Puerto Paradise
EVERYONE HAS A STORY OF HOW THEY DISCOVERED Puerto Escondido. Mine begins in Richmond, California, where I was a new teacher in 1988. In those years there was such a shortage of Spanish-speaking teachers that California and New York and other places were offering jobs to teachers from Spain, where there was a surfeit of teachers. The two young Spanish teachers at my high school were eager to travel during their vacations. On the advice of friends from Spain, they went to Puerto Escondido for the Christmas vacation. There they found a cabaña on Playa Marinero for $1 US a night and had a great time. And so it was that I came here in the summer of 1989 with my son, who was then 14.
Well, the cabañas were filthy and we soon moved up to the Hotel Flor de María, which was not officially open. The bathroom doors still had not been installed, and there was no pool or restaurant. All good until we went to the Adoquín to change money and have dinner. In those days you used traveler’s cheques and your passport as ID. Walking back on the beach from Alicia’s restaurant (which still exists), we were attacked at knifepoint by two thieves. Long story short, we had to go to Oaxaca City to get my temporary passport. Then, on the bus ride back on 175, a boulder fell. Luckily it missed our bus, but we all had to get out so the bus could climb the boulder. (In August 2024 this highway was closed because of a massive landslide.)
Needless to say, I was in no hurry to return. But in 2004, I was preparing for a trip to Naples and Sicily when the Euro got stronger than the dollar and I had no idea where to go for my summer vacation. What the heck, I decided to go back to Puerto and stay at the Flor de María again. The rest is history.
Meanwhile, in 1988, Jürgen Peter Voss also discovered Puerto. He was in Acapulco when someone suggested it to him. He was looking for a place to build a hotel, and what he liked about Puerto was that it was so cosmopolitan—Italians and Germans, not just Americans as in other beach towns. And so we got the Hotel Ines.
Since I moved here in 2005, I have observed travelers from all over the world. Australian and Israeli surfers, not to mention Norwegians, French, Germans, and Swiss. Now there is an influx of Argentines, not to mention people moving here from Mexico City and beyond. People who moved here a few years ago complain on Facebook about how Puerto has changed, but the new arrivals still see it as paradise. I think I lucked out, buying my property and building my house in Bacocho in 2007. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, but we still have our Puerto Escondido.