Vacation from our Vacation: Weekend in Puerto Escondido!

Thank you Benito Juárez.
Thanks for being born on March 21st, thus giving us a Monday day off the same weekend as my birthday.
We made good use of our long weekend.

For those that don't know, he was the president of Mexico during and after the French occupation .

So, I really can't take any credit for this weekend. I did absolutely none of the planning. And it was awesome.  Thanks Noah and Louis!  So a few weeks before our long weekend, our friend Noah brought up the idea of going to a beach in Oaxaca for a few days.  The beaches there are known to be the best in Mexico and less touristy than places like Puerto Vallarta, Cancún, and south of Veracruz.  Jake and I were up for it, and continued to just tag along as plans evolved.  Bus tickets were pretty expensive, so we ended up renting a car.  Jake and I were a bit nervous about driving in Mexico, especially a looong drive through the mountains on crappy roads at night in Mexico.  Luckily, we had no problems whatsoever.  We left late on Thursday night, drove through the night, and arrived in Puerto Escondido in the early afternoon.  We ended up going on the route the government website suggests (for anyone considering driving in Mexico, this site is very helpful: http://aplicaciones4.sct.gob.mx/sibuac_internet/ControllerUI?action=cmdEscogeRuta) which takes you on a toll highway towards Acapulco, then cuts down a free highway to Puerto Escondido.  This picture sums up our experience on the free highway:

See that barely visible line across the road? Yeah, that's a tope.  Speed bump. On a highway.  With very little in the way of warning.  So, for the 8 hours we were on this road, we would be driving through beautiful little towns, winding our way up mountains, cruising through fruit farms, and all of a sudden, screeeechhhh "Tope!!" THUNK. "Sorry, guys." That, plus being a bit sleep deprived, made our drive even more of an adventure.  But, after 13 hours of driving, we made it. And it was gorgeous.

We found lodging (I recommend Hotel Las Olas on Playa Zicatela, 300 pesos a night for a room with a double bed, single, sink, fridge, and bathroom), ate some food right on the beach, had a beer, went to the supermarket for some fruit, and walked around the town.  We planned on going out again at night, but Jake and I accidentally fell asleep at 7 and didn't wake up until the next morning.  Ah well.  We ate breakfast of my homemade bagels and fruit, then decided to take a short trip to Mazunte, a beach 40 minutes away that was better for swimming.  It was also very gorgeous.

Happy birthday to me!

  We swam and sunbathed (sunburned), then Noah once again handled the planning and found a guy to take us on a boat tour to see sea turtles, dolphins, and snorkel.  We saw tortugas! And more whales! And we snorkeled.  I don't have many pictures because the boat was small and I was scared of my camera getting wet.  But we have proof of the turtles!

No turtles were harmed in the making of this picture.  She was pretty annoyed though.

We drove back to Puerto Escondido, had some fish tacos and wine, and walked around the beach.  Gotta say, pretty awesome birthday.
The next morning I was ready to just do absolutely nothing and just sit on my butt at the beach all day, but Noah pulled out all the stops and planned yet another trip.  I'm glad we did it.  We drove about an hour up the highway, then pulled off and drove for another 20 minutes, arrived at Chacahua National Park, took a boat across a mangrove lagoon, and arrived at one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Driving through the mangrove tunnels.

Chacahua!

Once again, found very good lodging for 300 pesos a night, right on the beach.  Jake and I played in the surf for the afternoon while Noah and Louis went to go snorkeling again.  The waves are beautiful: the beach is in a little cove with a breakwall on the side, but the current and surf is still pretty strong, with large waves that break out by the breakwall, and smaller waves that break close to shore and are safe to play in.  I must say, Jake and I are pretty awesome body surfers.  The real surfers were also very good, and made it look soooo easy.  After a few hours of fun, we were ready to EAT! I know, it's amazing, I've barely mentioned food in this post.  There's a bunch of little restaurants all along the beach under palapas (the palm roofs), which serve fresh seafood, cocos, and traditional Mexican fare.  We all took advantage of the fresh seafood: ceviche, shellfish stuffed fish, shrimp pasta, and roasted fish, plus cocos. Yum.

As we were digesting, our waiter came up to us and asked us if we wanted to see the phosphorescence in the lagoon that night.  That one was an obvious yes, so we waited around until dark playing cards and snacking on candy.  Around 11 we ventured out in our waiter Manuel's canoe, and sure enough, when you disturbed the water you could see the little phosphorescent plankton floating around!  He took us to a dark place to swim so we could see them better, which was really an amazing experience.  The next day I was determined to try surfing; I made it about half an hour and then got too frustrated and worried because I couldn't see Jake: he was worrying the same thing.  We decided to ditch the boards and just swim, which was more fun anyway.  Unfortunately, we had to leave, and by 3 we were back on the road.  We'll be back, Oaxaca!
Now we're ready for our next vacation :)