El Tule to San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca //
The morning turns from chilly to hot in a matter of a couple of hours. This seems to be common in this high desert region of Oaxaca state. Between breakfast, a bit of socializing with our German neighbors, and packing up, the morning evaporates and it’s already 11:30 by the time we’re setting off.
The blue line on Google maps today reads 3 hours of drive time via a two-lane highway that gets progressively more curvy the further we go. We’ve chosen a libre rather than a cuota (a free highway instead of a toll road) and are hoping this means there will be less traffic. In exchange for the stress of toll road driving, we are dealt a hefty serving of topes (speed bumps). Much of the drive could be described as accelerate, brake, speed bump, accelerate, brake, speed bump. In 80 miles driven, we encountered dozens upon dozens of speed bumps. While we were glad to not be dealing with the stress of the toll road, Mark couldn’t help but grumble about how inefficient this kind of driving is in regards to fuel mileage.
A steady climb into the mountains brought us closer to our destination. Desert turned to brush, and brush turned to pine. Not long after reaching the forest, we came to a small, narrow, and very steep driveway that led us to a yoga retreat and vegetarian restaurant. We had read that camping was permitted in the parking lot, and I was sold the moment I heard the words yoga and vegetarian. Joining in on a morning yoga session followed by a healthy meal sounded absolutely delightful. However, the man that met us at the gate didn’t reciprocate our delight. Our request to camp was denied. Luckily, he allowed us access to the small parking lot to turn around; getting out would have otherwise been extremely difficult. Based off the little bit of Spanish we understood, we left with the sense that our loud diesel trucks had disturbed the peace.
As frustrating as this could have been, I couldn’t help but feel retrospective gratitude for the dozens of other places we’d pulled into in the last month that didn’t turn us away. It’s always a gamble showing up at these places, hoping they’ll allow us to camp, and so far, this was the very first one to deny us. It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and while little daylight remained in the day, we had several other options nearby.
Upon departing the yoga retreat, we drove through the small mountain village of San José del Pacifico, a destination sought out for its magic mushrooms, which was illustrated by its hippy vibe and mushroom souvenirs displayed in front of every store. We would have enjoyed walking around town, maybe even stopping in one of the trendy little restaurants, but there is no such luxury when daylight is waning, and where we’re sleeping for the night is yet to be determined. Instead, we continued a few miles south of town to a place in the forest recommended by our hosts at the campground from which we left this morning. Like the yoga retreat, we turned down another very steep and narrow dirt track that led us through the forest.
We have a mile to go before arriving at the pin we were given. There is absolutely nowhere to go but off the side of a cliff if we encounter oncoming traffic, so we keep our fingers crossed that we won’t run into a problem. Eventually, the road dead-ends at a small restaurant parking lot that luckily has just enough room for us to turn around. We locate an employee, and Adam successfully fumbles through communicating to him that we would like to camp. The man asks us to follow him back up the hill, where he instructs us to park in the driveway of one of the many rental cabanas on the property. It’s a level dirt pad with plenty of room for both trucks, and the four of us are relieved to have somewhere to park for the night.
Less than an hour after settling in, dusk turns to night, and I am struck by how dark it is. Most places we’ve camped in mainland Mexico have had, at minimum, one very bright security light. Accompanied by the black of night was nothing but the sound of crickets. No fireworks, no barking dogs. This random little spot in the forest was gifting us with two of my favorite things: darkness and silence. A long day that ended on a very good note.
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A long day of driving = lots of driving photos…
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I’m relieved you found a place to camp before dark! Some of those roads were very narrow but pretty scenery!
We were relieved too. Luckily we had a few options.
I’ve been interested in the area around San Jose del Pacifico for a long time. I’m now 68, but when I was a teen I experimented with shrooms and other halucinogens. Tripping is an incredible psycho-physical adventure that can only be understood with experience. I had insights about myself and the world that were a bit bizarre, but also opened my mind to looking at the world differently in very positive ways. My experiences were excellent… I’d like to try again as a golden-ager.