We pulled into Puerto Escondido and made our way through a ten foot wide alley between an OXXO and a restaurant to a tiny campground across the street from the beach—Zicatela, Mexico’s Pipeline. It’s an insanely perfect camping location, though the campground itself is a bit of a dump. But hey, for eight bucks a night we’re essentially on what is one of the premier beaches in Mexico.
Our bank shut down our ATM card on us for the first time in a very long time, which left us scrambling through the weekend in what is a very cash oriented society. By Monday morning we had three pesos (that’s eighteen cents) left to our name, and that included Ouest’s piggy bank, which now held an I.O.U. A call to the bank confirmed that Wal-Mart was once again the culprit. It seems like every time our credit card or bank card is flagged for suspicious activity it is after a Wal-Mart stop. Anyway, cash in hand again on Monday morning we were spending like rock stars. I was feeling so generous that Ouest’s thirty-six peso I.O.U. was repaid with four pesos in interest. This despite the fact that we had borrowed that money to buy her and Lowe ice cream.
We also got our air conditioner repaired. It pains me to say that. I feel like a geriatric just typing those words. Before you know it I’ll be telling you about my arthritis. Having and using an air conditioner to me is such a sign of weakness. I pretty much spurn anything related to making our lives comfortable. And yet there are probably very few people reading this who aren’t themselves sitting in an air conditioned room right at this moment.
Anyway, it’s a long, boring story, but basically I drilled a hole into the back of our air conditioner which immediately caused it to blow out every last bit of coolant (I did this in an effort to help it drain more efficiently). In Oaxaca we finally brought it in to a place that was happy to repair the hole I had made, but that for the life of them could not track down the correct gas to refill it with. They eventually gave me back our partially repaired unit and wouldn’t accept any payment. Down here on the sweltering coast it took exactly one stop in town to find the gas. They filled it back up and for thirty bucks we could cool the kids’ room off before bed again.
Puerto Escondido—or more specifically, Zicotela Beach—is a beach bum surfer town. The strip we are on is a few blocks long and consists of nothing more than a couple of dozen restaurants/bars, a handful of t-shirt shops, and a few surf shops. There is little more to do than hang out on the beach and drink beer. So…
It sucks having kids that hate water so much.
11 Comments on “Puerto Escondido”
The two we’re traveling with are the same. 12 and 7, they played in the framing English Channel when we were in Brighton a few weeks ago. One was raised in Florida, the other in Las Vegas, no way should they consider that body of water an acceptable temperature.
I’m starting to think they’re some kind of mutants. Personally, I like my water lukewarm unless it’s scorching outside, in which case a slight coolness is refreshing.
When I see your photos of Lowe and water I can just imagine that your bank is questioning all of the underwear purchases at Walmart for a 4 year old boy. He must go through dozens of pairs. Every picture of him in water includes a few layers of ground-in dirt on his underpants. Makes me smile every time. Remembering the days of He-Man underwear and cowboy boots when my now-30-year-old was that age, jumping off the sofa yelling “I have the power!”.
For me it was Hulk Underoos. Man was I ever proud of those things. But yeah, he’s going to kill us when he’s older and sees that every picture of him ever taken he was in his underwear. Every time I see a kid in a fancy outfit (i.e. shorts) I know he’s not having nearly as much fun as our little boy who can’t even be bothered to put on pants.
I like the strip along Zicatela too because the surf is so dramatic – but you guys know about the actual town, right? The fishing fleet comes in at Playa Marinaro in the morning, Playa Carrizalillo is a gorgeous beach where you can actually surf and not drown, there is an INCREDIBLE market, normal Mexican neighborhoods with taco stands and chickens roasting on spits, lots to see.
Thanks. Didn’t know about the market, but yeah, there is plenty to see and do in the area. Not sure how much of this heat we can stand though.
AC/?? “We don’t need no stinkin AC”
and the movie that’s paraphrased from is….???
“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948), of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsdZKCh6RsU
Hi Guys,
Quick question, what software do you use to create your blog? Or do you use a service like blog spot? I’d like to create my own for a road trip coming up, and your blog format seems pretty ideal.
We use wordpress.org which is self-hosted. If you want to do a quick and easy site I’d go with wordpress.com. Where’s the road trip taking you? Looking forward to the pics.
I always wondered why you never had some google text ads to make a little change.
Because we despise advertising. Because everyone hates ads on websites. Because we can’t stand the thought of designing our personal website around how to place advertising. I’d rather come right out and ask our followers to give us a few bucks than to submit everyone to ads for HOW TO GET GREAT ABS.