Puerto Escondido

From Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido is just a short 30-minute small plane ride, but the two cities are very different. Not too long ago, PE was a small fishing village, and the Bahia Principal (Main Bay) still shelters more than 50 fishing boats.  Sitting on the  terrace of our favorite beachside restaurant (La Costa Hermosa), we continuously watched fishing boats come in laden with their catches.   

View Bahia Principal from La Costa Hermosa with fishing boats.

 Each time a boat comes in, it is met by restauranteurs and other locals who take the catch & load it in large plastic tubs. Some are loaded on waiting vans and whisked away, but others are simply carried a little ways inshore where they are cleaned, prepared for cooking and served on the spot.

Puerto Escondido is truly a tropical wonder--beautiful sunsets guaranteed.

La Costa Hermosa is a very simple little beachside open-air restaurant with plywood floors and a thatch covered roofed terrace.  We stumbled upon it, almost by chance, our first night in town, and we spent almost every afternoon and some evenings there drinking delicious frozen margaritas and enjoying fresh seafood.  Although their grilled giant shrimp were delicious, we have truly never tasted anything as wonderful as the fresh grilled red snapper. 

Enjoying Margaritas & seafood at La Costa Hermosa

 Our hotel was comfortable, if slightly careworn, and just out of town on a ridge overlooking the  Pacific Ocean.  The best thing about it was a wonderful, crystal blue swimming pool that we had to ourselves much of our time there.  It seemed really decadent to be able to take a refreshing swim the first thing upon getting up and the last thing before turning in.

Erin was able to join us for the weekend and she enjoyed the pool as much as we did. On her second day there, we met a young man who worked at the hotel and also at the Bahia Principal. He suggested we take a boat ride the next day and he and his boat captain friend took us for a leisurely ride along the coast. They always try to catch a sea turtle and drag it aboard, so turistas get to touch one of these ancient creatures--ours was an adolescent at about 35 years old, they surmised.  We felt sorry for the little guy, but this is the custom, so we went along with the plan so as not to spoil our hosts' planned thrill for us.

The turtle obviously enjoyed the visit less than we did.

One of the nicest things to happen to us during our stay in Puerto was getting to know a young Australian couple, Kris and Shannon, who were on our plane flight from Oaxaca to PE. We got to talking about traveling as we waited for the flight to leave, for our luggage after we landed, and then as we shared a taxi into town. We regretted parting without making any firm plans about meeting except for laughingly saying see you on the beach.   

Sure enough, on our first afternoon lolling on the Costa Hermosa terrace, we looked out on the shore and saw them walking by.  We hailed them and beckoned them to join us on the terrace for what turned out to be a three-hour gabfest.  They are now in their 10^th month of an epic year and a half world tour.  Having been in Southeast Asia, Canada and the United States, they are now in Mexico and are headed later this year to South America. 

We loved getting to know them, vicariously enjoying their travel sagas & sharing ours, although their stories certainly were more harrowing and adventuresome than ours. When Erin came the next day, it was fun to introduce them and they delighted in hearing her travel stories and comparing notes about Southeast Asia. (They have piqued our interest in SE Asia & especially Bali.) On our third evening in PE, we reluctantly said goodbye to them, exchanging emails and promising to keep in touch.   

The next morning as the three of us were enjoying the pool, we were told that we had a phone call.  Going to the phone in the bar, thinking who in the world could this be and how did they know how to find us, Larry was surprised to hear Shannon on the other end of the line, especially as we thought that they had left town. 

He was so excited and said that he had just asked Kris to marry him and she had said yes. They had decided to stay another day as they wanted to share the news with us, whom they had come to think of almost like family.  Naturally we were thrilled—and invited them over to celebrate. We felt very special to share their happiness.  After a sunset drink at our pool, we all went to town to the "fancy hotel" where we met some of Erin's embassy friends who happened to be in PE (also lovely, bright, wonderful young people--more about them in our next blog) to continue celebrating the new couple.  This will surely remain as one of the most memorable moments on our journey--thanks so much, Kris and Shannon !

Sue, Erin, Shannon & Kris...new friends.