After being in Playa del Carmen for over 3 months, I decided I wanted to break things up. After some research I decided to spend a week in Puerto Escondido taking surfing lessons and see what it was like. If I liked it, I thought I might want to move here for a few months and really go after it.
I took lessons for 5 days, 2 hours each morning. My first day it was just me and the instructor at Playa Carrizalillo beach, which was walking distance from the surf shop (and down 167 steps!). I actually rode about 10 waves, including one for about 60-70 yards into the beach. It was amazing!
We went to Plataforma in a larger group the next 4 days. It’s a beautiful, isolated spot about 20 minutes outside of town. It’s also more difficult. There were both rights and lefts at the same location so it was harder to read the waves. I still caught 6-8 waves each day with the instructors help lining me up and coaching me on the timing of when to paddle. I was told that by the second week people usually start catching their own waves. For a few days I was partnered with a girl that was on her 3rd week and she was doing great catching waves on her own with little guidance from the instructor.
The town of Puerto Escondido itself is set between the mountains and the ocean. It’s small, relaxed and beautiful in the area we stayed in. It’s the kind of place you go for a week and end up staying for a year. There were a few people in that surfed with us who kept cancelling their flights out and extending their stay.
I’m already planning to move here in the Spring for 3-4 months and just surf and enjoy the location, since Southeast Asia is no closer to opening up soon 😊.
Surfing Photos
They had a professional photographer take pictures of some of our rides on Wednesday and Thursday. They were able to capture three waves I rode and two I didn’t. We then had a cool coaching session on Saturday afternoon to review these pictures and discuss how we did.
