120 bpm (120 beetles per minute) from Jason Leong & Sarah Catherine Firth on Vimeo.
In Canada, to drive 260 kilometres would probably take just under three hours.
But this is Mexico.
We boarded the shuttle-van in Oaxaca City at 9:30 a.m. Seven and a half hours later we had descended from Oaxaca City’s 5051 ft. elevation to sea level in Puetro Escondido (to be fair, those hours included a stop for lunch).
Seven and a half hours spent in a van with each of the fifteen seats stuffed with bodies, every bit of the floor filled with bags, suitcases, baskets, twined boxes (including one rectangular box filled with cheeping chicks that scrambled constantly in the box as the van slid around each corner).
We arrived in the heat of Puerto Escondido with stiff necks and exercised abdominals from trying to stay upright around all those corners. Yet, in spite of the lack of shoulders, narrow road and precipitous inclines, it never felt particularly unsafe.
Our driver was laid-back and only passed other vehicles, while gunning it around blind corners, when absolutely necessary. Turned out it was usually quite necessary… And yet he managed to also answer his cellphone, carry on an animated conversation with the old lady in the front seat (who it might be added…NEVER stopped talking for the entire time) and stop at the sanitarios whenever it was requested.
We passed by fields and fields of marigolds next to rows of a crimson/magenta flower that made the gold of the marigolds vibrate even more. We passed dogs, cows, firewood-stacked burros, chickens and whacks of children with their mamas. We went through foggy mists at the top of mountains and pushed the windows shut in the dusty heat of the valleys.
Stretches of the pavement were still shiny from the new asphalt while others sections were dirt and rocks. And always, always, there are the topes. Topes are roughly-built speed bumps that are the equivalent size of driving over a couple of dead horses. They are key to slowing traffic and, lurching over in a van with spent shocks, they ensure that everyone aboard is snapped to attention.
But everywhere I looked was another gorgeous scene; the mountains were magnificent, the rolling fields in between were even prettier.
In short, it was a stellar trip.
Especially once we arrived in Puerto and had sunk into the pool at Michele’s condo...
I think I’m going to like it here.
I’d love to have some food cooked over that open fire and the pool and ocean at P.E. look amazing. Entertaining post! love it.
Lesley, I think you really need to get to PE 🙂 I think you have a pretty good connection to Michele’s condo!
Along with Sharry I’d heard of “sleeping policemen” also, but I heard it in Mexico! Some of the topes I’ve driven across there were only rope hawsers about 5 inches in diameter, but they slowed traffic nonetheless.
Mandy, those sleeping policeman definitely do the trick…whether in the form of thick ropes, busted up hunks of asphalt, or dirt and rocks, it definitely has a traffic calming (& head-jarring!) effect.
Love the trip, lived it right along with you and Yes, I can see why you just might like it there. enjoy!!!
Mary, I know you would enjoy this immensely. It’s breezy and the perfect temperature right now. I love living in bare feet. No socks, no bundling of extra layers. Lovely air and such friendly people…in spite of my messy Spanish!
Well, now. I wish I could join you two for a margarita, too. Alas.
I always thought “tope” was my favorite term for a speed bump until I went to Bhutan. Rinzin, our cycling guide, called them “sleeping policemen.” By far the best term ever.
I hope you have a great time in PE. I checked out the availability of Michele’s place for January through A-lister Sisters, but alas (again), it was unavailable. Perhaps another time.
Sharry, I wish you could wiggle your toes in the sand along with us…
You’re right about the sleeping policemen. That is such a great description.
Too bad about trying to book January. Unfortunately, it’s not available again until February 15th. This place is gorgeous!
Colleen, how interesting that this article popped up on my Twitter feed today. I, too, am in Puerto! It would seem we’re heading in opposite directions as I’ll be leaving town in about a week to head to Oaxaca and then south from there. I hope you enjoy your stay – the condo looks like a great start!!
That’s great. Would you like to meet at Ben-Zaa at 5:30 for a margarita?