Beach bumming at the Pacific coast

After Oaxaca and a lethal 8 hour bus ride, me and my Aussie/Kiwi-crew arrived in Puerto Escondido, a surf town on the pacific coast of Mexico. And we loved it immediately! Well, except that we got a little overwhelmed the first night by an australian invastion of the rooftop terrace at the hostel. They fulfilled all stereotypes: Loud, drunk, blonde and VERY australian. We were sober, tired and disgusted.

But the next day everything turned out okay, Mayflower, the hostel, it definitely a place for beach bums and surfers who just want to hang out on the beach and have a good time. And most of them, like us, love it and stay longer than planned. Even if the water on the Pacific side isn't as crystal clear as on the Carribean coast, this was definitely more my kind of place: Yes, it's touristy but not to the same extent, and the atmosphere is more relaxed, surfy and backpackery. I was thrilled to see waves again, and to be surfing!! I got a huge reminder why I LOVE this sport, even if it's hard work and not very rewarding unless you're really good. I didn't even get put of it when one of the girls hit a rock and needed 30 (!) stitches on her thigh - 3 layers.

We also had a wonderful stay in Zipolite, a quiet town a bit further southeast on the coast. Not much to do there, but you don't need much if you live right ON a gorgeous beach like that. We did some activities tho:

-A mediocre snorkelig trip where the highlight was diving from a 5m rock (I'd never done more than 3m, and that in a swimming pool)

-Horseback riding on the beach. Superb as usual, and quite interesting to hear the guide's story about falling down from a 4 story building the year before and how it changed his view on life. And we went past a 7 year old plane wreck, which apparently had contained big amounts of cocaine, but the people in the plane and all the drugs got away.

After 6 days it was time to leave, like Chris said; "It's a bit like being on holiday with your parents, except cooler, freakier parents". The crowd was long term stayers, eccentrics in their 40/50's who sat on the beach and drank beer all day, getting wrinkly and high. We were just too young and normal.

After Zipolite, 50% of the crew (including me) actually went back to Puerto Escondido for some more beach time. We went to a Halloween Party, where me and Sarah, AND Chris, dressed up as slutty devils. We cross-dressed a french boy too, he turned out to have an impressive cleavage with the help of my favourite push-up bra.