. really hot, so we had to find the comfort of shade or the pool between 10-2. Fortunately we had a lovely pool at the casita - CLICK me for the POOL Slideshow! Gus loved it. The second we woke up until just before bed he would be calling out "poo- poo-". We has to start spelling it out unless we wanted to go in, because once he heard the word, he wouldn't stop asking to go swimming. Even now he asks to go in the pool occasionally.Some PE highlights: the giant shrimp cocktails at Pascal, partying on the palapa with Cheryl and Doug and Sheila and Michael, the beach club at Villa Sol, margaritas at the BenZaa (and the crowd there too!), my mom and I getting covered in poop during dinner at Cafecito - and Darren and I gagging as we tried to change the diaper (we'd had a couple of Margaritas before
heading over and felt quite BenZaa-ed) - to make matters worse, the poop came between our soup and our main course. Somehow we managed to eat. The beach path between our casita and Playa Principal ("Main Beach").
Click on the photo to see all the images from the beach path. We each read 4 books, slept in almost everyday while Gus played with Gua-gua, swam at least once a day. A pretty sweet life.
We did start to get a little bored - so we set off for the city for a few days. We spent six days in Oaxaca City. It was a nice break from the heat and gave us some cultural exploring to do. We all loved Oaxaca. The Centro Historico (yes, historic centre) is a UNESCO World heritage site (check out my July 10, 2006 post) and full of beautifully maintained colonial buildings, a stunning green zocalo, where Gus had so much fun, walking around (it is closed to traffic), listening to the musicians - the marimba players were his favourites:
As you can see from the photo - he wants to run over and hang out with the guys. funny little man. We visited several buildings of note - the Church of Santo Domingo (note the anarchy symbol - more about graffiti later):
which was lovely, but Gus was a challenge:
The Basilica:
The Public Library which was housed in a lovely colonial building set around a lush green courtyard (click on the photo to get a glimpse of the library, incudng the card catalouge) Here is Gus in the children's section:
We also had some great Oaxacan food, rich moles, chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles) and savoury cheeses. One restaurant of note: Como Agua Pa' Chocolate (like the book/movie). Sadly, a restaurant we were looking forward to enjoying, El Naranjo had closed due to the recent political unrest. Another fantastic restaurant serving modern Mexican dishes in an absolutely stunning setting: Los Danzantes.
The photo does not capture the surroundings at all. We also sampled some of the finest mezcal (and brought some home) at Los Danzantes - we walked away with a high that only mezcal can produce.
We sampled some mezcal at a 90 year old mezcal bar, featuring local musicians and antojitos on the house. We were only a little hungry but we were offered local finger foods like sopes and another tortilla based dish garnished with rendered pork fat. Yummy, but hard to eat too much. Here is a dark photo of Darren in front of La Farola, the 90 year old mezcal bar:
That same night we enjoyed a rooftop patio with a view of Santo Domingo flooded with white light:
We shopped like crazy, brought home a mirror (in one piece) and several bottles of mezcal.
It was an interesting time to be in Oaxaca, just on the heels of so much unrest, the protests had ended but it seems nothing has been resolved. Tourists seemed to be coming back, the restaurants were quiet, but not empty. Our hotel, quiet, but with a rush of tourists every couple days as it was a stop on a tour bus. The place would be empty for a couple days and them suddenly packed with the 60-something set, all Americans. It was nice to see them visiting, despite unneccesary warnings from the US government to avoid Oaxaca. There was little evidence of the recent violence aside from some grafitti, now mostly painted over. Across the street from our hotel was one of the few buidlings that hadn't been painted:
Often people are saddened at the defacement of these old buildings, but in reality, these words have now become part of the history of these edifices and thus, belong there. The paint will fade, some building owners are etching a layer of the stone off, but some evidence will remain and in years to come will be known as remnants of the teachers' strike in 2006.
We also spent half a day at the ruins at Monte Alban - another UNESCO World Heritage site. Here are a few shots (click on the photo to see them all:
I am sure there are many details I've left out. If you're interested, take the time to go through some of the photos on flickr - there are lots of them and I am slowly trying to organize them. They have all been tagged by subject and geography, so if you want to browse try looking at the tags, you can click on any one of them (eg; click on "beach" and you'll see all the photos I've tagged with "beach"): CLICK HERE FOR TAGS
that's all for now. I am sure to have other musings on travel - especially some tips on travel with baby! But that will be left for future post.
Click on the photo to see all the images from the beach path. We each read 4 books, slept in almost everyday while Gus played with Gua-gua, swam at least once a day. A pretty sweet life.We did start to get a little bored - so we set off for the city for a few days. We spent six days in Oaxaca City. It was a nice break from the heat and gave us some cultural exploring to do. We all loved Oaxaca. The Centro Historico (yes, historic centre) is a UNESCO World heritage site (check out my July 10, 2006 post) and full of beautifully maintained colonial buildings, a stunning green zocalo, where Gus had so much fun, walking around (it is closed to traffic), listening to the musicians - the marimba players were his favourites:
As you can see from the photo - he wants to run over and hang out with the guys. funny little man. We visited several buildings of note - the Church of Santo Domingo (note the anarchy symbol - more about graffiti later):
which was lovely, but Gus was a challenge:The Basilica:
The Public Library which was housed in a lovely colonial building set around a lush green courtyard (click on the photo to get a glimpse of the library, incudng the card catalouge) Here is Gus in the children's section:
We also had some great Oaxacan food, rich moles, chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles) and savoury cheeses. One restaurant of note: Como Agua Pa' Chocolate (like the book/movie). Sadly, a restaurant we were looking forward to enjoying, El Naranjo had closed due to the recent political unrest. Another fantastic restaurant serving modern Mexican dishes in an absolutely stunning setting: Los Danzantes.
The photo does not capture the surroundings at all. We also sampled some of the finest mezcal (and brought some home) at Los Danzantes - we walked away with a high that only mezcal can produce.We sampled some mezcal at a 90 year old mezcal bar, featuring local musicians and antojitos on the house. We were only a little hungry but we were offered local finger foods like sopes and another tortilla based dish garnished with rendered pork fat. Yummy, but hard to eat too much. Here is a dark photo of Darren in front of La Farola, the 90 year old mezcal bar:
That same night we enjoyed a rooftop patio with a view of Santo Domingo flooded with white light:
We shopped like crazy, brought home a mirror (in one piece) and several bottles of mezcal.
It was an interesting time to be in Oaxaca, just on the heels of so much unrest, the protests had ended but it seems nothing has been resolved. Tourists seemed to be coming back, the restaurants were quiet, but not empty. Our hotel, quiet, but with a rush of tourists every couple days as it was a stop on a tour bus. The place would be empty for a couple days and them suddenly packed with the 60-something set, all Americans. It was nice to see them visiting, despite unneccesary warnings from the US government to avoid Oaxaca. There was little evidence of the recent violence aside from some grafitti, now mostly painted over. Across the street from our hotel was one of the few buidlings that hadn't been painted:
Often people are saddened at the defacement of these old buildings, but in reality, these words have now become part of the history of these edifices and thus, belong there. The paint will fade, some building owners are etching a layer of the stone off, but some evidence will remain and in years to come will be known as remnants of the teachers' strike in 2006.
We also spent half a day at the ruins at Monte Alban - another UNESCO World Heritage site. Here are a few shots (click on the photo to see them all:
I am sure there are many details I've left out. If you're interested, take the time to go through some of the photos on flickr - there are lots of them and I am slowly trying to organize them. They have all been tagged by subject and geography, so if you want to browse try looking at the tags, you can click on any one of them (eg; click on "beach" and you'll see all the photos I've tagged with "beach"): CLICK HERE FOR TAGS
that's all for now. I am sure to have other musings on travel - especially some tips on travel with baby! But that will be left for future post.
