Waiting in Malaysia

I ran across this actual photo recently while going through boxes of more photos.  The pictures we took on our trip home from Ethiopia in 1978 were slides so where did this actual photo come from?  It must have been taken by the wife of  the man standing in the center and she remembered to mail it to us. That is practically unheard of.

In this photo we were waiting on a riverbank in Kuala Tembling, Malaysia, for a wooden boat to take us to the Taman Negara National Park.

When we began this trip in 1976 I sewed us each a Frostline Kit canvas backpack/suitcase.

Those served us well for nearly 3 years of very rough travel but by the time we hit Afghanistan they were pretty torn up.  We found the lovely leather suitcases we have in the photo above in the Kabul market.  Pack light was our motto; that was what we carried for our 3-year trip around the globe.

As for the Park, we took a 3 and 1/2 hour riverboat up to a small hotel.  Here and here are my original journal entries of this part of the trip, including photos of the riverboat and swimming and swinging on vines in the jungle.

Leaving Mazunte

Our 10 day stay in Mazunte has been perfect.  We never felt compelled to travel away, except when we needed more pesos.  The closest bank or ATM, we were informed, was a 20 minute collectivo ride to Pochutla.  This mode of transportation costs 10 pesos (way less than a dollar) and will take you, and anyone else who wants to flag it down and climb in, to the surrounding towns.

One day for breakfast we walked along the road about 10 minutes to Augustneillo, an even smaller town than Mazunte but with equal charm.  Its beach is calmer, the hotels perhaps a little more upscale, and you can even rent a kayak.  (We didn't.) 

Another day we climbed Comet Point which separates Mazunte from Marmejita Beach for a view from the cliffs.

 

But mostly we just enjoyed 2 for 1 margaritas under the palapas,

bought a mango a day,

 picked up our laundry from Chelita and her 12 grandchildren, where they "wash your clothes with love,"

 

stopped by for an occasional chocolate croissant at La Baguette,

tried to figure out the beach safety rules.

and snoozed in our porch hammock.

And finally we checked out the direction of the sunset at Mermejita Beach, which turned out to be deserted except for a dozen or so observers like us.  Tucked away in a corner of the beach among the deserted palapas was this one with a single red tablecloth.  It acted like a beacon and not surprisingly there was someone there who happily made us some frozen margaritas.

 The sun did indeed set in the west from Mermejita Beach.

Mazunte wildlife

When Mazunte was first settled, it was the home of farmers and fishermen and eventually the home of a sea turtle slaughterhouse.  Since 1991, when Mexico began enforcing the ban on harvesting and sale of turtle meat, Mazunte's slaughterhouse became the National Mexican Turtle Center (Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga).  We visited it today and saw these little 2-day old baby turtles. They reminded us of our turtle release in Troncones, Guerrero a few years ago.

Through the window from our bed we have a great bird-tree. It is tall and has no leaves so I have been able to observe several varieties.   I call these the yellow variety.

I Googled these guys; they are White-throated Magpie Jays.  They do their fly-by just at sunrise and make a raucous noise like really mad chickens.  I love their swooping long tails in flight and their curious top-knot feathers.

A few days in Paradise

After a chilly two months in Central Mexico we decided to head down to the Oaxaca coast to Mazunte. Here it is; just what we had hoped for, as seen from our lunch table on our arrival.

Our  room for our stay is on the top floor with a hammock on the terrace.  We found Casa Huijazoo on airbnb.com. 

The sun woke us up the next morning as it rose over the ocean through our, we thought, south facing window. 

It turns out that our views are on an east-west axis off a peninsula.

That means the other ocean view from our window is where the sun sets.

A 10 minute walk took us to Mermejita beach where the sun sets approximately behind where Bryan is standing.  We'll have to test this theory in the next few days.