The parking area is not great, but there's enough room for all of us and it gives us the opportunity to get some groceries and laundry done and spend some time at a nearby beach.
Ruth and I walked over to the big Chedraui store.
Puerto Escondido used to be one of our favorite towns in Mexico, but like most other coastal places it has been "discovered" by the gringos over the past ten years. It is much busier now and you see a lot of signs in English advertising property prices in $CAD and $USD.
Overall, prices seemed a bit higher than normal at this Chedraui, probably due to the number of white English speaking tourists. I would say that half the shoppers in the store were gringos.
Oh, an interesting thing. At the checkout line in the grocery store, they only had three tills open. That should have been enough, but as of February 5th there is a new law in the state of Oaxaca... no more plastic bags! So it kind of slows things down because the tourists arrive at the checkout to find out they don't have any bags for all of their goods. So they are scrambling to find boxes and other ways of carrying stuff.
Back at the parking area, we found that some people had already headed to the beach. Ruth and I had something to eat and then headed down there ourselves.
Lots of surfers waiting for that perfect wave.
Ruth could use that form on a surfboard!
Even I got in the water. It was fun playing in the waves.
At 3:30pm we met at the rigs and drove the short distance to La Barra de Colotepec, the village where we met our Mexican family 11 years ago. We brought the group down there to meet everyone and to have some tlayudas for dinner.
We paid a donation to the municipality to use the big parking area beside the soccer field. It's noisy and too close to the main highway, but it will do for a night. They said the police would be by regularly to check on us, and they were. But it was pretty much unnecessary. La Barra is a very mellow place.
Me, with Hermalindo.
We haven't seen Hermalindo since 2014. He is with the Mexican Ministerial Police and works out of town a lot. Yesterday was his day off, so it was a pleasant surprise that he was there.
Meat cooking for the tlayudas.
Lena, Lety and Ruth.
Roy, Garth, and Sue having a game of Qwirkle.
The gang is all here!
Leticia.
Lena, cooking the tlayudas.
Silvia and her granddaughter Mikeyla.
Ruth, Sylvia, Kevin, Mikeyla, Lety.
We took the group down to the beach at Colotepec where they do a turtle release program.
The little dudes are ready to go.
Out of the eight turtles that our group released, three of them were immediately scooped up from the sea to be a seabird's dinner. But, such is life. The birds need to eat too!
Another great day in Mexico.
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There was an article recently in the newspaper saying because of the number of tourists in Mexico prices on many items have gone up.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but only in the tourist areas. One of the reasons we try to stay away from the places that most gringos go.
DeleteThat third photo of Ruth "surfing" gave me a chuckle. I'm glad to see they've banned plastic bags. We're a little bit behind here on that front, with the Feds offering to ban "single use plastics" by 2021, and they mention “shopping bags, straws, cutlery, plates, and stir sticks”. I can dig it. When we lived in Puerto Rico, we were somewhat taken aback by the amount of "basura", particularly on the beaches. I was forever picking stuff up, and was wishing for one of my "easy reachers" that I used to use in my former job. But, a little bend and stretch never hurt anybody.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty funny, lol!
DeleteWe are so glad to see that many states in Mexico are now starting a ban on plastic bags, they really are a problem here. When we were in Morocco back in April 2017, we found out that they also had a ban on plastic bags. We have been using our own grocery bags for more than 15 years now and I even have reusable cloth bags for my fruits and vegetables, I just have to remember to use them as they are still new to me.
We can't wait until they start banning all these single use plastic products, the fast food industry certainly hasn't helped with that! Now governments need to work on styrofoam products.
I don't remember noticing garbage on the beaches we went to in PR, but I remember being shocked at their plastic bag usage. We frequently experienced that they would use all plastic, double bag, and only put one or two items per bag. It was ridiculously excessive.
ReplyDeleteMexico grocery stores were the same, double bagged and only a few items in each bag, that is why we always take our own reusable cloth bags.
DeleteWe did away with bottled water and instead filter our own and carry in metal canister. And we use shopping bags for grocery. The no plastic bag is coming soon in our area. I stash a few bags in my vehicle at all times. I also reverted to reusable straws I carry in purse.
ReplyDeleteThe odd time we buy water in a bottle but only if our own water bottle that we brought with us is used up. We always refill our own bottles otherwise. We have never used straws, we personally don't see a need for them. We take our own grocery bags when we go shopping and I even pack a few away with us whenever we travel overseas. We can't wait to see a ban on plastic bags everywhere, it should have happened a long time ago!
DeleteI know that Zihuatanejo has instituted the same plastic ban. I started bringing my own grocery bags when traveling a couple of years ago, there are some really nice ones that fold down into a tiny square available now. I understand most grocery stores there are also selling reusable bags just like the stores back in Canada too
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few states in Mexico that have this ban in place, we are so happy to see things changing like that. This also happened in Morocco when we were there back in 2017. It is nice to see these countries making a positive change. We are like you and we always pack away several reusable bags when we travel.
DeleteYes, most of the stores here sell reusable bags and have been for a number of years now.
I pack my reusable bags with me to Mexico and always have a couple small nylon bags that fit in a tiny pouch in my purse. Every little bit helps. Wanted to to Puerto Escondido back in the 90's but Air Canada stopped flying there and we never did go.
ReplyDeleteWe pack a couple of our reusable grocery bags with us as well whenever we travel or we buy a couple when we get there. I always have a couple stashed in the backpack whenever we are out and about in case we decide to stop and buy something. Yes, every little bit helps for sure.
DeleteYou could have just flown into Mexico City and then got a cheap in-country flight to Puerto Escondido. It would have been a great place to have visited back in the 90's, it still is but it now has a lot more tourists than it would have had back then.
Never get on the wrong side of a ministerial. :) No more plastics bags in most states now. We don't have any in Nuevo Leon.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that we have a friend in the ministerial police force then! :-)
DeleteWe are so happy to see this positive change, they always used too many plastic bags in the grocery stores for our liking.
How does Chedraui compare with Walmart in terms of price and selection? The closest Walmart to Guanajuato is in Irapuato, 28 miles away, but I noticed a new Chedraui just opened there. Unfortunately, I didn't get to check it out.
ReplyDeleteWe really don't notice a difference between the two. They honestly carry much the same products and the prices seem fairly similar. We certainly wouldn't travel to Irapuato just to go to a Walmart if there is a Chedraui in Guanajuato.
DeleteBTW, how did you enjoy our time in Guanajuato? Do you still want to move there?
Yes! I really enjoyed it. So the next step is to put the truck and trailer in storage for the summer of 2021, and stay there for six months, in several different airbnbs, to find the best neighborhood. Can't wait!
DeleteThat sounds great and we love the way you are figuring out what area you want to live in too! How is your Spanish coming along? I bet you did really well with it!
DeleteWe just spent a month in PE and loved it. Found it hot in afternoons. Now in San Miguel where we saw you several years ago and had you to dinner. Know this is not your favorite place but we are loving it. Last time we hitched a rite with you to Dolores Hidalgo in Sherman. good memories
ReplyDeleteYes, but I bet you weren't staying in an RV without any hookups, lol! Staying in an apartment would make things much more comfortable in this heat than in an RV. As for Puerto Escondido, we have always enjoyed the town but in our last two visits we have noticed a huge increase in the amount of tourists and we have found that it doesn't have the same Mexican appeal to it that we always enjoyed in our earlier visits. This is also one of the many reasons that we don't care for San Miguel either. We are glad that you are enjoying yourself there, as for us we love the little Mexican towns in the middle of nowhere so much more. :-)
DeleteI remember us visiting with you and we enjoyed that as well as giving you a ride in Sherman. Hard to believe that he is still traveling down here after all those years.
HOORAH for the little baby seaturtles! My friend is currently in Puerto Vallarta and did the same thing yesterday (she had video made too). Awesome about the conservation of this important species. I haven't used plastic bags in ages. I carry around with me my bags which do me just fine. I actually prefer my bags they won't break in heavy loads :) I want to do the sea turtle release someday....
ReplyDeleteYes, there are lots of places in Mexico now where they are helping to conserve and improve the numbers of the sea turtles. At one time the locals harvested the eggs and sold them as they were supposed to be delicious, now they are teaching them how to save them and making money by charging tourists to release them and they are probably making a lot more money this way.
DeleteWe agree, having your own reusable bags that are so much stronger than those stupid plastic bags is the better way to go.
Puerto Vallarta has also started the ban on single use plastics and slowly phasing it in grocery stores etc. Nice to see this positive move all across Mexico. Some restaurants are using biodegradable containers for take out food or left overs. OXXOs don’t give out plastic bags anymore except to hold unwrapped food.
ReplyDeleteIt is very good to see that Mexico is working it's way towards banning plastic bags and hopefully most of it's single use plastics, now we just need to get more countries to do this, including Canada and the USA.
Delete