Huatulco: Little Known Mexican Treasure
Story and photos by Si Liberman
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| |  | The landmark Lady of Guadalupe Church in the nearby colonial town of La Crucecita is noted for having Mexico's largest painting of the Virgin Mary on its ceiling. | |  | With her pet parakeet parked on her head, the little Indian girl proudly posed. | | |
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| | We were standing on a cliff with a panoramic view of Santa Cruz Bay and the glistening white ship that had brought us to Bahias de Huatulco, a place we had never heard of until we saw the cruise itinerary. It’s a little known environmentally precious, sleepy resort on the west coast of Mexico with an extraordinary history.
"Be sure to get a picture of the cactus as well as the boat," my wife, Dorothy, urged.
Naturally, I complied.
The view was of just one of Huatulco’s nine bays, framing 36 usually deserted beaches along a 25-mile stretch of the Pacific coast. Like a shadow off in the distance was the majestic Sierra Madre mountain range.
According to Eduardo, our enthusiastic tour guide for the Crystal Serenity cruise ship, Huatulco ("wah-tool-koh") is one of five resorts developed in recent years by the government as prime tourist magnets. The other four are Cancun, Ixtapa, Cabo San Lucas and Zihuatanejo.
But Huatulco, the least known, is an ecological treasure in the historically rich state of Oaxaca ("wah-hah-kah") 300 miles southeast of Acapulco and 1,000 miles due south of Houston. Oaxaca, one of Mexico’s 31 states, has a population of 3.5 million.
Benito Juarez was the most revered of all Mexican leaders, the progressive Indian 19th century president often compared to Abraham Lincoln. He was born and where Montezuma, the despotic Aztec emperor, and where explorer Hernando Cortez once ruled. Huatulco got its name from an Indian word meaning "place where one worships of respects the wood from the trees."
"This is the largest environmental reserve designated by the Mexican government," the lanky, dark-haired male guide explained. "In years to come when the area has been turned into another Acapulco, you can say you knew it when it was little more than a jungle on the Gulf of Tehuantepec, 350 miles from Mexico City.
Late December sun had turned lush jungle green into an arid Arizona-like expanse.
"It’s our dry season," Eduardo continued. "From May to the end of November, everything is green. That’s when you can really appreciate our wonders of nature.
"Couldn’t stand the crowds, noise, pollution in Mexico City," he confided. "That’s why I came here. We have at least 300 sunny days a year,"
At least a dozen deluxe hotels, ranging from the 345-room, five-star Barcelo Huatulco (formerly the Sheraton) to the 120-room Camino Real Zaashila and 486-room Las Brisas (formerly a Club Med), have established bridgeheads amidst the hilly bay front terrain. Double room peak season rates, we learned, run from $150 to $300 a night.
In the nearby residential/business town of La Crucecita, though, you can hole up in a clean small hotel for less than $40 a night in peak season.
Near one of the area’s bays there’s an 18-hole, recently built, golf course capable of hosting international tournaments, the guide said. As we drove by on that late sunny December morning, there was not a golfer in sight.
Roads lined with palm trees are well paved and had little traffic and few traffic lights. Signs everywhere warn against littering. There wasn’t a discarded bottle or other debris on the miles of roads we traveled.
It seems an idyllic place to escape from stress amid unspoiled nature of pristine uncluttered beaches and jungle landscapes where you may just want to do nothing.
For a little action, however, there’s La Crucecita about three miles from where our cruise ship docked. There you can find a variety of restaurants, a little nightlife and purchase local artisans’ unique woodcarvings, glass pottery, handmade dolls and weavings.
The town has the look of an old Spanish colonial village with an old church, the Lady of Guadalupe, overlooking a park in the heart of the downtown section. The church is known for having Mexico ‘s largest painting of the Virgin Mary on its ceiling.
It’s also known for its chocolate factory. The locally produced chocolate bars we purchased in a food market and sampled, though, didn’t measure up to the product touted by our guide. One bite and it disintegrated into a sugary mass.
Archaeologists have discovered signs of life in the area dating back to 1600 B.C., but civilization didn’t occur until more than 2,000 years later. The colonial period was initiated in the early 1500s on the heels of invasions by Captain Cortez, who used Huatulco as a base for more explorations and trade. For decades his legions and successor forces ruled, abusing and forcing natives to pay tribute to the Spanish crown. Smallpox ultimately eliminated most native life, leaving few inhabitants in the area.
Later its strategic coastal location established Huatulco as a handy port for merchant vessels on trading routes between Mexico City, Central America and other Spanish bases.
There’s no international airport in the area. Most travelers arrive from the U.S. and Canada via charter flights. However, there are regularly scheduled flights from Mexico City.
A newly enlarged dock on Santa Cruz Bay allows bigger vessels to tie up, and our cruise ship, the 1,080-passenger Crystal Serenity, has been among the first to use the expanded facility. Until recently, large cruise ships have had to ferry passengers ashore on tenders.
©2008 Si Liberman, All rights reserved |
