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2011 Oct 27

The way back up

After a month in our beloved Panama, we said goodbye to Liam and made our way back into Costa Rica, this time heading to the Pacific coast. The plan was to hit a guaranteed surfing destination before the long journey up, and so we ended up in sandy Santa Teresa, a village that runs along a 2km dirt road parallel to the sea. This being off the tourist track and the low (read rainy) season, there would really be no other reason to stick around other than to surf – and in the end we spent a week here, learning some tough lessons from our attempts at this gruelling sport.

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And so we began our horrible journey back up Central America, spending 3 days and 1 night in the bus to reach Guatemala. We headed straight to pretty Antigua (30 min from nasty Guatemala City), where we proceeded to do not much for a few days, other than to cook nice meals and enjoy the view from the terrace of our hostal, and decree Guatemala our second favourite country in this part of the world.

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There were a couple of highlights we had missed on our way down, and so we travelled to central Guatemala to visit beautiful Semuc Champey, a series of pools forming a bridge under which flows the Cahobón river.

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Another shit journey later (Christophe counted 25 passengers for 14 seats in one of the 3 buses we had to take) we arrived at Flores, a little village on an island on a lake, the tourist base for the famous Guatemalan ruins of Tikal, impressive in their natural dense jungle environment. We were fortunate to visit them during a major ceremony held by hundreds of locals, making us marvel at how these sites were in fact still in use. But what really made our day was to spot a couple of Toucans in the trees, despite them being chased away by the howler monkeys!!

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Now being in north eastern Guatemala, we had not far to go to reach Belize, and so we decided to spend a week in the northern Cays, for a last taste of the Caribbean, Jamaican style. We put down anchor at Caye Caulker, the backpackers favourite (although more expensive than Costa Rica!), and spent a leisurely week ambling and cycling about along the sandy streets, cooking and swinging in hammocks.

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We rounded it up with a fab snorkelling tour, getting very close to many large manta rays and even nurse sharks!! Check out facebook for a good video….

Our Belizean week over, it was time to head back into Mexico to meet my Dad, who was joining us for two weeks. The adventure is drawing to an end…..

2011 Sep 29

Panama dream

Panama , le coup de cœur.

Pour les gens, les îles magnifiques de San Blas, pour leurs habitants, les Kunas, pour les rencontres surtout. Partir du Panama va être difficile mais comme on le dit ici : « Hay que seguir », il faut bien continuer….

La première destination, Bocas Del Toro, est un archipel au nord ouest du Panama. C’est la première destination balnéaire des Panaméens, constituée d’une île principale, isla Colon, et d’autres plus petites et tranquilles.

Apres une nuit sur l’île la plus fréquentée et bruyante, nous avons embarqué un taxi-boat pour Bastimentos, une petite île de pécheur, avec des plages quasi-vierges et limpides au nord. Le plan initial était de rester cinq jours, nous y sommes resté huit...ce fut bien tranquille, à base de plages, lecture, et beaucoup de hamac.

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Ensuite, direction Panama City pour récupérer Liam qui nous a rejoint pour 3 semaines.

Panama City, hormis l’accueil formidable et la gentillesse des locaux, est une ville très particulière, avec ses grattes ciels ombrageant les bidons villes... le quartier historique, Casco Viejo, est truffé de policiers qui avisent les touristes sur quelles rues ne surtout pas emprunter.

Apres avoir retrouvé Liam, et fait les achats nécessaires pour un séjour sur une île quasi-déserte (du rhum essentiellement), nous voila parti pour San-Blas. Trois heures de Jeep et deux heures de pluie torrentielle dans un bateau sans toit plus tard, nous arrivons enfin au Paradis, enfin c’est comme ca que je l’imaginais…. Je crois que seules les photos peuvent vous donner une idée du lieu :

D’abord, une photo des toilettes, ca faisait longtemps :

Et puis.....:

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Nous y avons aussi rencontré deux sacrés numéros, Willy et Andy, les frères Catalans nous ont accompagnés pendant une semaine :

Willy the joker:

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Andy the rock star:

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Nous avons partagé l’expérience San-Blas ensemble et nous nous sommes entendus comme larrons en foire. Je pense et surtout j’espère que nous resterons en contact avec ces deux la.

En route pour le Pacifique, nous nous sommes arrêté a Santa Fe, un petit village de montagne, pour une randonnée d’une journée et un plouf dans une cascade rafraichissante.

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Nous voila donc arrivés a Santa Catalina, destination de surfeurs, pour nous remettre dans le bain, je dois dire que Liam m’a impressionné pour son premier jour, photo a l’appui :

Mais, il est ou Liam ?

Ah, le voila, a ma gauche…ici vous pouvez constater la position à adopter, à gauche, et celle à surtout éviter a droite..

Petit couche de soleil, pour le principe :

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La dernière étape fut de nouveau Bocas del Toro, Liam voulait absolument y aller, et comme nous avons adoré avec Joséphine, nous n’avons pas été difficiles à convaincre. Liam a fait un peu la fête, et Joséphine s’est remise doucement de la dingue (sorte de fièvre transmissible par moustiques)..

La prochaine étape est la remontée vers le Guatemala, au programme 3 jours de bus d’affilé…j’ai hâte.. 

2011 Sep 7

Costa Rica

‘Idyllic’ - is a word that we used many times in Costa Rica, where we spent 8 days with Amy. Although we had been told by fellow travellers that there was nothing there that you couldn’t see in the rest of Central America for cheaper, we felt that the natural beauty of the place and the set up for tourists made it well worth the price hike. First stop was the capital, San José, where we were very pleased to stay in the comfort of a friend of the family’s house, complete with lovely maid who cooked us breakfast, lunch and dinner! Quite a treat 2 months in to our travelling…

We spent most of our time on the Caribbean coast, starting with Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and the nearby town of Cahuita, near the border with Panama. We visited several beaches, each more gorgeous than the other, with crystal blue-green waters lined with green and yellowing palm trees. It was an unusual place to come across, feeling more like an American hippie expat community, whose organic vegetarian cafes we took full advantage of. A welcome break from rice and beans!!!

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We also spent a couple of days in Tortuguero, a well trodden tourist destination for those keen to do some turtle watching. Part of the fun in getting there was the 1 hour river boat ride for the last leg of the journey (which can turn into over 4 hours in the dry season), going up a canal that runs parallel to the sea. We felt incredibly fortunate to witness various green turtles at night, one coming up the beach, another coming down, and another in trance laying and then camouflaging her eggs. We were quite taken aback by just how huge they were – at least 1m long, 80cm wide, and a good 200kgs if not more. And although it was touristy, the locals had come up with a good system so that everyone could see turtles without impacting negatively on their environment or habits. Amongst other rules, no photos allowed, sorry!

Heading back towards the capital, we had time for one last stop before Amy flew home and we headed down to Panama. The route to get to the Poás Volcano took us up the mountains into enjoyably cool, dry fresh air; in fact we could have been in any mountain range in Europe in the summer. We admired the steaming crater complete with a 40C pool of pale green turquoise water, and an unfortunately inaccessible lake in its secondary crater. A few more meals of rice and beans, and our Costa Rica trip was complete!

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2011 Aug 26

Le Nicaragua

Malheureusement, cette partie dédiée au Nicaragua ne contiendra pas de photos…Notre appareil photo (ainsi que de l’argent, mes lunettes ray-ban, ma montre, les lunettes de Josephine, un couteau et un peu de notre salade de riz) nous a été emprunté à très long terme sur une plage aux alentours de San Juan Del Sur. Nous allons devoir maintenant attendre d’être à Panama City pour investir dans un appareil, les prix étant beaucoup plus intéressants qu’au Costa Rica.

Nous avons néanmoins apprécié ce pays, malgré encore beaucoup de temps passé dans les transports, toujours aussi inconfortables.

La première destination fut León, une ville chaotique mais charmante, réputée pour ces bars et vie nocturne. Bien évidement ca n’est plus de notre âge tout ca. Nous y avons visité un musée d’art classique et contemporain, fondation Ortiz, exposant des œuvres allant de Picasso à Moore, nous étonnant d’ailleurs qu’une si petite ville du Nicaragua puisse s’offrir et surtout conserver de telles pièces.

Granada : León et Granada sont depuis des siècles en compétition, chacune clamant être les joyaux du Nicaragua. Nous avons tranché, Granada l’emporte haut la main. Cette ville à l’architecture coloniale est beaucoup plus développée que León et sa localité (au bord du lac gigantesque du Nicaragua et entouré de volcans) offre de diverses activités.

Les Isletas : 250 micro-îles dispersées sur le « Lago de Nicaragua » avec entre autres une peuplée de singes. Certaines sont à louer, comprenant une villa pour 10 personnes, avec piscine, pour $300 le week-end ! Intéressant non ??

Lago de Apoyo : Un lac formé dans le cratère du volcan Apoyo, et peuplé en masse de singes hurleurs. En marchant vers le lac, nous nous sommes retrouvé entourés de singes, le mâle se rapprochant de nous pour nous impressionner, quand j’ai voulu lui « répondre » en langue chimpanzé, il n’a pas apprécié, nous avons donc vite filé. L’eau du lac y est pure, et ce fut pour ma part une des meilleures baignades de notre voyage. Pour notre destination suivante nous sommes allés a l’île d’Ometepe, formé de 2 volcans sur le lac du Nicaragua. La vue y est impressionnante, nous aurions bien voulu vous faire partager le paysage…

Dernière étape, San Juan Del Sur, côte Pacifique, la destination balnéaire favorite des « Nicaraguenses ». Nous y avons retrouvé des connaissances de destinations précédentes et avons essayé d’améliorer nos talents de surfeurs….en vain. Entre les difficultés physiques et nos mauvais choix de vagues, les animaux marins qui nous ont piqués nous et nos amies (raie, méduse), puis le vol de nos affaires, cela n’a pas été notre tentative de surf préférée.

Le vol de l’appareil a entaché notre séjour au Nicaragua, ce qui est vraiment dommage, tant ce pays a de belles choses à offrir.

2011 Jul 29

Honduras

We probably didn’t do justice to Honduras. Although in a sense we did – having spent hours and hours travelling in buses to cover the large distances, we were able to take in the beautiful views of this lusciously green, wonderfully hilly country. It would have been good to do a hike or two so as to experience it a little more closely, but perhaps there’ll be time for that on our way back up Central America.

Our first stop was to the ruins in Copán, on the northern border with Guatemala. These set themselves apart from others by their totem-like stone statues, although we were also impressed by the manicured green lawns, and most of all, the wild parrots living in the trees around.

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Copán was also were I was able to buy some jade, which I had been after since we visited our first ruins back in Oaxaca; this stone adorned most of the jewellery found in these sites’ tombs, as well as the small masks that were placed over the face of the person being buried.

After another two days of travelling (we spent almost a week in buses in this country), we reached the northern coast, from which we boarded a boat to get across to the Bay Islands. Our first time on the Caribbean, and it didn’t disappoint. The crystal blue waters and pristine white sand beaches were stunning, which we particularly enjoyed on the small, uninhabited island of Water Cay.

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This is also where I learnt to dive (to catch up with Christophe), and finally got over my anxieties about equalising (pinching your nose and blowing through your ears, releasing pressure as you go down), and filling and emptying my mask several metres under water (we got to practice this many times!). Which meant that, by my 5th and 6th dives, I at last began to enjoy spotting the marine life, which, as well as many exotic and colourful fish, included a rare green turtle and a beautiful eagle ray. Christophe was lucky enough to get an underwater photo!

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Despite my annoyance at the distinctly commercial side to the diving school scene, we were really pleased to meet and connect with such a variety of people; divers really do seem to be of all sorts and types. Amongst others, a Mexican-American couple on their honeymoon, two Danish girls who we will hopefully meet again in Nicaragua, an Ecuadorian Divemaster and scores of Germans, posing for ridiculous photos on the beach (who said Germans don’t have a sense of humour).

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Our last night on Utila!

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2011 Jul 17

El Salvador

Playa El Tunco, on the Costa Balsámico of El Salvador, has definitely been our favourite place so far. Ok, it’s a black sand, rocky beach that burns and kills your feet as you walk barefoot across it with your board under one arm to get to the waves, but it’s also where we learnt to surf, met some fun people from all sorts of places and partied with the locals.

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The waves are supposedly good for all levels, although they did seem pretty big to us, and we saw some very cool-looking surfer dudes doing their thing on the water – just a reminder of how far we had to go.

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Despite a few scary moments as you hear the wave coming behind you, and the instructor telling you to hold on tight as he pushes you into it, followed by many tumbles, being dragged under, getting hit by the board and various other grazes and bruises, the rush you get for the seconds you are up on the board makes it priceless. Also a lot of surfer dudes have very nicely sculpted bodies, which definitely adds to the fun… and apparently there is nothing sexier than a bikini-clad surfer dudette – although I still have a little way to go on that one!

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We arrived on a Monday afternoon, to be greeted by a very empty looking couple of sandy streets, making us wonder where the hell we were. We left after recovering from the following weekend, having made the most of a ska and samba street party raising funds for a local surfer in a coma, where we got nicely sozzled and drenched in the cooling rain.

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On our way out east of El Salvador towards Honduras, we stopped at the quaint and apparently arty little town of Suchitoto (although only arty at the weekend so we missed it), giving us a further glimpse into real life for the locals – as well as our worst accommodation so far. You win some you lose some!

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2011 Jul 8

Le sud du Guatemala

Notre périple commence par le Guatemala et le lac d’Atitlan entouré de volcans, le cadre est magique (malgré la pluie persistante qui a limité nos excursions). Il n’est pas étonnant qu’une population (étrangère) hippie/bouddhiste se soit installée autour du lac et décrive cet endroit comme un lieu de recueillement spirituel idéal ... Malgré la pluie nous avons pu profiter du cadre en marchant autour du lac, louant un kayac, grimpant un volcan encore actif et appréciant un bain d’eau volcanique.

Un petit aperçu :

La faune, la flore et les locaux:

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Vues du lac et des volcans qui l’entourent:

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Nous avons terminé cette première partie du voyage à travers ce pays (nous y referons un saut en remontant la côte par le nord) dans la jolie ville d’Antigua, ancienne capitale du Guatemala qui nous rappelle un peu San Cristobal de las Casas, au Chiapas (Mexique), mais en plus majestueux : petites maisons basses de toutes les couleurs, dans des avenues larges, avec des façades parfois coloniales.

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C’est aussi d’ici que nous avons pris plusieurs ‘chicken buses’ (voir première photo ci-dessous), en plus de faire du stop à l’arrière d’un pickup (profitant de la générosité des Guatémaltèques), pour arriver à la base du volcan Pacaya, toujours en activité, qui a été en éruption il y a un an, et du quel sort toujours pas mal de vapeur… au point ou notre guide nous a préparé des ‘marshmallows’ dans la chaleur d’une crevasse!

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2011 Jun 19

Our terrace...

As our stay in Oaxaca comes to a slightly more abrupt end than planned, it is fitting that our last blog entry from this city centres on our favourite place here: the terrace of our flat. Discovered by Christophe, we have spent our last 2 and a half months in this studio flat with this fab terrace - which is giving us rather unrealistic expectactions of what we can get when we get back to London....

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As of the view:

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So yes we're leaving, but don't worry, we'll be maintaining the (now not so aptly named) blog about our travels over the next few months.

2011 Jun 10

Oaxaca's Zócalo

Oaxaca's Zócalo, or central square, is usually a lovely, relaxing place to stroll around: a pretty cathedral, the Palacio de Gobierno, cafes and restaurants to people watch from, mariachis in the evenings at the weekends who will ask men if they would like a song for the girl by their side, fully occupied benches amongst the flower beds and trees. It's a space that is always teeming with leisurely amblers, particularly in the early evenings, and with a whole selection of wares being sold, such as these 'globos', which seem to be never-endingly popular.

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It's also where evening concerts are run, or, such as in these photos, Sunday midday dancing to the melodies and singing of this band:

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That's what it's normally like...

However on our return from Chiapas, the whole of the centre of town, and of course the prime location of the Zócalo in front of the Governor's offices, was besieged by the teacher's union, who had literally set up camp. In the end they spent over a week in their tents....

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2011 Jun 8

Le road trip to Chiapas

Vous vous languissiez d’un nouvel épisode après cette longue absence? pardonnez-moi..

Voila les photos de notre périple dans le Chiapas, l’état le plus au sud du Mexique et frontalier au Guatemala. 3100 km entre montagnes, plaines, et jungles. Le plus mauvais souvenir? Sans hésitations, l’état des routes (encore faut-il en trouver, je nommerai la plupart "chemins"), le meilleur souvenir? Tout le reste..

Première destination, la plage bien sur, mais vous connaissez ce paysage (voir épisode “vacances”)

Petit passage par Chacahua, reserve naturelle:

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Ensuite direction le Chiapas et San Cristobal de las casas:

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Canyon du Sumidero, par endroit 1km de haut et 250m de profondeur (d’eau)!

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Plus au sud du Chiapas, el Chiflon, cascades et piscines naturelles:

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La réserve naturelle des lacs de Montebello:

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Le site archéologique de Palenque, en pleine jungle, assez magique comme endroit:

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Et pour finir, Aguas azules:

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Maintenant de retour a Oaxaca, le départ pour le grand voyage s’approche, au programme l’essentiel de l’Amérique centrale, j’entends dans l’ordre Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa-Rica, panama, puis remontée vers Belize, et retour a Cancun, parce qu’on aura bien besoin de vacances après tout ca… :-)

2011 Jun 6

A weekend with Emily and James

My lovely university friends, Emily and James, came to visit us here for 2 days in May - a slightly crazy thing to do in my view, as they came over from Cancun (which requires a changeover in Mexico City) - but it was so lovely to spend some time with them and show them around a little.

A visit to Monte Alban, the ancient Zapotec capital and biggest archeological site in the state of Oaxaca. It stands on a flattened hilltop 400m above the valley floor, as the photos indicate. It was first occupied around 500BC and the city was at its peak from about 300 to 700, when the population reached about 25,000.

We tried to go there by local bus, to make it a more novel experience for Em and James; much to their disappointment though it turns out they don't go all the way up the hill so we had to take private transport instead...

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Jimmy and Christophe playing 'gringos' before we went in...

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The site:

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Our guide and friend, Julio, explaining that the zapotecs built pyramids on mountains in order to reach the skies, and so, the gods:

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Eating at the market -

a woman preparing the tortillas:

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here, having 'aguas de sabor' - water based drinks made with fruit or other flavours. A habit that we will definitely be bringing back with us to Europe! Here, Emily is having an 'agua de jamaica' - hibiscus flower based water; and I am having 'agua de guanabana'. James, of course, refused to eat or drink the slightest thing so as to make sure he couldn't possibly get ill... Not that any of us did, of course....

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Arts and crafts -

Finally, we did a good tour of all the arts and crafts markets and shops, so that Em and Jimmy could find some good oaxacan souvenirs.

Oaxacan paper decorations, that ornate the ceilings:

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A woman weaving a scarf:

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And 'alebrijes', handmade (as all local crafts) oaxacan carvings of fantastical creatures. The 2 dragons below are my favourite - but definitely too big an expensive to travel back with, standing at 6000-8000 pesos - £300-£400!!

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And finally, Jimmy chilling in one of the hammocks on the terrace:

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2011 Jun 4

The Streets of Oaxaca

This beautiful colonial city:

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A rooftop terrace:

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An internal courtyard:

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2011 Apr 18

Oaxacan wedding bells....

In our 3 months so far here, we have come across quite a range of wedding celebrations. The first two seemed incredibly posh; and when you see just how poor a lot of Oaxacans are, it feels a bit weird to see that there are also the rich few…. These two posh weddings were in fact both on the same day; we came across the preparations for one in a hotel we were checking out for prospective visitors, a bit out of the city, with a big pool and lush green grass (we took off our flip flops to feel the grass beneath our toes, so lovely!). Chairs had been set up in the American style outside wedding you see in movies, with the walkway literally and totally COVERED in rose petals. To be honest it was pretty OTT, as were the early arriving guests, tottering on their incredibly high heels and in their tight-fitting ball gown type dresses. Although I have to say that it was all so grand and intimidating that I really felt we shouldn’t have been there, given our rather more casual look!

Posh wedding number 2 was in town; we first noticed the horse drawn carriage standing empty at the top of the street, and were quite amused by the thick white and red ribbon woven into the horses’ manes (although I do admit that, other than the ‘decoration’ they were wearing, the horses themselves looked pretty damn good). Further along (still looking at hotels), we noticed a meringue bride with her father, with a photographer and cameraman in tow. The bride was wearing a veil at this point but the father seemingly took great pride at looking his best for the camera (let’s be fair, he had presumably paid for it). A slightly less elegant (due to her white trainers), very Cruella Deville looking mother was also about; and they finally they reached the carriage that had drawn up in front of a hotel (the one we wanted to visit). Once we realised that the photo shoot was going to last a while, we headed into the hotel anyway… A while later, as we were walking past the biggest and grandest church in Oaxaca (two blocks across), we realised that this is where the carriage had taken them to for the ceremony. Apparently at great expense….

My two favourite weddings so far also happened on the same day, only just last week (when I was working in town due to no internet in the office). As I was waiting in the street for the café to open, I began to hear a violin, playing a classic church wedding melody, over and over, getting some of the notes slightly wrong every so often. As I turned around, I noticed a bride, in a white dress, red veil and trainers, walking down the pedestrian street; her violinist slightly ahead of her, who was probably her younger brother; and behind her, in a row, a bridesmaid, wearing a paper train that read ‘Honesty’ and ‘Loyalty’ in black marker pen; and then her mother, in a dress and trainers. How cool to have been in the right place at the right time to see that, I thought…

The last one announced itself with a lot of fanfare that called for coming out to watch it in the street. The procession was opened by three huge dancing papier mâché figures, with a little peep hole at eye height so that they could see where they were heading, followed by a row of girls dressed in black and holding up a placard (which I missed, but perhaps read the names of the bride and groom), a couple of female dancers, a handful of people on stilts, and finally the drummers marking the beat, with a big singing crowd of young people closing the procession. As my colleague said; ¡hay de todo aquí! (there’s all sorts here).

2011 Apr 13

Weird and Wonderful (?)…

…things at work:

  • An earthquake that measures 6.5 on the Ritcher scale – at 8am in the morning when I’m on the 3rd floor of a decidedly shaky building
  • The shoe shiner and the guy who sells nuts, who come round on a daily basis
  • The ‘día de la samaritana’ – the Mexican alternative to April Fools Day – where we got free ‘aguas de sabor’ (flavoured water made with natural fruit) and ‘nieves’ (sorbet) – the perfect antidote to a hot and stuffy afternoon
  • A noisy demonstration inside the building – turns out they were members of staff ((the so-called ‘de base’ staff) rather than the usual crowd outside, protesting about their pay
  • My favourite street ‘taquería’, which has now become the office’s lunchtime haunt – where we get a variety of (maize tacos based) Mexican street food (quesadillas, tacos, memelitas, tortas, for those of you who are familiar with the terms), all served with a smile – a bit of a rarity in southern Mexico!
  • The temperature inside the office as it reaches 30 odd degrees in the shade (not that you can find any), while the five of us on our shared desk attempt to stay awake, praying for a bit of fresh air to come through the 30x10cm window (air conditioning? No……)
  • No bank holidays in the first year for employees ‘de confianza’ (i.e. everyone other than those who are ‘de base’)
  • The lady who sets up her stall by the car park entrance to sell her ‘tamales’ (a sort of stuffed corn dough popular throughout Latin America), which according to my colleagues are the best in town – I have finally come round to them
  • The beggar who came round the offices today – people thought that was a pretty smart move
  • It takes me longer to get to work in Oaxaca than it does in London
  • The guy you can buy ‘nieves’ from outside on the street – this may have to become a daily necessity to combat afternoon sleepiness

2011 Apr 12

Paradis

En début du mois de mars nous avons décidé de partir a la montagne alentour et de profiter de randonnées pédestres si réputées dans la région.

Ce fut un échec : Nous avons passé la soirée et avons du retourner a la première heure le lendemain matin du au mauvais temps, au froid et au brouillard si intense que nous ne pouvions voir a 10 mètres. Nous avons tout de même profité des jolies vues, et de la cheminée de notre chalet :

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Plus de photos de plages pour vous dégouter de nouveau!! (Même si apparemment, il fait très beau chez vous en ce moment, pourvu que ca dure..) Je suis donc retourné a la plage avec mon pote de Oaxaca Guillaume (aka Memo), il a du repartir le Jeudi mais Joséphine a pu s'échapper de la ville et me retrouver le Vendredi. Nous avons passé un long week-end ensemble en amoureux.

Highlights: Visite de la réserve naturelle de Ventinilla, sortie en mer pour voir les dauphins, farniente sur la magnifique plage de San Augustin, et bien évidemment, fruits de mer et autres poissons succulents.

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San Augustin de Huatulco:

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Je rajoute aussi des photos d'une superbe après-midi que nous avons passé chez une amie Mishelle, avec groupe de musique en live, barbecue et bières, l’essentiel quoi!

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2011 Feb 27

Part deux

So after a brief period in weeks 3 and 4 of having being promoted to ‘Director of Strategic Positioning and Generation of New Markets’ (eek!), heading up a dysfunctional team (double eek!), working the whole weekend and being expected to turn up on the bank holiday (you guessed it…), I turned down the promotion and am now in a much happier place…. I am now doing project work and helping train up my boss’s team. Which suits me just fine! And gives me plenty of time to chat with the team, have them giggle at and correct my mistakes, and work on my written Spanish…

I recently attended the Governor’s second ‘public audience’, in the city of Tuxtepec, right in the north eastern and tropical part of the State (although unfortunately it was overcast and wet the whole time, despite high hopes of heat! We were outside the whole two days of course…). The Governor is often described as the ‘Obama of Oaxaca’ – I have to say that he does have a certain charm! (in a rather official, politician kind of way of course…)

To get to Tuxtepec I got to experience the windy mountainous roads of Oaxaca, which turn 200km into a tortuous 5 hour journey involving pretty serious travel sickness however resistant you are…. (fortunately a little miracle pill sorted me out for the way back!) In fact I don’t think you’ll find many of these road signs in Europe – and they don’t tell you half the story!

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on the road to Tuxtepec - the cloud mountains

Coming back to the “audiencia publica”, the Governor appears to have committed to doing these once a month around the State. They involve a full day (8am to whenever – the first one lasted until 5 in the morning; thankfully this one ended by 11pm) of the Governor, his Ministers and officials tending to the demands and complaints to the people, as part of the ‘democratic transition’ effort. I was at the desk for those who are victims of bank fraud, ‘los defraudizados’, of which there appear to be many. The few stories I listened to really pulled at the heart strings and served as quite an eye opener into the reality of those who are usually already the poorest, and on top of it have been cornered into feeling like there is no way out for them.

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Fortunately someone much more capable than I was in charge of responding to them; and although I felt the event as a whole was a really interesting approach, I wondered how much action the Government would be able to take to address these people’s plights … This was also the place where I realised that the Ministers aren’t actually elected representatives – I really need to find out more about the political system….

I mentioned in my last entry what a ‘demonstration-ready’ bunch the Oaxacans are, apparently much more so than other Mexicans – some might say a little like the French (and in fact I’ve been told that the legal system – and without a doubt the bureaucracy – is based on the French model) – but I have to say the Oaxacans do put the French to shame! Below is a photo of the colour coordinated ‘taxistas’ preventing us from leaving the building – although as my colleagues pointed out, they would no doubt be breaking it up in time for lunch (3pm ish here – and yes they did) – and that of course they’d started after doing the morning run of taking customers to work….

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A more recent and serious event, that I hear made the London ‘Metro’, was the teachers’ demonstration last week in honour of President Calderon’s visit to the State – which was met, as per usual, by a heavy official response. Below are a couple of photos from after the event of the damage done, and you can find loads on the internet – but there is a deep seated rift and complex relationship between the teachers’ union and the Government, which periodically ends up in violent clashes – and last week was no exception. Again, something I need to read up on some more…

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Despite that slightly darker backdrop to Oaxacan history and culture, we feel incredibly lucky to be in this beautiful city – and are bit by bit discovering lovely little restaurants, cafes and bars, a growing variety of local dishes, street markets here and in the little ‘pueblos’ around, as well as getting into the local cultural calendar, involving film viewings in bars, art gallery exhibitions and many other things. As well as the so-called ecotouristic attractions around! That so far are pretty untouched and little visited… including the ‘cascada de Guatamaya’, which we visited yesterday – photos below.

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2011 Feb 25

Vacances

Voila enfin les photos tant attendues de l’excursion à la plage, ce fut une semaine que l’on peut considérer comme tranquille, de vraies vacances, entre potes.

Nous avons passés le week-end ensemble à Oaxaca, pour montrer à Fabrice les charmes de cette ville, il a autant été positivement surpris qu’il n’a a pas été difficile pour lui de faire connaissance de la population locale, étant probablement une des 10 personnes noires recensées a Oaxaca cette année…Il est vrai que la curiosité ininterrompue des gens ont du l’agacer au bout d’un moment, mais ce ne fut que de la curiosité positive.

Le lundi nous sommes allés à Tule, ou pousse le plus gros arbre au monde (d’après les locaux), Il mesure 41 mètres de haut et une circonférence de 36 mètres. Son diamètre, mesuré à 1,5 m de hauteur, fait 14,4 mètres..

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Départ pour la plage : Arrivés en début de semaine (lundi soir, après 7 heures de trajet par une route très sinueuse, dans une camionnette peu confortable, écrasé contre la fenêtre par un bonhomme de 95 kilos appelé Fabrice..), nous avons profité de la plage le premier jour en début de journée et avons loué une voiture dans la foulée pour découvrir la côte Oaxaqueña.

Notre itinéraire : Puerto escondido-Playa la ventanilla-Bahias de huatulco-Zipolite.



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Le fait d’être autonome nous a permi de découvrir la côte et les différentes plages de la cote pacifique.

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2011 Feb 7

Premieres impressions

Mes premières impressions sont comme vous vous en doutez, moins centrées sur l’aspect professionnel de mes débuts dans ce magnifique pays et plus précisément dans la ville de Oaxaca.

Dans un premier temps, je tiens à rassurer tout le monde sur le fait que nous nous sentons en sécurité dans cette ville, les gens sont très agréables et serviables.

Nous restons néanmoins prudents et évitons de cracher sur les forces de police un soir de cuite.

Ce sont eux apparemment qui font le plus peur au locaux, il est vrai que les voir debout dans leurs pick-up armés d’AK47 n’inspire pas a la délinquance.

Oaxaca est une ville de 260 000 habitants, ce qui est parfait à mon gout (il est possible de joindre l’autre bout de la ville en 25min à pied).

Mes repères:

- Le bar “Café Mondial” (bar le mois cher de Oaxaca a 10 pesos la bière – 60 centimes d’Euros)

- Le bar Sports live Café (matchs de foots sur demande, bière a 20 pesos, et repas gratuit…)

- La salle de Gym à 5min a pied de l’appart

- La bibliothèque avec accès internet gratuit

- Le marché local

- La cuisine de l’appart (j’y passe pas mal de temps, et pour tout vous dire, j’y prends gout, Joséphine aussi..)

La semaine dernière a été consacrée à l’apprentissage de l’Espagnol, a savoir 15 heures de cours basés sur la grammaire.

Pour tout vous dire, je pense que de plus fréquentes visites du café mondial me seront aussi utiles (et moins cher….quoique..)

Je joue aussi hebdomadairement au foot, le niveau est assez élevé, ce qui me convient bien, c’est aussi une autre occasion de rencontrer des gens.

Voila pour mes premières impressions, j’attends maintenant de pieds fermes l’arrivée de mon pote Fabrice pour un week-end de fête sur Oaxaca, et la virée de la semaine prochaine sur la cote de l’état de Oaxaca

Samedi 29 Janvier: excursion a Hierva el Agua




Tout d’abord je dois vous faire partager un phénomène assez inconnu dans notre monde occidental, je vous laisse apprécier les perspectives :

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Toilettes dans notre cour

Priceless !

Je ne sais pas si cela représente la convivialité a la mexicaine, mais c’est un état d’esprit à prendre en considération.

Bref, revenons à nos moutons et l’excursion de samedi.

Levé trop tard, comme d’habitude (certains diront que c’est de ma faute)..

Départ pour Mitla

Mitla était une cité précolombienne du Mexique occupée par les Zapotèques et par les Mixtèques dans l'actuel État d'Oaxaca, à 40 km au sud-est de la ville moderne d'Oaxaca. Son nom lui vient de «Mictlan», qui signifie «lieu des morts» en nahuatl. Les Zapotèques l'appelaient «Lyobaa», ce qui signifie «Lieu du repos». Le site est connu depuis sa description par le père Francisco de Burgoa au XVIIe siècle, bla blabla…..

Mitla est surtout la destination obligatoire de transit pour Hierva el agua.

Apres une heure de bus pur Mitla donc, nous voila embarqués dans une espèce de Camionnette très inconfortable (planches de bois en guise de sièges et corde tendue au milieu du véhicule pour nous agripper à quelque chose) pour 1 heure de voyage dans la montagne escarpée.

Autant vous dire que l’arrivée fut agréable.




Hierva el Agua :

Quelque part dans la Sierra Madre Del Sur pas très loin de Mitla, dans l'état d'Oaxaca au sud du Mexique, se trouve ce petit endroit mythique qu'est Hierve el Agua. Perdu aux limites de la civilisation, on y trouve de célèbres chutes d'eau pétrifiées par un processus naturel, ainsi que deux bassins rempli d'eau très salée et pleine de calcium, blablabla…

Léau était un peu fraiche pour etre honette mais la vue est grandiose la haut !

Je vous laisse aprecier mes talents de photographe :

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Voila pour la premiere excursion, prochaine episode : virée a la playa avec Fablo.

2011 Jan 28

First impressions...

 View of the patio

This is week 3 in Oaxaca [Oahaca], week 2 for me at work... The weather is warmer already, although the sun still sets by 6.30... So I don't get much of it during the week but will be making the most of it at the weekends!
 
We live in the centre of the city, where everything is no more than a 15 minute walk away - a very welcome change! It has a very pretty colonial style centre, and seems very cultural - with lots of little shops and stalls selling 'artesanias', art galleries, funky bars and everything from high end restaurants to mobile 'taquerias', where you basically eat your tacos standing in the street.
 
Corn is the staple here - and 'tortillas' (wraps - which they eat with everything, basically instead of bread) made of maize flour as opposed to wheat flour have such a strong and distinctive taste that we quickly got sick of them! But as I have since discovered, there is a whole range here too... At the cheapest end, in your cornerstreet 'taqueria', you can order 'tacos al pastor' - where they give you a mix of meats, and you basically have to trust that it's not going to be too dire. The last time we went to a place like that, Christophe went up to the counter to pick the meat we wanted - because as he said, if I had seen it we wouldn't have eaten anything! But the best I have been to so far, made absolutely melt-in-the-mouth tacos - and that's where you get Mexico at its best: delicious pork, fresh avocado and tomato, 'picante' chili, a squeeze of lime..... habits that we will be bringing back with us!
 
 Our favourite fruits
 
January-February is also the invasion of North Americans escaping the winter, a regular influx in this part of Mexico that is otherwise quite unused to foreign tourists, meaning that there is little escape from the constant staring, by both men and women, for those of us who are here. Our American and Canadian friends are also the reason why our rent is so high by local standards - to be expected to some extent but we are hoping that Christophe's negotiation techniques will yield results when it comes to paying the second month's rent!
 
Tourism is actually part of what I'm currently looking at at work, in the context of promoting Oaxaca abroad, basically in order to bring in more dosh. The last Governor and his people, who left in December, apparently left no money, piles of debts, and took everything with them... Which would be why we have no computers, no phones, no stationery, hardly any desks.... In the meantime we work on our personal computers, some people aren't allowed to work in the office at all, we have official email addresses since last Friday but our email and calendar are based on gmail (no outlook for us...). Even they describe it as 'caotico'....
 
I am in the 'Coordinación General de Financiamiento y Vinculación Internacional', a unit in charge of international relations and bringing in funding. The new Governor set up a number of these 'Coordinaciónes', in the areas he felt were of highest priority for Oaxaca. First impressions are that it is extremely hierarchical here, and, although I haven't seen it overtly yet, I think very political too. It is after all a coalition government that includes parties from across the whole spectrum, including the Governor's left-leaning party, but also the ruling party from the previous government....  
 
And in fact the social protests are a regular occurence here, historically and nowadays too. They are peaceful from the little we have seen - but attract a serious response from the authorities, who ensure there are plenty of police about - armed with AK47s as per usual. They are an intimidating bunch and we basically look down whenever we pass any.
 
Back on the subject of work, the people here are extremely hardworking - with meetings at all hours of the day and night, weekend planning sessions... which I have so far thankfully escaped! Bureaucracy is another heavy feature of life here - as I fear that I am going to have to provide my birth certificate amongst many other things in order to get paid.... Another trait, that has started to make the English side of me uncomfortable (although I have since been reassured), is how my profile is inflated every time the Coordinator (the big boss) introduces me... So in a meeting with the Ministers of Tourism and Culture, I was introduced as having been sent over by the British Government, where I was adviser to the Minister of Education, here to foster a significant relationship with the UK....  No pressure there then!!
 
Despite all the chaos and busy-ness around me, what I have been asked to do is interesting but does not so far feel like a full-time job, despite of course having to be there the whole time... Although my first week of total Spanish immersion did feel quite knackering! In the meantime, Christophe has started Spanish lessons this week, which include other activities like cookery lessons - so I am looking forward to some home made Mexican food!
 
Our adoptive kitten... for a day!