We have continued our whorl-wind tour towards Southern Mexico. We only made one more stop in the state of Michoacán before some long days on the road. We went up into the mountains to about 10,000' to a Monarch Butterfly reserve. We stayed the night nearby in the beautiful and chilly mountain town of Angangeo. The next day with frost on the ground we began our hike into the reserve past some mildly irritating tourism businesses. Hanging out in the pine forests the magic began to happen as the day warmed up. Swarms of Monarchs took to the air and ground from their fir tree roosts. They were everywhere! The forest was transformed into a surreal mixture of greens, blue sky, and vibrant fluttering orange. This is one of the stops in the bizarre Monarch migration between the Grate Lakes region and Mexico.
We didn't spend much time in Oaxaca City. Although it is a beautiful city with scenic colonial architecture, droves of museums, and cosmopolitan cuisine, it is still a big city. It was very noisy and extremely congested due to many streets being torn up in construction. The price of staying in a hostal has also more than doubled from my last visit three years ago. Unfortunately we didn't arrange a “couchsurfing” stay with enough time in advance. The most enjoyment the city brought to me was from one of the best licquado and juice stands in all of Mexico. In one of the oldest markets in the city, Mercado del Carmen, you can find “Super Jugos de Angelita” (Super Juices of the little Angle Girl). There you can choose a smoothie from over 30 recipes. They utilize around 20 local fruits, vegetables, cacti, herbs, grains, granola, eggs, eggnog, and spices to make their healthy concoctions.
We spent most of our time in Oaxaca in two amazing and rejuvenating places; Sierra Norte and the beach of Mazunte. In the Sierra Norte mountians, north of Oaxaca city, we camped under pines at around 9000'. We camped outside of a town of 150 people that is part of a small, but successful eco-tourism network. The eco-tourism here helps small communities make a living without carrying out extensive logging operations. We went on a hike that afforded us beautiful views of valleys from cliff edges at 10,000' in elevation. After a couple nights in the cold alpine mountains we made for the sultry tropic coast. The drive to the coast is the second craziest and scariest road in Mexico I've ever seen. This time I got to drive it! Luckily we decided to break up the trip with one more stay in the mountain village of San Jose del Pacifico. We learned that it is a town known for hallucinogenic mushroom distribution in the summer months.
The heat and humidity of the coast was a welcome shock after cold nights in the mountains. We camped at a small family run palapa business on our favorite beach, Mazunte. It is a small and beautiful beach that has never been over developed. Rocky cliffs frame each end of the beach. Pelicans, Frigates, sea turtles, whales, and speedy crabs (Mazuntes), make frequent appearances. We enjoyed three days here resting and meeting other young low-budget travellers from around the world. The first night there I was conversing in Spanish with a couple girls from Italy and France, and a guy from Germany. We also met people from Holland, England, Argentina, Chile, and other Mexican states.
Now we're in the state of Chiapas. It is the southernmost and poorest state in Mexico with a large indigenous population; mainly Mayan in decent. We are couchsurfing on the edge of San Cristobal de las Casas. We're camping in the yard of a mega couchsurfing house here. This weekend there will be at least 25 couch surfers staying here! So far there are people cohuchsurfing here from Venezuela, France, Canada, Argentina, Holland, and other places in Mexico. There's going to be a party here tomorrow under the auspice of a Super Bowl party. Should be interesting.
After exploring this magically beautiful city and a few natural attractions nearby we'll be headed to Guatemala. Our first main destination is the town of Xela or Quetzaltenango. Aña and I are going to check out a volunteer organization that could captivate us for at least three months. The organization is Quetzaltrekkers and would have us volunteering as hiking guides for 1-6 day hikes. They raise money to support a street kids dormitory and school. Ilsa plans to attend a language school for a week before doing some traveling on her own. She'll explore Guatemala some before heading back to the States on March 4th.
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