Mexico, The Oaxacan coast

Arriving back at the house in Mazunte, Mexico was lovely, whether it's true or not I tell myself that the dogs remembered me!  

Knowing that we wouldn't be traveling for a while apart from one or two small trips with our little bags was nice. Time to unpack! The first few days we just relaxed at the house and visited the beach a bit, having some much needed lazy days.  

That weekend we took a little road trip with elisa to Puerto Escondido a popular surf spot up the coast. A friend of ours Haley from the states who we’ve met in Costa Rica was volunteering in 'la punta' the little hippy town at the end of Puerto Escondido's huge beach, so she also joined us.  

The next day we went to a beautiful little cove for a swim and the chill before elisa drove back to Mazunte. Rad and I stayed another night in Puerto Escondido to chill and try to recover. The next day we went down to La Punta which is definitely more our kinda of place, Escondido is very built up and touristy. 

For our Christmas present we treated ourselves to a lovely boutique hotel with a pool!  

But overall just spent a few days chilling with Haley and the other volunteers on beach watching sunset and drinks in the evening. 

Haley came down to Mazunte to join us for a day. There is a mangroves/swamp nearby home to alligators and tons of iguanas.

One alligator was only a couple of meters away from us.  

On Christmas Day we had breakfast out and went to the beach to build a Sandman.  

I think we did pretty well if I do say so myself.  

Mum made a great roast in the afternoon/evening and Elisa's dad joined us along with mums friend Michael. 

In between xmas and NYE we went on a boat trip to try and find some whales, dolphins and some other sea life.  

We didn't see whales but we did see lots of dolphins, jumping manterays and turtles.

Catching this guys on the camera is damn hard! 

Didn't mind too much about the whales as we would be going out again once Mavreen arrived. 

Which she did the next day!  

Mum and I hopped on the bus to get her from the airport (my favourite airport in the world! It is super pretty!) and we ended up sharing a taxi back with another traveller. 

Mav only had a day or two to settle in before NYE.  

Dogie yoga.

On the last day of the year we went up the coast to beautiful beach aguas blancas to watch the last sunset of the year! 

Never before have I been so scared at a fireworks display. Don't get me wrong watching fireworks on the beach is beautiful but they do need a little health and safety! At one point we were all half crouching behind a sign, as a pinwheel firework looked ready to come loose and mow some people down! 

After the beach party we moved to another beach party! This one was kinda weird so after a while we called in a night.