Being set free for two and a half weeks is a gift beyond gifts. If you can make it happen, DO IT! I am lucky enough to have a great team with great technology to allow for a real vacation. So. Tim and I headed for Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Why there? It all started with our obsession with House Hunters International. We saw an episode where two Canadian couples went there to buy a vacation home. We watched in anticipation as they looked at three amazing properties. They bought at a condo resort which was awesome, but they also looked at a house that we just could not believe they passed up.
Tim did some research, and we decided to spend a week on a “stay and play” associated with the condo resort, Vivo Resorts, followed by a week at the house that the couples didn’t choose. It turns out, we have very good taste. The adventure that unfolded was amazing.
Puerto Escondido (Hidden Port) is a beautiful little town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is at the bottom of the Mexican peninsula close to the Yucatan. It is famous for its surfing beaches, crafts, and great food. The life there is relaxed and simple. My type of place.
We left Dayton with 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. Our flight was changed to go through Detroit rather than Atlanta, so we were pretty sure that was not going to be a good thing. We were right. We were stuck in Detroit for 9 hours before leaving for Mexico City. By the time we arrived there, our connection was long gone. Fortunately, we were given a hotel room with a shuttle for the night. The Fiesta Inn turned out to be nice. They had a restaurant that was open until 1am, so we were able to relax and get acclimated. The temperature in Mexico City was cool. The people were nice, and they let me practice my Spanish.
We left bright and early the next morning to catch our connection to Hualtulco. The problem was that we were looking at the airport in Mexico with our USA airport lens on. In Mexico City, there is a waiting area (M area) where you wait to see which gate you will be leaving from. That was a difficult thing to figure out until we happened to ask some flight attendants what to do. When in doubt, ask!
We made it to Hualtuco, but Tim’s spearfishing gear did not. Our driver, Alfredo, met us as we came out of baggage claim at the airport. Tim headed back in to track down his gear of course. After a while, Alfredo went in to see what was taking so long. Good thing he did. With his help, the gear was found and sent to Puerto Escondido the next day or so. Did I mention that Alfredo was a saint? Well, he had air conditioning in the car and a cooler of beer in the back. It is legal to drink a beer in the back seat of the car in Mexico, so I did!
The road from Hualtulco to Puerto Escondido is not long, but half of it is winding with narrow roads. I didn’t care, because I was in the back seat with my cerveza chillin’. Alfredo filled us in on the town and answered a lot of our questions. I could feel the stress of reality leaving my bones mile by mile.
We arrived at Casa Rubia in the early afternoon. I’m attaching a lot of pictures, so you can see just how amazing this place is. Casa Rubia is basically a mansion on the ocean. Our room was a beautiful suite with an ocean view off the sitting area. We dumped our luggage, and headed out to the pool area. We were greeted by Cruz and McKenzie (kind of like Isaac and Gopher on the Love Boat) who assured us that we should relax and enjoy a drink with some fresh guacamole. Well, you don’t have to ask us twice! The other guests were out on an excursion, so Tim and I had the place to ourselves for several hours. I’m going to break here, because the rest of the crew at Casa Rubia is a great story in itself!
Diana's Place 
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