Oaxaca - you beautiful place on earth!

Oaxaca: small town atmosphere, Pacific coast & national parks.
This state of Mexico truly has everything you need - mountains, cities, coastlines, national parks, good food, and affordable prices. :P

That was reason enough for us to spend a total of over 3 weeks here. We started in the capital Oaxaca de Juárez, known for its cute streets, colorful houses, and numerous local markets. Surrounded by mountains, the city sits at an altitude of about 1500m above sea level. The historic center has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987, as it is adorned with numerous churches and monuments. We had many beautiful moments taking walks through the city and exploring the numerous markets that offered absolutely everything! Sometimes it was a bit disturbing because alongside food, clothing, and all sorts of trinkets, there were also animals of all kinds available (puppies, chickens, fish, spiders, etc.). For us, it was quite a cultural shock when we suddenly encountered a tiny, cute puppy in the middle of the market, for which the seller was looking for a new owner. Imagine being able to buy a little rabbit at the weekly market in Germany or at Kaufland - oh my God!

Long story short - we had a good time, met wonderful people again, and moved to Puerto Escondido with Kevin from Chicago. Puerto Escondido is a coastal town on the Pacific.

There, we also met Alex, Rabea, and Justin again, whom we already knew from Tulum, Valladolid, and Merida, and spent a total of 2 weeks exploring the beaches and going on some special trips. One of them was the turtle release, where we had the chance to accompany little sea turtles into the ocean. A few months ago, we observed turtles coming out of the sea to lay their eggs on the beach in Costa Rica (if you're interested, you can read about it in one of our older posts). Now we enjoyed helping the hatched baby turtles find their way to the open oceans. It was absolutely beautiful! We really hope that Mamacita and Dorito have become good friends and are enjoying a beautiful, healthy turtle life. :)

In addition, we took a trip to the National Park Lagunas de Chacahua, where after a boat ride through the lagoon, we arrived at a place that was sooo wild that there was almost no internet, no proper toilets (let alone showers), and initially no accommodation for us. So we had to search, ask around, and eventually some locals gave us two of their private tents, of course without air mattresses or anything - just the tents! We set them up right on the beach and spent the night in them - the view of the Chacahua Bay when we woke up was definitely worth a night on hard ground, it was simply beautiful!

After a few more days in Puerto Escondido, we headed to Mazunte, a smaller coastal town south of Puerto Escondido. This place was just big enough to have one main street and 2-3 small side streets. However, the town was quite developed, with nice bars, cafes, and of course beautiful beaches. We spent a very peaceful and relaxed time there, and went on a few hikes, for example to Punta Cometa, which is the southernmost point of Oaxaca and offers an incredibly beautiful sunset. We also took a trip to Zipolite, another small coastal town a bit further south (don't be surprised: as we didn't find this place particularly spectacular, we didn't even take a photo there).

Oaxaca was a very sociable time for us with people we had somehow met somewhere on our journey. We also got to know Mexico from a less touristy, more local perspective there. Our next stop is San Cristobal de las Casas - a mountain town in the state of Chiapas. Stay tuned! ;)