The Oaxaca Rollercoaster
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007Day: 21
Awake early we walked in the crisp cool Oaxacan morning air to catch our bus to the coast. In the distance puffy low clouds obscured the tops of the mountains, a beautiful send off from Oaxaca. Finally we were headed to the beaches. For the first time on the trip we weren’t on a luxurious Mexican bus. For the remote Oaxacan coast we were taking a share mini-van. It was a 14 seater and aboard was us, an italian tourist and a couple of mothers with their young daughters. Pretty empty really. The driver stood on the corner yelling out repeatedly our final destination in an effort to attract new passengers, “pooochuuutla Pochutla”. It was quite comical to watch, he would just point at random people asking them about going to Pochutla, a 6 hour trip away.
Eventually we were off and about 2 hours in we climbed high into the mountains. This is where the fun started. I don’t think the road was ever straight for more than 20 metres. After climbing high into cool pine forests we raced down to the Oaxacan coastal plain. It felt like we were on a roller coaster. One of those rides where your hips get sore from the constant right then left movement. Personally I was loving the ride and admiring the incredible change of scenery to tropic jungle when I looked over at Jordana. She looked liked someone had just punched her in the stomach, her face was pale white. “I told you to take some gravol”, I blurted out to her. Probably not what you want to hear when you feel sick, but she should have listened to me. After the dirty look she gave me I just went back to gazing out at the thick green jungle.
Finally we arrived in the hot, dusty town of Pochutla. Jordana made it without being sick, I can’t say the same for the young girl seated in front of us. We quickly grabbed a cold coke, funny how I only drink soft drinks while travelling, and then easily found a taxi for 100 pesos for the 15 km drive to the coast. It had been a dizzy but absolutely spectacular drive. I thought how the best places we’ve come across while travelling are always the harder ones to get too, hopefully San Agustinillo wouldn’t prove any different.
Michael Coroneos