PSQUARED

We reluctantly left our great campground near Oaxaca and headed to some ruins in the area.

The first was Dainzu where the caretaker had a young son which meant a soccer ball was in order. The ruin is smaller but well worth the short drive.

The second ruin was Yagul which required a little more effort as there was a mirador to head up to for a full view from above and the sun was a little higher in the sky making it hotter. It was great and another worthy stop.

Next up was Mitla which includes both an older ruin and a not as old church that had some crazy short passageways and was, again, worth the effort. We took a bad route from Google Maps which didn't know that exits no longer exited and decided it was time to stop at one of the bazillion mezcalerias to taste some Mezcal. We were on the Camino de Mezcal afterall. After our sippage we headed back to Mitla for dinner which was not only inexpensive, but really good and elegantly plated.

The last stop for the day - and for the night - was Hierve el Agua which is described as a petrified waterfall which is limestone being eroded by mineral water that creates a spectacular formation. After a quiet night we hiked down and around the formations and were guided by a couple of local dogs who were happy to have someone to walk with.

Afterwards, we cleaned up and changed and planned to go to Salina Cruz, but the winds were high there and we headed back up the coast a couple of hours to Huatalco where we found a huge public beach parking area where we camped for 100 pesos or about $5 USD. We were quite hot as the low was in the mid seventies, but our morning beach walk included a beautiful sunrise and an ocean swim before showers - included in the price of camping - some fruit for breakfast and a stop for coffee on the way out.

We made our way after another visit to the high winds and heat to San Cristobal de Las Casas which was a fairly long day. Tonight we'll rest and tomorrow we will stroll the city and develop a plan for the next couple of days which will include crossing into Guatemala to begin the Central American part of our trip.

Sunday, March 1, we were all set for a short driving day along the Pacific coast, so we headed from Zihua to Pie de la Cuesta. We arrived and negotiated a price and were waiting an hour for the room to be ready and when it was the price went up 25% so we left and headed further south.

Pie de la Cuesta

The drive was beautiful and we found a couple of hotels we just wouldn't stay at so we ended up in a small town on the beach called Playa Ventura. There had been a sign advertising a hotel that looked great. We went and even though there were only two cars in the lot there was no room at the inn for us. It seemed strange, but we had passed a number of other suitable places so we headed back into town and stopped at a place.

As we were asking about rooms and pricing a Mexican couple came in and inquired as well. She told them the type of room we were looking for was 800 pesos - about $45 - and sent her husband to show them the room. We asked if there was another room and she quoted us 1500 pesos for a lesser room. By now we were getting the impression that the color of our skin was a factor so we headed down the road to another hotel.

The lady there was actually happy to see us and offered us a room at a fair price with AC and WIFI and she had a restaurant across the street as well. We had been looking for a place with AC because it was in the mid 90's that day. We got a "bienvenido" wave and welcome from the group of neighbors she had been talking to on our way to dinner, and felt more at ease.

With that behind us we headed to Puerto Escondido where we have been before, and hoped to meet up with some folks we had met at the Monarch Reserve and pay them back for sharing their wine with us. We were cruising along ahead of schedule and planned to stop at the market in Pinotepa Nacional for some mole which we had the last time we went through there 14 years ago, but were stopped 6 kilometers short of Pinotepa by a random protest roadblock that stopped the road heading that way.

We waited an hour and a half and did some housekeeping stuff before deciding that we could instead head to Oaxaca up Mexico 125. The mapping software said 7.5 hours which seemed long, but we headed out at noon. I lasted about an hour with Pam driving on the curvy, potholed highway before I was about to be car sick. She let me drive which keeps me from feeling ill and I spent the next 4 hours getting us from kilometer marker 198 to marker 70 - yes, 128 kilometers in 4 hours or just shy of 80 miles!

Here are some pics we took along the way.

When we reached the hotel at 5 PM everything in the back of the van was tossed about everywhere. We grabbed the essential bottle of wine, cork screw, cups, cooler with dinner provisions and bathroom bag and headed into the room to recover. After bottle one along with dinner, we decided to clean the mess and repair and improve the pack before heading back in for bottle number two.

The challenging drive was spectacularly beautiful and we only wish we could have taken more pictures, but there really was no place to pull off and the beauty was something you would need to see for yourselves although the road is a nightmare to navigate with at least 200 speedbumps to add to the fun.

The hard work of the day before paid off in a short shy two hour drive to Oaxaca for a light breakfast and coffee, a trip to the ATM for cash and a city walk which ended up with a parade of unknown origin, before heading a little out of town to a peaceful, friendly campground with a few other van-travelers, where we sit drinking beer and working on this post.

Enjoy the pics we did get and we wish you all peace and love and promise more soon.