On the Road Again

Just can´t wait to get on the road again...We are officially on our way further South and into Guatemala. We should cross the border in a few days. So far we´ve logged two big days of driving and are spending the night tonight in Puerto Escondido. This city marks the most southern point we´ve marked on our map so far, when we were here about two months ago now. Wow, it really does feel like just the other day that we were on this beach. Time is starting to fly!! BOOOOOO!

Barra de la Cruz, Oaxaca is our next stop and from what we´ve heard along the way a pretty friendly little surf spot. We plan to spend one or two nights there and then the next two nights along the way to the border crossing. Our Spanish immersion classes start bright and early this coming Monday morning at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala...that we are told looks a bit like the picture above. The lake is a mile high and surrounded by three volcanoes. The lake itself was formed by a collapsed volcano cone. We are getting pretty excited to see it ourselves!! We´ll take plenty of pictures of our own along the way...

Putting the Van to the test

After our tour of the volcano, we all headed to a small lake called Zirahuen even further inland. We had no idea where we´d be staying for the night and after a partial tour around the rough lake road, all decided to head back to a small campground back in town, even tho it wasn´t too much more than a grass lot. While we were looking at maps and possibly thinking about heading for the coast, back the other direction, that same day, we were approached by a man we came to know as ´The Godfather´. It seemed he had mangaged to get his jeep stuck partially in the mud and partially in the lake while trying to pull his boat out...I have never seen a car so stuck, but Blake was right in there with the van and had it pulled out within just a couple minutes. For our help, The Godfather and his family insisted that we join them for the evening at their house, just up the road from the lake. It happened to be Good Friday, so the family was so happy to welcome us into their home. They proceeded to feed us the BEST Mexican meal we've had yet, complete with the freshest tamales, a fish soup, a cactus salad, shrimp ceviche. To top it off, they served chocolate cake and apple pie for dessert. Felt like Mexican Thanksgiving!!

Here is the view of the lake and our caravan from the fifth floor of their house...

'The Godfather" insisted on taking us for a backroads ride in his jeep that started it all. He took us to his avocado farm on top of the hill overlooking the entire village...

A shot of their 'vacation" home. We ended up camping on the street just in front of their house, which also turned out to be in front of a chicken roost as well. I don't know who said that roosters only crow at sunrise because that is very far from the truth...They crow ALL night long!!

And here is a shot of the entire Familia...

Who's up for a Caravan? How it all began...

We met our caravanning partners, Tiffany and Danny within a few days of being back at Saladita after heading back up the coast from Puerto Escondito. We began to enjoy cooking together and spending afternoons of surf, hammock time, and slacklining together. Sunday Brunch seemed to happen day after day...

Meeting new friends doesn't get much better than over a beach side potluck. This was a great way to get everyone together, over a combination of good food, a pinata filled with Mexican candy and a beach bonfire complete with roasting marshmallows-something we never thought we would do in Mex!

Ahhhh another day in the surf, going to the very end...

Ocean Potion hour became an afternoon regular with the girls. It´s great to have a partner in crime since Blake fries like bacon in the sun!

A day trip to 'The Ranch' was a great afternoon getting to know some new friends and checking on some larger than life waves, with the big swell that was in that week. Always on the lookout for a little Smith representation and leaving some of our own along the way! Hi to EVERYONE back at the office!! Missing you all and enjoying hearing all the big changes happening.

The slackline got some good use these days with a little friendly competition to push everyone along. And we figured if it helps us in the surf, we´d take all we could get!

The Eagles, Danny and Tiffany y Las Moñtanas

We left the beach for Semana Santa and headed into a moutain town called Uruapan. We were pretty lucky to find this oasis campground just up the hill from town. Billy was happy to be parked for the week, while we were taxied around in Tiffany´s commuter, R2.

Town itself was in full celebration mode by the time we got there to see some of the festivities on Palm Sunday. We saw some of a processional of indigenous people from around the city and enjoyed the town square that had been transformed into an artisan´s market that seemed to never sleep.

The market had a bit of everything from pottery, to guitars, baskets and day of the dead statues to shoe shiners. The colors on everything were so bright and vivid and full of life, showing some of the true colors of Mex and the culture of all the surrounding villages. We ended up looking at guitars here but took a day trip to a town called Paracho, known as the Mexican capital for stringed instruments. We bought a guitar from a craftsman in town that had been building guitars for 35 years.

Couldn´t get enough of taco alley in the city. At 5 pesos per taco, it´s so hard to say no to just one more.

After some time in the city, we really headed to the mountains and to an active volcano outside of town. Volcan Paricutin formed in a farmer´s field just in the last 50 years, burying two villages in its path. The farmer, in effort to try to save his land, tried to fill the volcano in with a shovel as it rose out of the ground.

This is the only remaining evidence of the villages that were in the path of the volcano. A church that is buried up to the second story.

Take note of Danny (who has interest in joining the Mexican circus) in the bottom left hand corner. Estamos bromeando, Danny. We know your feelings about the circus!

This is the crater itself, that is still very much alive and steaming. The hike provided some much needed exercise after sitting around on la playa and a beautiful view of the area.

Acapulco to Puerto Escondido

Still trying hard to catch up on getting some pictures posted. These go back to some time in Acapulco where we toured Fuerte San Diego, a fort with great views of the entire bay, stopped into a mask museum with masks from around the world and saw the infamous cliff divers just after sunset.

A self-guided tour through the city took us the long but defintely the most scenic way around...

Diego Rivera spent the last years of his life on this quiet block in the hills of Acapulco where he worked on these larger than life mosaics. We thought we would never find them as we wondered the streets of the city and people in the neighborhood couldn´t even tell us where they were because they didn´t know they existed. Getting directions for anything around Mexico is always a crap shoot.

After a sad departure from Matt and Norah at the Acapulco airport, we stayed a couple more days and then took off for Puerto Escondido. We really liked the town itself, but were not quite ready to tackle the Mexican Pipeline with our surfing skills. So we took advantage of some of the other things the town had to offer like an air-conditioned movie theater with only nine seats...and free popcorn! We saw a 1973 classic starring Mr. Jimmy Cliff. The whole night was pretty entertaining.

This spot was just down the block from where we camped in Pto. Escondido and was the most picturesque spot for every sunset. You can kind of make out the lighthouse that is just to the left of the sun.

Where we are now...We´ve left the inland mountains (more about this part of the trip to come) and have been back on the coast in a spot called La Ticla for the last five days. We just parted from our caravanning ways with Tiffany and Danny this morning. They are headed back to the states in the next week. And we are headed South again! Not too sure where yet, but will make our way slowly down the coast this time...in search of waves....and that perfect Mexican coastline.

Enjoy the rest of the winter for us...

We got some more photos for youts!!!

Here is a picture of Ang in the infamous mask museum of Acapulco, featuring masks from Mexico and around the world. We would have loved to run around with these on and yell boogy woogy to some of the Mexicans who are looking at us like they have never seen a gringo. Most of the looks are friendly but sometimes it feels otherwise. So we just give em a big smile and say Hola, Que Tal.

Ahhhh! The mexican wrestlers. We went to A mexi wrestling match in Zihuat. The only thing we can say about this night is that if you have never been to a match, make it a point to do so when you can. You will never see anything like it again. Front row is best!!! Make sure you tip the guy with the coldest Modelos and he will make sure that your beer doesn´t get below half full if you want. We only had a few but others where having one.

They would yell to the crowd if you didn´t move fast enough. Move it buddy, Move it!!! Needless to say white plastic chairs went flying and people running in all directions. I am still trying to pull a picture from email that Beechinor got with the wrestler on top of a guy in the crowd that didn´t move fast enough. Anyone? Anyone?

From the top ropes!! Some of the moves that these guys had in there bag of tricks was really cool. Very impressed by the showmanship these guys have. From comidy to dropping the house!

And ohh yeah. Don´t forget about souvys!!! Everyone needs one of these and some popcorn. We´re gonna get you sucka!! We will try to get a few more photos up on the blog because they are some goodies.

Picture Re-cap

Here are a few more pictures from our trip so far. The one above is from Valentine´s Day as we were living the high life in Zihuat, treating ourselves to a day of amazing food in the city. Started with brunch at this seaside restaurant on Playa la Ropa...

And finished the evening with a fresh tuna dinner at a restaurant directly beside a crocodile lagoon, where we saw this 10 footer swim buy as we ate crepes for desert...

These are back from Saladita when we were challenged to a game of soccer by a group of 10 year olds. Whew, it didn´t take long for us to realize how out of shape we were and how well Mexican kids can play futbol. The stakes were set as winners take all...our Superman piñata and a bunch of stickers. As you can see the kids claimed victory over the gringos. And we walked around pretty stiff for a few days.

The kids hung around the rest of the day and started making themselves at home around the van...