A Gem of a Town!

Along this trip, Nikk and I have noticed many patterns… Mexican roads never stay nice for long… food tastes better with a beach view… and when the Air BnB falls through, it is frustrating at first, but usually for the best! As we left Acapulco, we continued south toward Puerto Escondido. I was so excited fo this Air BnB – it looked gorgeous on the pictures and after last night’s dirty bug-filled mess, I was ready for a good one. But good ol’ Murphy had it in for us… as we pulled up, this is what we saw:

See that big hole in the top floor wall? And the exposed rebar? And the guys in construction hats? Yeah… not staying here tonight. I even went so far as to ask one of the workers (in my mostly jangled Spanish) if it was open. “Cerrado. Lo siento.” was his reply. And of course the owner wasn’t replying, so onto Plan B we went.

When I had planned our whole trip months ago, I researched and made note of a backup hotel or Air BnB at each of our stops. Just for this very instance. We looked up the hotel that I had listed as our backup for Puerto Escondido, and happily, it was only a few blocks away.

You guys – this spot, The Casamar – was INCREDIBLE!! We were quickly welcomed into a lush courtyard area with a beautiful pool surrounded by little apartments. The wonderful woman at the front desk, Justine, got us checked in quickly and told us all about Puerto Escondido – how much of the tourists here are French, like her. She then walked us over to our apartment to show us in. It was adorable! It had an outdoor seating area, living room area, kitchenette, and a private bedroom with bathroom. The bathroom had an open-style shower with the most charming Mexican tiles, painted with bright colors. After parking Chivo in the gated area and bringing in our stuff, we decided to go explore the town. Justine had given us a couple of good recommendations and some walking directions, so we set off.

Again – you guys – this town was such a gem! The second we walked into the “town” area, you could just feel the laid-back vibe. Nikk and I both said pretty quickly that this was the type of town we wanted to live in. It had a skate/surf shop for him and a bunch of yoga studios for me! And just on the other side of some of the shops… the beach! The waves were huge and there were a lot of people body surfing.

We decided to have dinner just off the beach (I know – crazy!) at a little pizza place called Mundaka. We just can’t go too long without pizza… I think our bodies would shutdown! 🙂 Again, this place had such a chill and cozy vibe, we immediately loved it. And don’t worry, it was an open restaurant, so the floor was still made of sand… we didn’t get that far away from the beach!

Everything looked good on the menu, but we settled on some pan de ajo con queso (garlic bread with cheese) to start, and a seafood pizza to share. I know this is a shocker – but guys! – the food was amazing! Definitely one of our favorite meals to date! The garlic bread was clearly homemade and was served with a chili oil for dipping that was out of this world! It was so good (and we were so hungry) that we didn’t even get a picture!

We did get a picture of this incredible pizza though! It had shrimp, squid, and muscles on it. It was a beautiful thin-crust that was crispy on the edges, but folded nicely and wasn’t too chewy. The sauce – which we usually don’t even like on our pizza – was light and flavorful, and the mozzarella was clearly fresh and not from a bag. I think I could eat this pizza for the rest of my life and be happy!

After dinner we strolled back to our cute little apartment to get another night’s rest before hitting the road again. Before bed, though, I reached out to Customer Service at Air BnB to get my money back on the still-under-construction-don’t-stay-here place. I was still peeved that we had wasted our time, but I couldn’t be mad at the final outcome! Puerto Escondido is definitely somewhere we want to go back to and we will always stay at Casamar when we do! If you’re looking for a laid-back Mexican vacation, we highly recommend this gem of a town!