Oaxaca to Chiapas
August 2006
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After spending time in Acapulco with Glenn and Barb, we moved south along the coast toward the famous surf of the Oaxacan coast. Our first stop was in the town of Puerto Escondido otherwise known as "The Mexican Pipeline". The heat was intense, the town crowded after the recent X Games surf contest and the waves really weren't very good. We decided to head inland through the mountains to the city of Oaxaca. We found a great place to camp right in the thick of the city and met a couple nice travelers.
The city was great, we walked to all of the sites and explored the huge markets. We also took day trips in the van to Monte Alban, our first major ruin in Mexico. Although the ruins aren't of Mayan origin, the site is amazing and the views of the surrounding valley and city are wonderful. We took more side trips to village where the famous President Benito Juarez was born, the wool weaving, wood carving, black and green pottery towns as well as a trip to see the ancient Tule tree. The tree is said to be one of the oldest in the world at approximately 2,600 years. We went to market day Tlacalula and spent most of the day wandering through the crazy assortment of goods and food.
From the city of Oaxaca we headed back to the coast camping in Puerto Angel. We didn't really like Puerto Angel although TONS of people raved about it. The fact that Eric was sick, the mosquitoes were insane and there was no surf made it hard to love the place. We checked out the sea turtle museum and research facility and then hit the road in search of surf. What we found was an unbelievable assortment of un-crowded world-class right hand point breaks. Some of them felt like Baja with the remoteness and lack of other surfers. We bumped into a friend we met in La Saladita and camped with him and surfed a couple secret spots before deciding it was time to move on towards Chiapas
We drove from the coast to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of the state of Chiapas and spent a couple nights. We took a day trip to Canon del Sumidero and enjoyed the resources available in the large city. We were even on Mexican radio one day as we drove past a radio station that we were listening to and all of a sudden we heard them talking about the van live on the radio in Spanish and waving to us. We left Tuxtla and drove the 40 minute drive up to San Cristobal de las Casas which is situated in the mountains of Chiapas at 7,200 feet of elevation. Believe it or not it was actually cold at night. We savored every moment of the beutiful town and weather. We took day trips to Zinacantan for their big festival day and San Juan Chamula. We actually visited these towns via Na Bolom, a museum and center of anthropological activity in the region for many years. It is a must see if you are ever in San Cristobal. The sites in San Cristobal are great and we recommend a visit for anyone interested out there. As much as we loved our camp spot, the town, the weather and everything else, we had to say goodbye and make our way towards Guatemala. So long Mexico!