But it was much better to have the beach at the end of the trip. Easier to just laze and feel okay about it. And Mazunte definitely seemed to be into the lazing. Situated on a south facing point, you can watch both the sunset and sunrise over the Pacific in the winter.

Like many beach towns, it was more oriented around walking and human scale spaces. It was also overtly queer friendly, with public displays of affection between all genders of scantily clad tourists, both Mexican and foreign. I quickly found a coffee shop with buttery pastries to visit every morning

With the recent completion of a highway fromn Oaxaca to the coast that had been in progress for ~20 years, I imagine there's a real estate frenzy building. Posters advertising surveyors and architecture services alongside offers of energy work and muliti-week practical courses in yoni massage.

I made it down to the beach for every sunrise and sunset. The water pleasant for swimming even at dawn. I had Playa Mermejita all to myself, abandoned in the heat of the day. Something about the beach makes grownups able to laugh and play in the water like kids.

I spent one day at Zipolite, Mexico's only (official) nude beach, and clearly a magnet for the party people. Ambulantes on the beach offered brownies de canábis alongside cold drinks and paletas. At least away from the thumping techno and secluded Playa de Amor it was chill.

After sunset I gathered myself to ride the 3km back to Mazunte in the dark, and was amazed to discover that the previously hot, bright, empty streets behind the beach had been transformed into active pedestrian space