Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 49 – Feb. 13, 2012 Zipolite Beach

Playa Zipolite is a beach community located on the southern coast of Mexico between Huatulco and Puerto Escondido. It is best known as being one of Mexico’s few nude beaches. It seems to have retained much of the hippie culture that made it notable in the 1960s and 1970s. The name Zipolite, sometimes spelled Sipolite or Cipolite probably comes from the Nahuatl word sipolitlan or zipotli, meaning "bumpy place" or "place of continuous bumps or hills.

Some people claim the name means “beach of the dead” in either Nahuatl or Zapotec, because of dangerous underwater currents just offshore. There are lifeguards on this beach – the first we have seen so there may be something to the dangerous currents.

There are many rustic cabins and cabanas along the beach and we found this camping area which is located just behind some of the cabanas. There are many long-term folks here – many from Canada.The beach at Zipolite is about at least 100 feet wide and over a mile long, with medium grain gold colored sand which was VERY HOT until you reached the area where the waves come in! The water is clear and refreshing. We enjoyed walking the beach and splashing in the waves today, then lounging under a palapa reading. We, however, wore our swimsuits!

We ran into a couple from St. Louis we had met at the Tangolunda campground who had just arrived here with their little Italian greyhound, Tilly. It was fun to chat with them. Their dog was having a ball chasing other dogs on the beach then racing like the wind back to their table!Our little “casa roadante” is parked here for one more night before we head off to Puerto Escondido. We are not looking forward to negotiating our exit since we are so much larger than it appears in the picture! We will probably have to back out and down the street at least a block before we can maneuver a turn!

GPS 15.66305°N, 96.51616°W, Elevation 64’