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#sierra nevada #sierra mountains #nature #mmountains #alpine lake #film #35mm #filmisdead

Oaxaca, MX

When the plane landed I was thrust forward into a warm sauna. It was just after an early morning rainfall and the sun was starting to peak over the mountains to the east. Surprisingly 100 degrees and over 60% humidity didn’t feel so bad for someone from San Francisco. After throwing all of our boards on the roof of the taxi we embarked on the drive from the airport. The road was a winding, seemingly longer, 2.5 hours with a stop halfway for some barbacoa tacos in a small village.

I’m the type that always needs a trip planned in the future. It’s amazing how big the world is once you get out and see it in person with your own eyes instead of reading about it or seeing it on Instagram. Most of my time spent in Mexico is in Baja so it was a welcomed change to visit the mainland. Salina Cruz is located almost as south as one can go and is not like that of Tulum, Cabo or Cancun (in the tourist sense), it feels more real. When us gringos walk around town you kind of get the idea that people aren’t used to seeing too many tourists. We found this to be in some ways an exciting aspect of the trip.

Facing almost, if not straight, South the region is an absolute magnet for those nice groomed out powerful swells that breeze by in the summer months. We linked up with a great guide named Fito who runs Mareño surf tours. Don’t even bother trying to surf here without a local guide, it won’t work. Actually, thats how we met Fito on a previous trip. This time we woke up at the crack of dawn every day and went straight to the beach only to return home 10 hours later with noodles for arms. Unfortunately for us, relatively speaking, we got skunked. Most of the world class point breaks didn’t have enough swell during our trip so we made it work by visiting the fast heavy beach breaks in the morning and surfing one of the points in the afternoon. Aside from the main city everything around is pretty desolate except for some small fishing villages. The people are living off of the land and by most standards they are “impoverished”. However, this is how the generations of tribal people before them did it and the locals are happy and wish to maintain their way of life.

When the waves weren’t cooperating with each other Fito took us to the ancient Zaptoec ruins. Fito’s very familiar with these ruins situated high above the ocean on an extinct volcano. We spent other down time fishing and exploring little coves, snorkeling or browsing the street market in town. Getting skunked on a trip is always a disappointment but it really gives you the opportunity to explore new things and try to immerse yourself deeper in the culture. Without a doubt I will be back.