Tag: oaxaca
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Besides celebrating the Dias de los muertos, we had primarily come to oaxaca to meet with our friends Rafa and Bere, so after the festival, they invited us to their home in Puerto Escondido for “a few days”.
They have a beautiful house a few meters away from the beach, in La Punta, a famous surf spot on the southern side of Puerto.
They designed the house themselves, and it was built over a period of 10 years while they were living in Paris with regular trips to Puerto.
Built on slanting ground, the house spreads over 4 different levels and features an inner courtyard with a pool and an open living space and kitchen on the top floor, under a traditional palapa roof made of palms, with a view on the sea and the sunset !
By the time the house was ready, Airbnb had become a thing and tourists started pouring into town, so they caught the wave and what was supposed to be Rafa’s music room was converted into a studio apartment for rent. It’s been fully booked ever since!
Bere and Rafa made us feel right at home, and after 2 months of moving around non stop, we felt we could finally rest a bit. On top of that, the temperature in Puerto made us feel a bit lethargic and the pool was a benediction !
Puerto was a great break from a long series of touristic spots. It is a touristic spot too, but here we had an actual social life with friends, birthday parties and routine activities.
To gather the Oaxaca crowd once more, Mary organised a big Indian lunch. We cooked veg kurma, cabbage sabji, dahl, rice and kheer 😋
In spite of the heat, our stay in Puerto was quite sportive! We tried surfing, bodyboard, skateboard and a bit of hiking in the back country. And Cyril and Laurence, whom we met the week before in Oaxaca, are Thai boxing teachers (with Cyril holding 2 world championship records!). They were so good at sharing their passion that we started taking classes with them 3 times a week.
From the Oaxaca crowd we also became friends with Ludo and Olivia, Gonzalo and Laura, and Simone, a surf champion from Venezuela, creator of the Volt beachwear brand.
On Saturday, Bere and Rafa took us to the Manialtepec laguna for a lovely boat excursion by the sunset. We had a bonfire and marshmallows on the beach, and on the way back, we jumped in the water in complete darkness to witness the amazing bioluminescence phenomena; small algae that produce light and make the laguna ressemble a river of diamonds 💎. Fabulous 😍
The next day we celebrated Ludo’s birthday in the shade of palm trees on the Agua Blanca beach.
Our hyperactive host Rafa also had an exhibition of his work in an artsy gallery / restaurant. For the opening, he invited me to play a duo gig with him 🎸
Rafa also introduced me to his good friend Mao; a talented musician and composer who owns a bar in La Punta. We jammed in the middle of the night in the closed establishment, accompanied by a few shots of mezcal.
After 10 days in Puerto we thought it would be wise to let pur hosts breathe a bit and resume our journey. At the same time, it felt too short and I didn’t feel like leaving. That’s when Mary had the great idea of falling ill! The doctor prescribed some antibiotics and we decided to postpone our departure by a week.
Mary soon got better and we enjoyed the company of our friends a bit longer 🙂
We also took the opportunity to squat Rafa’s workshop and learn the basics of pottery. Leo made a few sculptures and Mary managed to make her first bowl.
“Sexy black” salsa night out with Bere and Gwen 
Indian cooking and wine with Bere and Olivia 
Cyril, Simone and Laurence 
Leo enjoying the pool 
Nilo and Leo on the Manialtepec laguna 
Rafa’s exhibition 
Concert with Rafa for the opening of his exhibition 
Me pretending that I can actually surf! 
Rafa’s bruise for teaching me how to surf! (His arm got caught in the leash!) 
Collectivo ride with Ruby to the cascada de Reforma 
Collectivo ride to the cascada de Reforma 
Cascada de Reforma 
Rafa’s workshop 
The pottery class 
Mary working on her ceramic bowl 
Mary modeling for Volt surfwear 
Traditional dances from the Oaxaca villages -
It’s quite a challenge to sum up this incredible festival in a blog post and only select a few photos!
Like many I had seen the animation movie Coco, and honestly I think it’s a very good introduction 🙂
In France, like in most countries I know, cemeteries and other memories of the dead are for mourning sadly. “All saints day” -or other forms of celebration of our ancestors, like pitra paksh in India- is celebrated quietly and solemnly with prayers and contemplation.
The mexican version is very different and very poetic; Mexicans once a year receive a visit from their loved ones traveling from the after life world.
Cemeteries transform into a sort of joyous “train station” where the families await their ancestors visit!
Each house has an altar with the photos of the family members and food and drinks for their travels (most often coca cola, mezcal and corona!)
For 6 days, all over town, people dress up with masks and makeup while bands march with drums and wind instruments.
Concert stages are set up in different plazas, including in front of the cemeteries.
Sitting around the tomb of their families, people chat, drink, laugh and play music to celebrate the family reunion.
As they rightly say, a person only truly disappears when there’s no one left to remember them.
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We’ve just spent one crazy week in Oaxaca and a single blog post will not be enough!
This story starts 3 years ago, when we went on vacation to Cuba.
In the airport in Paris, while we wait for boarding, Leo starts playing with a little kid.
The parents, Rafa and Berenice, are a very friendly franco-mexican couple, on their way to Mexico, with two days of stop over in Havana. We sympathise and hang out with them until they leave.
We’ve kept in touch since then and always said we would visit them in Mexico; and now is the occasion.
They live in Puerto Escondido but had planned to come spend the week in the city for the Dias del Muertos festival. They came with a group of friends and we tagged along.
So after 2 months of traveling mostly on our own, we met with a super friendly crowd and Leo finally had lots of children to play with. ❤️
Rafa and Berenice are both artists and make beautiful jewellery and pottery. You should check out their work on instagram: @gotadetierra and @lunaticart.
On top of that Rafa is a talented musician and on our second day in Oaxaca we already played a gig together!
Aside from this most of the week was centered around the festival, but that’s so many photos that it’ll be for another post!
Rafa and Bere in their jewellery stand 
Nilo and Leo re-friended after 3 years! 
Bere and Mary after makeup 
Finally a real party with friends! 
Olivia 
Bere 
Laurence 
Cyril 
Gonzalo 
Jam session at the hotel 
Skate session with Julia 
Leo carrying Thia 
Thia trying my guitar 
Rafa’s artwork -
As we’re traversing the state of Oaxaca, one famous spot to visit is Hievre el Agua.
On the way there it seemed that literally everyone in the region was producing mezcal – a liquor made from agave – from the big ranch plantation to the smallest shack!
Hievre el Agua is a series of petrified waterfalls overlooking a green valley and with natural infinity pools. Quite splendid! (It did remind us of the Saturnia falls in Italy)
We spent the night in Mitla and woke up super early to « beat the crowd ».
Clever plan, except that the way to get there is to take a « collectivo » which by definition means we have to wait for the crowd to come and fill the collectivo! Being the first ones there we just sat at the bus stop for an hour and a half 😅
It seemed like we were the only ones doing the hike down the valley, most people just take pictures by the pools and leave. It’s a beautiful walk uncovering many caves and rock formations.
We were initially doubtful about swimming in the pools, but after the walk we needed to freshen up, and we also found that there where public showers to cleanup after the bath. So we jumped in 🙂
Later the same evening we picked our bags and took a small bus back to Oaxaca city to continue our journey east with a 12 hours night bus ride to our next stop: San Cristobal de Las Casas.
Just one of *many* various mezcal makers 
The bumpy dirt road to Hievre el Agua 
First view of the valley 
On the edge of the natural pool 
The pools as seen from above 
Mary sitting on top of the petrified waterfall 
The iron contained in the rock gives it a red tint 
Starting a hike around the valley 
The giant fall from down under 
James Bond and his James Bond girl! 
James Bond is now exhausted ! 
Mushroom looking rock formations 
A giant cactus 
Agave is the star of this region 
« The coat hangers » 
After the hike we finally dared getting into the water 
Raahi - A traveling family 