Puerto Escondido

We were woken up shortly after 5 by a group of roosters in cages right next to our van 🥲 After trying to get back to sleep for a while we gave up and were soon on the road to the East in direction of Puerto Escondido. And in the late morning we were happy to cross the border to Oaxaca. Despite Taxco being one of the highlights so far, the coastal stretch haven't been very nice overall.
The drive wasn't very extraordinary, just a little bit slow with lots of smaller towns being in between. We stopped at a little laguna on the way and walked and stretched our legs. The laguna is famous for the bioluminescent plankton and there were signs indicating that it's currently open even though it's not the season. But it was early afternoon anyway and there weren't any people around that we could have asked so we continued another 20 minutes into town. Actually through town until the most famous beach, Playa Zicatela. We've had our highest temperature yet on the way with 35 degrees and were in urgent need for a little cool down. The beach was magnificent, large and with just a few people. The water was refreshing but not as clear as elsewhere, maybe because of the season. We spend a little more time at the beach sun bathing but the sun got quickly too intense 🫠 When we went back to Ruedi Julia saw that there was a piece of plastic on the underside hanging down. She fixed it temporarily but resourcefully with a little safety clip so we could drive to the main beach for a little stroll.

Afterwards we drove about 15 minutes back in the direction we came from over a sandy road to the beach Agua Dulce. There we waited to release freshly hatched baby turtles to the ocean 🥹🐢 They were incredibly cute but looked so helpless in their efforts to get into the water even with our help. Ultimately all 4 of our babies made it safely into the ocean and will hopefully grow into big, strong turtles. There we asked a guide if it is possible to watch the bioluminescence currently because it's not the season. He said that it's possible with a little help and he's going to a tour after the turtle release anyways, so we decided to join in on that. Also because he said that we can probably stay there with Ruedi ☺️

It was another 15 minutes drive back in direction of Acapulco but it was sooooo worth it!! We took a little boat over the Laguna Manialtepec to some tents floating on the lake that we circled with the boat and then swam into... Right after entering the tent each little movement was illuminated under water ✨⚡ and closer to the water surface they were sparkling all around. You could lift them out and had a sparkling waterfall in your hands... It was magical!! It's difficult to explain but it left me in awe! We spent an hour there in the changing warm and cold water (depending if the current salt water, sweet water or thermal water). They light up when they feel threatened as a defense mechanism, so it felt like disturbing them 🥹

We parked Ruedi in the back of the restaurant and then went for a beer. They also offered dinner, Tlayuda, like a tortilla pizza 🥰Lue lisää