Acapulco, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel

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Tuesday, 24 April 2007 Puerto Angel, Oaxaca
We stayed 2 nights in the Acapulco Trailer Park and caught a bus into the downtown Acapulco area on Wednesday. We weren't overly impressed by the city and, after lunch at a 100% Natural restaurant (very good - recommended), we spent a good part of the day looking for a tourist office in order to procure a map that would help us drive through the city to continue southwards along the coast. We did manage to find the Zócalo, which was a nice Mexican Zócalo with shady trees and fountains and even a bandstand. We also had a good look at the Acapulco Bay area, which has a picturesque marina and a cruise ship quay where the Norwegian Star was docked (we had seen the same cruise ship in Prince Rupert in Canada about 8 months ago.) On our map quest we found and walked around the San Diego fort, which was built in 1616 to keep pirates at bay - its structure appears to be as strong today as almost 400 years ago! With the help of a taxi driver at the fort, we did eventually find an office connected with tourism in some way and from there we were taken to what was apparently a store for tourist maps and brochures. Finally we had in our possession a halfway decent map to help us on our way.
Unfortunately Acapulco seems to be full of men in blue or red shirts who approach offering help to the tourists, but seem to be little more than touts, trying to get business for various ailing tour operations. Acapulco is by no means the playground of the rich and famous that it once was and is looking more than a bit 'down at heel'. One tourist sight that Acapulco is famous for is the cliff divers (los Clavadistas) and we planned to see them before leaving.
On Thursday we left the Pie de la Cuesta to drive to the other side of Acapulco and find another campground to stay in - and also to find a large supermarket to shop in. We reasoned that the drive to our next destination - Puerto Escondido - would be at least an hour shorter if we were to leave from the south-west of the city. First we checked out the Diamante Acapulco RV Park only to find that there were dump trucks coming and going and everything, including the vegetation, was covered in a thick film of dust. We weren't sure what was going on there but when we were enthusiastically offered a campsite by a man who claimed the cost was 500 pesos per night, we drove out of there much faster than we had driven in! Mega was just down the street so we did our shopping and then drove to the other campground on offer on this side of the city. Trailer Park El Coloso is almost to the north of the city and quite a distance from the centre. It is on a main road, but very close to the 200 which we needed to drive out on the next day. It was shady and, although it looked a little run-down, they were only asking 200 pesos, so we decided it was better than driving all the way back to Pie de la Cuesta!
That may have been a mistake, as the bathrooms were disgusting and only a little less so after I suggested to the management that they needed cleaning. But it was only for one night... We went into the city that evening in order to see the cliff divers and also the city at night. The diving was a bit anticlimactic since it gets such a build up wherever you read about it, but I guess the cliff is 35 metres above the swirling ocean and they do take their lives in their hands every time they jump. They even have one team member whose job it is to clear the water below of any debris seen floating on the surface before the divers take their leap. We had a beer in the Zócalo before catching a bus back to the campground.
Mention must be made of the buses in Acapulco - they have some of the most amazing airbrush art on them that I have ever seen here. Some of the themes seem to be at odds with a public transport system, but the drivers apparently have some sort of ownership of the bus they drive, because the interiors are all decorated around the drivers' seats with curtains and pictures and even what appear to be small shrines. And the rest of the bus - at least the ones we rode on - seem as though they should have been retired at least 20 years ago. The ride is definitely less than comfortable... but they sure do look pretty with their paint jobs and various mobile light shows! Buses are also used by 'snake oil salesman' to push their suspect wares to the captive audience. They jump on the bus and talk loudly and non-stop for about 10 minutes while they hand out their products to every passenger that will take one - once they have it in their hands, it is amazing how many people hand over the money for whatever miracle concoction it happens to be. Some less bombastic venders will jump on the bus and hand out sweets and then collect the money for some unknown, supposedly charitable, cause from everyone who will pay - or collect back the sweets from those who won't.
The night at the El Coloso was not very restful. There was a karaoke bar right in front which continued well past midnight and it was also one of the hottest nights we had experienced on the coast - mostly, I think, because we weren't really on the coast. On Friday morning we were glad to be on the road again and heading out of Acapulco - a city which is unlikely to draw us back any time in the future.
The woman at the campground had said that it took 4 hours to drive to Puerto Escondido - obviously she had never done it! We were on the road for almost 9 hours with a few short breaks and a longer lunch break. The road was particularly narrow for the most part and made Juergen a very nervous passenger. It was easier just to let him drive. We were both exhausted when we arrived at our destination and after checking out a sort of campground outside of town on a not very inviting lake, we checked into the Cabañas de Cortes on the east end of town. It was only 100 pesos, which seemed like a very good deal after the outrageous prices mentioned around Acapulco. There was mention of another campground down at the beach but we were too exhausted to think about going further.
Once again we were away from the beach and the night was extremely hot. The bathrooms at this place were every bit as bad as those we had experienced the previous night and in the morning we crossed the highway and headed down to the beach. The Trailer Park Palmas de Cortes is purported to be run by the same person as the Cabañas de Cortes, but two more different places are difficult to imagine. For 150 pesos per night (as long as we weren't going to use our air conditioner - or it would be 250) we were parked right on the beach under shady palms in well-kept grounds. The bathrooms were very clean with the only drawback being a cold shower which operated with a chain you had to pull - you have to learn to have a one-handed shower! The space is also used as a parking lot and the bathrooms are 'public baños', which is probably why they are kept so clean.
The only other residents of the campground were a Mexican family in an old pickup with a camper shell. They were very friendly, offering us food and wanting to talk to us even though we have little Spanish and they had no English. Somehow we managed to communicate, with the help of a dictionary, and had quite a hilarious time with them. They were 14 people travelling from Teotitlan which is directly north of Puerto Escondido in the very north of the state of Oaxaca. There were the grandparents, two sets of parents and 8 children, and they all travelled that distance loaded in the single cab pickup with most of them riding in the back. One of the men kept offering to swap 'casa mobiles' with us because they were 12 (actually 14!) and we were only 2. But he did it in such a funny way that we just all laughed at each other. They all had to have a look inside the camper and were a little overawed by it all - especially the grandmother. Then the same man offered to become our driver all the way to South America - he said that he was such a careful driver that we could just go to sleep in the back as he drove! Over these roads - I don't think so.
It was a real pleasure to spend time with this family. They were very simple people who were finding such fun in the idea of a day at the beach - even though they had to drive so far to have it. I always wondered how many Mexicans you can fit in a pick-up truck and now I know - it's at least 12, or perhaps 14, (plus luggage, food and cooking utensils for all of them)! I learnt a few things about travelling this way - always pack your clothes in grain bags - the white woven ones - so that they are nice and soft to lean against, and also you can stick your head down in them and enough light gets in for you to choose just the right items without having to empty the bag out. Also, even if you are an older person of about 70 years, it is possible to have a siesta sitting on a wall and leaning against a wire fence, or laying on some flattened cardboard boxes with a brick for a pillow, and still get up and walk around in quite a spritely fashion - my back aches just imagining it!
Our idyllic location turned out to be not so idyllic after all. True it was right on the beach and the camper really did cool down nicely at night. There was also a fresh fish market right out front every morning, so finding something to cook was easy and fish this fresh just melts in your mouth. And also true that the bathrooms were almost as good as Maria's in San Miguel de Allende. But on the minus side, we were so close to the pedestrian zone (which is restaurants and shops mostly for tourists) that Saturday night's rest was interrupted by loud music until quite late. True there was 24 hour security, but when the night watchmen started collecting coconuts by throwing them in a metal wheel barrow right outside our camper at 2.30 am on Sunday night, we weren't quite so happy about the full-time security! By Monday all the weekend tourists had left and we were looking forward to a couple of restful days before moving on. We had even done some hand washing and hung the clothes to dry. We guess what came next is somehow typical of Mexico: suddenly we were disturbed by some loud clanging. A small truck was unloading what turned out to be a tent for a large fiesta, which nobody had told us about... They began setting it up right in the campground about 3 metres from our camper. When the huge sound system and drum set arrived we decided it might be time to leave... It took us just over an hour to pack up and be on the road in the direction of Puerto Angel.

Sunday, 29 April 2007, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
It took us about an hour to reach the beach village of Mazunte, near Puerto Angel. It then took us another 2 hours to find somewhere to camp. We had been told and had also read that it is possible to find places to park near restaurants on the beaches here. We drove and looked and walked and looked but didn't really find anything that looked like what we wanted. There was one campground mentioned in the 'bible' but it really didn't look inviting and we had heard that it was full of roosters... We passed another large compound surrounded by a high wall where I saw a trailer parked - it turned out to be the Rancho los Mangos which is a fairly new RV Park at Zipolite beach. After driving all the way into Puerto Angel and finding nothing else, we eventually went back to the Rancho and checked in. The couple running the place were very friendly and they had made it really nice, with a large area of well-kept grass under many trees, most of which seemed to be producing mangos.
The trailer we had spotted belonged to Gerry and Vicki, an American couple, who have been full-time for 9 years. This is their 23rd trip to Mexico and they have also travelled in other countries of Central America and made a trip around South America - by plane, 'chicken bus' and boat. They had lots of great recommendations for us and some interesting stories to tell.
We only stayed for 2 nights because it was so hot overnight as to make sleeping difficult. The campground is about 4 blocks from the beach and doesn't really get any breeze at night. Other than that it would be a great place to spend some time. There is a swimming pool, which is quite well cared for, to cool off in although the water was actually quite warm! The beach is nice for a walk, but I personally wouldn't go swimming there - it looked altogether too rough for my liking. The small village of Zipotle has a few shops and restaurants - enough to provide the necessities of life for a few days at least.
The just over 2 weeks we spent on the Pacific coast were overall quite pleasant. It was nice to have some really warm weather and get into shorts and sleeveless shirts again, but somehow the beaches just don't match up to those at home. We are so spoilt by the white sand and clean oceans in Australia that we are just not impressed by grey sand and dirty looking water. I'm sure we will keep going back to the beaches on our trip because both of us like to be near the ocean, but I don't think swimming will be a priority until we see some calm clear blue water that looks inviting.

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