Got up at 6am to find out when the bus runs to Oaxaca.  

Went to the first bus station: no one there. Walked to the second 'bus' station: it's only vans. Walked to the third bus station, the largest one, and, from what I could determine, a couple of the bus lines are out of business, another wasn't open yet. This last one and another one had departure times only in the evening. It's a 10-12 hour ride because they take the long route.  

The shorter route, going straight up through the mountains is only serviced by vans (and a couple of small buses) because the road is narrow and very curvy. It's only a 6 hour ride. But I don't relish the idea of being cooped up in a small van for six hours with only one stop.  















 
I returned to the first bus station and the clerk was just opening up. Turns out that the route the big buses take goes through the area that I was going to visit after Oaxaca! Easy to look at a map and think that such and such is the right road to take (remember me talking about a street that actually goes over a big hill? It looks short on the map, but it's actually shorter and faster - and less strenuous - to take the second street over from that one. Another lesson learned the hard way.)  

 
On the way back, I looked at a couple small beaches I'd been meaning to check out.  

 
 










 
 
So I came back to think over my plan. It was taking quite a bit of time to look things up, simply because the info is not available in a straightforward manner (like bus schedules: for the most part, they're just not published). You find out things by reading what someone else has experienced. E.g. I found a bus schedule that a guy posted in 2007; no longer accurate of course.  

So it was about 9:30am and I asked my landlords if I could stay another night. Yup! No problem.  

After doing a little more research, I went out to the nearer bus station (with the better buses), and found out that they have buses leaving every hour to this next destination, and it's only a four hour ride. At least I'll get there in the daytime, instead of the middle of the night. (They might advertise 24hr access, but you might get there with the door locked and never get the clerk to get his butt up to answer it. That happens a lot, just like lost reservations. And who are you going to complain to? Even if you are a bigwig Mexican, the clerk is probably the owner's brother or brother-in-law and will never get fired. It's just the way things are.)  

 











 

 
On the way back, I wanted lunch. It's only 11am, so several of the places I wanted to try weren't open yet. I went back to the place I ate Thanksgiving at. I ordered the fish. Started with a salad, french bread and butter.  

 


 

The fish was covered in a salmon colored sauce with sliced mushrooms in it: very french, very good. A glass of good white wine to accompany it. Lemonade with chia seeds in it (healthy for you) was included. $6 plus $3 for the wine.  

 
 
Needed a nap after that big meal! Thought I was going to get sick trying to finish it, but that sauce was real good.  

 
 

Pics of the street where I've been eating. Standing about in the center, I took a picture looking east, then west. It's actually a boulevard; the other side has houses on it.  

 




 







 
 
So I'm spending some time doing research on this area I'm going to next. I still have to complete my blog for Sunday. It's now 4pm and I want to do some more research.  

Mazunte is the name of the first beach I'm going to, in an area that has about 6 beaches in 4 mi.  

The second part, Huatulco, advertises 33 beaches, in a 12 mi area. So a lot of small beaches. But they're supposed to be pretty nice, and a lot of inexpensive places to stay and eat. We'll see.