We Get Wet

Days 61-63

Leaving Oaxaca we had a beautiful mountain drive ahead of us to get to Zipolite, an old fishing village with a beautiful long beach and now a bit of a travellers' hangout. Just after lunch we felt a few drops of rain and Emily asked if we should put our waterproofs on. “No”, Ric replied confidently, “we're driving out of the mountains now anyway so we should be fine”. It was true that as we rode out of the mountains we rode into sunshine, but this was after an hour of of the most torrential rain, thunder and lightening that either of us of had ever seen, let alone been right in the middle of as we slithered our way down the twisty road. Water gushed down the sides of the mountain in muddy waterfalls, turning the road into one big flash flood interspersed with landslides. It was raining so hard we couldn't see with our visors down so had to ride with them up and endure the stinging rain in order to see anything, and even then we could only see a few meters as we were driving through the storm clouds. We could have tried to stop and shelter under a tin hut or something on the way down but our radios had stopped working due to being soaked, and anyway, where's the adventure in that...? When we'd driven out into the bright sunshine at the bottom we pulled into a petrol station and as we started ringing out our gloves, the attendant asked innocently “Did it rain?”!

We spent the next few days drying out in Zipolite... seafood, sun, snorkelling and surf. The waves were pretty brutal so we weren't able to swim in the sea much, but had fun watching the multitudes of surfers and body boarders doing their thing while we relaxed on the beach.


Days 64-66

We're now in San Cristobal in Ciapas state, back up in the mountains and the cooler climes. We'd looked up a hostel here but found it closed. However, fate shone on us once more when one of the seven Ciapas BMW club members happened to drive by and see us consulting our map. Fransisco pulled up for a bit of a chat and invited us to stay at the beautiful hotel he owns right on the town square for a very generous rate, so now we're in the lap of luxury... We really like Mexican BMW owners!

This area is full of very traditional indigenous villages so we visited a couple of these today. There were no photos allowed at the first which is a shame because there was the most bizarre church there. Half catholic and half traditional religious beliefs, apparently this church is entirely unique and has special permission from the Vatican to be thus – worshipping the sun, not using the bible and yet having a resident catholic priest conducting baptisms and confirmations inside. The second village was less busy and more relaxed – we visited a very welcoming family who had us try on their traditional wedding dress, sample the local alcoholic corn drink “bosh” and eat some very yummy freshly made tortillas.