Pacific Coast to Gulf Coast plus some ruins inbetween

From Acapulco we drove along the coast to Zipolite on the recommendation of someone we met in Puebla. Apparently it has the best beaches in Oaxaca, (including this 'clothing optional' one) so we had to go and this is what we found

We had a very nice afternoon chilling out in a bar on the beach, and no, we didn't bare all (nobody wants to see that.)

The following day we said goodbye to the Pacific once more and headed inland over the mountains to Oaxaca. The city is on the foothills of the Sierra Madre and has a number of  colonial-era buildings as well as the native Zapotec and Mixtec cultures.  There are lots of churches, a basilica, cathedral and very ornate Templo de Santo Domingo (below)

The Basilica 

 In the hills outside Oaxaca is the archaeological site of Monte Alban. As well as it being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, it was also the political and economic centre for the Zapotec people for close to a thousand years. It was founded around 500 BC and at its height had a population of around 17,200.

From Oaxaca we had a very long drive through the Sierra Madre mountains to Veracruz, a major port   on the Gulf of Mexico. The city isn't really a tourist destination although they are promoting themselves with a number of new attractions and the renovation of historic ones such as Naval Academy.

From Veracruz we headed across to Cuidad Del Carmen visiting Salto Eyipantla waterfall along the way, which was really impressive

Cuidad del Carmen was a small fishing port until the 1970s when oil was discovered in the area. We could see the offshore rigs from the shore. The city is on Carmen Island which is in the Laguna de Terminos. Up to the early 1980s you could only get here by ferry boats or small motorboats. The causeway bridge (or Puente El Zacatal) to the mainland was constructed in the 1980s with a second built in 1994 and is almost 4kms long.

From Cuidad del Carmen we headed to Merida via the archaeological sites at Edzna and Uxmal (see next blog). Under normal circumstances we would have travelled a little slower but we wanted to get to Merida to surprise our friends Yvonne and Tony a week early  :-)