huatulco, oaxaca

well, this morning we woke up at 6 since we wanted to catch the sunrise over the pacific. didnt happen - the sky was too hazy.

so, we took advantge that we were up early and drove for 1.5 hours to the bahias de hualtulco for breakfast.  we searched for restaurants on the beach and all there was were major hotels with cafeteria style food, no thanks. so we drove on and found a lovely beach called la bocana !!!  sat and had a bad cup of coffee, took photos and moved on.

heading back we saw a neat italian coffee place. parked and since they didnt serve food, we went to a neat little place called El Portico and I had frijolada.  which means beans with a tortilla. with two eggs on top. it was good !!!!  new food item to eat now !!

we were also looking to find a restaurant owned by a guy who used to cook for the juan pablo the pope. it is called IL GARDINO DEL PAPA...i thought it was at the last beach but in fact - it is at the first town you enter in hualtuco...so, it is supposed to be extra special. if you go, let me know how you enjoyed it !!

we drove back to our hotel in the sky in paradise. we got in the pool, it was scorching hot today and the pool was perfect. then les went down to the beach to photograph (since there were 230 steps to climb on the way back up - I passed !!).  then it was time to pack up and head off.

at 1ish we left for the mountains that separate the beaches from the capital of oaxaca.  what the gps said would be a 4 hour trip total turned out to be only halfway. we are now at a very nice hotel called HOTEL PLAZA DIAMANTE in downtown MIAHATLAN. the town itself is so ugly.  but the hotel is nice and it is one of the first to offer internet in the room and really mean it !!!  200 pesos or 250 after taxes.

the ride:the mountains are high, really high. the road is narrow. people drive too fast. you can only 20 mph.

we almost died when some idiot went over onto our side of a very narrow road with a cliff on our side ....

now, we found a family that whittles the most incredible ALEBRITES. these are animals that their ancestors dreamed up way bck when and thru the years, the families have kept up the tradition of making them.  they are just amazing and we bought 2 iguanas, these have been the them of most of our shopping - i got a puerto vallarta t-shirt with a great iguana on it !!