February 21, 2018 - Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido, Mexico

We were up early today. We dumped and filled the RV with fresh water and left the campground by 7:30 this morning for our journey to the Puerto Escondido area. It was a long drive – almost 9 hours on winding roads through the mountains out to the ocean. We followed MEX175 most of the way before catching MEX200 north. Besides watching the narrow road, we watched all of the road signs!

One of the main hazards for us are the “topes” (speed bumps). In some areas they must feel that if one tope is good, four are better!Sometimes the topes are marked well, other times it is just luck if you see them!This was a sign indicating how sharp some of the turns were – almost the entire trip!And if the turns weren’t sharp, it was just curvy!Decrease speed – increases safetyDrive with caution – winding roadDo no leave the pavementWe passed through pine forests as we crossed the mountains.Sometimes the road was one lane!We spotted this truck in one small town. He was loaded with baskets and brooms for sale. We went into Mazunte to visit the Turtle Museum which we had tried to see when we were here six years ago. It was open today, so we went in after paying our $34 peso entrance fee. ($68 total – $3.60USD) It isn’t really a museum, it was more of a turtle zoo with several species of turtles on display. It only took us about 30 minutes to see the whole place, but it was a nice break.We continued north on the MEX200 to the “La Punta” pullout from the ioverlander camping recommendations. Google maps was going to take us down some pretty narrow dirt streets, but we stopped and walked to the site, finding a better route. It was pretty crowded with surfers and people on the beach waiting for the sunset, but we managed to finally get a spot to park for the night.

We changed into to cooler clothes because it is HOT – about 86 degrees. We took a walk on the beach and joined the folks watching the sunset. It was beautiful!We had dinner at one of the little restaurants on the beach road – fish tacos for Tobey, shrimp tacos for me. They were quite tasty and we are stuffed! Dinner, drinks and tip $290 pesos ($15.40 USD). Pretty cheap eats!

We are back to our little home and are listening to the sound of waves crashing on the beach. We will decide in the morning whether we stay here of find another beach. Until then, goodnight!