Oaxaca to Zipolite

We woke up pretty early since we had a long day of driving ahead. To save time, Eric went to pick up the bike from BMW alone while I packed up. We hit the road as soon as he got back. While Zipolite was only 200 miles as the crow flies from Oaxaca, it would take over 5 hours to get there as the roads were not only mountainous but slow moving as well. We were told at most we would only be able to go 30 mph as there were many pot holes and speed bumps throughout the entire way. This was entirely accurate; pot holes galore, washed out roads, speed bumps for no apparent reason the entire way, loose gravel at construction sites, and even a flipped over car were some of the things we ran into along the way. 

Side note, the yearly service for the bike came to only 100 USD. Seriously? It would have been triple that amount at minimum in the states. They also cleaned the bike so it was sparkling by the time we got it. These are the guys who helped us. 

We stopped at a small convenient store 30 minutes out from Zipolite to look over the GPS route and get a snack, but mainly to get off the bike. This was the only break we took aside from getting gas the whole way there. While standing around eating doritos, a fellow US backpacker came up to us for a chat. He was waiting for a bus/car/anything to give him a ride down to Zipolite as well. He was hitch hiking his way through Mexico and originally from Oregon, I believe. After a few minutes a truck stopped to offer a ride. We told him we would look for him on the beach in Zipolite since he would be camping wherever he could pop up a tent. 

 

Eric was not surprisingly exhausted by the time we got to Zipolite. He was aggravated and cranky as it was, so when we pulled into the town to find all the streets made out of sand and construction going on everywhere this was less than thrilling for him. The town didnt look like much upon appearance with the construction, and is in addition extremely small. We wondered for the first 5 minutes what we would do in Zipolite for more than one night. We briefly discussed leaving the next morning and making new plans. This was until we found our hotel. With all the construction, the hotel was pretty hard to find in the first place. Eric parked the bike and walked towards the beach while I stayed to watch the stuff and was able to find it that way. We worked around the construction and parked the bike at the Posada Mexico Hostel.

Zipolite is known for its cool hippie vibe, nude beaches, and is essentially the ultimate backpackers paradise in Mexico as of now, aside from Tulum. It didn't take us long to realize this once we got off our bike and settled in. The hostel was pretty basic, but we knew what to expect before arriving. This town is definitely not for the upper class those with certain lodging expectations. In the whole town, there might be less than a handful of places with AC and only 2 luxurious hotels. The Posada Mexico is run by a bunch of ex-pat Italians and they do a great job with the place. They've got one of the best Italian restaurants in town right in the hostel, and the night we arrived they were having a show along with dinner. At first, we thought the people camped out in front of the hotel doing acrobatics were just fitness junkie guests but soon realized they were performers preparing for their show. It was late and we didn't feel like walking the town, so we settled in for some pizza and salad and watched the rest of the show.