The Road to Puerto Escondido

My next stop after Oaxaca was Puerto Escondido! I had put it down on my maybe list of cities to visit. Most of the backpackers I met in Oaxaca were headed either there or Muzunte, a smaller beach town close to Puerto Escondido after Oaxaca. One of my goals for this trip was to learn how to surf and Puerto Escondido is famous for surfing so it was my obvious next choice.

I was happily surprised that Helena, my Austrian friend decided to join me! To get to Puerto Escondido from Oaxaca there are two options, you can take an ADO bus which takes about 10 to 12 hours or take a taxi collectivo which only takes about 6 to 7 hours. The ADO bus goes around the mountains and is a much smoother ride while the van goes through them, it takes less time but in my opinion is not worth it.

When I arrived to Oaxaca I had chosen to stay in a co-ed dorm in my hostel. I thought why not? More opportunity to make friends. At first the room was completely occupied but slowly as the week went on people began to trickle out and no one was coming to replace them. There was an older man in his 70s, who was a chain smoker with a terrible cough and had been in my room the entire time I had been there. He didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. At breakfast one morning I asked the two remaining guys in my room when they were leaving, they said today, so after that it would be down to me and the old guy in the room. I decided I had better move into an all female dorm.

That morning a new woman arrived at the hostel and was staying in my new dorm room. Asta is from Norway and backpacking Mexico solo as well. She will eventually fly to Colombia where she will spend three months. Asta LOVES Colombia, she thinks it’s the greatest place on Earth. She was compelling me to skip Central America and just fly straight there after Mexico.

After Guanajuato, I spent the night in Mexico City with my friends Cinthia and Perla before catching a morning bus to Oaxaca. The 7 hour bus ride would be my fourth this week and I was exhausted from traveling around so much. I decided I would stay in Oaxaca for a week and take a Spanish and cooking course. In addition to rest, I needed a little more structure to my day and I also desperately wanted to improve my Spanish.

Just as I was about to doze off on the bus a rock was thrown at one of the windows! It immediately shattered into a million little pieces. Everyone quickly moved to the other side of the bus as the shattered pieces of glass began to fly into the bus. The bus driver knew the window had been broken but didn’t stop. I’m not sure if it was because there was no where to pull over or if it was because he didn’t want to stop anywhere near the person who had broken our window. Welcome to Oaxaca…?

While I did enjoy staying with my host, Angel in Morelia, I was very lonely. I was also missing Cuba terribly. There was something about that Caribbean vibe that I missed. Maybe I was just missing constantly being drenched in sweat. I decided to change course – instead of going North into the cold as planned, I would go South and start staying in hostels to meet other travelers. Before making my way South I decided to first stop in Guanajuato, I had heard amazing things about this city and didn’t want to miss it.

On the bus ride to Guanajuato I met a woman named Grecia – I hadn’t had anyone to talk to in over a day so, I was so exited to make a new friend. Grecia grew up in Oregon and ran away from home to Mexico when she was 16. Her parents are Mexican so she speaks Spanish and has dual citizenship. She got a job on a border town then eventually found her way to Morelia where, she’s been living for 7 years.

I caught a bus the next morning from to Morelia – which is located about 5 hours to the West from Mexico City. My plan was to be in Patzcuaro, a small indigenous town just an hour away from Morelia for, El Día de Los Muertos. My new Couchsurfing host, Angel had contacted me through the website. Angel is an architect for Cinépolis, a worldwide movie theater company. He was nice but a little anal. Angel walked me through how to use the keys to open the three separate gates to enter his apartment building. Then he wanted me to demonstrate to him I knew how to do it. I’ll admit, it was a little difficult.

When I arrived, I was completely exhausted and could care less about exploring Morelia. I decided to nap. My friend Alexis back in Seattle had recommended that I come to Patzcuaro for El Día de Los Muertos. She connected me with Alejandro, a friend who she had met a few years prior while volunteering at a monarch butterfly sanctuary in Morelia.

The next day Alejandro picked me up at 3pm. He had invited me to an event he was working at for El Día de Los Muertos. I hadn’t heard too many of the details but it sounded fun so I was in.

Back in Mexico City and at first I was enamored! The delicious food on every street corner, the abundance of everything – including water and medicine, the ease of getting around and most of the comforts of home. After the first few days the novelty of it all wore off and I began to miss Cuba. I still miss Cuba. I couldn’t tell you why exactly. Cuba had really pushed my limits – I had experienced every emotion there from depression and heart break to love and pure bliss. Even after all the ups and downs, I still love Cuba. I think what I really missed was the friends I made there and the times we shared.

In Mexico City, I was luckily able to stay with the same Couchsurfing host again in the neighborhood of La Condesa. After sitting in traffic for an hour on my way from the airport to my host Gerardo’s, I met up Cinthia and Perla to grab tacos! I quickly filled them in on everything that had happened in Cuba while I’ll filled myself up with tacos. In a way it I felt like I was back home.

On average Cubans make around $20 a month and don’t even come close to making ends meet. Many of them see tourists as an opportunity to them help them survive. This does not go for all Cuban people, once you get outside of Havana the attitude and motives starts to change. However, here are 4 scams that I have personally fallen victim to in Havana. Hopefully this will help you avoid them before visiting Cuba!

For the 30 days I was in Cuba, I had budgeted to spend about $2,000 CUC. I ended up spending only $1,300 CUC. I was able to cut costs by sharing a room, cooking meals in my casa and I also took advantage of traveling like a local whenever possible.

I did however, buy meals or drinks for my Cuban friends so, that did add a little extra to my trip expenses. I was happy to do it though being so under budget.

During the 7 days I was in Santiago de Cuba, I can honestly say I didn’t do much – there also isn’t that much to do. My days consisted of sleeping in late, taking a few cold showers, going out to eat and taking naps. I got into a routine of getting a daily cappuccino at my favorite coffee place, Wen (for only .45 cents), then trying to do at least one thing with my day.

I’ve now learned that once you’ve been traveling for awhile many of the things that use to be important to you stop being important. I just don’t have the energy to care about things that don’t directly impact my trip. As I’m writing this, I’m on day 43 of my trip – I don’t wear makeup anymore or really put that much effort into my appearance. Just thinking about how I wanted to bring my eyebrow dye on my trip makes me laugh – even though they really need it.

Santiago de Cuba may be Cuba’s second largest city but it has a small town feel. You run into people you know all the time. In the day and a half Lucas and I had been there we had already made friends and had a chance to run into them several times.

Lucas is now pretty much glued to the hip with Mariano, we call him Lucas’s dad. I’ve gotten into the routine of spending my days with Pepe (it went from a one time thing to an everyday thing). We occasionally combine the two groups for meals with Lianne or as we like to call her, Momma Chicken. We always eat at San Fransisco, the food is amazing and it’s pretty cheap. I’ve been eating there at least once a day. I’m also terrified of getting food poisoning again so, I haven’t been that adventurous with my eating.

Lucas and I arrived at the bus terminal at 1:15am. There were two other women from Holland waiting for the same bus. We were all really looking forward to sleeping on the bus.

We started chatting while we anxiously waited for the bus. Every time we heard a noise that sounded like it could be a bus we jumped up in anticipation. By the time the bus was an hour late we knew something was up. Of course the bus station didn’t have any information so we just kept waiting. Finally at 3:30am we were told the bus had broken down so it wouldn’t be arriving until 4:30am or later. So much for taking the over night bus.

Lucas and I took a the morning bus North from Cienfuegos to Santa Clara. It was only for $6 CUC for the hour and a half bus ride. We had planned to spend the day sightseeing and would then take an overnight bus to Santiago de Cuba. Santiago de Cuba is located 16 hours (by bus) East from La Habana. I was still feeling very sick and tired so, I spent most of the day sleeping instead of sightseeing like we had planned.

We met a woman at the bus terminal who, let us stay at her home for the day for $10 CUC. Dinora was an older woman in her 70s who, lived with her husband as well as her daughter and her daughter’s family.

Where is Lydia?

Primary Menu

The Road to Puerto Escondido

Clowning Around At Hierve el Agua

Trump and Tlayudas

Crashing the Party in Guanajuato

El Día de Los Muertos

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

4 Scams to Avoid in Havana

Cuba on a Shoestring Budget

This isn’t Goodbye but See You Later

I Just Came Here to Dance

Late Buses and One Night Stands

Losing It in the Streets of Santa Clara