MEXICO CONTINUES...

Margaritas in Mainland Mexico
Over a couple of weeks we traveled south with Joe and Amy, saying goodbye to Chris at Sayulita with a night of many magaritas (see above). Our tracks passed from San Blas, on northern mainland Mexico, to Acapulco, a touristy town famous for high cliff diving. The waves were plentiful, from long left-hand point breaks to spitting beach break barrels.
One place that stood out was Rio Nexpa, a 200m long left point break, where we stayed for a week. Here we enjoyed a delicious curry, cooked from scratch (not by us) with fresh coconuts we (mostly Joe) pulled from the tree.

Mexico City
From Acapulco we headed inland a days drive to Mexico City, leaving Joe and Amy on the coast. The city sits at over 2000m above sea level, sprawled across a valley bound by volcanoes, although these can’t be seen from town, thanks to the terrible air pollution. We spent 4 glorious nights out of the van, in a comfortable hotel (ahhhh!!!). Sightseeing included the flag lowering ceremony (pictured, and yes, those guns are real), the National Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral, Aztec and Mayan temples and the Museum of Anthropology.

Who Knew There Was Snow in Mexico?
Planning to climb the highest peak in every Central American country, we headed to Popocatépetl (Popo), 5,452 m elevation just outside Mexico City. It is actually second highest mountain in Mexico, the highest required expensive local guides to reach the top. Upon approach a covering of snow crowned Popo.
Our plans to summit this peak went up in smoke when we discovered that Popo was actually still active and extremely dangerous. Our persistence was met with postcards depicting the massive eruption of 2000 where surrounding towns were evacuated. Considering this, we decided against Popo and did a day walk to 4,500 m on the neighboring (dormant) volcano instead.





Back on the Coast
From the mountains we traveled through the town of Oaxaca (pronounced wa-Ha-ka), the lively culture rich center of southern Mexico, to Puerto Escondido. This place is also known as Mexican Pipeline after its namesake in Hawaii, due to frequent big heavy barrels, which break very close to the shore.
Due to the size of the waves, Daniel acquired a big wave board (7’0”), which Puerto quickly took care of, snapping it three days later. It is currently being stuck back together, and should be back in action soon.
We have been greeted by the traveling professional surfers circus here at Puerto – with the X-Games, an extreme surfing contest, being held this week. While the contest makes for great watching, after hours, the surf is pretty crowded.
We’ve started Spanish classes, with a lovely lady, Elena who is a great teacher. Finally, we’re starting to make some headway into this language.