Kev and I hesitantly pulled away from our comforts at Puerto Escondido. Adelina and her brother run a great business and go to great lengths to make sure your stay with them is safe, secure and comfortable. I'm glad that we happened across these bright young entrepreneurs.
Loaded ready to go!
Our ride south taking us along the coastal Highway 200 was extremely windy. The temperature rose to 39 celsius, 102 fahrenheit and paired with the high wind, totally zapped my energy levels. I was thankful that I had filled my camelback with cool water and ice before leaving Puerto. Even so, I still did begin to suffer from over heating and dehydration experiencing a headache and lightheadedness. We stopped quickly for a gatorade, which after drinking, I had a hard time keeping down. I need to get out of this sun! I spent the balance of the riding kilometers dribbling the water that I continually sucked out of my camelback, from my mouth, down into my jacket to briefly relieve me…I was having a hard time!
We finally arrived at the dirt road turnoff that we were to follow out towards the beach. Cocoleoco was the only bungalow/campsite just before the beach. Sand was whipping fiercely across the bikes and I was anxious to get out of the wind. Leo the owner had just returned from Puerto Vallarta and greeted us warmly. He showed us a few camping options. We decided to take the enclosed bungalow to escape the wind. Cocoleoco was not really prepared for anyone. The restaurant advertised was not operating and there was no food or drinking water so Kev and I wearily walked into the remote sandy village in search of liquid. A small makeshift concrete cube with a hole cut out in the front of it was the town store. He did not have any natural water. He did have 4 small bottles of mineral water and a 3 liter bottle of Pepsi…we purchased both along with a small bag of rice and 4 eggs. Crickey who buys 3 liters of Pepsi???? We do when there is nothing else! I have a few cans of tuna and packets of miso soup on the bike, so along with the rice and eggs I'll be able to cook a pretty tasty meal. After finally rehydrating Kev and I kicked back in the hammocks that Leo had hung for us and fell asleep!
Bikes parked in front of our bungalow at Cocoleoco, Playa Bamba
Loved resting in the hammocks
The bungalow had a double bed with a mozzie net, toilet and cold water shower.
I woke an hour later and the wind was still going like a "bat out of hell". I closed the shutters in the bungalow, which I should have done earlier, as the inside was now coated in a fine layer of sand. I set up the stove for cooking. You could hear the wind squealing and roaring through the valleys only to hit our bungalow moments later with great force. I had lit the stove when a gust roared by, blew my flame, and, almost caught the makeshift bench on fire. Quickly scooping up the assembly and relocating it to the sandy floor I started again. The whisperlite relit easily when another gust whirled by and blew the flame out once again, along with the wooden shutters above me open that were secured with fishing line and a nail! I reacted to the situation by moving out of the way of the flame and hit my head on the opening shutters….Boy was I over this day! Time for a break. I found a couple of packets of powdered gatorade in the kitchen kit so I thought that it would be a good idea to add it to the mineral water…..WRONG! Did you know that when you add powdered gatorade to mineral water it explodes, showering you with it's sticky bubbly mixture! I could just scream…I'm really SOOO over this Day!!
Kev and I eventually got to eat, enjoyed our meal while walking along the sandy track towards the surf beach. As we approached the open beach shore the sand was blasting us like we needed to be repainted. I could see a very large turtle up on the beach digging a nest and so wanted to get closer, but couldn't. We returned to the shelter of our bungalow, set our alarm for 5:30am, dumped out the 2.75 liters of remaining Pepsi and called it a night!
There is a turtle digging a nest in the distance…which you can't see. I so wanted to get across to it but couldn't due to the sand blasting!
