Sin Topes Oaxaca: Working hard, or hardly working...

We finally found the perfect burger.

Way up in the mountains, on the way to Playa Zipolite, I spot a big red sign while we were passing through a little roadside town, if one can even call it that. The sign says “Gringoburger”. We are rolling along in Peggy-O for the first time in two months, taking her out on an will-we-break-the-transmission-test-drive/yay-for-us-we-finished-spanish-school jaunt to the beach. The sign makes us laugh, but then I see what appears to be an American dude in the hamburguesa stand below, so we stop to say hello and see what this Gringoburger is all about. We are not disappointed. As I am typing this my stomach is grumbling just thinking about this burger. Homeground beef, like, six pieces of crunchy bacon, gooey, melty, yellow american cheese, topped with perfectly spicy pickled jalapeños and sweet caramelized onions. Holey Shamoley, I will forever have dreams about this burger.

Greg blew us away with his burger skills and tales of daredevil skiing in Jacksonhole Wyoming before giving the proverbial finger to the States and setting up his 7 by 7 ft burger stand on the side of the mountain road. Greg and Gringoburger are a part of why Mexico is so great. You absolutely never know who you might run into, or what the day is going to bring, but it usually comes with a great story or two.

Carefully, Peggy-O, carefully!! Easy does it.

Driving is dirty work!

Brian and I decided to treat ourselves to a beach “vacation” after a busy couple of weeks taking spanish classes at Oaxaca Spanish Magic and volunteering at the Oaxacan street kids center. I know, I know, our lives are so hard. Brian polished his already awesome spanish with the advanced class and I started learning how to not sound as much like a three year old. The spanish classes ran for three hours in the morning monday through friday, and our brains were pretty useless for an hour or two in the afternoon. We even switched hats from students to teachers and led a craft project for a group of kiddos at the street kids center. Everyone had fun, and the kids made some awesome rainbow scratch boards. Both teaching and learning made us extra thankful for afternoon siestas. After our two weeks were completed, we dusted off Peggy-O, pulled out all non-neccesity items in case we broke down, and slowly and carefully headed south. Its been a long time since I said that, headed south. It feels good.

Kiddos working hard on their projects! Art is so fun!

To get to Playa Zipolite one must take some of the most sinuoso (winding) roads that exist in the world, at least in my book. We’re talking gaining around 10,000 feet elevation in about 50 miles. Whew. It makes the halfway point Gringoburger taste that much better, once your nausea has subsided for a while, that is.

Oooph! That looks like its going to hurt.

There ya go Ronstadt, much better form. Now if only the photographer would get her act together.

The beach was muggy and hot and just what we were looking for. Sun and sand and a whole lot of doing nothing, other than holding a book in one hand with a fruity beach cocktail in the other. We avoided the hippies, as much as we could anyways, at times it was a little difficult as there was a circus festival in the next town over and Zipolite happens to be one of the few beaches where nudity is not only accepted, but encouraged. And yes I said circus festival. One thing I won’t soon forget is when we were taking a small Pongo boat to another beach to snorkel, we found ourselves in the middle of a huge pod of dolphins. They swam with us for close to fifteen minutes, playing off the waves from the boat. The 13 year old girl in me died and went to heaven.

Our van still doesn't smell the same after we picked these guys up for a lift.

A week of the beach was so relaxing and a nice change of pace, but both of us were ready to return to our chosen home for these couple months and get back to work doing what we do best. Exploring Oaxaca, indulging in its food, culture and endless things to do all while having a bit too much fun. Its hard work being us.