Welcome To Puerto Escondido Oaxaca
Puerto Escondido is a place where all kinds of people congregate. Somebody once said it was a sunny place for shady people. That may have been true years ago but there are all kinds of people that go to Puerto these days. Most people found it by word of mouth because it was very difficult to find on your own. Once you were aware of Puerto Escondido it was hard to get to. It has been said that many people come to Puerto Escondido to hide from something and others come to get away from reality while still others come to sit in the sun and play in the water and surf. Over the years it has become easier and easier to travel to and from but more importantly with the invention of the “internets” Puerto has become easier to find. In the past, people didn’t know about Puerto because it was off the radar. Off the beaten path so to speak. To get to Puerto Escondido it was a 12 hour bus ride from Oaxaca or Mexico City or a small plane ride or a demanding drive in a private automobile.
Until the early 1970s the roads to and from the place were all dirt. The road to Oaxaca was only paved in the 1980s and is still washed out much of the time because of rain and other natural events. Now all a traveler has to do is go talk to "Uncle Google" and enter “sun and fun and surf” into the search engine and the computer spits out “Puerto Escondido”. People who traveled to the coast of Oaxaca for years always came home and told all their friends and then their friends came to Puerto and found a great place to get away from it all. As time has gone by and travel has become a little easier, more and more people have decided to buy a little piece of paradise and build a bungalow to call home. The beach has always been the lure for most travelers but Puerto Escondido was a working town way before it was a tourist destination.
Because it has a fairly protected port, coffee and other goods were exported from the coast many years ago. It is said that it was a good smuggling port because it is relatively hidden. One of the reasons that Puerto Escondido has prospered for so long is because it is easy to survive in the area. There is food in the way of fish and fruit. There is plenty of water, the weather is as perfect as it gets and the waves are good. Can there be any wonder that people would find it to be an ideal place to go and hang out and drink rum and mezcal and beer on the beach in the afternoon? Is there any wonder why Puerto Escondido has become a destination for travelers from the north who want to get away for the winter when the sun shines every day and the temperature is in the mid 80s and long pants and sweaters are a distant memory? Could there be any wonder why Europeans want to get out of Italy or France or England and come to a place that has great weather and fabulous waves?
The local Mexican people who call Puerto Escondido home are some of the nicest people in the world. The locals will go out of their way to help anybody. They love to talk to foreigners and sit around and laugh and tell stories. Friendships are easily made and last a lifetime. If there is trouble they will help any way they can. Only in the past 20 years and really in the past 10-15 years has there been a comfortable place to sleep in Puerto for travelers. There were always rooms to be had but there were not the Santa Fe and The Arco Iris and the multitude of apartments and condos now available. There was not a swimming pool on every lot. In the past it was difficult to find a place to lay your head but Puerto has grown to be a destination for tourists and travelers and a retirement community.
It is a source of income for many more foreigners than anybody could have imagined when the Adoquin was a dirt street with only a few holes in the wall to eat and all of the sewage ran down the middle of the road. There are many aspects to this small town and I am trying to capture as many of them as possible. There is Playa Zicatela and The Adoquin and the Market and a multitude of Restaurants. There is a Gringo/Mexican monthly newspaper published and edited by Warren Sharpe. It is a fine place to ride a bike if you are careful and alert or want to ride on the dirt roads that surround the town. On this web site you will be able to find some history on traveling to and from the Hidden Port. You will also be able to see some local destinations. By the time you travel through the whole web site you will know Puerto Escondido like it is your home away from home. Hopefully.
Contact: mar.ymontanas@gmail.com
