Last night’s plan was to actually make it to Mazunte-Zipolite-Puerto Angelo area but since daylight was running short we stopped in Puerto Escondido. Mazunte is a small beach town still stuck in the hippy era. It’s got a few little hostals right on beach and a real laid back character to the place. Since we were heading South along HWY200 to HWY175, we took a small detour to check out the place.

If you’re riding down the coast, skip Puerto Escondido and stay in Mazunte/Zipolite. It’s muy tranquillo alla.

I was excited to ride HWY175 since it winds back up into the mountains and the temperatures drop accordingly.

We went from sea level and 90F degrees to over 8000ft and 52F degrees 8) Ahh.. much better.. and some awesome views. We stopped in a cool little town called San Pedro del Pacifico for some coffee and WiFi.

The clouds were thick up here in some sections and made it look surreal.

Looking down into one of the many valleys in Oaxaca state:

We got into Oaxaca city just in time for evening traffic which was real fun (read: crazy). We ended up at a small hostal near the historic city center area and only a few blocks from the Zocalo. It was a basic but cheap place and had a good location.

Our motorbikes wouldn’t fit inside the hostal door, so we had to park them outside on the sidewalk. I was breaking my #1 rule of always parking the bike somewhere secure for the night.. However, we were assured the bikes would be okay and they would keep an eye on them all night since someone is in the reception office 24 hours a day.