We caught the night bus across the coast to Puerto Escondido, a small town that is famous for its world-renowned surfing beach, Zicatela. We stayed at La Punta, which is definitely the hippy end of town, full of dreadlocks and vegan tacos. However this meant we were right next to the sand and could thus walk the full 3.5km length of Zicatela to find ourselves in the fishing end of town, full of locals pushing boats in and out of the water. It was all very relaxing as we watched the world go by whilst ploughing through caipirinhas and nachos, watching the birds follow the waves across the shore. One day we found a cliff walkway around this end of the beach which was really beautifully laid out and allowed a great view of the bay.
We could hardly stay in this surfers’ paradise without giving it a go ourselves and thus we headed out to Playa Carriziollo in the mornings to have a crack at the waves. We spent a while looking like muppets practicing our pop-ups on the sand, and then paddled into the water to get started. We were both pleasantly surprised at how much we managed to get up (and stay up), it was a lot of fun. The second day the waves were smaller, which meant a lot more paddling from us (and a lot more tired muscles afterwards). Also a turtle joined us in the waves which was a surprise but quite exciting!
Oliver Ridley turtles use this area to lay their eggs, coming ashore at night to keep them safe. We went to help release the newborn turtles into the sea, these tiny things that could fit into our palms and were extremely restless. They waddled their way down the sand until they were taken away by a wave to began their lives in the water. Very few baby turtles survive so we hope Oli and Moana will be the lucky ones!
We ate lots of seaside food, lots of tacos, and discovered an amazing Thai restaurant that was buzzing – live jazz band, incredibly well-stocked bar, and an open kitchen that gave birth to some amazing dishes. We sat at the bar and got chatting, which ended up with mezcal shots (which are very very strong).
We spent our last afternoon chilling at Playa Coral, a smaller beach that looked like Tracy Island from Thunderbirds, with its almost-volcanic outcrop of sand, rocks and jungle. Luckily there was a big tree which provided plenty of shade as we enjoyed our Cuba Libres (still carrying our Havana rum!). It was really empty and the sea was a lot calmer so we could get a swim in (with another turtle). Really really relaxed!
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