Huatulco is a tourist development in my favorite Mexican state of Oaxaca, where I spent several extended visits much earlier in my life. We docked at Santa Cruz Port, a favorite with the crew for it’s easy access to the beach of the same name, located right next to the pier with cafes and souvenir stalls. Because of limited international air access, most of the local tourism is domestic in nature and now, at the crest of midsummer, the tourists have left, and ours is the last, straggling cruise ship to dock in these waters until fall.
It was hot…and I mean hot, but Charmaine and I took off on the 1.2-mile walk to the nearest town of La Crucecita, past beach resorts, emptied of their guests, now busy with repairs and maintenance. Even though it was Wednesday in the small, colonial town, the hilltop church above the little main plaza was filled with local families and children seated inside. The streets were lined with restaurants and shops filled with the same rich heritage of Oaxacan arts and crafts that I had come to love years ago….the burnished, matte black pottery and olla vessels, fanciful ceramic Day of the Dead sculptures, brightly painted and whimsical carved wooden animals, and particularly the tightly and expertly woven native Indian rugs.
Back at the sheltered Santa Cruz beach, its calm, shallow waters protected on both sides by the green foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains, I lingered with friends to share a beer and ceviche, and relax in the ocean breeze. And, not to leave without some fondly remembered souvenir from this favorite state, I had a local vendor on the beach apply a temporary tattoo on my chest of my memorable marlin catch the day before in Cabo San Lucas, a fleeting keepsake until I might return again.
Such Fun! New Perspective on Past Travels