Puerto Escondido Haze

Rolling into Puerto Escondido (PE) I saw a sign for the beach we thought we would stay in and turned down that road. The neighborhood hardly looked like a famous beach side town but nothing is as it seems in Mexico so in that sense it didn´t seem out of place at all. Just off the beach we stopped to orient ourselves when a small boy on a bicycle asked what we were looking for. ¨A cheap place to stay of course¨, we replied. The boy told us to follow him and he´d set everything up.The boy led us (for a $10 peso reward) to the Bueno Onda (Good Vibes) hostel where we met Pierre and Simona, the owners. They have built a beautiful hostel on the beach and run it like a hippie paradise. With palms, ferns and foliage so thick you have to occasionally duck or with machete hack your way to the beach you get the feeling of being in the jungle. You can choose a cabana at around $20 a night or a bed in a dorm at $6 a night. We choose the dorm. We eat all the local food which include beans at every meal. The only other person in our room was a Swiss girl who probably will never be the same.

With a large open cabana set on the beach equipped with hammocks, tables and chairs we felt as if we had found what we needed, a place to relax, soak up the sun and allow our saddle chaffed butts a needed rest. It was indeed relaxing but it became apparent very quickly that we had stumbled into the dope smoking hippie hotel. Don´t get me wrong, the people staying there were nice, congenial but very much checked out. It didn´t matter the time of day someone was smoking mota. The smell was omnipresent. I´m no stuff shirt nor do I pretend to be the moral compass for others. I could care less what people do, it´s not my concern. The annoying part was that they were gone. Conversation was difficult to maintain. They weren´t engaging in the least. I don´t want to give the impression that there were pot smoking zombies shuffling their feet around us. That wasn´t the case. The group as a whole just wasn´t what we were used. If you remember from a previous post I said that what often made a town most memorable to us were the people we interacted with at the hostel or hotel. Well, PE just wasn´t that much fun for us.

To add to the THC induced malaise was the stifling midday heat. The only defense was to lie in a hammock and drink cold beer until it cooled enough to walk across the hot sand and cool off in the ocean. It was nice to be forced by the sun to relax. If you did so much as swat a fly you´d break out in sweat. Lord, knows we can´t have that.

We realized that we were on the extreme fringe of town. In fact, we weren´t on the town map. This was why the area didn´t look like a resort town. Where we were, it wasn´t. The main town at least of interest to tourists was pleasant enough. Gift shops lined the main street with the occasional restaurant interspersed among them. Both designed to pull the money from the tourists who were eager to part with their pesos.

A bright spot was the Italian food. Simona is Italian and like her, many of her compatriots have resettled in PE. Simona recommended a restaurant run by a pizza chef from Naples. Her recommendation was right on. Benditos Pizzeria is where we dined both nights we were in PE.

I had my first good Cuppa Joe (shameless plug, our cafes are named Cuppa Joe) at a nice German run cafe called something like the Bagetteria (I can´t recall the full name, they´re listed in the Lonely Planet). Good coffee, croissants and breakfast. I´m sure all they do is above par but we only had breakfast there. Check it out, good stuff.

So all in all PE was cool. The surf was down which is fine because like Charlie, I don´t surf either. Pierre and Simona are wonderful hosts. If you are looking for a cheap, clean and beautiful place where you will find peace and the smell of mota check them out, you won´t be disappointed.

From PE our next destination is Acapulco. We´re not much for big cities so it most likely will be a small beach town Just North of Acapulco called Pie de la Cuesta.

Join us next time while our heroes search out sand, waves and buena onda.