I got the message this morning that the boys were heading to Puerto Escondido, so a quiet breakfast at ML got me ready. It's a cloudy Sunday morning, and the beach is virtually vacant.
The ride into Puerto Escondido rekindled the first impressions I had when I arrived a couple of weeks ago. The fields of bananas, mangoes and corn were only broken up by the small roadhouse tiendas and community buildings. PE itself is a large-ish tourist town with long, broad beaches of white sand littered with all manner of restaurants, shops and hotels on both sides of the main coastal strip. It's apparently the centre of some international surfing competition called the Puerto Escondido Pipeline, and this is evidently reflected in the surf-pop culture that is everywhere, and the number of either US or Canadian accents I heard along the way. The big brand names are all here along with a bevy of willing bodies to flaunt their wares.
We first checked out the market area which always has something interesting going on, from the variety of foods, to clothing, jewelry - all the usual good stuff. Then, after finishing the shopping for Tuesday's fiesta, we walked up and down 'the strip', mainly in search of an ATM for me :). On the way back, we stopped at Punta Zicatela for a relaxing beachside lunch and cerveza. This place is like a chilled down version of the main beach; the access is by dirt road, and the pace of things has been turned down a notch. While the boys grab some hammock time, I'm penning these words admiring the scenery, the warm breeze, and the low rumble of the shore in front of me.
The return journey put me in to the slumber zone, but after a brief kip, I went to catch up with Fernando, who runs a small bar down the road. Yesterday he asked me if I played chess, so it was a delight to battle it out with him on a balmy evening with a Cuba Libre in hand, hehe. It was an enjoyable finish to a really enjoyable day, oh, and by the way, I won the game ;)
