My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: Huatulco Now

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: Huatulco Now: We arrived safely in Huatulco after a long but relatively painless time spent on the First Class Ado bus. For anybody who has never travell...

Huatulco Now

We arrived safely in Huatulco after a long but relatively painless time spent on the First Class Ado bus. For anybody who has never travelled in Mexico there is an extensive network o First Class buses which leave every time of day and night for anywhere and everywhere. If you take a First Class bus you go through security and your luggage is tagged and checked upon retrieval. It’s extremely safe and efficient unlike many other things in Mexico. This one works well. Many other destinations in Latin America offer the same kind of service. Argentina, Chile and Ecuador come to mind. Before getting into Huatulco I would be remiss if I don’t describe our visit of the Santo Domingo Church and Monsastery in Oaxaca. The Church is a study in Baroque excess as befits its location which was very important to the Church.The Church is only a small part of what forms an extensive labyrinth of courtyards and cloisters for the Dominican monks who lived there and worked on its construction. The Museum attached to the building now houses the Cultural Center of Oaxaca which features an impressive collection of pre-Columbian artefacts which was taken from an excavated tomb in the nearby archeological site of Monte Alban. (We visited that site last time we were in Oaxaca, not as extraordinary as other Zapotec sites, we preferred Mitla). The Museum is not only worth a visit for its priceless collection but also for the fact that it’s an architectural marvel which has been lovingly restored to its former splendour. In addition to the museum there is an ehno botanical garden which grows many of the plants native to the area as well a some others which can survive in this sometimes punishing climate. Apparently Oaxaca state is the best and most in many things. It has the most variety of peppers, the most variety of corn, the most variety of agave for Mescal and Tequila, the most indigenous groups, the most native languages spoken on and on it goes. It truly is a marvellous state and nobody can fault it fo it lacking in anything especially when it ones to the arts and food. Their different types of mole is famous worldwide. Huatulco is nothing like Oaxaca. The only culture to be had here is the beach culture although Zipolite and Puerto Angel are even better locations if that is all which one wants to do. The hotel whee we are is vey functional. The oom is big, two double beds, thee is a little balcony, television with cable and the WIFI is very good so far. We will be stayin around 20 days here and for 18 days the cost did not exceed $1000 and includes breakfast which is more than adequate. Whenever you get these package deals coffee is never ever good. It’s more like tepid slightly brownish sock juice although I have never had the latter. If you don’t go to a real coffee shop you’re out of luck when it comes to good coffee. We don’t really mind, kind of used to it. The town is called La Crucecita and it offers many restaurants, a nice zocalo, some ice cream shops and other hotels. It’s more than adequate for our needs. The closest swimmable beach can be walked to on this impressive tourist walkway built at great cost to the Mexican government when it had great hopes of turning Huatulco into a mega luxury destination. Although the town is popular with mostly Mexican and Canadian and American tourists, it’s no Cancun with its endless hordes of all inclusive patrons.which is a fine thing indeed. The weather here is much more reliable than in Cancun. At this time of the year it invariably hot and not too humid. It can get a trifle too hot but luckily we do have air conditioning in the room. It would be hard to survive without it. The little beach we have been walking to is called Santa Cruz and it’s a lovely little spit of sand. It’s not a huge beach for walking but it’s perfect for swimming with crystal clear water and no waves to speak of.There are many palapa restaurants to while away the hours, sipping a cold beer and eating guacamole. We won’t complain about the heat that would be downright unseemly considering the lousy weather Canada and parts of the U.S. are having. Tomorrow we will visit another beach, by cab. I will try and post some photos

Oaxaca

Notmuch has changed since we were in Oaxaca many many years ago. The buildings are still there, the great landmarks like the Santa Domingo Monasterio, the two Zócalos, the artesaniaia, the many galleries and yet....something has changed fundamentally in ways that one can’t always immediately discern.
There is much more of everything and that’s the problem. More art, more tours, more people trying to make a little living selling this and that, more street stalls, more expatriates roaming the streets, in short Oaxaca is losing a bit of its original charm.  If it’s not careful, and I don’t think it is, it is in danger of succumbing to the same problem that has afflicted many other too popular destinations.  Soon it will price itself out of the range of ordinary people if it hasn’t already.  Real estate agents or people with money are invetsting in apartment buildings to turn them into potential long term rentals for travelers or for Air B and B purposes.  A great money venture for some but for others it might mean moving out of the city altogether once it becomes no longer affordable.
It doesn’t make me feel any better, as a traveler, to notice the devastating impact this trend can have on local populations but there’s no stopping this.  People are on the move always eager to discover new places plus there is the definite appeal of the hot, predictably sunny weather, it’s manna for Canadians and Americans wanting to escape the cold, especially this year.
The city is incredibly lively, lots of street art, musicians, things to sample, eat and do.  The streets are vibrant with people.
Our hotel was in a bed and breakfast about a 10 minute walk from the hub. The walking was fine except when it got super hot even if it’s a dry heat it can really beat you down.
We took one tour  which lasted all day.  We saw El Tule the largest tweet in the world, magnificent.  I couldn’t take a good enough photo to render its size it was just too big to accommodate my screen.
The petrified waterfalls of Hierve El Agua , a freaky quirck of nature which allows the water loaded



with calcium carbonate and other intervals to be deposited much in the same way that waterfalls would look. It’s an impressive site indeed, not found anywhere else. We also visited the archeological site of Mitla, a series of courtyards and temples with four minor dwellings all bearing the original engravings. The toms were robbed many years ago of their more precious cargo but the etchings and carvings remains mysteriously seductive with their intricate symbolism.
Of course we also samples some Mezcal and were brought up to date on the ways in which this

essential alcohol is prepared.  Mezcal has gone up in price and popularity although still not as popular as Tequila but it does have its aficionados.  Personally not something I particularly enjoy although  some of it can be quite refined. The most expensive Mezcal was a relatively thin bottle made with wild agave can osting about 2,500 pesos which is about $172.00 Canadian.