"I find it surreal, as if Federico Fellini is just out of sight filming daily life," he said. "The main appeal to me has been the wide variety of people who show up every year."

Puerto Escondido, always a bit off the beaten track, has been known among the surfing crowd for 25 years. Surprisingly, the fishing town of roughly 50,000 people is not hard to reach. There are direct flights from Mexico City that last about an hour and cost between $80 and $100.

Mention Puerto Escondido to anyone who has been there and they will tell you about the granddaddy of Puerto Hotels, the Santa Fe — the very first hotel on Zicatela Beach, completed in December 1982. It was built by two brothers from Oregon, Robin and Paul Cleaver. For years Paul was the gracious host of the establishment, which featured the town's very first vegetarian restaurant and still garners high marks today for food and service.

Robin continues to own the Santa Fe but is also overseeing a coffee plantation that will produce organic shade-grown coffee. The plantation, called Finca de las Nieves, is located 1 1/2 hours away in the San Gabriel Valley and offers overnight accommodations.

Real estate success stories are another facet of Puerto Escondido's charm — like the banana-bread empress who sold fresh baked goods from a basket she carried to the beach every morning and ended up owning three restaurants and a small hotel.

A popular spot in town is Dan's Cafe Deluxe — a kind of Rick's Place from the movie "Casablanca," except that a Rick is a Canadian, Dan Clemens. Dan is also known for his marriage to Carmen — the young Mexico City woman who sold banana bread on the beach beginning in 1983 and then from the back of a station wagon up on the Adoquin — the small waterfront business district. In 1987 Dan built her a cute little wooden structure for a bakery they called La Patissiere. The duo went on to found the very popular Cafecito restaurants in town (now there are two) and a small hotel they named after each other: Dan and Carmen's.

Two years ago Dan opened an open-air restaurant adjacent to the hotel with a shaded pingpong table that attracts men young and old to the table. Both the Cafecito restaurants and Dan's Cafe Deluxe offer free wireless, which attracts a burgeoning business.

Built on a hillside on the Bococho side of town and overlooking a small horseshoe-shaped beach, the Villas Carrizalillo offer a romantic view of Puerto Escondido. Las Tugas restaurant at the Villas, which is open to the public, has a tall palapa roof and offers a million-dollar view, as do many of the rooms. They provide good food and a wide selection of beers, and their chocolate cake is supreme. The outdoor bar at the Villas is crowded midweek at sunset , and Ricardo, the longtime bartender, makes a tangy margarita with lots of fresh lime juice and high-quality tequila.

For a romantic dinner on Zicatela Beach, the 2-year-old Guadua restaurant is a big open-air bamboo palapa restaurant with beautiful woodwork. With experience in Mexico City and Tokyo, the chef is one of the three owners. The restaurant has stellar fish dishes, especially tuna, and a wonderful view of the open sky at sunset.

Surfers come to Zicatela Beach for the big summertime waves, but there are safer beaches for less-experienced ocean swimmers. The rocks in front of the Hotel Santa Fe separate Zicatela Beach from Marinero, which offers relatively inexpensive palapa fish restaurants for lunch or dinner or simply a sunset cerveza. At Marinero Beach swimmers can touch bottom, and that makes for good bodysurfing. The adjoining beach, Playa Principal, is the location of the fresh fish market where in the early morning fisherman return with their bounty from a night on their boats.

Just a $3 cab ride north from the Zicatela side of town is Manzanillo Beach, a family beach with eateries that offer soft drinks and fish plates. In the cove banana rides on boats and kayaks are featured for kids of all ages.

Gina Espinosa arrived in Puerto Escondido about 17 years ago on vacation from Cancun, where she worked in the tourism business. She fell in love with the Chacahua National Park, which is about 1 1/2 hours north of Puerto. All of the beautiful lagoons are perfect for kayaking, canoeing or touring in a small boat.

"It is so wild," she said.

For a birding-watching lagoon tour closer to town, she recommends Lalo's Tours. The $40 price includes hotel pickup and a four-hour boat tour of the mangroves and colorful wildlife of Manialtepec Lagoon, located 45-minutes from town.

Espinosa speaks Spanish, English and French fluently and is so current with new places to stay and new restaurants opening up that many townspeople refer to her as Puerto's "information goddess." Though she started as a volunteer, today she staffs a little kiosk on the Adoquin, receiving a stipend from the municipal government for her work as Puerto's ambassador to the world.

WHEN YOU GO

The Puerto Escondido Airport (PXM) is about 2 1/2 miles north of the center of town. For an overnight in Mexico City en route, I chose the Airport Hilton. It's located right in the airport, so no cab ride is necessary and safety is not an issue.

For general information: www.puertoescondidoinfo.com

Images:The Villas Carrizalillo overlook a horseshoe-shaped beach and offer a romantic view of Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Stuart Wasserman.  A couple enjoy a romantic sunset walk along Zicatela Beach in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Stuart Wasserman.Visitors stroll along Calle del Morro near Zicatela Beach in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Stuart Wasserman.

Stuart Wasserman is a freelance travel writer.