by Andrew Hupert for www.AccidentalExpat.com
The Southwest Pacific Coast of Mexico is one of the “up and coming” regions of Mexico. From Huatulco north to Puerto Escondido, the coast of Oaxaca state has a lot of beauty and natural wonders for those willing to explore a little. I have to warn you though – this area is very different from the all-inclusive resorts and established expat centers.
Table of Contents:
Leaving Oaxaca Juarez for the coast
This is a live report from the road. I’ve been traveling for 20 days now, and I think I’m about to transition from “traveler” to “staying for a while”, which is one notch below “staying here”. After that, it’s about visas and living arrangements.
I left Oaxaca Juarez (the capital city of the state of Oaxaca) for the Pacific Coast to check out some beach towns, do some writing, and prep for a big job overseas in Sept. The plan was to explore the beach towns of Huatulco (ok – technically the area is called Huatulco and the towns are La Crucecita and Santa Cruz and work my way north to Mazunte, and then possibly Puerto Escondido.
If you don’t know these towns, they are considered the “up and coming” tourism/expat spots in Mexico. The beaches are beautiful, crime is low, and prices — while higher than they should be — are affordable. What’s more, there isn’t the all-inclusive, low-budget decadence that draws the tech-bros and celebutantes like Cancun. It’s still a little bit wild, a little bit of an adventure.
The downside? There’s usually a reason places are “undiscovered” by tourists. They are harder to reach and don’t offer the services that regular tourists have come to expect. Once you leave Huatulco you don’t see a well-known hotel or restaurant chain until you hit Puerto Escondido. Right now, I’m in Mazunte — which has no banks. There are 5 ATMS in 3 spots around town — but two days ago every single one of them was out of service. Almost no hotels or restaurants take credit cards here, except for the really expensive ones. So yes, there were some pretty upset tourists wandering from one dead bank machine to another that day. (2 days later, 1 of the 5 is working.)
I’ll give you a rundown of what I saw in the last couple of weeks on the road.
I left the big city of Oaxaca Juarez 3 weeks ago. I had heard rumors of a funky expat community somewhere on the coast that sounded a lot like what I knew in Chiang Mai. I took morning bus from the main station in Jalatlaco, 8 hours of windy mountain roads later we made Huatulco.
Huatulco – Family Friendly Resort Town
Huatulco is a nice town. Very established. They have a lot of what an expat would want — a big Soriana hypermart (Mexican Costco), and shopping center with a Coppel (Canadian Macy’s), a Chedraui (Mexican Trader Joe’s) and a Cineplex. On the tourism front, you can find beaches, of course, but also boat tours of the “7 Bays”, trips and activities centering on the giant tortuises that live here. The turtles are a major theme for ecotourism up this entire coast. This seems to be a major win-win-win around here — tourists get to interact with some fascinating nature, local entrepreneurs have businesses leading boat tours, and the turtles get much-needed protection from the government.
Huatulco is set up for upper-middle-class Mexican family vacations. Individual travelers won’t find many central meeting places or expat hangouts. It’s mostly for families. It’s a nice enough launching spot for trip up the coast to Puerto Escondido, but unless your Spanish is good and you don’t need to build your social network, it may be a nice, pretty spot to live.
Huatulco might be right for some, but I’m categorizing this one as “special situation” for Spanish-speaking expats. I booked 4 nights in advance, so I was there a little longer than I needed to be.
NOTE on internet bookings: During this part of the trip, I booked 4 of my hotels online in advance. 2 of the bookings had complications due to banking/credit card issues. Even when the site offers an option for “reserve now, pay later” I had to submit credit card or PayPal info, which they processed as a full payment. This is NOT a Mexican thing — it’s a Booking.com/Expedia issue. Save your booking and payment info — and consider printing out your receipts and reservations.
Puerto Angel – Small and Local
My next stop was Puerto Angel, and quite frankly I don’t know if I did this one the right way. This part of the Pacific Coast goes from beach to mountain pretty much immediately. That means the entirety of the town exists between the main highway (175 or 220) and the beach. They pack the inns & restaurants close to the beachfront, and then there’s a fairly busy tourist road leading back to the highway. Across
the highway, there are dirt paths and unpaved roads heading up into the mountains — and sometimes there are really interesting local restaurants and shops.
In Puerto Angel, however, the beach is separated from the town by a stretch of highway that is not pedestrian friendly. My usual tactic of meandering around town semi-lost was not going to work here. Also, in Puerto Angel I was staying in a low-budget place where I was the only guest. This has happened to me a few times over the years — being the only person in an entire hotel — and it is definitely a creepy experience.
I booked the place for 2 nights (that’s my standard move now. I’m not a backpacker anymore. (I don’t wander around with all my stuff searching for a bed. It can get desperate and exhausting.) When it was time to go, I flagged a taxi for Mazunte.
Notes on Foreigner prices, foreigner services.
Before I left, I Whatsapped the manager of the hotel (no one talks on to you on the phone in Mexico. It is WhatsApp messages or nothing. You do not have a name; you have your mobile number.) I asked her about prices — she told me 150 – 200 pesos. The driver told me it was 350 pesos.
So, was I being ripped off? Well, I was paying foreigner pricing. Is it fair? I do not think so, and I don’t like it. But I don’t like the weakening dollar or inflation either. I don’t get pissy or racist about the exchange rate, about inflation, or about the “foreigner tax” — BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT.
When we did get to town of Mazunte, the hotel I booked was kind of hard to find. It was an “eco-bungalow” that involved schlepping up a dirt road for half a mile, but it was not 100% clear where the start of the trail was. The driver spent about 15 minutes helping me triangulate the sketchy directions and getting me as close as he could.
Mazunte – Laidback Surfer Spot
Mazunte ended up offering a lot of what I was looking for — once I got the lay of the land. It is a Goldilocks situation. Not too big, not too small. Local enough to be authentic (it is a Pueblo Magico), but they know how to cater to large numbers of tourists. The beaches are nice and pretty big by local standards.
A word on Pacific beaches (for Easterners and the landlocked). I grew up in New York and spent summers at Jones Beach, where the beach just goes on and on. We don’t talk about landmarks or geographic features to give directions – we talk about parking fields. I was Field 4 (the cool one) or Field 6 (the other cool one. Do not ask me about Field 5. I don’t think I’ve ever been. I’m not even sure there is one.) The big difference is that you can walk right out until the water is up to your waist or even to your chest. That’s not the way it is out here. The seabed drops away after you walk in up to your knees and the waves break hard as hell. It’s rocky, and the sand is courser. If you don’t know Pacific beaches, be careful. I got knocked around pretty good.
Mazunte is a low-key, semi-party kind of spot. If you want to stay near the main strip on the beach, be prepared for lots of hawkers, tons of restaurants and bars, and lots of activity. People are smoking weed out in the open everywhere. I saw one local light in the middle of a restaurant, and the server only asked him to move to the terrace.
Some sample prices from Mazunte: A cup of coffee (Café Americano) is usually 40 pesos (about $2.35) and a local beer (Corona and Victoria are big here is between 35 and 50. Modelo seems to be a premium beer here.
The average room rate starts at 500 pesos (about $30). The average meal at a restaurant is a hefty 100 – 250 per, and anything you order is almost guaranteed to be enough food for a family of 4. My favorite thing has been the Chilaquiles (they do it with shredded chicken here, with rice and beans on the side) – and I think the cooks feel they aren’t doing their jobs correctly if you can see the plate at all. The portions here are almost too big, if such a thing is possible.
Zipolite – Popular (ADULT) Party Beach
After staying in Mazunte for a little over a week, I decided to backtrack south to visit Zipolite for a couple of nights. Zipolite is famous for its nude beach (only legal one in Mexico) and its LGBT “tolerance”. I can attest to the nude part – there were definitely wieners on the beach. As for the LGBT tolerance, Mexico is not waging a systematic campaign of persecution against the LGBT community like the US, so I think the LGBT-friendly reputation is more about marketing. There is a section of town that is full rainbow where bars and restaurants cater to that community. If this is going to make you uncomfortable, then go somewhere else.
I got a good price on a fancy new hotel up the hill from the beach and found a local-local (authentic Mexican place / authentic Mexican customers) that did an insanely great Pollo Asada (roast chicken). You know it’s local-local when they serve it with spaghetti, rice, and tortillas. Carb-loading is pretty standard here.
The town itself was not for me – too crowded, too touristy. After my three nights, I found another camioneta headed back towards Mazunte. Technically camioneta means “truck”, but down here they are covered pickups with benches that act as local buses. Up in Oaxaca Juarez, taxis called “collectivos” play the same role.) I got off one stop early though, in the town of Saint Augustinillo.
San Augustinillo – Home to expat hippies, yogis & healers
I’ve counted two ashrams in San Augustinillo so far, but I suspect there are several more. This is a yoga & healing town. There is an expat community here – mostly made up of aging affluent hippies and yoga/meditation types. I suspect that a lot of these folks have spent time in Chiang Mai. Similar vibe.
San Augustinillo is next to Mazunte – main street to main street is a little over a mile. I think the pattern of expat migration is to start in Puerto Escondido (the “big” town to the north), then do Mazunte, and then settle down in Saint Augustinillo. I tried working in a local café that was set up for digital nomad types (one entire side of the restaurant was a long bar with high chairs – and an electric outlet at each station) and I couldn’t get any work done because everyone was speaking in English, and I was too busy auto- eavesdropping to be productive.
I arrived in town without a reservation – something I haven’t done since, well, for a while. The first couple of places I saw were pretty rough – yet impressively expensive. I picked a place, paid the owners 1000 pesos for two nights, and went out searching for more permanent and cheaper rooms.
My first couple of attempts in San Augustinillo weren’t impressive, so I ended up drifting back to Mazunte. When I popped into one nice looking little inn (I’m translating from Posada – which is what they label their hotels here) and said I was looking for a place by the week, the manager brought me back to San Augustinillo. Up a hill, across from a funky Western-looking café (closed until the 16th – it’s still off-season here) lots of locals rent out rooms.
My new place is inexpensive and worth it. I would tell another expat that it is “very simple”, and they would know exactly what I meant. Old, maybe even shabby, but clean and well maintained. The owner lives in the neighborhood. The two apartments up here each have private bathrooms but share a kitchen. The internet is good. I have a huge balcony with views of the ocean.
If I were going “full-expat”, I’d keep looking – using this place as a base. I’d try to find something a little more secure, a little newer – maybe with space to improvise an office. But for 3 weeks, this place MAY do just fine. I’ve only spent one night here so far. No real problems, but it’s hot (one wall faces the sun and the wall gets so hot it must add 15 degrees to the room’s temperature. They are also starting a construction project just across from my front door – so I have to figure out how noisy that will be. In Shanghai it would mean at least 12 hours of drilling into concrete every day. They make other noises in the Chinese construction industry, but drilling into concrete is far and away their favorite. The only noise I’ve heard from the site outside my door are giant, overladen trucks and shoveling, which – while still annoying – sounds like a string quartet compared to drilling concrete.
Pros and Cons
The main advantage of this place is that it is a stable place to sleep, work, and keep my stuff. That’s what I’m looking for, and this kind of local approach is just fine for now. This is a little too “simple”, and I planned on staying I’d want to upgrade. But it seems secure. The neighborhood is good. There are restaurants and shops here. The expat community seems to be present and active.
The cons? The facilities here are rough. You need to climb a steep hill on a dusty dirt road. The front door doesn’t really close and definitely doesn’t lock. Prices can be high and no one at all posts prices.
The Verdict: Ranking the Top Mexico Beach Towns
Even though I’m not looking to settle down in one of these towns, I definitely have an order of preference. Of the 5 towns I’ve visited, here’s how I would rank them as recommendations for potential expats:
- San Augustinillo — The right mix of local prices and expat community. Located just up the road from the good times in Mazunte.
- Mazunte – A great place to visit, but too noisy, weedy, and crowded for working expats.
- Huatulco / Zipolite. These both have a lot to offer if you know what you are looking for, but these towns are extremes. Huatulco is for families, Zipolite is for partiers.
- Puerto Angel – I didn’t love this one. Too small, kind of ramshackle.
As you can see, once you venture off the beaten track you get more opportunities but also more potholes. Each town has a distinctive character and style, and it’s up to you to find the one that matches your tastes and attitude.
Awesome report, Andrew! Very helpful for us when we get around to visiting the beaches!
Thanks Deborah. I know that Mexico is BIG, but you should put Oaxaca’s coast on your list. The big question — slow windy bus, or little, little plane.