Everyone I asked – and the Internet – said only the Ado bus company is good enough to take. And one should absolutely never ever take anything else. But Ado is about twice as expensive as the others. And I didn’t want to take it only because everyone does 🙂 So I found a different company where the better bus (3 seats across instead of the standard 4) is close to the Ado price. I took it to Puerto Escondido overnight. Arrival was not in the city center, but at some weird ugly bus terminal a bit outside, but it was easy and close enough to walk. And it’s HOT here! From the other, more central, bus station, I bought a bus ticket to San Antonio. There, I found another tourist asking taxis about prices to go to Mazunte.. and we waited together about 2 minutes for a Colectivo in direction Mazunte. It was almost empty, do we had lots of space with our bags. It wasn’t very clear where to get off in Mazunte, but the place was tiny, anyways.
I went to the hostel, left my bag in the kitchen and went to the beach 🙂 There’s a shady corner, in the very west, from around noon. I had icecream, and eventually went back to put my stuff in my room and lie in a hammock. It’s more of a place to walk around barefoot than Vama.. else, it’s somewhat similar. There’s a little road where people set up stalls and sell stuff. One offers hairwraps. Another guy offered to repair my dreads. I told him ‘later’ and wanted to do it in a few days, but couldn’t find him anymore then.
I met a german guy through couchsurfing who showed up late, after I had left the meeting point, but found me anyways, and we then went to some other beach, several kms to the west, by scooter. There’s a famous sunset viewpoint on top of a hill just west of Mazunte. I went with a girl from the hostel. We were there kind of early, sat in the front, and tried to ignore all the people behind us. It was extremely crowded! And the icre cream vendors who are at the beach during the day set up their carts on that path in the evening. You also had to pay to use that trail – but only a donation of at least 20 cent or so 😉 it will certainly become more in the next years.
Another day (on the 31st, I think), I met the other guy again, and we went past Zipolite to another tiny beach, for some ceviche and pina loca with spicy mango gummi bear thingies. After that, he left me in Zipolite, I checked out that beach, had some more snacks, and finally managed to find a colectivo back.
In the evening, the hostel organised a dinner for everyone, people were preparing and sharing food, we had drinks, and then went to the beach party on the other side of town. It was nice, very relaxed 🙂
Getting bus tickets from Pochutla on to Oaxaca was harder than expected: There’s a bus station (a wooden shack) in Zipolite, but on the 31st, the bus from Zipolite to Oaxaca on the 2nd was already sold out. However, they gave me a phone number to call to buy tickets. I asked people in the hostel to call for me, but nobody ever answered. The American girl was going to Pochutla to withdraw money, and offered to buy me a ticket. However, she was told, she cannot and I need to buy it myself. All the time, everyone kept telling me I could easily just show up at the station in the morning, and buy a ticket for the next bus. So that’s what I did. I got up early, packed, and took a colectivo. Hanging outside first, then being told I need to be inside. In Pochutla, a bit after 10 am, at the Lineas Unidas office, there was a long queue till out into the street. A mexican couple in the line, just behind me, talked about sharing a taxi with others to be faster. People said the first available bus was around 2pm. The taxi was said to be.. more than I wanted to pay 🙂 So I just kept queueing. When I made it to the front, I said I want seat 4 – the german guy had told me that’s the best one: In the front, on the side opposite the driver. A single seat, with lots of legroom. And on the minibus at 1:30 there was still exactly one free place: seat 4! Yay. I left my bag there in the office (and had to pay for that! ;( ) and then googled ‘cafe’ and went to the first nice-looking place I saw. After all, I had a few hours to wait.
It seemed to be the tourist place, and an older dutch lady, Doti, joined me at my table soon. She was visiting her son who lived there. And she said, like I had heard before, that I absolutely had to take some pill to not get sick on the bus to Oaxaca, because of those crazy turns. I had an ice coffee 😉 and was then told that their toilet didn’t work!
I walked around the town some more, bought some food – deciding maybe not to go for fried fish but something lighter, for that crazy bus ride. I randomly saw the german guy with his scooter, then sat on some (cold-ish!) stairs in the market, waiting for the time to take the bus.
I arrived in Oaxaca in the evening, it was already dark, and the city seemed dead. I found the hostel (not bar,.. haha, that was complicated) entrance door, and then went out again to find something to eat.