vampyresheep

Not posted on here since, ahem, an international pandemic halted all travel. I did still travel, within the UK, once it was allowed, and should have updated this blog with those trip reports but strange times and lack of motivation. However my 2020 trip to Mexico finally went ahead in October/November this year, so here's what we got up to.

Arrival and Day 1 - Sunday
sunset in Puerto Escondido

After a long (11 hour!) flight from the UK, we arrived at CDMX Benito Juarez airport around 9pm. Pretty much flew through security and with no luggage to pick up, we made it to our overnight hotel in 30 minutes of landing. We stayed at Camino Real Aeropuerto, and although we were too tired to use any of the airport’s facilities, we were impressed with what we saw, our room was lovely and comfortable and I highly recommend for anyone needing a stopover at the airport.

Sunday morning we were up early and on the shuttle to Terminal 2 for our flight to Puerto Escondido. All went well with the flight and it was easy to get a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Santa Fe and it is an absolute charm of a hotel! Yes it is showing its age in places, and I wasn’t expecting the layout to be quite so open (the reception being a kiosk just within the entrance gates and rooms are all accessible from the outside. It felt like a mini Portmeirion, relocated to sunnier climes. They let us check in early, and after a quick explore of the grounds – spotting the iguana next to the pool was a thrill – we went for brunch at their restaurant. We just missed the breakfast menu, so had a lovely small lunch of veggie tostadas, whilst looking out over the stunning Zicatela beach.

Too tired to do much on the first day (and this was supposed to be the relaxing part of our trip after all), in the afternoon we just took a stroll on Zicatela beach, with the plan to get some photos of us looking crazily out of place as goths on the beach. I knew the sea at Zicatela was dangerous, so I had no intention of going for a paddle, however the sea had other ideas and a sudden creeping bit of the tide caught me mid photo and I got absolutely soaked! I thought I was well away from the read of the water, having stood and watched the tide for a while but the sea is to be respected, particularly the powerful Pacific Ocean.

This was a perfect excuse to dry out on a sun lounger with a Michelada at the conveniently adjacent Sabor a Mar beach bar and restaurant. It was pretty hot weather for us pasty Brits, so we went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool to cool down and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing poolside. Early evening we took a walk along Zicatela to check out all the quirky bars, street art and sculptures. The beach and promenade became quite busy as the evening drew in, in contrast to how quiet we felt it was for a Sunday afternoon.

Stayed on the beach for the sunset and noting that a rainstorm was about to erupt, we took shelter in Bar Esmeralda, where once you purchased a drink, you had unlimited access to a pool table. The drinks weren’t great (limited range of beers and over-sweet cocktails) but the staff were absolutely lovely and the atmosphere was great.

Once the rain stopped, we headed to Cayuco for dinner. Expecting it to be busy, we were the only diners there and although our meals were absolutely delicious, the menu was a tad limited and atmosphere slightly lacking. Not the fault of the staff, just due to lack of anyone else being there.

We didn’t expect it to be so oppressively hot and humid in the evening, so once we had eaten, we were glad to get back to our air conditioned room for the first night.

Day 1 photos https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-23-CDMX-Sun-to-Puerto-Escondido-