Jan. 24th to Jan 31st, 2016 Good Friends, Good Food, Sunshine, and Beaches

Sunday the 24th we went to church in our Universidad Ward in Oaxaca and then had dinner with the Roesberrys and President and Sister Cardenas at our apartment, we all put what we had together and enjoyed a potluck and especially the company. It has been so nice to be able to have good friends when we are so far from family. It seems to me that where ever you go in the world when you find the church you have an immediate family of loving, kind people.

The rest of the afternoon and evening we finished packing and hung around, skyped with family and waited  until time to catch our bus to Huatulco. At about 11:00 pm President Cardenas gave us a ride to the bus depot, which was very kind and thoughtful. We arrived in Huatulco at about 8:00 am and Rosa DeWolf picked us up, we ate breakfast at a little cafe near their apartment, checked into our room and took a nap. We had a great time with the DeWolfs and the Roesberrys in Huatulco, we went out on a fishing boat and snorkeling, we ate great seafood, visited,walked through town, cooked the fish we caught, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Preparing the boat for the day fishing and snorkeling.

I stayed in the room this day with a bad migraine.

Rosa and Gilbert DeWolf, Greg and Jan Roesberry and Captain Chava's Cousin

(Chava is a very active member from Huatulco)

Pancho the owner of the boat (another ward member) 

Gilbert with his first catch

Gilbert and Greg

Chava (This is a common nickname for Santiago)

Gilbert with a puffer fish

Catch of the day Bonita (similar to black tuna) cooked with a pesto of onion and garlic, sliced poblano chillis and chipotle mayonaise. Deliscioso!

We hiked down to Violina Bay, it is called violin because when the water is high as it goes in and out of the cave on the shore it sounds like a violin. It was very isolated and a beautiful place to snorkel.

Jan with her Catch

I love the contrast of the cactus and the ocean.

The lighthouse at Huatulco

I bought a cute blouse from this sweet lady, she is dressed in native costume, notice how tiny she is, her and her sister do all the hand work on the blouses they sell. She told me the blouse would cost more if I wanted a picture!

Wednesday afternoon Ross and I caught a bus to Puerto Escondido, just over 2 hours way. We thought we were so close and don't know that we will ever be here again so we thought we should see as much of the area as we can. We arrived and got checked into our motel, it was in the main part of town, it was an older motel but very well maintained and full of character. I would say in it's heyday it would have been extremely classy. There were hand painted murals on the walls in the room and in the shower and the yards and gardens were beautiful. We wandered down the tourist area of town and had a great dinner of shrimp overlooking the ocean, we looked at the different tourist shops and enjoyed the evening together. The next morning we went for a long walk on the beach, We watched the surfers and the fishermen getting ready to go out for the day, it is a beautiful area but the surf is much stronger than in Huatulco and the area draws a younger crowd although as we walked we did see a lot of  retired age people walking also, so apparently we weren't the only ones in our age group there.
We did decide that we liked Huatulco better of the two places, there seemed to be more to do and the beaches were a little more user friendly.

Our room in Puerto Escondido, the doors lead out to a balcony, notice the hand painting over the window seat and the mirror.  

Beach at Puerto

Fishing boat and net

Our name tags on a rock on the beach, just for fun!

Grandpa

Kind of a Fun Picture

This looks like a Hard way to fish to me

He really didn't like me taking his picture!

This was from the bus on the way back to Oaxaca, we went over the Sierras, we were right up in the clouds part of the time. It was a beautiful ride home. 

This is the van we rode home in, the road was so curvy that there wasn't a 1000 yard stretch without a turn.

We got back to our apartment in Oaxaca about 8:30 Thursday evening to find all well, we spent Friday getting settled back in, getting groceries for the week, doing laundry, housework, etc. Saturday we went to Mitla, a town about 20 miles away where they make a lot of clothing and other textiles, there is also a small ruin there that we have seen before. We wan't to buy a little dress for our new little Ruby girl and a few other things. Jan went with us, Greg hasn't been feeling well, he ate something that didn't agree with him. 

We found some pretty table clothes and a cute dress for Ruby.

 

These are the fabric looms in Mitla

It has been a great week but we have so missed being in the temple, we look forward to going in to help do some cleaning tomorrow morning. We talked with the Peñas at church today and they said that they can use our help the next two mornings getting ready to open Tuesday afternoon, we are ready to be busy! 

This week we have been saddened to hear the news of the death of our friend Lavoy Finicum, regardless of anyone's politics this was a senseless death and we pray for  peace and comfort for the family. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are affected in anyway by this tragedy. 

President Monson said " Only the Master knows the depths of our trial. He alone offers us eternal peace in that time of adversity. He alone touches our tortured souls." I know this is true, I know that through the atonement He understands our heartaches and will bring us peace. May His  love fill your hearts and homes this week.