Puerto Escondido during Semana Santa

Puerto Escondido, Guerrero 

April 3 - 7, 2009

We packed up our home in Pie de la Cuesta and hit the road to Puerto Escondido. We had been warned about the transito cops in Acapulco, who apparently keep alive the tradition of collecting for the policeman's ball alive through stops on tourist vehicles. The countless hours we had spent stuck on buses in traffic jams during our trips in and out of town had also forewarned us of the perils of traversing the city. Luckily there is a bypass route around the north side of town which makes for relatively quick passage. Unfortunately, Mexican highway signage was up to its usual standard, and on the far side of town, in order to travel east, we first had to head south, take a retorno and head back north past the road we had been on before heading east- all without signage! luckily, we are developing a sense for how highways are engineered in this country and made the maneuver on the first try. What we did not know was that this heralded the beginning of what would become the longest and most arduous travel day of all so far in Mexico.

It is fairly common knowledge to Mexicans and travelers alike that the stretch of the Mexico 200 highway between Acapulco and Puerto Escondido represents the most heavily tope-laden stretch of highway in the country, which is saying a lot. Over the 240 km journey, the "official" count is 231 topes ( speed bumps), which the easy math indicates is one approximately every kilometer. You can imagine what the average speed is, when the topes require a near complete stop by our vehicle to avoid slamming the trailer hitch bike rack we have installed on the rear. It took us nine hours to cover the distance, in sweltering temperatures. For one of what has been very few times on this journey, we were forced to travel after sunset for the last leg into Puerto Escondido.

We had already made a connection with a friend of Liz' Uncle Gord that lived in Puerto Escondido. Sylvia had offered to let us park on the street in front of her house and plug in. We did not want to impose so late in the evening and decided to hook up with her later. We continued on into town, and after a meal on the sidewalk along Zicatela beach, we washed up at Cabanas Edda. There had been a heavy mist along the beach, due to the "Mexican Pipeline" surf that Puerto Escondido is famous for, so we were happy to be installed further up the hillside above that. We parked the van amongst the cabanas and bungalows in the beautifully shaded grounds. Dona Edda, the proprietor, explained to us that we would only be able to stay until Monday, which after some negotiation we were able to have extended to Tuesday. It was a simple question of economics- the space that we occupied at M$250 per night (about 25 bucks) she would be able to rent out to four parties over the course of Semana Santa.  We searched the town and found that not only are all the hotels booked solid but that where we are is one of the nicest places here for camping.

We soon began to appreciate the arc that things were going to travel as the biggest holiday in the country wound up its climax on Easter weekend. We did not have a decent night's sleep, as Mexicans believe that when they are having a good time it is impolite not to share it with everyone else around. The surfers and the families were quiet after 10 or 11 PM, but when the young bloods returned from the bars at 2 or 3 AM they thought nothing about opening the doors of their vehicles and cranking the stereo! Otherwise it was a beautiful spot.

We found out the hard way that the Super Che super market receives fruits and vegetables on Friday nights. Being there on a Friday afternoon meant that there was a dearth of whole fresh foods. It is an odd thing, in a country that produces such an excess of food, to be in a grocery store that is almost devoid of fruits and vegetables.

Along the Zicatela beach is the funky part of town. It is newly paved with textured concrete sidewalks and streets, with many cool shops and restaurants. We found the Cinemar theatre, which plays English language movies and sells English books, and signed up to watch "Stepbrothers". Unfortunately, we had not checked the rating on the movie, and after about 1/2 an hour we had to remove the boys from the comfortable, air conditioned, 12-seat theatre when the content became unsuitable for their virgin ears. They were very upset, as they could have been employed as technical advisors to the movie and identified heavily with the characters. We are still hearing snippets of the script from our parrot-like boys. Another night, Liz and Remy went to Sativa Restaurant, a funky, upscale Mexican fusion joint overlooking the beach. We had stuffed avocado, shrimp, filet mignon and drinks for a total of M$300 (30 bucks)!

We did a walking tour of the beaches, of which there are about 1/2 a dozen in the Puerto Escondido area, each with its own distinct character. An incredible paved, waterfront walkway along the rocks connects the Playa Principal with the Playa Manzanillo. Hollis caught a fish to eat for supper in the rocks. It was so hot that we took a cab home M$30 ($3), the better to get started on happy hour with drinks in the hammock. Hammock culture is huge here, with one located outside of just about every door, and usually a body or two in them. They can even be rented by travelers for the night for about$4.

We met some interesting new people while in Puerto Escondido. Armando owns an art gallery next door to Sativa, and speaks excellent English. He and his journalist wife, Paula, are transplants from Santa Rosario. She is originally American and he is well travelled, so they have a comprehensive appreciation of the beauties and frustrations of Mexico. Armando suggested a morning itinerary for Sunday of breakfast at Las Margaritas before heading to the market. We took his advice, and ended up meeting him and his wife at the restaurant. We ended up getting some travel advice for the rest of our journey through Mexico which seems sound and comes at a good time, as we are a bit hazy at this point on what the best route might be. The market was interesting, too, with some new fruits, veggies and baked goods that we have not seen before.

We also spent an evening with Sylvia and her husband John, who had invited us over for dinner. They are housesitting a house with a great little pool in the court yard and palapa bar beside it. The pool itself had swim-up bar stools built in, and after playing hard for three hours straight in the pool the boys greatly enjoyed sitting in the pool, sipping flavoured Bonafont water from martini glasses. We had a great meal and much good conversation, and even Skyped Liz' unlcle Gordie who had connected us. It was a very nice break from the usual tour routine.

The next morning saw us up to the alarm to get ready for the fishing trip Remy had organized. The captain, Martin, had the nicest fishing boat in the harbour, but whatever competence allowed that luxury apparently ended there. He was supposed to pick us up in his Suburban at our camp site and stop on the way to the boat to pick up ice and beer. The agreed rendez vous time came and went, and Remy began to have concerns that the deposit he had paid might have gone up in smoke. It turned out that Martin had forgotten about the daylight savings time change and then had been unable to start his truck. He sent his son to fetch us, which meant that we had to hump all of our gear down the hill and along the beach to the harbour. Things seemed a little disorganized there, so while we waited we had a good look at the sail fish another fisherman had hauled up on the beach. Once in the boat, it became apparent that we were not going to be getting any ice and that Martin had no bait fish. We spend some time, going from cayuca to cayuca (small fishing canoes) until we found some bait fish to purchase. Finally we got going out to sea. We saw one whale and numerous sea turtles during the trip. We ended up catching six Spanish mackerel (called bonitas here) but nothing bigger. We had hoped for a tuna or dorado, but the seas had clouded up with green algae and Martin's heart did not really seem to be into things. We cut the trip short at 3 hours and returned to shore. Martin filleted two of the fish for us to take home while we took two more to a restaurant and made arrangements for dinner. The other two we gave to Martin.

We returned to the beach for dinner and had a wonderful meal actually served on china plates with metal cutlery, a rarity here. We went to the "Adoquin", a pedestrian-only street that offered some very interesting shopping. We checked out another campground and saw groups of Mexicans that had arrived in bus loads kipped out on mats beside the bus they had arrived in- that was how they were going to spend the Semana Santa! Infants, old people, everybody spooned together under the stars. We saw other groups that had arrived in cattle trailers and were living in those. It is amazing the commitment Mexicans make to spending this weekend on the beach, the more the merrier. As much as we love Mexican culture, it is a bit manic for our staid Norteno tastes, and we are happy to be leaving for a quieter locale.

-Remy