Travel Never Ends

Kevin and Ruth – 77 countries and counting!

Arrived in Puerto Escondido

After another four hours of driving through landslides, potholes, and speed bumps, we finally arrived in the bustling beach town of Puerto Escondido! The last time we were here was the winter prior to Covid, in February 2020. So almost 7 years ago!

We left our overnight spot by the river at about 10am and headed up into the mountains.

Camper van parked on a mountain road overlooking forested hills and distant mountains
Igor, stopped to enjoy the view.

While there is a lot of beautiful scenery, there aren’t many places to pull of and enjoy it. Or, the roadside is too overgrown.

Winding mountain road beside a rocky, tree-covered hillside under a clear blue sky
Landslide!

The road conditions on today’s drive were quite a bit worse. Lots of potholes, rockslides, and topes (speed bumps).

Worn, uneven mountain road curving beside a rocky, tree-covered hillside
Rough road.

Ruth took a video for you…

Mountainous forest landscape with pine trees, rolling hills, and distant blue peaks under a clear sky
Scenery along the way.
Panoramic view of rugged, forested mountain ranges beneath a clear blue sky.
Narrow paved road winding through a dense forest, viewed from inside a vehicle.
Big landslide.
Mountain landscape with forested ridges, flowering shrubs, and a bright blue sky with clouds
More scenery.
Wooden cabin beside a mountain road with a black dog and forested mountains in the background
Hmm. What’s that up ahead?
Wooden treehouse under construction with red tiled roof, surrounded by trees and mountains.
We’re not sure!
Unpaved rural road with a truck, dense greenery, utility poles, and roadside homes under a clear blue sky

They had a bad storm up in this area on October 15th, and a lot of water washed down onto the road along with a lot of dirt and mud. They’re are still getting cleaned up.

Panoramic view of a sandy coastal beach, blue ocean with fishing boats, palm trees, and seaside buildings
Playa Zicatela!

It was 2:51pm when Ruth took the above photo. Playa Zicatela is Puerto Escondido’s world famous surfing beach.

We still had a couple of kms to go though, and we had stopped for lunch for an hour. So it did in fact take us four hours to do 121 kms (75 miles)!

We’re glad we did the drive on the old road, but don’t see any need to do it again in the future!

We pulled into the village of La Barra de Colotepec to meet our Mexican family. To give you some background, way back in February of 2009 we had pulled into this same area and found a beautiful overnight spot by the river. A local family adopted us, and we’ve been friends ever since. We even brought our RV caravan groups here.

Hermalindo and Sylvia had five children. The three boys and their families are all working in Kentucky, but the oldest daughter Leticia, and the youngest daughter Olivia and her 9 year old daughter Mikayla are here in La Barra. Unfortunately, Hermalindo passed away last January.

A group of friends and family enjoying a meal outdoors at a rustic wooden table.
Kevin, Olivia, Sylvia, Mikayla, and Leticia.
Two people seated in plastic chairs inside a rustic kitchen, with a small dog at their feet.
Me, helping Mikayla with her English lessons.
Plate of white rice, black beans, and saucy fried meat served on a tropical leaf-patterned dish
Sylvia made us a delicious dinner of pollo a la barbacoa (a type of chicken stew).

After dinner, we walked down to the beach with Mikayla. She a smart girl with a good sense of humor and reminds us a lot of our granddaughter Sadie.

We are parked in their yard. The spot where we had parked Sherman many years ago is under water now because the river is high. And the beach is about a 1 km walk, but not really the best for an overnight. Besides, we are happy to be in the yard spending time with the family.

Smiling older woman holding a small puppy and water bottle on a wooded dirt path

Mikayla has a new puppy. His name in Toto. She wanted to bring him down to the beach with us.

Cattle grazing in a green field beneath a palm tree, with trees and distant hills in the background.
Cows in the field.
Woman standing on a sandy beach, pointing toward the ocean waves.
Mikayla saying “Look at the sunset”!
Quiet sandy beach at sunset with gentle waves and pink-orange clouds over the ocean
Sunset at the beach.
Woman sitting on a sandy beach beside a small dog with ocean waves in the background
Mikayla and Toto.
Older woman wearing sunglasses on her head sits in a chair holding a small brown puppy.

We’re going to stay three nights. Today we will go visit Playa Zicatela, the surfing beach. Hermalindo’s brother Eugenio owns a beach restaurant there and we haven’t seen him in many years.

Temperature is 32C (89F) during the day, and 25C (77F) at night.

Here’s a link to the map of yesterday’s drive.

Fantastic deal on this Collapsible Wagon at Amazon.com

And in Canada… Check out the deals at Amazon.ca

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