The pace of life goes down a notch. You’ll see locals pulling out their plastic chairs to gather around and chat with fellow neighbours, couples sitting on the beach basking in the sun.
There’s not ONE home that doesn’t own a hammock.
The laidback life goes as far as shops closing on a whim, just because. Many a time I’d head over to my favourite pastry shop in Mercado de Zicatela to find it’s closed, regardless of the time of the day or day of the week.
Far from calling myself a local (heck, I still can’t master Spanish after being in Mexico for 5 months!), it does take an insider who’s lived here for a while to know some of these tips that I share below. After living here for close to 3 months, I’ve gotten the hang or two of how to live like a local, including where to snag the best local haunts.
Here are some of the local tips and tricks I’ve gathered from my 3 months here!
A Insider’s Travel Guide To Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico
1. Whatsapp is omnipresent
You’d better be on Whatsapp if you plan to live locally here for awhile.
While Puerto Escondido is not as structured as more developed towns, there’s one thing they’ve embraced – Whatsapp.
Almost every business works over Whatsapp. From booking accommodation to enquiring about yoga or fitness classes to ordering pizza delivery and ordering my favourite croissants in advance.
OH, even our laundry services are done over Whatsapp. We send a message, they come to pick up, and deliver fresh, clean sheets the next day.
You won’t believe it, but we even order fresh seafood delivery over Whatsapp! You make your order over Whatsapp; he then delivers the seafood on a motorbike to our place at an agreed time.
The only thing you can’t order in advance is public transportation, hah. You simply stand on the streets and flag off for them to stop. There’s no designated bus or taxi station. That’s organized disorder for you!
2. WiFi? What WiFi?
Since it’s still very much a developing beach town, WiFi is generally the main concern here in Puerto Escondido. There are few places with strong WiFi, and those that do are infiltrated with digital nomads on the weekdays. Yes, the allure of Puerto Escondido is enough to attract digital nomads to this beach town despite having to clamour for WiFi!
Since being here for 3 months, I’ve had the luxury of scouring some good cafes with fast internet speeds. They are far and few between, but here are some of my favourite cafes with good WiFi for working and taking video calls without interruption:
Neighbourhood – Centro
Losodeli Cafe & Co-Working
The WiFi here is 10/10, enough said. It’s now my number 1 spot for working at a cafe close to Centro in Puerto Escondido.
The only thing to take note of is their operating hours, which is from 7:30am to 2:30pm only. If anything, it forces you to get up early to make the best use of time at their cafe!
Neighbourhood – Zicatela
Amarisa
This cafe was honestly the most terrifying sight I’ve seen in in a while when I came in one random workday. Its limited spaces were infiltrated with laptops, large and small, in every imaginable space there is.
I decided to give it another chance and when I came in late morning one weekday, things were much more normal. Perhaps it was high season when I went the last time, but this time, I managed to find a seat at my favourite spot – by the window overlooking the streets. It’s when my thinking cap works the best!
Another plus about working here, apart from the delicious pastries, is that they have A/C – and that’s such a luxury here!
Neighbourhood – La Punta
Casa De Olas
While this is a little out of the way from main roads, I chanced upon this cafe in a hotel only because I come here for my fitness classes.
It offers decent WiFi with no issues with connections. The tables are all outdoors, which means it can get warm and stuffy in the afternoons.
Amarisa
The one weekday I wanted to come, it was flooded with remote workers that there was no one free seat for even dining. I suppose that was because I was there during a weekday during one of Puerto Escondido’s peak periods.
I really liked their breakfast pastries when I did manage to work here on a weekend. Come on a weekend (if your schedule is flexible) to have the pleasure of having space and privacy to yourself!
The other bonus is that the cafe is well equipped with fans, so there’s enough air circulation that it doesn’t get too warm and musty in the warm afternoons.
Savannah
If you like dipping your toes in sand while working, Savannah’s a sweet spot. It’s cool in the mornings but it may get warm in the afternoons as you’re working under palm trees to the natural breeze (if any at all).
Having been here twice, the main dishes never fail to impress me, perhaps because they make it really Western style! I really liked their Croque Monsier and Omelette with Pork Belly.
Another boon is that if you’re at their actual cafe space which is on the second level terrace, you’ve got a great view of La Punta beach. This is by far the only cafe with beach views of La Punta from a terrace!
Piyoli
Speaking of dipping your toes in sand, Piyoli is another restaurant that offers the same experience. It’s got a nice hut atmosphere, albeit a tad pricey, with the set up jungle-themed, incorporating wood in all of their furniture and bar tops.
I had their acai bowl which I thought it too small for too much that I was paying. La Punta has far better options when it comes to acai bowls for a better value price.
3. Find your Zen
Skip the touristy attractions. Do this instead.
A must-do when you come to Puerto Escondido that nobody tells you or advertises about is to join a yoga or fitness class! If dance classes are your thing, they offer it too! Sometimes I even see classes about Qi Gong, Tai Chi, healing, energy, breathwork being offered. Puerto Escondido can be really therapeutic like that!
Classes are usually only around USD 5/ 100 pesos per person for anywhere from an hour to 2 hours long. Some classes even operate on a donation-based payment – so you can pay anything you want!
Your next question must be… Where do I get information about all these classes?
4. Communities live in Whatsapp groups
If you’re not on Whatsapp groups, you’re missing out on all the activities and happenings in the heart of Puerto Escondido.
Well, Puerto Escondido is not as structured as most cities where there’s a one platform that keeps up to date with all the happenings. In order to get in on all the events, activities and classes, the only way I’ve found was to join private Whatsapp groups.
In addition to those classes I mentioned above, I also see events and retreats being organized that range anywhere from Ayurvedic retreats to Ancient Egyptian Transcendence workshops, to tantric sexuality feminine retreats and Ayahuasca ceremonies. So many of which I’ve never heard of before!
Okay, if you’re wondering what tantric sexuality retreats are, they include learning about Yoni Spots, different types of orgasms and pelvic movements. Interesting huh?
Here are 2 of the groups:
5. Mosquitoes become your way of life
Be equipped with mosquito repellent AND anti-itch soothing creams/ ointments. It’s no new news that mosquitoes thrive in Puerto Escondido.
There’s no way to get rid of them; you simply have to deal with them. You can easily get mosquito repellents in stores here or online, while anti-itch cream is harder to find. I was only able to get my anti-itch cream when I did a weeklong trip to Cancun. Make sure to come equipped with them, such as by ordering them online in advance of your trip!
6. Visit local markets
You’re looking at USD 0.50/ 10 pesos per kilogram of onions, mangoes and more when you shop for food in local markets.
The main local market is Mercado Benito Juárez, which is at the heart of Centro. They carry everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to dried goods and fresh meat and seafood. This was the only market I was able to find Oaxacan chocolate from, an ingredient I’ve come to obsess fondly after my 2 months in Oaxaca City.
The prices here are the cheapest in all of Puerto Escondido. There are even food stalls if you should fancy a local meal.
Mercado de Zicatela is the one we frequent most because we lived just next to it in our first 1.5 months of living here. The prices of meat sold here are more expensive than in Mercado Benito Juárez. I love getting fresh fruits and vegetables from here though, as they are the freshest I’ve seen, even more so than Chedraui!
There is also a row of food stalls behind the markets overlooking the sea, which are frequented by locals for breakfast and lunch. The menu items are pretty much the same across all 10 or so stalls, ranging from USD 3.50/ 70 pesos and upwards for a meal. It makes for a good breakfast meeting point that I like gathering my friends at as it’s a prominent market that sells authentic Mexican food,
Speaking of Chedraui, it’s always a fallback option when it comes to grocery shopping. Like any established global supermarkets, it has everything you need, from cooked roasted chicken to household supplies and beach items. The fruits and vegetables here aren’t as fresh as the ones in Mercado de Zicatela though.
Prior to moving into our second apartment with A/C we used to come to Chedraui to enjoy the A/C, as it’s almost the only place that has A/C around in Puerto Escondido!
7. Go shopping in bazaars
The Puerto Escondido form of bazaar usually comes in a form of shops just displaying their clothing in a pile, as if they were selling straight out of their closet.
Their haphazard storefronts may make it difficult to spot at first, but once you get the hang of it, they’re aplenty.
More likely than not, you won’t see them displaying their clothes in an artful, aesthetic manner. Nonetheless, you’ll find some great finds. For instance, items are sold at less than USD10. I bought a pair of Billabong shorts for USD6. How? I don’t know!
8. Ride the colectivos
Easily the cheapest way to get around, colectivos are trucks with blue canvas tops that pick up and ferry passengers.
They go to and fro the main road of Puerto Escondido, picking up passengers on the main road who flag them down. Some of them go into little roads, so the best way to know if the truck is going to your destination is to look at the writing on the truck’s windshield.
You hail for them to stop for you in the same way that you’d hail for a taxi.
To get off, you’ll have to watch where to get off on your own, because if nobody rings the bell on the truck, the driver doesn’t stop. Once you get off, you then pay the USD0.40/ 8 pesos to the driver via the passenger window.
9. Rent a motorbike
If you want the convenience and don’t mind spending a little more than USD0.40/ 8 pesos per ride on a colectivo, renting a motorbike is the way to go.
It’s much, much easier getting around in a motorbike than a car as roads can be bumpy and you may have to get through dirt roads to get to your destination.
It’s common and easy to rent a motorbike here. They don’t require any license at all. If you know anyone who lives here, they’ll most likely know someone who rents their bikes out. Otherwise, walk around the town and you’ll see bikes on the road with signs saying “For rent”. The easiest way is to drop them a Whatsapp to enquire.
A standard rental rate is USD15/ 300 pesos a day, USD 90/ 1800 pesos a week and USD200/ 4000 pesos a month.
Depending on how well you haggle, you can get it for much lower. We got our bikes for USD50 1000 pesos a week when we loaned them for 3 weeks!
All in all, we found Puerto Escondido really easy to live in. It’s definitely a boon if you speak the local language, but there’s nothing the Google Translate app doesn’t solve.
What’s scary is how quickly developments are coming along in this beach town. Everywhere you see buildings being built, one higher than the other. The ruggedness of the beach town will soon be overthrown by huge properties as tourism and technology advances.
If you visit Puerto Escondido, you’d have noticed how globalisation is slowly seeping in, ousting small time villagers who drink from water wells.
If your lifestyle permits flexibility, I suggest giving yourself some room between your travels when it comes to visiting Puerto Escondido. There’s been a trend that those who came and visited never left. 😉
Enjoy this beach paradise!
