So we planned an inland trip with Saltydog to Oaxaca. We had read that going directly there from Huatulco on what looks to be the shortest path was a bad idea because it goes over a windy crappy road over the mountains. So we choose a route (HWY 131) that went out of the way, but google maps swore was the quickest route. Google maps claimed 4 hours 37 minutes driving time. In the end it was 8 hours driving time. Dave drove the whole way, and HWY 131 turned out to be quite the challenge. The winding and twisting over the mountains went for about 6 of the 8 hours. And the whole route was littered in speed bumps. You’d finally hit a straight stretch of road and there would be three speed bumps – often not marked. We would get behind logging trucks and busses that we couldn’t pass for a while. All in all, it was quite the haul.
Along the way we stopped in Puerto Escondido for lunch. We had some great shrimp tacos and sautéed fish with garlic sauce on a place overlooking the beach.
At various points along the drive we would have to stop for construction crews filling in the zillion potholes, rockslides, and places where the road had collapsed down the hill. There were also crews working on trimming bushes along the side of the road. At one point we came across a guy holding a shovel tied to a string that was strung across the road in front of us. Dave comes to a stop and the guy holding the shovel comes over and says "Money". Dave and Steve tell him "NO!" He says "Money" again. The boys say no. This repeats 6 or 7 times until the guy finally lowers the string (which obviously we could have just driven through anyway) and we drive on. Around the next corner we saw some more guys sitting in the bushes - one with a shot gun. Ok, so what was that all about? Who knows. Dave thinks that the guy who stopped us wasn't all there mentally. It was odd as we didn't feel threatened by the guy who wanted money - begging here is common. But in the context of the guy with the gun around the corner... Hmmmm...
We were happy when we finally reached the hotel as it was gorgeous. It had been a challenge to find a hotel that would take Vivi (the dog). But they were happy to have her. We sat down and had dinner at the hotel as none of us was wanting to wander around after the long drive. Food turned out to be quite good. We’ve heard this is a “foodie” town so this wasn’t particularly surprising. One of the things they brought us were Grasshoppers. Dave and I had tried them in Cancun. And once again found they are actually pretty tasty. Joan tried them too and liked them, but Steve was like "not happening!"