Travel Towels are Not the Same as Beach Towels

I've been in Puerto Escondido about a week now and I've really grown attached. After covering the basics and visiting; the Adoquin, the main pedestrian street, La Playa Zicatela, the surfing beach and the main center...I started to venture out a bit more. Playa Manzinillo, which is just one beach north of downtown Puerto, is a great little spot for swimming. Then, I took a trip to La Laguna Manialtepec, which is just about a 20 min drive from town. The Laguna tour started around 4pm and we headed out with binoculars on a little motor boat. It was me and 5 other gringos. We saw some really cool birds actually, lots of pelicans and even a blue-grey heron (yep dad), all the meanwhile touring the laguna and making our way to where the freshwater meets the salt water at the coast.

Once we got to the strip of beach that divides the Laguna from the Ocean we hung out and watched the sun set. It was really an amazing sunset, accompanied by refreshments and food made by the people that live on that stretch of beach. After the sun set, we all got back in the boat and headed to this particular spot in the Laguna where there are bioilluninescent plankton, so the water glows wherever you touch it...really cool.
This picture is me and Gina. Gina is known in Puerto as the information goddess and lives in the same house as my aunt. Beyond running the tourism booth, Gina gives a walking tour Saturdays and Wednesdays where she shares some history, some exercise and some food with visitors. The tour starts on the main strip with a traditional breakfast of black beans, salsa, cooked cactus, tortillas and coffee, good coffee. After the fule up, the group starts walking uphill, visiting the church, a herbal pharmacy and Ines' tamale 'kitchen'. The group slows down in El Marcado Benito Juarez. The Marcado has literally everything you could ever dream of and we tried some of the bests...sweet, traditional, sour. After the tour, it's all downhill to the beach!

From Puerto Escondido, I traveled south a bit, where the beaches are truly undiscovered. I spent the night in Mezunte, where I met a magician and some fellow travelers, non of which had plans to leave Mazunte. In mazunte, I learned how to use a tank-less toilet and all about the end of the Mayan Calender, which is quickly approaching. I think it went something like "if you were alive 3,850 years then these would be your last 4..?" something of that nature. The turtle conservatory in between Mazunte and San Agustinillo is kind of a must, so I went. The turtles are about the size of a kids sandbox and pretty interesting, although no touching allowed! After I was tired and toasted from the sun, I started making my way back to Puerto Escondido.