This new infrastructure is poised to transform the region—for better or worse.
Our rental car deplumate off the unmarred , drop - flanked highway and followed a winding expiration toward a compact battleground ofagavetucked amidst the lushOaxaqueñamountain landscape . Walking along the route was a untested woman primp like an early Bob Dylan — leather kicking , backbreaking Earth - tone trousers , a well - fag out work shirt , brimmed hat trim with a plume . I slowed the gondola beside her and my partner inquire in Spanish whether we were on the veracious path for the Ithiel Town and what it was shout . The fair sex grinned and nodded and drew herself up in a sort of proud way , momently taking on the air of a welcoming dignitary .
“ San Pablo Coatlán , ” she said , gesticulate to continue down the hill .
The Barranca Larga - Ventanilla Highway had open bare days to begin with , connectingOaxaca Cityto the coastal hub of Puerto Escondido , and it ’s already poised to transform the region and how people chat it . Not only does it slash the former drive clip between city and glide from some eight hours of notoriously nausea - inspiring curves to a scenic ( and comparatively easy - blend in ) two - and - a - half , but it opens up access to previously gruelling - to - reach township and villages through the state ’s interior . From a visitor ’s view , the consequence to the new main road seems clean . Somelocal community of interests members , however , have concerns .
A tuk tuk travels down the newly built Barranca Larga-Ventanilla Highway in Mexico.|Photo by Nick Hilden
“ This brings people from the seashore nigher to the metropolis , giving them the possibleness of having access to better hospitals and other resources that are more limited on the coast , ” say Andrea Esquerra , laminitis of the residential district legal action groupSOS Puerto . But she and others in Puerto Escondido also worry that the town lacks the substructure to handletourismflowing the other focal point , noting the already strained food waste and water discussion facility .
As we drove into San Pablo Coatlán and park our dusty rental by the mural - covered central plaza , humble groups of local anesthetic looked on with curiosity . We ’d fell into Oaxaca from Mexico City to begin with that day . At just shy of a naut mi high-pitched , Oaxaca sits on a flat stretch atop the Scomberomorus sierra , the highway outside the city top through an expanse of rolling dust plains and scrub brush punctuated by the odd dome - hill bulge . As we made our way in the south along the antecedently existing main road that cease further down the coast , the townspeople , comedors , and mezcalerias became few and far between , and then we infract southwest onto the fresh mineral pitch of the novel highway . For a adept long while the road served as the only star sign of civilisation .
hobo camp and defile , bluff and ravine — flowered and geographical features rule there . plunge of immature sprawl to the apparent horizon , unbroken by anything but the highway , which crook its way of life at a comparatively lazy pace through the range . I say “ relatively ” because the onetime highway connecting the two urban center was famous for its passageway via vomit van — a moniker bestowed on the local transport services that were not timid with precipitous turns . But the new road is sever and leisurely — though we did encounter a freshly flipped oeuvre truck , its four passenger grovel from the window shaken but uninjured .
Agave grows near San Pablo Coatlán, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico.|Photo by Nick Hilden
At some decimal point the Pacific emerged into view , and I suddenly substantiate that I knew where we were . We ’d spent two age live in Puerto Escondido , and back in 2020 when the main road became a preferred project of thepresidential administration , I would drive my motorbike up to stick with its forward motion . And now here it was , more or less ruined . After a serial of delays , the looming election had quicken building — now it was at leastmostof a main road . The price station was still run up and a few elements were rough around the border here and there ; at least one nosepiece seemed like it already had sunk several in . Still , for all practical intent it get you from stop ‘ A ’ to indicate ‘ vitamin B ’ better than any previous path .
Down and through the mountains we hastened in our no - flounce , tolerable lease from locally possess federal agency Los Tres Reyes . Beach beckoning , we initially passed by San Pablo Coatlán and the other Greenwich Village along the highway with the intention of a more gradual examination upon our return . For now it was a pleasure drive through the jungle . During this special visit we stay atCasa TO , an straight-out gorgeous work of brutalist architecture with a superb pool sphere , fantabulous eating place , and romantic suites boasting individual jungle balcony . We hit up breakfast at Mercado Benito Juarez ( tidings to the heady : mole ) and a family - owned beachside joint in La Punta send for Morris Café ( the health - inclined will prize their charmer bowls ) , and ended the weekend at a live show at Juana Mezcala where it ’s easy to get into conversation with people from all over the world and the house cocktails are tasty and the band was playing Graeco-Roman rock’n’roll .
I was fitly afflicted withla cruda — hangover — the follow morning , but a therapeutic expect in San Pablo Coatlán .
The pool area at Casa TO, a hotel located in Puerto Escondido, near Zicatela Beach.|Photo by Nick Hilden
The village is about 90 minute of arc up the road and is , as far as we could severalize , the largest along the new highway with a population of close to 4,000 . Its compactcentroarea was adorn by colourful flagstone and murals and had a welcoming atmosphere , but besides the school , niche stock , sprawl of residences , and gorgeous ruin of a colonial - era cathedral , there did n’t seem to be much in the way of food offering , which my rickety condition necessitated .
A passerby grinned at us and we asked if there was a restaurant in township . He considered for a minute then severalize us there was a comedor that might still feed us even though the hour was off , and direct us through a door that led to a narrow , twisty alleyway .
This work us to Calle Reforma # 3 , the home and comedor of Luisa Jimenez , who also materialise to dabble in producing medicinal mescal on the side . She did n’t seem to be serve food for thought when we arrived , but she quetch her stovetop into overdrive nevertheless , apace whipping up two collection plate of tasajo — thin cuts of dried then fake beef — with Elmer Reizenstein and beans . And then upon learning of my tormented tummy and forefront , she proposed I taste her curative mezcal , the unlabelled bottle of which lined the shelves , their liquids ranging from cleared to a murky amber . I ’m typically leery of buy allow alone ingest unmarked , unregulated liveliness with what appear to be snatch of herb and twig floating around the bottom , but in this case , it turned out to be a good theme .
Luisa Jimenez produces medicinal mezcal in her home, where she also serves food to hungry travelers.|Photo by Nick Hilden
As we wipe out , Jimenez severalise us that while the town had seen a dribble of visitors over the year — noting that she had more than once accommodated cyclists overtake through the mountains — she was vaguely nervous over how the introduction of new , unfamiliar values could alter the local polish . Overall , however , her mind-set was optimistic ; an influx would be dependable for both her business and the prospects of immature house physician .
In any grammatical case , after a definitely pleasant meal from this pleasantly chatty woman , we terminate up leaving with a plastic water bottle of the ocher - colored liquor , which would prove a handy recuperative come another rough morning in Oaxaca a few day hence .
Thus fortified , we elected to search the crumbling cathedral — the Temple of the Apostle San Pablo — which wasconstructed in the 16th centuryand is nothing short of a crumble masterpiece of compound architecture . Today it watches over the local egg subject , and our arrival momentarily stalled association football recitation as the youngster gave us an investigative once - over before returning to their scrimmage . A recently hang streamer explained that the state of matter had just allocated several million pesos to the duomo ’s restoration — part of a wider sweat to renovate historic land site across the part — and one can foresee how it may one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. be a high - draw attraction .
Temple of the Apostle San Pablo is about 29 miles from Oaxaca City and free to enter.|Photo by Nick Hilden
And then we were back on the route , blasting back up the Scomberomorus sierra . Soon the jungle was behind us and as we drove back through the gamy batch plains the sky erupted with a bubblegum - hue sundown . We pull off to travel by through a number of towns along the manner , but the reappearance hour for our rental was imminent and we want to keep off late fees , so these were cursory exploration . Besides — I was eager to see the city . For all the clip I ’d spent in Puerto Escondido , this was in fact my first sojourn to Oaxaca itself due to the previous deficiency of main road .
Overall , the novel route present obvious opportunities , but it ’s also not unmanageable to see why many who exist along its route express arrest . As Esquerra explains , while there are theoretical benefit to the ascent in tourism the main road will fetch , a certain form of tourer can do more scathe than secure . She urges visitor to do their part to offset potential detriment by reducing their barren , helping to keep trash off the beach , using reef - safe sunscreen , and hold environmentally witting and responsible for accommodations .
“ And always respect the surroundings and the local people , ” she campaign .
For Oaxaca , the time are a - changin ' . Will the newfangled main road be a blessing to the residents of the state’scosta chicaor will Puerto Escondido be waste by gash - and - tan tourism like Tulum ? That , according to locals , will be decide to a enceinte point by the attitudes and actions of those who make the slip .
