Puerto Escondido is a small city of about 35,000 people on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico. The main attraction here are the beaches. There are some expensive resorts just outside of town, or you can stay at one of the bargain hotels on Avenida Pérez Gasga, the main street in town, which is just a block or two from the ocean. (Like most cities in Mexico, the quality of the beach is inversely proportional to your proximity to the center of town.) There isn't a lot to do in Puerto Escondido, except lay around on the beach all day and spend your nights eating fresh seafood and sipping Corona at one of the bars. The town is very popular with surfers, due to the waves at the nearby beaches, and the general laid-back party atmosphere that prevails (which is evidenced by the number of drug dealers who will approach you, offering pot). If you like sun, sand, and surf, and don't mind a gecko on your ceiling, Puerto Escondido is the place for you.

See below for information about nearby Lagunas de Chacahua National Park.

Avenida Pérez Gasga, the main street of Puerto Escondido

The beach just off main street (above and below)

Lagunas de Chacahua National Park

One of the smartest things I did on my first trip to Mexico was to take a trip to Lagunas de Chacahua National Park. There are a couple travel agencies in Puerto Escondido that offer daytrips to the park. I was set up on a tour with about six other people from different hotels, and we all piled into a station wagon with our bilingual guide/driver.

Lagunas de Chacahua National Park is a series of lagoons along the Pacific coast. They contain islands of mangrove trees which serve as breeding habitat for thousands of aquatic birds. We toured the lagoons by boat, and saw scores of species, including Olivaceous Cormorants, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Wood Storks, Reddish Egrets, and Anhinga, just to name a few. I was also treated to a flock of wild Orange-Fronted Parrakeets playing in the trees!

Just so you know it wasn't just a birdwatching trip, we also stopped at two secluded beaches, only accessible by boat, where we were given time for exploring and swimming. These are the kind of beaches you dream about, where the water is a fluorescent shade of bluish-green, and the sand is free of footprints. People are allowed to live in the park, as long as they do so in an ecological sensitive manner, and make their living by traditional means, like fishing or hunting iguanas for food. These friendly inhabitants are happy to sell you one of the morning's freshly-caught snapper and a cold beer. We also visited an alligator farm, where they raise the creatures in order to replenish the wild population, which has suffered from poaching.

Overall it is a beautiful and fascinating journey, and even more so for a birdwatcher.

The beach at Cerro Hermoso

Mangrove island, full of cormorants, storks, and frigatebirds
(Trust me, in real life we got a lot closer than my camera would make it appear)

Chacahua Beach, where the fishermen are happy to feed you

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