The (long) road to Oaxaca…
Mazunte and the Oaxaca Coast are just across the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range from Oaxaca City, but the most direct route is a 6-hour drive through some steep mountain roads and passes, so the bus companies go around, adding another 4 hours to the trip. Usually.
Since the bus to Oaxaca leaves Pochutla — the closest town to Mazunte with a bus station — early in the morning, I took a taxi there from Mazunte and stayed over for a night, then hopped on the bus around 6 AM the next morning for the 10-hour ride. Today happened to be a day of protesting in Oaxaca City, which is fairly common from what I heard — and the avid demonstrators had gathered enough bodies to block the main in-roads to the city, adding another 3 hours onto the trip.
Thankfully the views were incredible, I had a portable charger to keep the headphones powered, our bus driver was a total pro, and there were a couple of stops along the way to keep things mellow.
