Carretera 175

This past weekend I finally made it to the beach. Two of the former English teachers here (who I only got to work with for 2 weeks!) celebrated their wedding in San Agustinillo, one of the many beautiful beach towns on the Pacific Oaxacan coast.

Highway 175 connects Oaxaca City with a town called Pochutla, which is linked with all the beach towns. 175 goes right thru Miahuatlán, so I live in a great location for getting out of town. The best way to get to either Oaxaca or the coast is to take a "suburban," which is really a 15-passenger van. (The "15" part is more of a minimum than a maximum.) There are 3 companies that offer these services, so you can always be assured of transportation. Apparently there are good and not-so-good van-driver combos, it's pretty much hit or miss. It takes about 2 hrs to get to Oaxaca, and between 3 and 4 hours to get to Pochutla (depending on the driver, weather, and if there are any unplanned stops).

The drive to Oaxaca is not very far in distance, but it takes 2 hours because there are so many speed bumps (called topes, reductores, or vibradores). I believe someone told me there are 186 speed bumps in the less than 100 kilometers (so 60 miles) between Miahuatlán and Oaxaca city. And these are no ordinary speed bumps, they are the kind that will easily blow a tire, or take a chunk out of the undercarriage of your vehicle... So the vans go from full throttle to 0 in order to inch over the bumps, then speed up as much as they can before the next one. It's an interesting process. That with the curves makes it pretty impossible to sleep. At least without your head lobbing back and forth and whacking the people next to you...

The journey to the coast is around 120 kilometers (75 miles) but takes an unbelievable amount of time! Speed bumps are definitely playing a part in the 3-4 hour ride. But the main reason is that Highway 175 takes you on a crazy windy path that goes up and over the Sierra Sur. I don't know why they bothered with so many road signs warning of S curves ahead, they were repeated every mile or so... I had read warnings that this trip was not for anyone even remotely prone to motion-sickness. Which I'm not, thank goodness!

In order to get to the coast in time to enjoy most of the day on the beach, I woke up at 4am to catch the 5am van to Pochutla. I had bought my ticket the night before, which assured me a good seat (front passenger seat, where I can actually put on a seatbelt!). Everyone loaded in, and we were on our way. The first hour and a half was in darkness as we went up the mountains, with everyone attempting to sleep. But it's seriously impossible for more than 30 seconds at a time, with the speed bumps and the precarious turns and the bold passing of other vehicles...

Right when glimpses of the sun were starting to peak thru the pines, and I was getting excited for the amazing mountain views I had been promised, an old man in the row of seats behind me asked the driver if he could stop. I couldn't catch why... So after a few more hairpin turns taken at higher-than-necessary speeds, the driver found a safe place to pull over. And the little old man got out and proceeded to be sick for a long time. It was pretty gross, particularly when he got back in the van and proceeded to alternate between weird hiccup/burps, ragged breathing, and urgent requests to pull over again... I was relieved to be in the front seat, close to the window. I have to admit that I was also somewhat pleased that it wasn't the only gringa on the van to get sick. In fact, I felt quite good (besides a few times when the smells from the poor old man were less than pleasant)...

Needless to say, this trip took quite a bit longer than it should have, and I was extremely happy when we finally got close to Pochutla, with the warm sun and fresh coastal air flowing thru the van...

Despite the discomforts of this particular ride, I won't hesitate to do it again. The views going up and over the mountains really are breathtaking, and the foliage that you pass is so markedly different as you pass thru the high coniferous forests and then dip down the other side en route to the coast, with tropical flowers and beautiful birds and butterflies increasing with every mile... And of course the beach...