Travels Around The World

Puerto Escondido

From the lonely shores of Zipolite I hoped on a taxi colectivo back to the town of Pochuta. It was rather funny when I caught the collective taxi (basically a truck with some benches in the back). I was talking to a normal taxi driver at the time who was trying to convince me that there was no colective taxi service. I was like, uh...what the heck is that comming this way. I guess they will try to tell you anything to make a buck in Mexico. But then, we already knew that.

From Pochuta I borded a second class bus to Puerto Escondido. Puerto Escondido is a surf town about 120 km northwest of Zipolite. The waves here are legendary and attract people from around the world. If you don't surf in Puerto Escondido, then you are left feeling sightly left out.

After I arrived in Puerto Escondido I made my way to the hot spot beach of Zicatela. This is the beach with the famous waves. After wondering around for quite some time I found a hostel to stay at. This was no ordinary hostel though. It was a hostel made up of surfers, with many who had seemed to lose themselves in Puerto Escondido for some time. At 40 pesos a night ($4 USD), I wasn't about to complain.

Life at the hostel

Life at the hostel turned out to be really fun. There I met many world travelers who had stopped in Puerto Escondido for a few weeks to try the surf before moving on to other places. The most hard core travelers I met were two guys who were biking all the way to the southern tip of Argentina. I also met some people that were driving a 1970s Buick all the way to Argentina. Man, you would think they would pick a better car. That thing has a huge gas sucking V8 in it and looks like a tank. Plus its got one heck of a relibility record.

On my second day in Puerto Escondido I decided to rent a body board and get my own taste of the surf. All I can say is this.... It was a great idea and I'm glad I tried surfing those waves. It looks really easy from the shore. But once you start going head on with 10+ foot waves just to getting out to sea, your perception of things starts to change. When those waves crash on top of you it sucks away your energy, will, and ease of mind.

A bodyboarder at sunset

My best wave was both the biggest and hardest wave of the day that I would come across. It started out well as I got on top the break. Then I rode the wave for a bit until low and behold there was another bogie boarder in front of me. I ended up crashing into him, letting the wave catch up to me. Once the wave crashed on top of me and I got to know first hand how small I was compared to these massive waves. I was never quite the same after that wave and gained a new respect for the power of the ocean. After that wave I went over to a beach with smaller waves (which were still nearly 10 feet high at times) so that I would be able to complete my trip as planed

My third and final day in Puerto Escondido has been fairly uneventful. I still had the body board in the morning so I went out and tested the waves for a bit. After getting beaten up by the waves I got out of the water, returned the board, and just chilled on the beach. Tonight I am leaving for San Cristobal de las Casas. San Cristobal is a small town out in the middle of the state of Chiapas full of the decendents of the ancient Maya civilization.

Posted by todd at November 23, 2005 12:20 PM