“Nice place, eh?” I never saw the fellow before but his accent was familiar and we were both headed from the beach up to the bar.
“Where you from?” I asked as the bartender dipped the rim of my margarita glass into a plate of salt.
“Calgary,” he replied, “you?”
“Whistler,” I told him, and we lapsed into ski talk. Comparing the merits of Blackcomb and Lake Louise may seem a strange topic of conversation while sipping margaritas on a Mexican beach. But it seems almost everyone in Huatulco is from somewhere in Canada and it takes the tropical sun a few days to burn winter out of our consciousness.
Huatulco is about as far south as you can go in Mexico. Located on the Pacific Coast of Oaxaca, at the southern end of the Sierra Madre Mountains, it is Mexico’s newest and least developed tourist destination and, according to the local pundits we talked to, it has yet to be discovered by the Americans and Europeans. But the Canadians are there in force, not only for a winter sun break at one of the resorts but also to buy property and acquire their personal tropical retreats. And getting there from Canada is easy. It’s a six-hour charter flight from YVR directly to HUX (Huatulco’s tiny international airport), and the airport is only a 20-minute bus ride from the beach.
The granite sea-cliffs and rocky offshore islets of Huatulco’s Pacific Coast resemble parts of the B.C. coast but the similarity ends there. Between the rocky headlands the warm Pacific surf rolls onto broad sandy beaches that stretch for miles, and beneath the turquoise surface schools of brightly coloured tropical fish nibble on mounds of brain coral. There are nine major bays containing 36 calm water beaches strung out along the Huatulco coast. Some, like Tangolunda where the Las Brisas is located, are fully developed tourist destinations; others are accessible only by water, and several pristine beaches that fall within a new national park are protected from future development.
Las Brisas (the breezes), where we spent our week in the sun, is one of several all-inclusive resorts that face Bahia Tangolunda. Built on a rocky peninsula jutting into the Pacific its clusters of brick red low-rise buildings are set among gardens and walkways located high above the palm-shaded lawns and sand of the beach. The resort sprawls across an area of fifty acres and it takes at least a day to figure out the maze of interconnecting roads, trails and stairways that link its four colour-coded “villages” with its six restaurants, multiple bars, and four private swimming beaches. Our room, in the Polar building of the Estrellas (star) village, is 185 steps above the Bellavista restaurant. The view is fantastic but it’s a long way from bed to breakfast. The food is excellent and the climb is a good excuse for second helpings, but if you’re too hot or tired to walk one of the shuttles is never more than a few minutes away. These handy little vehicles with their outside benches and friendly drivers are free, fun and ready to whisk you wherever you want to go within the resort.
Originally designed for Club Med by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, the resort avoids the columns and open spaces of traditional post-war Mexican architecture and emphasizes the “wall culture” of an earlier era. The buildings, never more than three storeys high, are set back against the slope on which they are built, and the privacy of walkways, balconies, and stairwells is protected by solid walls that intersect to form interesting patterns of light and shadow. Every one of the 484 rooms has an unobstructed ocean view and access to beautifully landscaped tropical gardens and warm sandy beaches.
But as a Club Med destination it didn’t work. When Club Med decided to pull out of Huatulco the property was abandoned and lay dormant for almost two years, until it was bought and completely refurbished inside and out by Las Brisas Hotels in 2002. Along with the buildings and prime 50-acre parcel of land Las Brisas acquired Club Med’s gym, soccer field and 12 tennis courts. I never saw anyone using these facilities, which may explain Club Med’s problem. In Huatulco’s tropical heat the action, if you can call it that, is confined to the beach, and for most people it involves dragging a reclining beach chair from sun to shade or from shade to sun. But for the more energetic there are other things to do.
The rows of reclining lounges and palm-thatched beach umbrellas are about midway between the bar and the beach and both the drinks in the bar and the kayaks, wind surfers, and small sailing catamarans at the water’s edge are free for the asking — free that is if you ignore what you paid for your all-inclusive wrist band. But for me the joy of swimming and snorkeling was enough. The pure white sand and clear turquoise water are incredibly clean and I was amazed to see schools of exotic tropical fish only a short distance offshore. But for those of us who spend our winters in ski clothes there’s a limit to how much sun our pale bodies can stand. We wisely decided to cover up our glowing backs and spend a day away from the beach.
Las Brisas is a short, three-dollar taxi ride from La Crucecita, a traditional Mexican town that serves as Huatulco’s business district and home to many of the locals who work at the resort. The cab dropped us in the town’s central plaza, a tree-shaded expanse of lawns and gardens bounded on one side by the town’s church and on the others by an assortment of brightly painted low-rise buildings housing craft shops and restaurants whose chairs and tables spill onto outdoor patios. Our taxi driver told us not to miss the huge image of the Virgin on the ceiling of the church. The painting is indeed large, in keeping with the church’s name “Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe”.
We spent most of a day exploring Crucecita’s shops and markets. At a weaving shop we watched skilled craftsmen spinning and looming brightly coloured Mexican fabrics. At a local winery we were treated to roasted grasshoppers washed down with various vintages of mascel, a potent drink made from fermented cactus. Unlike many tourist destinations we were not pestered by street venders — perhaps they too have not yet discovered the place. Above all I was impressed by the genuine friendliness of the people who always greeted us with a cheerful “hola”. When we ordered a snack at one of the cafes the waiter offered to photograph us and as he aimed my camera the entire staff rushed over to get in the picture and laughed uproariously at the result. Here in Crucecita we were treated more like houseguests than tourists.
On the last day of our sun-break I shared another drink with the guy from Calgary and this time there was no ski talk.
“Did you get up to San Augustine?” he asked.
“Yeah, fabulous beach restaurant there, and we went on to see the crocks in the lagoon.”
“I’ll do that next time I come down.”
The week was full of new adventures to share and we both agreed that we would be returning to Huatulco.
“Good margaritas, eh?”
