8 Surprising, Interesting, & Charming Things That You Didn't Know About Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Puerto Escondido has a rather short but interesting history, and I believe it has a very exciting future as well.
This list was primarily created for new arrivals and seasonal visitors to Puerto Escondido (I’ll shorten it to “Puerto” throughout), but even if you’ve lived here for a few years—you’ll likely find something on this list that’s new to you.
This town has a magnetism and swirling vortex of energy that’s kept many a traveler here long after their original flight out was airborne. The Oaxacan magic of Puerto is ancient and rooted in its unique history.
However, the recorded human history in this area is only about 100 years old, and over this last century, Puerto has grown and evolved in the most charming way.
Let’s take a look at eight standout features of Puerto Escondido’s past and present that will have you pulling up Google while your eyebrows try to jump off of your face.
1. A pair of ostriches live in Puerto.
They’re hard to miss when driving on the carretera from La Punta back towards Centro. They’re fenced into a little wooden habitation, and they don’t seem all that stoked about their captivity. I have no idea how they got there, and no idea what they’re doing there. I’m pretty sure the ostriches feel the same.
However Puerto ended up with a pair of massive flightless birds, it’s definitely surprising when you first catch them walking around their ring as you fly by on a moto.
2. There’s a beautiful seaside beach walk… that nobody uses.
Adoquin is one of my favorite neighborhoods in all of Puerto. It’s the original party strip for domestic tourism, and it’s home to great restaurants and iconic bars like Congo. It’s also home to Bahia Principal.
Bahia Principal is the main bay where most of the fishing boats and dolphin tours set out to sea from Puerto. As the fishing boats bob in the sea, families roll around in the waves right at the shore, playing with beach floaties and laughing hysterically as the ocean pummels them. It’s an amazing scene.
Nearby, there’s a massive statue of a Marlin (pictured above), which marks the beginning of an epic seaside walk. I discovered the walk after living in Puerto for over a year and a half, so I decided to cruise along it as far as it would go one day while dog-sitting for a friend in the neighborhood. After walking for 45 minutes along the graffitied and deteriorating cement path, it finally came to an end near Playa Manzanillo.
When I told a friend later that day that “I found this gorgeous and really interesting man-made oceanfront path from Adoquin to Manzanillo” they interrupted saying “Awe man, you walked that whole thing—it’s apparently incredibly dangerous. Nobody uses it anymore because people are robbed on it regularly.”
Note: From what I understand, this path is still very dangerous. This was meant to be a word of warning. I find it interesting that it exists, but I do not recommend you walk it like I accidentally did.
3. The city is governed by two separate municipalities, which don’t seem to get along, and they haven’t since… forever.
Note: I’m certainly not an expert on the relationship here. I’m just sharing what I understand based on what I’ve researched, seen, and heard. (The screenshot above is from the main source linked below.)
Where the river cuts Puerto in half, where it lets out in Adoquin, that more or less divides the two local municipalities that functionally “co-govern” the City of Puerto Escondido.
The most well-known neighborhoods that makeup San Pedro Mixtepec are Centro, Bacocho, Rinconada, and Adoquin. Some of the main neighborhoods of Santa Maria Colotepec are Zicatela, Lazaro, Tamarindo, and La Punta. Basically, Mixtepec is the Western half of the city, and Colotepec is the Eastern half.
If you stay here for a few weeks, you’d likely not even notice this major divide. It wouldn’t impact your daily life. However, when you know that the city is split into two municipalities it colors certain things in a different light—like having to cross town to use an ATM if you’re staying in La Punta. Without the context, it’s easy just to think “I don’t get it. Wouldn’t an ATM make a fortune off fees alone in La Punta?”
It’s not that simple.
The two municipalities seem to have trouble agreeing on many topics that impact the collective. This tension came to a head in my first year living in Puerto Escondido when truckers blocked the carretera (highway) and protested in cowboy hats while holding machetes.
They blocked all through traffic for nearly a week, and everyone in town was making hypotheses, guesses, and assertions about the source of tension, the demands, and the cause of the manifestation. (As I said at the top, I don’t know and don’t want to claim anything… just what is observable or easily researched.)
According to Mexicancorrido.com, San Pedro Mixtepec was established in 1931. This resource also speaks to how old the tension is, claiming “1938. The territorial dispute between the municipalities of Colotopec and San Pedro heats up. Colotepec "invades" Puerto Escondido leaving one man dead.” The tension has carried on over the decades and spills into the current day.
The source mentioned above is a very interesting and comprehensive year-by-year overview of the local history sharing many of the key changes and moments in Puerto Escondido’s history. For example, did you know Puerto Escondido wasn’t listed with any population in the 1921 census? It was listed as a place that year, but with a population of zero. So, as a place where people live, Puerto Escondido is only about 100 years old according to Mexican census history.
4. There’s a massive half-finished 9-story building on a key intersection that’s been abandoned for 3+ years.
There’s one very obvious eyesore in Puerto Escondido, pictured above. This goliath of a failed construction project has sat untouched for around three years, right at the far eastern end of the Zicatela strip. Construction came to a halt after grassroots pushback, driven by the surf community, because the building was so big it was actually ruining the world-famous Zicatela pipeline.
The wind comes down from the mountains pushing the towering wave upward as the swell rushes towards the shore. With the building being so big that it was actually blocking the fucking wind, the wave was in jeopardy, and that wave is a huge reason that Puerto Escondido is the Puerto Escondido that we love today.
There are now local regulations and widely agreed upon community guidelines for building “dos pisos y un palapa,” which still gets ignored by many developers, causing more community pushback and manifestations.
“Obra suspendida” (work suspended) signs get thrown up on some of the buildings that break these limits, but often work resumes in short order. Luckily, the community is engaged to protect the wave and to protect the environment from greedy developers who want to build nine-story wave-killing giants.
Along the streets and beaches of Puerto the conversation around “Is Puerto going to be the next Tulum?” takes place daily. My take on the conversation is that Puerto is certainly going to grow—it’s an incredible place that people are really drawn to, myself included. However, I don’t think it’s going to evolve in the same way Tulum did.
I don’t think the community in Tulum held protests at buildings they deemed inappropriate. I don’t think they turned trucks around from overly ambitious development projects that nobody in the community actually wanted. I don’t think there was an uproar because a Domino's Pizza opened up (see number 8).
I think Puerto’s population will steadily grow, but I don’t think the prices, crowd, culture, and overall feeling will be the same as in Tulum. I think it will be a bigger version of the Puerto we all love, and I hope that its growth will be driven in a positive direction by this passionate and caring community.
5. There’s a single strip club with a hilarious name.
Just a few hundred meters down from the ostriches, you’ll find a strip club with a name that’s certain to make you do a double-take the first time you pass it. La Vaca Loca (The Crazy Cow), with its massive sign right on the main road, is just above Zicatela smack in the middle of town.
I was told that there might be a second underground adult entertainment venue somewhere in town as well… but I have no idea. I haven’t even been to the easy-to-spot one on the main road, so I’m not an expert here. I just remember finding it very surprising on my first visit. With a name like La Vaca Loca, it’s hard not to notice, and when you do, it’s hard not to smile and think—huh? That’s surprising.
6. Puerto has the world’s best 6-hole golf course.
Mind you, calling it the “world’s best” is entirely my opinion, and entirely based on how “Puerto” of an experience it is to play this golf course. It’s around $10 for a round, you can bring your own beers, and you can play it barefoot. You can even let the donkey who lives at the golf course finish your beer—he absolutely wants to and will thank you with an enthusiastic head nod when you do.
The course is tucked back near the river, and it’s incredibly beautiful. The caring owners who tend the course do an incredible job handling such a big task with a small crew. The greens play well, the bunkers are raked, and the hidden seventh hole will blow your mind. It will also cost you a ball.
Along with this magical little golf course, these last two are my favorite things on this list, but as I said, I’ve yet to step foot inside La Vaca Loca. (I’ve got jokes).
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