Canada Geese are the only ones enjoying Britannia Beach in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun, Mexico on November 1st.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

All three goals accomplished!

We went to the main tourist area of Playa Zicatela yesterday morning. With three goals in mind. One, to get breakfast at a spot we had visited almost two years ago. Two, to visit some fellow Canadians. And three, to find a place closer to the beach to spend our last week here.

All goals accomplished!

First on the agenda was breakfast. We had been to the Olas Altas restaurant before and had a good meal. The restaurant is located at the front of the fairly expensive Olas Altas Hotel, and so you'd think the restaurant would be pricey too. But that's not the case!

They do a la cart or a "paquete precio" (package price) for breakfast. We did the package price. Omelette, toast and jam, refried beans, corn chips, tortillas, coffee, and fresh squeezed orange juice.

Not bad, for 60 pesos ($5.10) each!

I can picture us going back to that restaurant for a few more breakfasts before we leave here!

Then we wandered down the main beach road. There's a small RV park nestled in between the Oxxo store and another restaurant. We figured we'd stop in and see if anybody was there yet. There was one couple from Quebec City in a VW campervan, and there was a Class B van with Ontario plates, but the people weren't there. We spoke to the couple from Quebec City for a few minutes, and then walked further down.

The tourist zone of Playa Zicatela.

Starting to be some "high end" places here. Not sure we like that.

We made our way towards Casa Dan...a hotel owned by a guy who's originally from our hometown of Ottawa.

We wanted to stay there for a week. It's a great spot, but he's all booked up! We visited with him and his sister and her husband who are from the village of Dunrobin very close to where Ruth's father lives. Small world sometimes!

But he did suggest another guest house, and it worked out for us. We'll be staying at Bungalows El Maguey for a week, starting on Tuesday! After all, we need a vacation, right??

We'll tell you more about it when we get there.

Puerto Escondido's famous Playa Zicatela.

Interesting painting on a wall.

Puerto Escondido's main municipal beach, Playa Principal.

Eyesore.

Unfortunately, Puerto Escondido is getting it's first couple of resort style hotels. We think this is the beginning of the end of what has been our favorite "unspoiled" Mexican beach town. Hopefully not. I guess the next few years will tell. We've seen a lot of changes just in the 6 years that we've been coming here. Oh well. 



16 comments:

  1. Love that beach! Let's hope future development doesn't ruin a good thing. :)

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    Replies
    1. We are looking forward to it, thanks Dianne.

      As for future development, we aren't holding our breath!

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  2. I was interested in the painting on the wall. I looked up the artist on facebook, Lisete Alcalde, her page is just as interesting, it's worth a look.

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    1. Thanks Bonnie, we will when we have a proper WiFi connect. I loved the way the painting looked.

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  3. Replies
    1. We know but progress isn't always a good thing!

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  4. WOW....gorgeous beach. Enjoy your week "vacation." lol

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    1. It is a beautiful beach but not always good for swimming. Lots of surfing here though!

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  5. "Vacation". *snort*. Too bad about the "progress". I can appreciate "growth", but most times reason and good judgement are in short supply.

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    Replies
    1. You are totally right on that and money always "talks"!

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  6. Yes, I'm sure you guys "need' and deserve a vacation if anyone does.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Ray and Cindy, we have certainly been needing some relax time and we have been getting it. We are looking forward to some time on our own though, even though we will still be seeing our "Mexican" family throughout the week.

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  7. Steve & I were beginning to wonder how long you would be able to keep up that pace! We find "touristing" exhausting and always try to build in down time when traveling. The problem is, we seem to require more of that as we get older and it interferes with the itinerary, lol!
    Good call on the vacation.

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    Replies
    1. It is pretty exhausting, that is for sure. The problem is that you are never sure if you will get a chance to visit that country/city/place again so you want to try and see what you can. We did try to find some time each day to relax but that's the time that we did our blog writing and planning and that takes a fair bit of time and can be just as tiring as sightseeing. I think the idea is to spend even more time in one country and then spend about a week in each area rather than just a few days. I don't know how people do it when they do these European tours where they tour 10 countries or so in two weeks!

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  8. Yep, it's an eyesore for sure but on the other hand it brings progress to Mexico including tourism, jobs, suppliers, small business as well as big. That's why I wish the northeast coast of Mexico would get its act cleaned up, we miss our beaches near Barra del Tordo. It's a double-edged sword I think.

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    1. We totally understand the part about tourism, jobs suppliers and the small businesses, it's just that Puerto Escondido doesn't seem like the type of place for these "resort" type of places. Most of the accommodations here are smaller hotels, bungalows, and self catering type of apartments, hopefully it can keep the same small city feel here that everyone seems to like, including most of the locals. You are very right on the double-edged sword!

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