Playa Zipolite (day 3)

At around 9:00am, we started walking towards the village of Zipolite. From there, we needed to take a collectivo taxi to the next village of Mazunte so that we could visit the sea turtle sanctuary.

Near the end of the walk, we stopped into the Los Mangos RV Park to see if anybody was there. Only two long term tenants, surpringly both from the U.S…one from Boston, and one from Wisconsin. Spoke to the guy from Boston, he said it’s been unusually quiet this year, mostly people on longer trips to South America. However, this park is also very expensive for what you get. It’s 300 pesos ($25.00) per night, and while it’s reasonably nice, we have a much better spot right by the beach for only 100 pesos per night.

The first taxi that stopped wanted 50 pesos ($4.16) to take us to Mazunte. I knew this was “tourista” price, and told the guy we would walk, even though it’s about 6 kms. As he was turning around, another taxi came and said the price was 20 pesos ($1.67). That was better, and we hopped in.

The Mexican government banned the practice of harvesting sea turtles and eggs in 1990. El Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga (The Mexican Turtle Center) was established in Mazunte in March of 1994. Many people in the town of Mazunte had made their living exploiting the sea turtles (there was even a sea turtle slaughterhouse here), and the Turtle Center was the way the government started attracting tourism to the area to give the locals some different jobs. The center has undergone a three stage renovation started in 2009, and the third stage is expected to be complete later this year.

It cost 25 pesos ($2.08) each for admission. We were the first ones in for the day right when they opened at 10:00am, and we didn’t waste any time seeing the turtles and exhibits because we had left Whiskey alone with Sherman and it gets pretty hot in there after lunch.

They don't have just sea turtles, they also display all other turtles that are native to Mexico. This guy was buried in the leaves, with just his head sticking through!

You lookin' at me?

These guys are really pretty, and when they come to the surface it's almost like they want you to pet them on the head. But there is no touching allowed.

Pretty colors

Made it back to Sherman before noon, and spent the afternoon watching the beach and the people and the waves.

This guys was buzzing around for a while. Looks fun, but noisy.

Big waves!

End of another beautiful day in Mexico