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Last Trip: Countries: 9 - Miles: 10125

Puerta Angel, Zipolete Beach

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chillinboat launching on beachfishingbonita

Puerta Angel was a short few hours from Puerto Escondido.

When you get to the road in, it becomes clear that you’re in for a different sort of experience. It’s lush. It’s mountainous. On the road in, there’s a small hippy village herbs, creams, salves, spirituality, and no doubt some reiki.

Puerta Angel is a small town in a protected cove farther ahead. Backpackers find there way to Zipolete, which is next to Puerto Angel and Mazunte beach. This place is the ultimate in cosmic hippie drop-out type places.

We decided to stay in Zipolete at the hotel that’s owned by the man from Chicago, or California. I think he’s from Chicago but was in real estate in California. Perennially clad in simple blue swim trunks and a cool pair of bifocal ray bans, he’ll be in the hammock by the beach.

There’s some decent surfing action here, and a lot of nudity. Plenty of old hippies, young hippies, and couples that wanted to be hippies.

People seem to like this place and come back to it a lot. “Cosmic, man.” We weren’t looking for mind-altering drugs, just a beach party and some fishing. The scene in Zipolete is to get totally blazed and then make a fire on the beach. At least that’s the scene that was described to us. We didn’t find it.

We did, however, have a long conversation one afternoon with a naked man that was about 70, and appeared to have lost his Johnson in a freak Johnson-losing accident. It was weird. He loved the place.

After that we put the boat in the water to find the fish. This was a scene to see. I wish we had video. I wish we had a camera crew. Oh this was awesome.

As this is a surfing beach there’s a heck of a wave break. In front of the hotel it was breaking at about 3-5 feet. Not possible to launch. Way down by the Lo Cosmico hostel in front of the Shambala there’s a guy that fixes outboards. And a little road that runs next to Shamabala. We parked there, and drug the boat down to the water.

Waves of one to two feet were breaking just off the beach. But it was shallow and therefore we figured we’d have to hit one wave and then gun the engine and we’re free. To do this we’d put the boat in the whitewash, start it, and have the two other guys walk it out holding on to either side. After the break, they’d jump in the side.

Seemed like a good idea, and easier said than done. We took a pretty good one to the front which launched the boat to a pretty steep angle, but we held on. Kyle gunned the engine! We threw a leg over the side and jumped in face first. Ouch!

The fishing was fun. Trolled and caught lots of bonita, which fight like mad. Cut a few up for bait for snapper, but no takers. We ended up giving the rest of the bonita to the man that fixes the outboards. The locals like it, but it’s a deep red meat that isn’t popular in most places.

There’s a photo of an enormous rock and a bunch of wave action. This was supposedly a great snapper rock. The problem is that it’s in the surf zone, and a LOT of water is moving around it.

We came around to the right side of it, and just about that time a swell, around 6 feet came rushing around it toward us. I thought we were going in the drink. I’d already checked which way swimming back in avoided the most rocks. Serious.

On the way in, we made the coolest beach landing, ever.

Those breakers back at the beach hadn’t gone away, and we had to get back in without coming over the top of one, or having one swamp us from the back. And we had to avoid the swimmers in the water, and the cosmic cowboys on the beach.

We got in the area, straightened up, and shot for it. Road a wave straight in and braced for impact. We were going straight up the beach, as far as possible to get away from the waves.

We zoomed up the sand, narrowly avoided some slack jawed kids, and were safe. Delivered the bonita. Grabbed some beers out of the truck, and had a laugh, hit the hammocks for the sunset. That night we went looking for the beach party, but only found phosphorescent jellyfish on the beach – when you’d step they would light up. That’s cosmic, dude.

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