The “waiting room” – though the name doesn’t quite suit it. It should be called the “sink a mooring and stay put for an indefinite amount of time room.”
Puerto Escondido was a bit…underwhelming. Like La Paz, it’s a cruiser hotspot; many cruisers keep their boats moored here during hurricane season given the good protection from most directions. There’s a cruiser’s club and a morning radio net and many cruisers remain fiercely loyal to PE. Unlike La Paz, however, there doesn’t appear to be much going on. There’s a very small marina, mooring balls throughout the bay, a few little tiendas that are fairly well stocked (for their size) with american goodies (they know their audience and price their goods accordingly), showers, laundry, and a restaurant with internet. Guess where we spent most of our time? It’s a solid 14 miles to the bustling town of Loreto (you can nab a taxi or hitch a ride into town).
After nearly a month without a proper shower, Jeff and I were pretty excited to get clean…that is until we discovered that the showers only came in the cold variety. Laundry was the same; if you put your washing machine on the warm or hot setting, the machine simply refuses to wash your clothes. Apparently there were hot showers within walking distance (either at the nearby hotel or Modelorama), but we decided that personal hygiene could wait until Topolobampo (it’s amazing how accustomed we’ve become to being dirty).
It turns out that the entire Fonatur complex is in a state of disrepair and the gringos are starting to get a bit fed up. Fonatur is the government agency responsible for maintaining Mexico’s tourism empire. The building complex at Puerto Escondido is relatively unkempt, most of the “store fronts” remain unoccupied, there are unfinished projects everywhere you look. When we first entered the bay, one of the many dirt patches had been repurposed as a track for dirt bikes and a young kid was clearing the jumps under his father’s watchful eye. The gas station adjacent to the marina is without diesel, which spurred a heated exchange between two government entities: the Mexican Navy (who wanted diesel) and Fonatur (who could not, for the life of them, procure and provide it). The Mexican Navy left in a huff.
Apparently, Puerto Escondido has been falling apart for some time…but according to the locals the new government (the PRI) is breathing life back into Fonatur and the John Deeres are once again humming, resuming work on projects that had stalled under the previous administration.
We couldn’t imagine staying long at PE, just for the sheer expense of it. Anchoring or grabbing a mooring ball in the bay costs $10 a day, and doesn’t come with many perks. The lady in the office was friendly and helpful, but you couldn’t help but wonder why someone had to make ten different copies of paperwork and have you “initial here, here and here, sign here…and oh, also here” in order to drop your hook. Government bureaucracy at its finest.
As I hinted up above we spent the majority of our time slowly nursing cold beers and binging on internet at the Portobello cafe (a hub of activity at the otherwise deserted Puerto Escondido). It’s amazing how overwhelming internet feels after nearly a month of living without it. I was filled with a mixture of glee and anxiety at the prospect of spending hours on the internet. Information overload!!!!