February 19 Puerto Escondido = Dreams Unfulfilled

February 19 Puerto Escondido – Dreams unfulfilled

We traveled north (along the Sea of Cortez) almost to Loredo and stayed at a very sparse little RV park in Puerto Escondido. There we saw the ruins of a development which at one time was hoped to provide a large resort for the rich and famous. They had dreamed of fashionable hotels, timeshares, restaurants and full service RV parks all built around a sparkling marina. It may happen, but so far, it is little more than the concrete shells of half-finished buildings, abandoned streets covered with broken glass and a few ships bobbing in the harbor. They had laid out water filled canals to provide waterfront docking for pleasure yachts alongside the planned mega mansions to house their owners. Now it all lays in ruin. We drove around to explore and found broken electrical services and exposed underground power vaults in the middle of streets.

The setting was wonderful with a lovely bay, spinning fish jumping everywhere and a variety of birds overhead. We watched local pleasure fishermen counting their catch. Saw a 20 some foot sail boat sunk and still tied to the docks. Large commercial docks were available to ship goods in and out but somehow it just never came together as a successful venture. This is common to a lot of what we see in Mexico…great dreams, plans, a start in the right direction but it falls apart in the follow through.

We enjoyed our visit of two nights there and made a few side trips with the car to explore further and visit again the lovely town of Loredo which we stayed at on our way south.

When it came time to again head north we ventured into the town of Loredo with another coach to top off our diesel supply. Somehow…true to Mexican engineering or lack thereof…we could not go the right direction pulling out of the station…so suddenly we are headed into the heart of this small community looking for a way to turn around. Finally Gary spotted what he thought would work for a very, very tight U-turn…OOPS looks like we cannot make it without running over the back of a little red car parked along the street. I jumped out to check clearance and direct his forward motion…as I got back in I could hear the voices of a group of good natured teenage boys behind me….”Ah, Gringo !” Gringo is their affectionate term for Tourists and that we were.