New Year, New Post!

Getting back into a rhythm is challenging. Especially when it comes to writing. I deeply enjoy doing the Wandering Potato. But After putting it off for too long already on this trip. The new year came in hot, I kicked myself in the butt to get it done. Just to find out google had locked me out of blogger. Fortunately now we have a lot of un-planned time on our hands. And I have a lot of content to share with you. First things first. Our trip was cut right in half as a bittersweet email came shooting in after Christmas. Yoshi (after a year of anxiously waiting) was accepted for his final interview for PR status! We had a feeling this was going to happen and wasn’t totally surprised. But when you are finally here, and in the moment and enjoying every minute of it. It's hard to let go of the places that you have built up to be so wonderful in your imagination. Now we are home. Yoshi has been offically become a Permanent resident. The weight off our shoulders has been lifted, and we can continue on to our next destinations, worry free of having to cut another trip short. I don't think I can conjure up a full play by play blog of the places we visited on this adventure. Hopefully, the imagery will speak for itself and you get a taste of our little taste of this wonderful country.

P U E R T O A N G E L

After arriving in Mexico, and walking out to find the local bus stop. We ended up tearing around corners in a cab for an hour to the coast of Oaxaca. Ending up with some light motion sickness, in the tine port town of Puerto Angel. Mostly just a fisherman village, there really isn't very much going on here. The streets are dirty, with only really a handful of restaurants and one hostel that we found. But charming, with a real local feeling to it. It ended up being the best swim of our whole trip, best room and board for your buck, and best huevos rancheros of the whole trip.

Our colourful bedroom at Gundi Y Tomas. A family run hostel/homestay.

The view from the Hostel of the local village.

This little puppers followed us home from the beach. Thinking she instantly was infatuated and wanted to come back home with us. Little did we know she actually the hostels dog. This was her spot in the sun.

First day, first swim in Mexico.

Z I P O L I T E / S A N A G U S T I N I L L O / M A Z U N T E

The first week was spent in San Agustinillo. Another beach town that we took a collectivo (A local who drives either a combi, or a pick up trucks with a tarp on the back that you jump on and off. ) to from Puerto Angel. With paved streets, and no local restaurants, it was built up way more than Puerto Angel but small and still very relaxed. We stayed at an Air B n B that was run by an Irish woman and her son. They lived up a hill that really had my calf muscles screaming by the end of the week. Zipolite was the most built up, with a strip of restaurants, shops and hotels. The rip in the water is pretty intense in Zipolite, which isn't ideal. So we went as far down the beach as we could to find some shade in the rocks. Just to find out that this was were all the nudists of Zipolite also go for some shelter. We saw a lot of un wanted penises that day.

Casa Magica. The name of the Air B n B cabana we stayed in.

Our party pooper. Always hanging out in the rafters dropping poop on us.

We tried to catch the sunset every night. This night we shared headphones and listened to music. People watching until it was dark. Very romantic I know. My idea of course.

Mazunte is about 20 minutes up a hill, and is the next town over from San Agustinillo. Mostly just hippies seemed to end up here. We didn't particularly love it. But we made a great friend named Annie on our day trip to Zipolite who showed us her side of the town and we had some great food, Mezcal, and looked at the stars together on Christmas Eve.

Some Art and architecture of Mazunte.

Punta Cometa is a state park that serves mostly as a wonderful lookout point for sunset. We hiked up and shared the beautiful sunset with about 200 people. Sometimes when you travel you want moments all to yourself. But It felt more magical sharing one of natures everyday gifts with a group of people. We noticed that there was a beach that we thought would be cool to spend a day at, coming back the next day to hike around and we ended up only sharing the day with 2 other people.

Our private beach!

Testing out my new Fuji XT20!

My personal favourite photo of the sunset series.

O A X A C A C I T Y

We spent New Years in Oaxaca City. Which was pretty disorienting after coming from the relaxed beach life of the coast. So much was happening in the Zocalo

Black cat found caught in the morning light of our hostel.

Elotes! Corn with parm, mayo, crickets, and spice! I actually didn't Love the flavour of the crickets...

The street meat section of "Mercado 20 de Noviembre." No fans, totally indoors, and smokey. Selling Meat by the kilo. Probably was the only spot that we thought the meat might kill us. Ended up being totally fine and a really local experience.

More photos of the Market! Our hotel was RIGHT beside it. Making it a noisy spot in the heart of the market district.

Famous Church just off the Zocallo.

These funny paper mâché humans are often times found at weddings and/or celebrations. The are usually held on peoples shoulders and stand above the crowd.

Found this cute little art space.

(Take note of the paper mâché people) A wedding was taking place in the gorgeous Cathedral. The party was waiting for them outside!

The wedding party and all the guests flowed outside to celebrate in the streets!

Really cool art/historical museum where history met art.

this art piece was called "LEGS"

More art pieces found in Oaxaca City.

The most beautiful tree we found on the way to visit the cemetery.

Also outside our hotel.

The second most beautiful tree.

Cute little coffee shop with cute little cacti.

O A X A C A ' S S U R R O U N D I N G A R E A S

We loved Oaxaca for its arty modern feel. But we also loved all the places that were so accessible just outside the City. We tried to take the local routes each time. Often catching Collectivo's, different classes of buses, and even the odd tuktuk and taxis. We met great people this way and it made the adventure that much richer. This was how we met our European friends Gasper and Eva. We spent New Years Eve together and the next few days in Oaxaca with.

The first place we visited was Hierve el Agua a calcium based "mountain" that has been created over thousands of years. It's formed into a beautiful cascading waterfall with a mineral pool on the top that resembles an infinity pool. We seemed to be the only group doing the full hike along the bottom of the mountain in the heat of the day. Seeing it from all perspectives was really cool. I highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance!

The little towns you drive through on the way up to Hierve el Agua.

A R R A Z O L A

This little town of artist's was one of my favourite spots. We ended up going on January 1st, with our new friends that we met the day before. Just as we were pulling through we all sort of had a mini panic wondering if there would actually be anything open. It was a quiet day in Arrazola, but every shop was open for business. This town is famous for selling the famous colourful, wooden animals. Called Alebrijes, every single shop here sold them. Making it overwhelming, we ended up buying two to take home for ourselves from a mother and her small daughter. We were starving and walked all over town to find somewhere to eat, finally getting sent by a local to the only place open. Which ended up being the best food we had on the trip, with only a table for four and chopping the meat on an actual tree stump. We scarfed it down and ordered double. This town was covered in art and seemed to have a slow eternal sunshine.

A Mezcal field I snapped from the bus. Oaxaca is Mezcal country. With shops seemingly on every street offering you free shots to test their great Mezcal. Usually it comes in a double shot glass, beetle salt, and an orange.

Mexican TukTuks! Azul Cruz Azul's may look like a hospital, while actually its your good ol hardware store!

A lady selling some beautiful flowers on January 1st.

M O N T E A L B A N

On our last day in Oaxaca, we all headed out to see the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban. Impressively large, we learned about Zapotec lifestyle. Which came with a whole new knowledge of sacrifice.

We also checked out the town of the secret black pottery. They do not tell you how they make it black. The town also had an overwhelming amount of pottery for sale. Yoshi ended up finding a one of Skull with bulging eyes. The lady would not drop her price exclaiming that it was her sons and one of a kind. She went on to show us tons of photos of her family's pottery on her phone, even the awards they have won entering them into show's and contests. So beautiful that the whole family had their own unique styles and how proud she was of each of them.

S A N C R I S T O B A L D E L A S C A S A S

Every-time you tell somebody that you are going to San Cris, their eyes light up and they exclaim how beautiful it is. I knew this town was going to be something special, and it really lives up to the hype. Based in Chiapas, the last state of Mexico before you enter into Guatemala. It's the first taste we had of the jungle and of the real poverty Mexico is faced with. Chiapas is the poorest state, and we had a few instances were it was very in your face, just how poor people really were. With children coming up, sitting on my lap out of nowhere and grabbing at my food. The country is faced with protestors who shut down roads, and many roads not advisable to drive on at night. As much as it's heart gripping to see poverty, San Cristobal was beautiful and its people just as lovely. Our hostel was on the street filled with fresh fruit, and right beside a little bakery. Most mornings we bought Guavas and freshly baked rolls, and then to our little favourite cafe for a coffee. We had planned to check out the ruins of Palenque and Agua Azul, two spots that were high on my list. Unfortunately, Yoshi got extreme travel sickness on our way there and we had to get dropped off in the middle of nowhere and find our way back. Just like Guatemala was put on the back burner, we will come back to travel this area. Try our luck with Palenque in the near distant future

P U E R T O E S C O N D I D O

After finding out that we had to head home early, we decided to follow our new friends to Puerto Escondido. After hearing very mixed reviews, we didn't know what to expect from this built up beach spot. We ended up staying with our awesome friends in their cool little Air B n B. They offered Spanish and surf lessons. They also offered you a ride to the Turtle Sanctuary on a secluded beach. We decided to check out the turtle sanctuary just to see what it was all about. Little did we know we actually were going to be releasing the turtles at sunset. What started off as a magic moment helping the turtles reach the ocean... quickly turned into a real life horror film. I guess at 5 pm everyday they basically have sacrificial turtles for the tourists to release at sunset... and the birds come for their schedualed feeding time. They release the rest of them at midnight. Which is actually the natural way for turtles. Out of the four of us maybe only 1 survived that day. Word of Advice- always make sure that when travelling and animals are involved, you make darn sure that its in a humane way. It's very easy to fall for tourist traps, and I was really sad to be apart of this one.

Other than that horrific incident we ended up really enjoying Puerto Escondido. I actually found it to have a lot more local options and flavour than the other smaller Oaxacan coastal towns. We finally got to go surfing together, and spent our last day catching some waves with our friends. I wouldn't have had it any other way! It was hard saying goodbye to Mexico. But as we got home and finally had the weight of worrying about Residency over with. It was free'ing in a way I've never felt before. Now we are in Fernie getting our little leagies ready for Jappow!!