Earthquake, Surfing and Turtles in Puerto Escondido: Davis & Michelle's Epic Adventures

 

Day 1: After a 4am start to the day, this is our reward. Puerto Escondido is in the Oaxaca region, on the southwest coast and is a small fishing and surf town with a focus on ecotourism.

Trying out the rooftop hammock at our hotel.

180 stairs down to our beautiful beach. That’s the optimism in me speaking because the 180 back up to the hotel was hotttttt.

Piña Colada Time.

Heading to town.

Bracelet Buddies!

Tlayuda. Traditional food from the Oaxacan region, is a large, thick corn tortilla folded over cheese and other ingredients. It is cooked longer than a typical tortilla. Delish!

Day 2: We survived!!

Earthquake!! Surfing!! Baby Turtles!

We started the day with our room shaking and the earth gurgling due to a 4.7 magnitude earthquake. We survived!

Surf lessons for both of us followed that experience and all was going well. Davis owned his first ride on the sizable 5ft waves and when it was my turn, I was able to stand up for a few seconds. BUT THEN…. La Bruja popped up! The Witch is what the locals call a wave that pops up out of nowhere and destroys EVERYONE. Like, boards up, bodies down, disoriented, destroyed. EVERYONE! x2 because a second one followed. We survived!

We ended our day visiting a sea turtle preservation camp where a local non profit group works to increase the sea turtle population and public awareness. There are 4 species of sea turtle here and today, we released 6 baby Olive Ridleys. They survived…we hope… but only 3% survive, though.

Hiking down to the turtle conservation camp.

Each stick is a recovered turtle nest. The ones in the back with the ring around it are about to hatch. The netting above the camp helps control temps, to control the turtle gender.

Releasing “Rummy”

The release.

Enmoladas … corn tortillas filled with chicken and cheese and then covered with mole sauce.

Day 3: Chacahua National Park: A Secluded Treasure

One hour van ride; over a million speed bumps. Boat ride through the mangroves; saw tons of wildlife. Hung out at the beach; swam and watched surfers. Hiked up a hill to a huge rock formation on the ocean; great views at sunset. Boat ride back to van; stopped to swim with bioluminescent creatures.

Mariposo

Sopes with beans, cheese and avocado.

Yellow Footed Egret. One type of egret out of at least 5 we saw. The lagoon is also home to 4 types of mangrove. There are 246 species of plants and 189 species of animals…including crocodiles, coral snake, rattlesnake and anaconda.

Chilling in Chacahua. Chacahua has been a National park since 1937. It is made up of 4 large lagoons, 35k acres made up of savannas, mangrove and coastal dune. There are a few small communities that live on the islands, but with little cell service and some WiFi.

Walking to the point

Swinging away.

Vibes

Climbed to the top of the rock formation for sunset pics

Climbing down like a rockstar.

Bioluminescence in the lagoon// no flashlights, just natural bio coming from the boat wake.

Day 4: Y’all!! We surfed again today and I rode two waves!! I’m proud that I gave surfing a try, with Davis’ encouragement. We then headed to another beach to snorkel and swim in the ocean, while watching people get wiped out on shore due to the crazy powerful waves.

Sunset Time

Mojarra / Tilapia

Puerto Angelito

My sunset loving buddy.

Day 5: I’ve seen dolphins and sea turtles before while kayaking, but observing them NEVER EVER gets old. I get excited and full of happiness with each encounter. Today, Davis and I went out on a boat for a sunrise expedition. We saw tons of sea turtles mating, manta rays flying, and sailfish sailing in the air, none of which I’ve seen before. Even better? When a large school of dolphin came swimming through (like hundreds of them), I jumped in the crystal clear blue water with my goggles on and swam with them and the bioluminescent phytoplankton that were so bright you could see in daylight. With my head under water and making eye contact with the dolphins, we connected.

A Dream Is Possible, especially at sunrise. 

Fisherman cast netting to catch bait.

Heading out to sea. 

Sea Turtles Mating!!

Mating in action. 

Family of dolphins. 

 

  Breakfast views.                                  Lunch Views.

Tacos, Wrestling, and Hot Air Ballooning in Mexico City: Davis & Michelle's Epic Adventures

Day 1: We had a smooth trip into Mexico City, dropped our bags off and hit the streets. We stuck to our neighborhood tonight to get a lay of the land. Lots of color, food stalls and people milling about.

 María Doll Statue   

Our neighborhood in Roma Norte

Tacos, Beer and Horchata. 

The entire roundabout was filled with decorated bulls. This was Davis’ fav.

A group of kids learning to dance under the metro line.

More snacks. Mango and watermelon.

Day 2: We made ourselves at home today by making churros with a local guy and exploring the 5th largest city in the world. Today’s perfect weather allowed us to venture down to Centro to see the old part of town, including Templo Mayor, which was an Aztec empire in the 1300s.

Delicious Chilaquiles for breakfast. $3 for a huge bowl that def both of us, 

a glass of fresh squeezed oj, and a coffee.

Hanging in Centro.

Templo Mayor. In ancient times, Templo Mayor was the 

religious ceremonial and political center of Tenochtitlan.

Earthquake meet up spot.

Centro.

 

Making Churros

Final product. All homemade.
-churros
-chocolate ganache
-café de olla

Day 3: Life is a beautiful ride

…especially while in a hot-air balloon

…flying over pyramids

…during sunrise

…with my buddy.

Such a breathtaking, incredible experience to soar in the sky and then touch down and see the pyramids up close. In 1400 AD, the Aztec people rediscovered the Teotihuacan civilization. It’s still unclear what happened to the Teotihuacan people and why they abandoned the empire they inhabited from 100 BC to 709 AD.

Getting the balloons filled at 6:30am.

We’re flying!!! Super proud of Davis for doing this with me even though he was nervous to do it.

Pyramid of the Sun. 7th largest in the world. The pyramid's location was carefully 

chosen so that it would be aligned not only to the prominent Cerro Gordo to the 

north but also, in perpendicular directions, to sunrises and sunsets on specific dates.

Pyramid of the Moon. The structure of the Pyramid of the Moon
mimics Russian dolls - a larger pyramid was constructed over the smaller
ones, and this same thing was done for each one of the seven stages.

Jaguar mural, near Pyramid of the Moon, is symbolic of war.

Later That Night: Friday Night Lights at Lucha Libre!

*Mexican Wrestling dates back to the 1800s and is a popular pastime here in Mexico City.

*Removing the mask is the worst thing that could happen to a Lucha Libre wrestler and it happened tonight.

*$20 gets you an excellent seat to watch the show, so are you gonna cheer for the good guy or bad guy?

Day 4: The best kind of day is when you head out and find all the tasty, local culinary delights while enjoying art, soccer, and a bustling market.

For breakfast, we stopped at this food spot that tons of locals were enjoying.
We had a Gordita filled with beef, cheese and veggies. We also had Taquitos.

Love me some Sugar Skull designs.

 

Tres Leches gone in under a minute.   Avocado Ice Cream & Piña Colada.

Esquites! (Street corn with spices, cheese, and mayo)

Frida Kahlo’s painting area.

 

Carnita tacos, avocado, pork rinds, mango juice and all the fixings at the Coyoacán Market.

A Hurricane and An Itinerary: Davis & Michelle's Epic Adventures

Upon returning from a trip overseas a few years ago, Davis, my nephew, curiously asked me when he'd be old enough to travel with me. I casually threw out a number; 16. He accepted that and went on with what he was doing. Fast forward to the spring of this year, as I was planning a trip to the Oaxacan Region of Mexico. I intended to visit the little beach towns of San Agustinillo and Mazunte, based to two people that had visited and knew my travel style. They were chill, off the beaten path and were authentic communities. In order to get there, flying into Mexico City made the most sense, with a smaller airline connecting the two. I'd heard great things about Mexico City as well, so I included that into my itinerary as well. I began planning and researching and figuring, all the things that I normally do well before booking a flight or room. While researching and making a list of things that looked interesting for me to do, I began thinking more and more that these would be things that my 12 year old nephew would enjoy as well; surfing, snorkeling, eating good food, hot air ballooning (this would take convincing), attending a Mexican wrestling match, making churros... So, I asked him if he'd like to join me on the two week adventure. Without hesitation, he jumped at the offer. 

I continued researching and figured out that we could add the magical cenotes and Chichen Itza, in the Yucatan Region, to the trip for no additional cost but all the extra excitement. The itinerary was shaping up. We'd fly into Mexico City, stay a few days. Then, we'd fly to Puerto Escondido on a small airline, take a bus to San Agustinillo and stay a few days. Finally, we'd take another flight to Cancun and then bus to Tulum and stay a few days, before returning home. 

Well, in early June, the middle of our trip seemed to be in trouble as Hurricane Agatha made a direct hit to our quaint beach towns. The devastation was endless in the already remote area. I tuned into various social media accounts to get an idea of how bad it was and how much progress was being made to rebuild. After sitting on it for a few weeks, I didn't feel confident that things would be best suited for us in a few weeks time, nor did I want to be sunbathing and in the way of any rebuilding. 

I decided that simply staying in the town where we would fly into from Mexico City would be our best option. I made a new hotel booking in Puerto Escondido and sadly cancelled the open air beach hut in San Agustinillo. Puerto had similar offerings, just a bit bigger of a town. With 2-3 weeks to spare, our itinerary was pretty well developed and we were ready for our journey. 

                                      

Canary Islands Travel Video