Mexico, Mazunte, Oaxaca

New Year's Day was spent relaxing, as it should be! 

A couple days into the new year we had our second boat trip to try and find some whales! Haley came down from La Punta to join us along with some of Elisa’s friends. 

Unfortunately we didn't find whales, even though they had seen them everyday for the week before. Sad but we did see lots of turtles and jumping stingrays. Impossible to catch them jump on camera but amazing to see. 

Finished off with watching sunset from the boat with beers it was a pretty chilled afternoon. 

The next morning we woke up at silly o'clock to head to 'Punta cometa' to watch sunrise (a peninsula of rocks that are very spiritual to a lot of people). 

Treated ourself to an amazing waffle place for waking up on time. 

One of the last activities we did before finally moving on from the house was paddle boarding at sunset.  

I have never paddle boarded in such a rough sea, it was near impossible to stay on your board.  

Right before sunset we noticed some movement. A mother an baby whale weren't to far from us. The baby was playing and kept splashing around, one of the most magical moments of the trip.

Unfortunately with a GoPro's fisheye it was hard to try and catch them. Just the splashes.

Back on the road but still with the family we took a road trip for my birthday, to Oaxaca city the capital of well... Oaxaca province.  

Oaxaca is a beautiful city but it was damn cold! None of us where prepared for the cold especially Mavreen.

We visited the ruins of Monte Alban, which was built by the Zapotec’s in 500AD. The ruins where very open with a huge space/square in the middle and they were beautiful. 

Set on top of a hill with a 360 view of the valley around in and the surrounding mountains you could see why they would build a city here.

The next day we tried and called to go to Hierve el Agua a petrified waterfall. Elisa's car just didn't feel like going with us. So we settled with just seeing the widest and oldest tree in Mexico.

It was impressive but surprisingly short. We had a early flight on the 12th and didn't want a late night before, so we went out for my birthday drinks on the 10th. Nothing crazy as it was weekday but still a lovely evening.

As we hadn't made it to Hierve el Agua Rad and I hopped on public transport to go and see it.

Definitely worth the uncomfortable truck journey on a dodgy road!

We went out to a fancy restaurant for my birthday dinner.

One of the best meals of the trip, they even brought out bubbly for the table and cake for me.

The next day mum and Elisa made their way back to Mazunte. Rad, Mav and I got on a flight to Cancun!