"Pacific Overtures" Puerto Ángel by TheLongTone

Puerto Ángel Travel Guide: 39 reviews and 60 photos

Thanks to Ghengiz Khan

It was quite a ride down from Oaxaca. My first experience of the fabled Mexican bus driver, since Oaxaca had been reached by a series of internal flights. and as the bus barrelled down the hairpins of the Sierra Madre der Sur, the stars above wheeling first clockwise and then almost immediately back, I was thinking that actually the pace seemed fairly sensible.
All was explained about an hour from the destination. The bus pulled up at some tiny settlement. A little old lady who had been hunkered down on a stool in the aisle at the front of the bus rose, said an obviously motherly farewell to a young woman sitting in the seat next to the driver, and got off. The door was closed behind her, the volume of the cassette player was cranked up and off we went, considerably faster now the mother-in-law was no longer on board.

Ghengiz Khan? The Estrella del Sur bus company names it's buses....and the one we rode on was called Ghengiz Khan.

Puerto Angel is a pleasant enough place, but the real attraction is Zipolite, a mile-long beach a half-hours walk away. In 1990 all that was here was a string of palapas (palm-thatched shelters without walls) lining the beach, where you could hang a hammock and get something to eat or drink. Revisiting a couple of years later, there was a bus service from Puerto Angel and scattering of concrete two-story buildings. By now I would have expected full-scale tourist deveopement but a gander at Google Earth and a few travel websites gives the impression that Zipolite is still more or less what I remember.

The Englishman abroad. Hat bought in Merida, an absolute essential to guard against sunstroke. Shirt by Ally Capellino, trousers are 'shorts, white, tropical, RN'. Black socks with sneakers....oh dear.

Last visit to Puerto Ángel: Apr 1992
Intro Updated Jan 31, 2010
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craic Jan 20, 2011 at 2:07 AM

i suppose they have a brother bus called ming the merciless
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cachaseiro Aug 14, 2010 at 4:04 AM

That is one nice part of the world.
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Odinnthor Jan 30, 2010 at 8:23 AM

This is cool too compadre.....Erik