OK, so where were we? Ah yes, a flip flop blow out of the worst kind. Fixed easily enough though…….
Feeling the need to press further south, I left Nexpa after one last good surf session. I spent the night at Zihuatanejo, a small tourist town but nothing special, so I didnt take any pics. I was only there for a beer, dinner and a good night sleep. The plan was to get an early start for a 400 mile day to Puerto Escondido.
Low and behold, as I was leaving Nexpa, I came up on a one lane bridge and ran into a dude on a GS. He looked at me and said, “dude, I know you!” Hey Jim. Gotta love the internet. One minute I’m crossing a one lane bridge in the middle of Michoacan and guy pulls up and says he knows me. funny stuff.
I didnt know him, but he knew me from my blog being a motorcycle guy. And since I dont have many shots of myself, of course I had him take one. We shot the bull for a while cooking in the sun then Jim headed north toward Mazatlan to his winter home, and I headed further south.
Anyway, as I said, uneventful ride to Zihua, uneventful stay. I got on the road at 7 am and decided to try and eat up the 400 plus miles to Puerto Escondido. After 11 hours of wheelying over topes, passing and dodging traffic for a solid 11 hours, I pull into Escondido to find this.
Ugggg. Another tourist trap beach town complete with people trying to sell you stuff every step down the beach. Great. Fortunately its not too crowded yet, but its on the high end of my budget so I only stayed long a enough to eat, sleep, and get some shots of the surf.
Puerto Escondido is known as the “Mexican Pipeline.” Its every bit as hairy as the Hawaiian Pipeline except its a beach break rather than a reef break.
In these pics the locals say, its flat. In other words, there are no waves. In the summer, this place cranks out consistently intimidating double to triple overhead+ waves with board snapping, and neck snapping juice. When it gets some size on it, this place is every bit as serious as anything on the North Shore. Fun to watch, but not so fun to be out there and getting worked.
Looks pretty fun on this day though. Remember that for this place, there are no waves. Well it sure looks fun riding what ever those things are in the water.
A boogie boarder getting set up for the beating…….
There are no waves, but here is a guy setting up for a very nice barrel, riding one of those “whatever you call em’s” because there are no waves here.
Anyway, time to get out of here to about 45 miles further down the coast to the towns of Mazunte, San Augustillo, and Zipolite. About 15 years ago these places were off the radar of most folks and pretty much only had some basic rooms and places to hang your hammock. I opted to stay in Zipolite.
It quite a bit different now with numerous places to stay, restaurants to choose from and people trying to sell you stuff on the beach. However, Zipolite has two things going for it. Number one, its on a very pretty beach, and number two: Its cheap. Perfect place to chill out while spending about 15 bucks a day for everything you need. Also, as I found out, its a clothing optional beach. However you will see a few people that should probably keep their clothes on.
You can tell its popular from the bus traffic……
Here’s the view out my private, 100 pesos per night room. Not bad for about 8 bucks.
Of course there are more expensive places to choose from complete with catchy names.
Hasta luego amigos, saludos…………