Zipolite

We took the six-hour long minivan journey over the mountains of Oaxaca state down to the coast. It was an incredibly long and windy journey on mountain roads, but worth it when we arrived on the coast - after nine days in the city we were ready for the seaside!

Zipolite beach

Zipolite is on the Pacific coast, which is famous for its massive waves and good surf.  On certain beaches though, it is too dangerous to go in past knee deep due to the enormous waves and strong currents.

 

Sunset and surf at Zipolite

 In fact, literally translated, Zipolite means ‘Death Beach’ for this very reason! I’m not sure my video quite gets across how big and powerful the waves are, but it’s certainly an impressive sight.

 

Even on the beaches, where it is safe to swim, the waves can still be huge and you still need to take care – on occasion we watched numerous people being caught unaware and washed in to the shore by a set of big waves – in addition to surfers who couldn’t even get out to where the waves were breaking as they kept being washed in!

Mazunte beach

In Mazunte we were amazed to see boats coming in to land on the beach between the waves – check out their method of doing so – though I’m sure it can’t be very good for the boat itself!

 

By an amazing coincidence, Kev’s friend Solveig (who sang at our wedding) happened to be in Zipolite the same weekend as us, so we enjoyed spending some time with her and her friend Emiliano. It’s a small world!

Kev and Solveig

The Pacific coast from Puerto Escondido to Mazunte has a laid-back hippy vibe – You get the impression that a lot of people come here as a backpacker and never leave!

Not us though, for it’s time to go back over the mountains to Mexico City, ready for our flight to Costa Rica - I’ll write again from there.