Santa María Colotepec

4 days ago I took the 12 hour overnight bus 🚎 to Puerto Escondido. I am not particularly sleeping well in moving vehicles or loud or bright environments. Unfortunately, I almost need perfect conditions to sleep. 😬 Neither the route through the mountains with its long succession of countless serpentines nor the fact that the bus was cooled down to freezing temperatures 🥶 helped. I already had long trousers, a jumper over my t-shirt and my sarong from Indonesia that I use more and more as a blanket but I wished I had at least one more layer of clothing. So, I arrived pretty sleepy 😴 in Puerto Escondido in the morning of the 20th of December. I have met a nice couple from the Netherlands on the bus ride and we shared a taxi to my hostel. They opted to walk 🚶‍♂️ to my their hostel which was 10 min. away. Once I arrived in my hostel (the „Huitzilin“) I tried to rest a little bit. It was still quite early which is why I couldn’t check in but the place was pretty comfortable with many sofas and a hammock in the public areas. After breakfast I went to Zicatela beach 🏖️ which was located only 5 minutes (walking distance) away. To my surprise there were only a few people at the beach and the waves 🌊 were in general more suitable for surfing than swimming. I went into the water to cool off anyway.
The sun ☀️ shines very strong here at the coast of Oaxaca state and I didn’t bring sun screen to the beach. So, I could only stay for an hour since I didn’t want to risk getting sun burnt. I chilled a bit in my hostel before I set out again to visit Brisas in the southern part of the very stretched out Zicatela beach. It’s a densely packed spot with lots of shops, restaurants and bungalows that serve as accommodation. Here I really felt the surfing vibes 🏄 Puerto Escondido is known for. Many tourists drove around in a scooter which reminded me of my time in Indonesia. If I had spent more time in Puerto Escondido, I also would have rented a scooter 🛵 It simply didn’t fit well with my current travel plans.
I went to bed 🛌 early that day. I was still tired from the lack of sleep in overnight bus in the night before and in addition, I had agreed with Helena (from the US) to attend a whale watching tour on the next day at 7 am.

In the morning, I got up at 6:15 am ⏰ and walked in my wind blocking jacket, t-shirt, bathing trousers and flip flops for 30 minutes all the way to the meeting point at Playa Principal. The sun was about to rise at that time and it was still a bit chilly. So, I was grateful for that exercise 😅 Helena was already waiting there as she was watching the sunrise earlier from a specific lookout with some friends.
The whale watching tour was good. We were promised a 100% probably that we would see Humpback whales 🐋 … and the tour guide delivered. Whales come to this area between December and January to give birth to their offspring. We were lucky enough to find a family with a young baby which - on occasion - jumped out of the water (see video). The tour was over at 10 am and it was high time for breakfast 🍳 So, I went to the close-by city centre and had scrambled eggs, mexican-style of course - with rice and mole. Then I walked the 30 minutes back to my hostel. This time I started sweating pretty quickly 🥵 due to the hot temperatures during the day. Therefore, I took a quick shower and went straight to the pool as soon as I was in the hostel.
In the afternoon, I met with Matt (from the UK) that I got to know during the time in my hostel in Oaxaca. He is traveling almost the same route as me 🗺️ and also during the same time frame. So, we will probably run more often into each other in the future. We went to Playa Carrizalillo - one of the prettiest beaches in Puerto Escondido. But that meant that the place was packed. Here we also (kind of randomly) met Barrie and Louise - two girls from the US and Canada that I had briefly chatted with during my visit to the Botanical Garden 🪴 in Oaxaca. They were staying in the apartment hotel that houses the restaurant which Matt had picked for dinner and thus could help us make a reservation. It has a beautiful view and thus it is very busy during sunset. 🌅 Eventually, Barrie and Louise joined us for some drinks while we had our excellent dinner. Afterwards they even invited us for some mezcal 🥃 in their apartment. It was already quite late when we had emptied the bottles of mezcal and the girls haven’t had dinner yet. So, we ended that cheerful evening and left the apartment. The girls went to some restaurants close-by. Matt and I took a taxi 🚕 back to our hotels respectively hostels.

On the next day Matt and I made a day trip to the little hippie and beach town „Mazunte“ 🏖️ It is a nice and quiet place approximately 1,5 hours east of Puerto Escondido. It combines all good characteristics of Puerto Escondido in one place: a nice beach with calm waves like at Playa Carrizalillo, only few people 👩🏻‍🤝‍👨🏽 on the beach like at Playa Zicatela as well as many shops, restaurants and bungalows as in Brisas. And in addition you get a very relaxed vibe. We spend almost all day there and where only back in Puerto Escondido to watch the sunset. When we stepped out of the bus there was suddenly a small parade consisting of a mother and her child in a horse-carriage and maybe 50 horse riders dressed like cowboys 🤠 I have yet to find out what that was about but it was an interesting scene nonetheless.
In the evening, Matt and I met again with Barrie and Luis for dinner in the city centre. It was their last night in Mexico 🇲🇽 On the next day they would fly home for Christmas. It was again a nice evening.
But before meeting the others for dinner, I had to change from my hostel to a hotel right across from the station where I wanted to take the long-distance bus 🚎 back to Oaxaca from on the next morning. Instead of the night bus I had to take a bus that runs during the day. Anything else was already completely booked out. I guess, this is normal during peak season. But I don’t mind it. That way I had time to write this post, reflect on a few things and I take a look at the beautiful country side Mexico 🇲🇽 has to offer.Read more