Puerto Escondido, México: Part i

Greg headed for a pre-sunset dip.

This is my very first ever blog. The first blog should probably be about how we got here. Not literally, like by train or car- but how it came to be that a married couple in their early 50's are on a global adventure which currently has them staying for a month in México and then heading to Panama for six months. That blog will have to come later, if at all, as I have a lot of family and friends demanding pictures, stories, updates, etc. of what's going on now. This is "PART I" of our stay here in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, México. I will post "PART II" after we have left.

So, without further adieu, let's get started. We arrived in "Puerto" on Oct 25, 2018. Puerto Escondido is a fishing town that is quickly becoming, if it hasn't already become, more of a tourist town. The good thing is that it is a long way off from becoming a Cancun or Cabo. No McDonald's here. No KFC, no Costco, no Walmart - not even a Starbucks. The tourists it attracts are mostly backpackers, surfers and Mexicans. It is located on the southern Pacific coast of México in the state of Oaxaca. It is less than 500 miles (800km) from the northern border of Guatemala.

There is definitely a "mellow vibe" here. And like pretty much everywhere we have been in México, the people are very friendly. Crime is not a big problem here and, as well as I can tell, neither is pollution (which, recently, I have sadly discovered is a HUGE problem in México). The north end (really west as the beach runs east/west here) of town is Bacocho and has the most expats (though not a lot) and most of them are Canadian and 60 years or older. The middle section of town is Zicatela and the south end of town is La Punta (the point). We spent a week in Bacocho and then moved to La Punta for the rest of our stay.

We are not house sitting here. This is more of a vacation after a roller coaster ride over the past almost 2 years preparing for this adventure. We are paying for our lodging and just trying to relax, however, Greg is working a few hours each morning teaching English online.

The daily "grind" is usually waking up around 5:00 AM to teach some classes, go for a run or walk on the beach at low tide or a SUP session at high tide, eat lunch, catch up on email/work on future house sits, back to the beach to run/SUP (depending on the tide), catch the sunset, eat dinner, repeat. Life is good.

We prefer the La Punta/Zicatela areas to the Bacocho area. The reason for this is primarily beach access and beach crowds. You must walk down fairly large/steep hills to get to the beaches on the Bacocho end of town. And some of them are just dirt trails with iffy footing. And it's HOT. Unless you go early in the morning you are drenched in sweat by the time you get to the beach - which is OK because you can just jump in the water. But the hike back up is usually not fun and you are even more sweaty than when you walked down. Some of the beaches, like Coral Beach and Bacocho beach are not crowded but the most beautiful beach, Carrizalillo, is usually super crowded - both on the beach and in the water.

Coral Beach pretty much to ourselves on a beautiful morning.

Playa Carrizalillo early in the morning before the crowds hit.

For my South Bay peeps, I like the beach sand here. It is similar to the sand at home. Some people like whiter sand, finer grains, etc. but I like the sand like we have in M.B. and Hermosa. I have not seen any sand crabs here but I know they have them as I have seen some shells of dead ones on the beach that are about the size of my big toe. There are regular crabs here that live in holes on the shore line and I've seen a hermit crab on the beach too which was kinda weird because there were no rocks around - only beach and sand bottom shore line. Oh, and they have large vultures here. Big black birds with red heads like you would expect to see in Africa. I saw 2 eating a dead puffer fish on the beach (sorry - didn't have my phone/camera). Oh, one other cool thing about the beaches here- women going topless is legal - 'nuff said.

Puerto Escondido is widely regarded as one of the best places in the world to surf. Zicatela Beach is known as the "Mexican Pipeline" and the name is well deserved. The waves here are, to use surf vernacular, gnarly! It's a beach break (like at home) but it is super hollow, super strong, breaking in shallow water and usually blowing off shore. A few days ago I saw a guy get the most rad tube ride on a double over head wave that I have ever seen live. He exited the wave with the tube spit blowing out, his hands high in the air, bellowing out a stoked yell.

I was really looking forward to surfing here but, alas, it is not to be - at least not this trip. Back in the early/mid '80's I dislocated my shoulder and had it surgically repaired. Except for some minor limited mobility, it was all good until about 18 months ago when I crashed on my mountain bike and dislocated it again. Now it "pops out" relatively often. I thought I would be able to surf here though. Yeah, chances were high I would wipe out and it would pop out, but I know how to put it back in and I can swim fine with one arm. So I rented a board and paddled out. Surprise! I never made it to a wipe out. My arm popped out when I paddled hard just trying to catch a wave. Such a bummer! But all is not lost. I have been renting a SUP and I can paddle that no problem. I've been catching some shoulder high or smaller waves and, while I have wiped out a few times, the arm has not popped out yet (knock on wood). A major surf tournament kicked off today and I hope to capture some good images/video for the "ESCONDIDO PART II" post.

The nature is absolutely beautiful here. Oceans, beaches, mountains, palm trees, pelicans, sea life and tons of flowers. Iv'e seen several rays jump a foot or two out of the water - never seen that before. We arrived at the very end of the rainy season when plant life was at it's greenest. We've been told it will be quite brown here before too long but it is hard to imagine. To give you an example of the beautiful and varied nature here, let's talk about majagua trees. These are broad leafed tropical trees that have beautiful yellow flowers that, to me, are similar to hibiscus flowers. The thing is, the flowers only bloom for one day and they go through a rapid transformation. In the morning they are bright yellow and then, before sunset, they are a deep orange and fall from the tree.

Majagua flowers at 8:00AM

The same 2 flowers on the same day around 4:00PM

Being a fishing village, there is some awesome seafood here. One of our very first nights we went to a restaurant called Turtle Bay where they had an atun fiesta (tuna party) promotion going on. It was a special where you could order one of several offerings of fresh, locally caught tuna along with a beer, margarita or glass of wine for 220 pesos ( a touch over $10). That's a little pricey for here but so, so good. I have been to some of the best sushi restaurants in SoCal and I have been to Japan 3 or 4 times and the sashimi was some of the best I have ever had. We went there more than once and my guess is we will hit it again our last night here.

Well, that's it for "PUERTO ESCONDIDO: PART I". I was worried about not having enough content but it seems I filled the page. If you want to be notified of future postings, just go back to the home page, scroll to the bottom and subscribe. ¡Hasta luego, amigos!