UMARELA 2011

While many of the people from Centro de Idiomas went straight home after work for a long winter's nap, Santa's most faithful fans stood by to join him in the march downtown for UMARELA 2011.

It was time to go. We weren't the only ones late for the starting point.







The original plan was to just escort Santa to the propane station parking lot but the parade had already moved ahead. We were late. We couldn't wait for the rest of the stragglers. Full speed ahead.



Normally, I would have made a video of this event but, when you're responsible for the safety of the number one VIP, it's both hands on the handlebars. I passed the camera off to a willing helper with two free hands who did her best to chronicle everything.




Harrrr.





















Everybody loves Santa.




He's a rock star at UMARELA.

Huatulco through fresh eyes

Our newest teacher at UMAR Huatulco spent his first week taking care of all that necessary paperwork and didn't get a chance to see very much until the weekend when we went off for an introductory tour together. Tom speaks fluent Spanish so I took the opportunity when we were down at Chahue to ask for a quick tour of the spa. I've always been curious.


Checking out the landscape with Tom was a good reminder for me of just how beautiful this place is.

Santa Cruz from above.






We bombed around for about 5 hours and still only saw a fraction of the highlights.

Huge development at Playa Conejos

The giant hotel has arrived at Playa Conejos. It looks like it should be open for business any week now.
Understandably, a lot of people hate to see new development on these pristine beaches but it is an impressive building, very inviting to tourists.

It's quite a dramatic change from what it was almost three years ago when the trees had begun to be cleared.

Check out this old post for the contrast.
http://alackofcleardirection.blogspot.com/2009/03/conejos.html

The Walking Dead 2011

Look out! If possible, this year's Day of the Dead event at UMAR Huatulco was bigger and better than ever. Dead people, tragically young, arrived at my office door to make sure I didn't miss a thing of the big night. They weren't scary like Halloween ghouls back home. They were quite friendly and very charming. The problem is that, just like in the movies, their sheer numbers can be overwhelming and before you know it, you've b

een overrun. Luckily for me, everyone left peacefully without taking a single bite. They even left a gift of candy instead of the other way around. The big night arrived. The living and the dead hung out and had a good time. I didn't know any of the dead personally but I think several must have been very closely related to some of my students. The lighting wasn't conducive for photography and the dead don't photograph very well but I managed to get a few good shots.

This year we had guided walking tours open to the public.

For some, the fun continued on a parade downtown. It was starting off too late for me on a school night so I pushed on to skip a weary dawn of the dead.