Puerto Escondido pure

Our hostel selection was influenced by the major cultural differences between Europe and the USA. Air conditioning (A/C) or fan?, almost as controversial as the question: ice-cold mineral water, yes or no? Andy strongly advocated for an air-conditioned room. Therefore, our choice fell on Puerto Dreams. The hostel reminded more of a boutique hotel with wood optics, industrial chic, numerous indoor plants, bracelets for cashless payment, and surfer accessories everywhere. However, no breakfast and at most in C to D location. Helmut Hermann and Dorit Heike Gruh summed it up: 'uninteresting'. The free bicycle rental reconciled me somewhat.

There wasn't much choice anyway. The city was fully booked.

Puerto Escondido (see description) stood out mainly for its endless sandy beach with good waves. Surf schools, beach boutiques, cocktail bars, electric scooter rentals, and trendy beach hotels created an international atmosphere that reminded more of Bali. At least as I envision Bali.

Every hostel also has co-working spaces to enable the many European climate refugees to work from home. And there they were, young and young at heart people with laptops and headsets, busy with Excel spreadsheets and in video conferences at 30°C, with an overpriced smoothie and an acai poke bowl, while scooters with side surfboard holders zipped by on the street.

With our rickety hostel bikes, we explored the beach up to the southern tip, enjoyed the afternoon there with beer and mezcal under a ceiling fan overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Around 5 pm, the temperature seemed tolerable enough for us to venture to the beach.

We had dinner at a trendy Thai restaurant at the trendy end of the beach in the trendy surfer haven Puerto Escondido.