WE ARE LEAVING MEXICO, ADIOS MEXICO!

Today we have been clearing out of Mexico, officially.

A long procedure took us from Puerto Capitano ( harbour captain), who asked for copies of passports, ships documents such an registration and other to be checked and copied many times. Then we were sent to the bank to pay exit fee of 235 Petsos. After that we were sent to the immigration office across the square, and back to the harbour captain, where the deputy asked us to come back three hours later as the captain himself had to give us a stamp in the papers. And so it went on!

This evening at 6.00 pm this pretty immigrations officer arrived at the boat and took away our green card so we are now officially no longer in Mexico! However tomorrow morning at 7.00 am the customs officer should arrive and chech us over for drugs and other illigal items!

We leave Mexico tomorrow as soon as we have passed through the key hole of burocracy.

There is a weather-window for the Tehuantepec Bay, which is notorious locally for northerly gales suddenly developing at the narrow isthmus between the Mexican Golf and the Pacific Ocean.

We start sailing as early as we can, and follow the bay round for 250 Miles a few miles off shore ( the wind is northerly and the swell is only small under land).

We continue nonstop sailing till we reach El Salvador and shall anchor up in a river 490 Miles from here. Its going to be a long trip, but we are prepared as best as we can. We are going to be at sea for around five days and nights.

ADIOS MEXICO.

IT HAS BEEN GREAT.

Visit to Pre-historic Monte Alban

From Oaxaca we went on a guided bus tour to nearby Monte Alban, which was the capital of the Zapotecs. It was founded around 5ooo BC and flourished until AD 750. The ancient capital has a legacy of sophisticated architecture and fascinating iconography with temples, tombs, plazas and ball courts reveiling Zapotec cultureat its zenith.

View towards Oaxaca from Monte Alban.

Out tour-guide pointing out the ball court.

Sun- dail, wich suffered in an earth quake resently and was not put back correctly.

Stone carvings.

Viwe from top of the mount.

View over the grand plaza.

David and laurel tree.

Verbena on the hilltop.

Cactus and the pyramid.

Aloe-vera plant.

Visit to craft- workshop. Here a young girl is decorating a wooden box with acrylic paint.

Women at work.

Some of the finished items. Pretty and colourful animals.

Buffet lunch served in country restaurant.

More from Oaxaca

Remains of aquaduct.

And drinking well.

Bustrip to Oaxaca, in South Mexico.

I am just checking if the mangos are ripe!

We took the midnight bus from Huatulco to Oaxaca, an eight hours trip up along windy mountain roads 100 miles. It was a very uncomfortable ride, not to be repeated happily. We got the very last tickets in the bus and they happened to be right next to the WC in the back!

We arrived in Oaxaca at 7.00 am to a sleepy Sunday morning, but it did not take long before the city woke up.

Pink bloom on the tree.

The fine baroque facade of the catheral.

Stained glass windue in the cathedral.

Ceiling.

The Zocalo, the area around the cathedral is the centre of town and the heart of Oaxaca. You never get bored here. People watching is fun.

Shoeshine- boy next to xylophon player.

We had breakfast here.

Walking up the street. To the left you see Museum of contemporary art, which is housed in a late 17th-century mansion with stone facade. The building is an example of Spanish colonial architecture.

An artist selling his paintings in the street. I bought that one!

Restaurant serving Sunday morning brunch. Very festive!

Little old lady in wheelchair selling music CDs.

Beautiful belts made with beads found in one of the many street markets.

Lovely colourful townhouses.

The high vaulted ceilingin the Iglesia Santo Domingo.

The guilded alter.