During high season, businesses and shops are generally open all day. During low season, many close between 2 and 4pm.
The Adoquín holds a row of tourist shops selling straw hats, postcards, and T-shirts, plus a few excellent shops featuring Guatemalan, Oaxacan, and Balinese clothing and art. You can also get a tattoo or rent surfboards and boogie boards. Interspersed among the shops, hotels, restaurants, and bars are pharmacies and minimarkets. The largest of these is El Dragon Store on Av. Pérez Gasga. It sells anything you'd need for a day at the beach, plus phone (Ladatel) cards and Cuban cigars.
The first surf shop in Puerto Escondido, Central Surf (tel. 954/582-2285; www.centralsurfshop.com), on Zicatela Beach, Calle del Morro s/n, rents and sells surfboards, offers surf lessons, and sells related gear, including custom-made surf trunks. Board rentals usually go for about $10 to $20 per day, with lessons available for $60 for 2 hours. In front of the Rockaway Resort on Zicatela Beach, there's a 24-hour minisuper (no phone) that sells the necessities: beer, suntan lotion, and basic food.
Also of interest is Bazar Santa Fe, Hotel Santa Fe lobby, Calle del Morro s/n, Zicatela Beach (tel. 954/582-0170), a small shop that sells antiques, vintage Oaxacan embroidered clothing, jewelry, religious artifacts, and gourmet organic coffee grown on the hotel's own farm. Right next to Central Surf, Bikini Brazil, Playa Zicatela, Calle del Morro s/n (tel. 954/582-2555), you'll find the hottest bikinis under the sun imported from Brazil, land of the tanga (string bikini). Another cool beach shop on Playa Zicatela, Calle del Moro s/n, is Trapos y Harapos (tel. 954/582-0759), which sells bathing suits, sandals, and surfboards.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
