We rented a car in Oaxaca and set out for a 10-day road trip along the Pacific coast of Mexico. Though it’s only 250k from Oaxaca City to Puerto Escondido, the drive takes 6 1/2 hours. That means you average less than 40k/hour (around 20 mph). I can assure you, this is the windiest and hilliest mountain road I’ve ever driven. Then there are the numerous topes. A tope is a speed bump, but to say that doesn’t do the Mexican tope justice. They come in many shapes and sizes, and they’re a super-effective method of speed control. Some topes are so steep that you have to pretty much stop before heading over them. Seriously, just a few miles an hour on some could damage a car. Most are marked in some manner: a sign, or paint, or rumble strips before them, or all of the above. But beware the homemade and unmarked tope. Every time I drive in Mexico I have a total fear of just destroying a rental car by not seeing one coming. This isn’t an unwarranted fear. We heard a story from an AirBnB host of an RV that dropped an axel by hitting one at speed.
I almost hit one on the drive. The beginning of the drive is actually a flat and straight road in the valley, and I was doing around 70 kph when I hit a pothole. I hit it hard enough that I was paying attention to the car, making sure it was still driving, well, like it didn’t have a flat tire. Everything seemed pretty good when I looked up and saw a tope. It was at a bus stop, a very usual place for one. I slammed on the breaks and eased into it at just the right speed. But I bet the folks waiting for the bus had a chuckle at the gringo who almost nailed the tope.
We started the drive around 10a and started thinking about lunch near 12:30p. But we were deep in the mountains at that point with very few options. Nothing looked attractive, and most places were closed. By 1:30p, my stomach was in knots from the motion. Believe it or not, I had no appetite. We had snacks in the car and just kept going. We pushed all the way through the Puerto Escondido and checked into our AirBnB. We were on the second floor with a large balcony and a view of the ocean. I decided to lie down in the hammock. Now, if you’re prone to motion sickness, you know this was a terrible idea. After a few minutes I was green and just smart enough to go inside and lie down on the bed. I slept for an hour but still had no appetite. Leena was on her own for dinner. I didn’t eat a thing until the next morning.
Puerto Escondido is an awesome beach town. There are no resorts and no chains. All the restaurants are local, and the food is great. There’s a large ex-pat community that’s almost entirely Canadians. The beach is beautiful, and the waves are great for surfing in some spots, body surfing in others, and calm enough for swimming in others. We enjoyed four lazy beach days and seem to just have some sunset pictures.
Here’s the view from the balcony at our place:
We then drove west along the coast to Port Angel and spent a few days there. We again had a place up the hill from the ocean with a great view.
From a lunch spot on the beach.
Back to sunsets. This was in the middle of a cloud burst. It rained pretty hard at times and lasted about an hour.
We visited a turtle sanctuary in Mazunte, a short drive east from Puerto Angel.
We did a final stop in Huatulco, a spot we’d visited four or five years ago. For the drive back to Oaxaca, we took the long way around the mountains. Though it added many kilometers, it was only 20 minutes longer. And there was no motion sickness.