Puerto Escondido
Nobody knows her name. “La Escondida,” the hidden woman, that’s what they call her. It’s a good story, one of those that grow inevitably in the telling. A couple of centuries ago a pirate named Andres Drake (brother of Sir Francis Drake) kidnapped a beautiful young maiden from a native Mixtec village along the coast of south-western Mexico, dragging her aboard his illicit ship. His intentions, we can only assume, were nefarious, but the brave young woman would not be held captive for long. A few weeks later, while the ship was anchored in a small harbor she made a daring escape, dove overboard, swam ashore and fled into the thick jungle that surrounded the tiny bay, disappearing without a trace.