Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Puerto Escondido Revisited

Oaxaca, Mexico

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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While enjoying our time in the Colonial city of Oaxaca, Mexico, we decided to skip over to the beach for a few days.

We had a choice of taking a twisting and turning 7 to 12 hour winding mountainous road trip on a bus or shuttle as we had done a couple of years ago, or, as someone recommended, take a more-or-less private flight from the city to one of our favorite beach towns, Puerto Escondido.

Entering the beach area of Puerto Escondido

It was pretty easy to arrange for this 30 minute flight from Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido. It was exciting, convenient and affordable, at the price of $86USD per person, one way.

Here you see us over the beach areas of PE.

Zicatela Beach

Our favorite little beach to hang out is an artistic-style surfer area known as Zicatela. The stretch of ocean you see here is dangerous for swimmers due to the rip tide, but for surfers, it's a dream.

Perfect

There are lots of restaurants to choose from offering a variety of foods. If you want to hang on the beach, chairs and umbrellas are provided and if you like, waitstaff will deliver beverages and full meals to you.

Aaaaaahhhh.... Just like a commercial, isn't it?

  The next beach down from Zicatela is this one called Playa Principal, where it is safer to swim and body surf. Still, the waves are intimidating and can be meters high. I have been slammed and ground into the sand plenty of times and it's truly invigorating while you are screaming and flailing around swallowing sea water.

Taking a break in the shade of our umbrella, this beer or fruit liquado is our reward for surviving.   

Billy's summer collection of Retire Early Lifestyle shirts

Neon is back in style in Latin America, and Billy is nothing if not in style and happening! I can see this man coming from blocks away, I can see him on the beach, and if the traffic cops need help in directing traffic, he's always available.

Still... he's handsome and adventurous, wouldn't you say?

This area has such an international flavor

Just as in Kata Beach, Thailand, this area has an international feel and tourists from all over come to enjoy the sun, the sand and the surf.

Our hotel with a new pool

This is the hotel where we have been staying for years. Zazie is the owner and she speaks several languages, including English. We rent a room with air conditioning for 600Pesos a night, at the time, about $32USD. Today, that same room is 800Pesos, about $40USD.

Zicatela beach is right across the street.

Anyone for Cuban cigars?

As we were waiting for our dinner to arrive, this man approached us to purchase some Cuban cigars. Hand rolled, of course. We don't smoke, but for someone who is an aficionado, this would be attractive.

A meat wood-fired pizza on the beach

This is a medium pizza, plenty for two people with enough to take home, for 170Pesos, or just over $9USD.

Our bill

Here you  see our bill for the pizza, a fruit liquado and a Corona beer for 220Pesos or just under $12USD. Tip in this case was not included, so we left extra.

A walk on the beach in the early evening

After our pizza we took a short walk along the gorgeous beach. The high-test pounding waves of earlier in the day seemed to settle down some and it looked rather peaceful with the calming colors of the sunset and the twinkling lights in the hills.

Business is good

This several-story concrete hotel being built is a contested situation. While it reflects that the beach traffic is busy, therefore restaurants, bars, shops and vendors are doing well, many of the locals don't like the fact that this building is massive and several stories high. It has blocked the view of the hotels behind them, which is unfortunate.

Apparently, the building is government supported or being built by a politico, so it doesn't really matter that the people are not happy with this state of affairs.

A musician singing for his lunch

As we were leaving our beach chairs for the coolness of our air conditioned room, this bilingual musician set up and began singing. He was quite good, and I'm sorry we were not able to enjoy his performance for longer.

Notice the vendor in the left-center of the photo. He is selling aqua frescas and other icy delights perfect for the heat of the beach. We had just each finished a plate of freshly caught fish with garlic butter, salad, beans and tortillas. YUM!

A perfect day at the beach.

Having fun!

Here we are, a couple of ol' farts still in love and having fun.

Ain't life grand?

A converted VW van

Here you see an old VW van converted into a grill that is used at a seafood restaurant where we were having dinner. In Asia, we have seen converted vans used as a rolling liquor bar or a wandering ATM machine, but this is the first time we have seen one used as a grill.

Grilled octopus

Looking inside the van, we saw this delicious grilled octopus, a special on the menu that evening.

The easy life

If you enjoy beach living, Mexico has incredible choices. The Pacific Coast has a whole different feel, than say, the Yucatan.

Here we are lounging on our beach chairs soaking up some Vitamin Sea and D.

Surfer's beach town

Over the years we have seen this town grow and grow ... and grow. This road used to be sand with hardly any traffic. Restaurants and hotels didn't continue as far as this photo shows, but rather dead-ended into a sand dune. Now restaurants, hotels and hostels line both sides of this paved road and it has a buzz about it.

Still, it's fun and worth coming to visit even with the new amounts of tourists reveling in its offerings.

Mile-high fish burger

This burger was impossible for us to wrap our mouths around. We ended up dissembling it and plating it as a fish entree with vegetables and grilled bread. It was all very tasty and the herbed bun was freshly made.

Notice my frozen mango-ginger smoothie in the top left of the photo.

Fresh and dee-licious!

Pristine white sand and palm tree shadows

If you have never been to Puerto Escondido with its many beaches, hideaway apartments and hotels, and variety of restaurants, most certainly consider going. It's closer than Hawaii and more affordable than Florida or the Caribbean.

For more stories, videos and photos of Puerto Escondido, CLICK HERE

For more stories and photos of Oaxaca, CLICK HERE

For more stories and photos of Mexico, CLICK HERE

VIDEOS, VIDEOS, VIDEOS! See Mexico for yourself! Beaches, Bars, Babes, Great Food, Live Music 

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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