Although we published some fish pictures we never got to tell you the story...so here it comes :-P We woke up early that day without even knowing if the weather will shine on us and will allow us fulfil our dream (well...mostly Ishay´s :-) ) of fishing in Mexico. After a whole night of excitement...again,mostly by Ishay and his dreams of catching the illusive marlin fish, we were picked up from our hotel and taken to Puerto Escondido ¨harbour¨. The boat was smaller than anticipated but it had enough sits and fishing equipment for the two of us and the three fishing guides who taged along. We headed into the the deep waters of the Pacific ocean and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise accompanied by sea turtles and hundreds of dolphins which were playing with the boat from time to time and displaying their acrobatic capabilities to the morning crowd...us:-).

After a few hours of chasing huge fish schools of tuna fish but with no luck attracting them to our hooks with the fake squid bate we saw in the horizon one of the most illusive and beautiful fish in the ocean...the mighty MARLIN. The marlin was jumping in and out of the water as if showing us its glory and why it deserves its reputation. We raced towards it but the marlin stands to its reputation and it descended into the depth.

We were enjoying our boat trip with views of the dolphins and many fly fish whom jumped out of the water and flew like torpedo's over the sea but a feeling of disappointment was growing as we didn't even catch a single fish...Until our luck changed suddenly and one of the rods bended over with a ¨screem¨of the fish whom hooked himself to it...YYEEAAAHHH!!!!. We got our first 10 kilo 'Forel' fish. From there on our luck only got better and better, we hauled onto the boat 5 more 'Forel' fish weighing between 10-15 kilos each and a huge beautifully blue colored 'Barakuda' fish. We finished our deep sea fishing experience happy, satisfied and with a full belly of fish meat that we BBQed that night in our beach hotel:-).

The weekend went by fast in our wonderful Puerto Escondido by playing beach ball, drinking fresh coconut juice and pineapple juice on the beach or swimming pool...maybe a picture or two will explain it better than me:-).

Unfortunately there is plenty more to see in Mexico and it was time to leave. We booked our minivan tickets and headed to the capital of the state, Oaxaca. The roads so far where in decent condition with some exceptions but the road to Oaxaca was the most horrible one!. The road was just full of holes and bumps that the drive lasted 'forever' and in a very very slow pace. We had known and seen first hand the quality of Mexican roads in Puerto Escondido where a big part of the main road collapsed (Due to the heavy rain and thrilling thunders the night before) leaving only two lanes for the whole cities traffic.

After about 8 hours we arrived to Oaxaca and enjoyed a fire juggler show at the first traffic light...it felt already like we were entering a different Mexican city than the others we have seen so far. we took a hostel recommendation from a traveling website and it definitely did not disappoint us. Everything was brand new, thick mattresses and clean showers...so, if you ever get the chance- Casa Angel:-).

Oaxaca had a beautiful colonial and colorful center with plenty of art work, beautiful galleries and ´sjiek´ coffee restaurants. The next day we walked all around, did some shopping, seeing and tasting:-P. Although we haven't spend much time we thought it was about time to leave and we over ruled our rule of not taking night buses in Mexico by taking one...but after all we didn't have too many choices as the first class buses leave only at night....if you are reading these lines it means we arrived safely:-).

San Christobal de Las Casas is a small town with a very colorful center. Every house, shop or restaurant is painted in a different color with different door and window style. The city center and its surrounding streets were very safe and we could walk safely with a 'freely' feeling all over. After arriving we checked out the Israeli hostel but a smelly dog of the owner didn't convince us to stay there and we eventually stayed in a moldy Hostel International room along with Ohad, an Israeli guy whom traveled with us from Oaxaca and was very friendly. As we arrived early that day we decided to make the best out of it and headed the three of us with a 'colectivo' van to the national park with a huge cave with 'stalagtieten'. After deciding to head back in a different route to San Christobal we rented three horses for the way back. Our guides were on foot, the horses where powerless and the trail was very muddy...so it took us a while till we reached our destinations.

The following day we took an organized tour from the Israeli hostel to the El Panchan canyon. We didn't know what to expect but the surprise was great. Although we waited almost an hour till the river water current slow down it was worth the wait. we hopped onto speed boats that took us through the rivers rapids. the weather was shining upon us, the canyon was AMAZINGLY beautiful with huge straight walls (up to 1 KILOMETER..wwaauuwww), crocos on the shores and spider monkeys on the trees. The 'cherry' of the river appeared as two magnificent waterfalls. The first one was as a giants mouth 'spitting' out enormous amounts of water and the other one was smaller but created a mystical mist of water.

We spent the afternoon hanging in the city while sipping mojitos and soul biting nachos with guacamole.It was a great day but I will have to head now to our next adventure but I am sure Anne will write you allll about it.-)))))

So till the next time

Asta:-)))