Puerto Escondido

Another overnight bus meant I wouldn`t miss out much Pacific coast beach action in Puerto Escondido.

The bus was chilly again but I did have my hoodie so I got a few winks in. I arrived at the bus terminal around 7am. The Mayflower Hotel was just a short walk down the hill so I checked in and had a wake-up shower. The place was very quiet due to the early hour so I went to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies. For a large supermarket, they had a disturbing lack of basic things such as tomatoes and bananas!

I took a brief stroll to the beach and watched all the fishing boats come in with their catch. The inner bay near the hostel was calm but as you walk around to Playa Marinero and Playa Zicatela, you get to see the large rough surf the area is famous for. Puerto Escondido is world renowned for being the "Mexican Pipeline" of surf spots. The best surf apparently comes in around November time and professional bodyboarders and surfers flock to ride some of the massive waves that crash in. The Pacific ocean lacks the water clarity of the Caribbean and has a much stronger swell pushing through. The beaches are not the safest places to swim (especially at Puerto) as there are strong rip and cross currents.

Palmtree fronted Marinelo beach

A hand statue coming out of the rock - a tribute to the lifesavers

I met up again with Nick (Aus) and some Swedish friends also arrived so I was not totally lonely. A bunch of us hung out on Zicatela beach before we had some social drinks at the hostel. The hostel was quite large and had a bit of a social party atmosphere.

Nice social drinking ended when the Aussies brought out the beer bong

Alan (Eng)... I don't recall it was fancy dress that evening

The next morning the sky was clear and the sun was scorching. Beach time! Again we hung out at Zicatela. Johnny (USA) took along his guitar whilst Alan (Eng) and myself dug a massive hole to bury some cheeky English girls. It was pretty tough work but we managed to get a big hole after a lot of slogging. After taking some pictures we decided to release them. A long day in the sun meant that I had regained much of my tan making me very happy.

The construction site

Nice and cosy

Once we had them immobile we could take any pics we wanted

Nick getting in on the action

Nowhere to go

Daniel from Sweden was a professional chef so he whipped up an amazing pasta for a bunch of us that evening. We took drinks down to the beach and Johnny (USA) and Joris (Netherlands) took up the guitar and played some great tunes. Another lazy day followed. A bunch of people (most of the fun ones) left for another town for some surfing and boozing as Puerto Escondido was having an election on the weekend so no alcohol would be served at all. I decided not to go as frankly I was getting sick of the continuous boozing and I really needed some good sleep! So without distraction I slept late and chilled out on the beach and took the odd cheeky swim. Then things got boring with no cool people around. Luckily later in the evening some more cool people arrived to entertain me again.

Partying Backpackers (Matt the guy in the front and middle got pickpocketed by a Transvestite that night!)

My last day in Puerto was spent on the little inlet bay of Carrizalillo. The surf was again incredibly powerful and had the strength to chuck you around even at knee depths. We tanned and swam there for a few hours until I needed to depart. Another evening bus service awaited me. 12 hours direct to Mexico City.

Playa Carrizalillo