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Published: August 26th 2010
We climbed onto our Express minibus service from Oaxaca with 14 other people at 10:00am, bound only for Puerto Escondido it said on the windscreen. It was a reasonably comfortable bus, but this time there were no frills such as on-board toilets or drop down TV screens. This time the Mexican movie was replaced by a Oaxaacan radio station whose reception faded in and out as we drove along.
The Oaxacan state roads department has seemingly decided that the cheapest technology to keep drivers speed in check is to introduce speed bumps everywhere. Incredibly this includes the highway too and so as we drove out of Oaxaca, we had to keep slowing down to go over the next speed bump. Once we got out into the country and on to the winding roads of the hills, the speed bumps largely disappeared. Presumably the belief is that the upto 180 degree turns in the road act as a natural speed bump. But the driver of the Express bus knew these roads too well and wasn't going to let a few mountain turns slow him down. He presumably also knew what was ahead - a pothole-ridden road with the occassional rockslide that
really did require a slower speed.
The supposed 6 hour journey took about 7 and a half hours, including 3 stops and the picking up and dropping off of a few locals on the way. It wasn't as scary a journey as our Oaxaca friend Margaret had described. Nevertheless, we decided that we'd try and fly back from Puerto Escondido, rather than do that road journey again.
Puerto Escondido is a large beach town on the Pacific coast. It actually has a number of beaches, but by far the biggest is Zicatela famous for its quality surfing which is nicknamed the Mexican pipeline.After stepping off the minibus, we quickly found a taxi and headed for the next hotel we'd booked in advance with the advice of Tripadvisor - Casamar. We passed the main Zicatela hotel area and kept on driving, until we were close to the other end of the beach, known as 'La Punta' before arriving at Casamar.
At first we thought the distance from town was a major disadvantage. However, with the beach only a couple of minutes walk away and town only taking 5 minutes in a taxi costing 2 or 3 dollars, it
actually is an advantage. The taxis pass the end of the road every couple of minutes and you can have a healthy 30 minute beach walk into town. Casamar's neighbourhood is nice and peaceful. A hotel in town is likely to be much noisier at night.
The 20 hotel rooms are really like studio apartments with fully equipped kitchens, large comfortable beds and a big bathroom. The whole complex is set in a beautifully maintained palm tree garden, with a swimming pool. There's no dining room as such - let's face it you don't need it with your own kitchen - but there is an extensive room service menu, should you decide to have a night or a morning in.
The staff at the Casamar are very helpful and there is plenty of information that they have put together themselves to let you know what the area has to offer. The hotel is owned by a remarkable american business man called Willits who bought the land for Casamar after only 4 days of arriving in Puerto. The property was initially a place in Mexico for his extended family and now 2 blocks of suites are the Hotel area
and the rest is purely for family use. This means its very much a family run hotel and you can definitely feel that.
We were lucky to be there when Willits was visiting, as much of his time is spent back in the US. We learned a lot about the history and running of Casamar and his incredible business and life experiences, that have shaped him into an extremely charming and entertaining person to talk to. He has become well known amongst many of the locals and the small towns outside Puerto, from where some of the hotel staff come from. His concern for the welfare and happiness of others, is reflected in the staff and to be honest often the guests too. We were very happy to have chosen Casamar.
Our visit to Puerto Escondido was intended to be a purely restful beachside indulgence. There is, as we found out from Willits and his staff, lots of things to do around the Puerto area other than just
surfing, swimming and horse-riding on the beach. It is a place to be explored and next time we will explore it. But this trip was just intended to be a
lazy time. We'd wake up around 9:00am and make a large pot of coffee and have a slow pre-breakfast before walking along the beach towards the various restaurants on the main Zicatela drag. A couple of places became our favourites At el Cafecito and La Hosteria and we spent many a happy morning or in some cases early afternoon healthily pigging out on their large fruit salad plates and occassionally unhealthily on their various egg dishes such as Huevos Racheros.
La Hosteria became a paticular favourite of ours for evening meal too. Theirs is an unusual restaurant in that it has good Mexican and even better Italian cuisine - with huge 460g steaks on offer too. Pizzas and pastas were excellent and the service was prompt and friendly too. They also had a cocktail happy hour that ran from 6-9pm and was a two for one offering of very good cocktails.There is only one drawback. Seemingly they only have one CD, one of a mexican girl mispronouncing many of Police's greatest hits - include I can't stand „lossing“you. Well it was entertaining the first couple of times.
But of course this is the beach and (fortunately) it wasn't
On the way to Puerto Escondido -3
The local salesgirls pounce on a car that has stoppedjust about eating. As the week went on the waves seemed to get bigger meaning the surfers who were riding them had to get braver. By the second Saturday we were at Puerto, the waves were easily up to about 25 feet and the surfers had to be taken out by lifeguards on jetskis - bravery in itself...but probably good fun too. Seeing the size of those waves both surfers and lifeguards had to be admired especially bearing in mind the risks being taken. This was brought home to us on the day we left Puerto, when we found out that the previous day one of the lifeguards had been knocked unconcious by a surf board hitting him as he was giving someone else a surfing lesson. He had to be transported by road to Mexico City - at least a 12 hour drive - for treatment. We wish him well.
There is lots of wildlife to be seen around Puerto Escondido. Just in the beach area we saw Pelicans diving for the abundant fish life, plenty of Frigate birds circling over the waves looking for the next meal. Swifts and Mynah birds are abundant close to the beach..
The Casamar gardens had a number of Mynahs - which just added to its beauty. Down at the town end of the Zicatela beach, we saw the fishermen bring home a large catch of sharks and if you wanted to go out and catch big fish, such as swordfish, they would be happy to take you - if you have 4 hours and about 1600 Pesos (ca USD130) to spare.
There are also a number of lovely swimming beaches around the headland from Zicatela and the main part of town. They are within walking distance of Zicatela or even Casamar if, like us, you want to burn off the calories. One which we walked to in about 1 hour was Manzanillo, which is close to the town centre and is a lovely small protected cove, where you can swim a lot more safely than on Zicatela. There are the still the waves, although much reduced in size and so the rip tides that cause the danger are also much reduced. The local bars allow you to use their sun beds for free (in August at least) as long as you buy at least one drink. The other beaches of
Angelito and Carrizalillo are equally as pretty and worth a visit.
As we walked to the Manzillo beach we saw the adverts for the various candidates for Governor, State president and so forth - many hand painted on to walls. One Governorial candidate was called Eviel. There was no information on whether he was a Doctor, had global domination ambitions, or a cat called Mr Bigglesworth, but what a great name for a public official.
Our time in Puerto flew by and on the last night we went out for a farewell dinner with Willits and 3 lovely Canadian ladies who were also staying at Casamar. We went to a nearby restaurant called Guadua. Our only regret was that we hadn't found this place earlier - crazy since we'd probably walked past it every day when we'd walked along the beach. It is a bit pricier than most of the restaurants in the area, but it is right on the beach and the quality of food and wine and imagination of the menu is excellent. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Puerto Escondido was essentially our last stop in Mexico, although we were
going to overnight in Mexico City before moving onto Bogota, Colombia. Our general thoughts were that this is a place that grows on you and we thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact we were a little sad to leave, although of course we had plenty of interesting destinations still to come.
Given all the locals trying to make a living selling their wares to tourists, in someways it is a little sad to say that when we were in Puerto Escondido in August it was practically deserted and really a place to get away from things. The weather was occassionally a little stormy but usually only in the evening unless, like our last day, a tropical storm was in the area. Temperatures were in the upper 20s centigrade and with a breeze that made for a nice comfortable temperature.
This was my first visit to Mexico and I have to say it exceeded my expectations...although to be honest, I didn't know what to expect - other than it might be a bit dangerous. It wasn't dangerous for us - we never experienced any issues with our personal security. Clearly, like all countries, there are more dangerous places to go
Puerto Escondido: Surfing Waves - 3
A brave surfer having returned from waves that size and rules to obey - such as be especially careful at night and use secure taxis. But I got the impression that Mexico isn't a place to fear.
Places we have visited and can recommend Hotel:
Casamar Suites
Calle Puebla #407
Colonia Brisas de Zicatela
See www.casamarmexico.com
Restaurants:
La Hosteria Bananas (for Breakfast Lunch & Dinner), Calle del Morro, Zicatela
El Cafecito (for Breakfast and Lunch/snacks), Calle del Morro, Zicatela
Guadua (for Dinner)
see www.guadua.com.mx
Language School (recommended by Willits from Casamar):
Oasis Language School (ask for Viola Soledad Fernandez)
Email: solyroger@gmail or sau_2000@hotmail.com
(they also have a surf academy - details at www.oasissurffactory.com)
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Rosalie
non-member comment
from Willits' wife,( looks like he's having fun!)
So sorry not to meet you all, and thank you for spending the time to write such an interesting account of your stay and also with photos of Casamar and the gardens, which we have worked very hard at making our tropical paradise to share with nice people like you! Again, sorry not to meet you, but please do come back soon and spread the word! love, Rosalie