Mexico: Puerto Escondido

After nearly 21 hours of travel, we arrive in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca at 9 a.m. We checked into our hotel, showered and headed out to check out the town and the beach. It's cloudy in the morning but we figure it will burn off. 

Puerto Escondido is great; a small city with a few smooth palm-lined beaches, streets lined with cafes and eateries and a small, protected bay filled with fishing boats. There are some foreigners, but the beaches are mostly full of Mexicans wading in the surf. 

We happened to arrive during feria. In the afternoon the beach front was decorated in preparation for the blessing of the city's patron saint, Santa Solidad. The procession started at the church up the hill. The statue of the saint was carried down to the beach where she was placed on a fishing boat. The Father boarded the boat as well, and with a fleet of boats following, headed out to sea. There, the blessing took place and the boats returned to shore and the saint was replaced in the church. 

The next morning, while it was still dark we boarded a local boat and set out to sea ourselves. The boat was still decorated from the event the day before. 

We went fishing!!

Nic was the first to reel in a big guy. This is an albacore. 

I got one too! Together, Nic and I reeled in 4 albacores and at least 8 mackerels and saw sea turtles and dolphins.

While we went back to the hotel to shower and clean up, our fish was being prepared as a feast! Garlic and chili sauce where complimented excellently with tortillas and Coronas with lime. 

The next day the clouds still hadn't cleared. We were feeling kinda bummed and a little bored since swimming didn't sound so good. We decided to head to another part of town and check out things there. It actually started to rain on us during the walk over there so we ducked into a cafe and found an old Scrabble board. I won, with the word "cornbread" scoring me something like 130 points. 

We still enjoyed a nice meal beach side. 

The sunset that day was incredible! It literally lasted over an hour from about this point on. 

Not a bad view.

Our last day we awoke to sun!! We hit the beach immediately and spent the day soaking up what we could of it! We plopped ourselves under an umbrella and stayed there all day. 

Pelicans played King of the Rock as waves splashed against them. 

We enjoyed watching the swimmers, surfers and boogie boarders, even taking a turn at the boogie board ourselves. The waves were big and perfect. 

Beers went down a little too easy in the heat but were a perfect accompaniment to the fresh shrimp ceviche we bought from a local vendor. 

On the way to the bus terminal to catch another overnight bus that will deliver us to San Cristobal de las Casas.