November 21 - Huatulco

After a rocky night we docked in bright sunshine in Huatulco.  After the captain’s warning last evening I expected a really rough ride but it wasn’t too bad after all. Good job, Captain.

As I mentioned I was last here a little over 30 years ago and things have changed.  In the late 1960’s Mexico decided to create tourist resorts to increase the numbers of visitors to the country. Five locations were identified as the best places for new, purpose-built resorts.  They were Cancún, Ixtapa, Los Cabos, Loreto, and Huatulco. In each of those places there was little more than a fishing village before the government backed construction began.  The two places most well-known to most of us Americans are Cancún and Los Cabos, which are both popular vacation spots for US tourists.  Thirty-five years ago I had seen a magazine article about Ixtapa, another of the planned resorts about 150 miles northwest of Acapulco.  There was a photograph of a beautiful hotel that looked like a pyramid  built on the side of a cliff.   Al, Katie and I flew there and spent a week.  It was beautiful and we had a good time but we all came home with a little Montezuma’s revenge.  Nonetheless, I think all three of us had good memories of the trip.

I found this picture of the hotel.  I know you remeber it, Katie.

Anyway, back to Huatulco.  I think it was the last of the planned resorts and it hasn’t developed as much as the others.  It’s the furthest south, lying where the Sierra Madre foothills meet the Pacific Ocean about 250 miles east of Acapulco.  While there are several resort hotels and some lovely beaches, it doesn’t have a very large airport nearby which perhaps may hinder its growth.  Also the Mexican government has decided not to push the planned resorts anymore, at least for the time being.  There is a long dock near a little tourist area full of shops and restaurants.  Silver is very big in Mexico so there was a lot of silver jewelry and items like silver sea turtles and jaguars.  There was one very large silver jaguar sculpture which would make a very nice door stop.  The only problem would be getting it home.  Al always told me “Charge it, ship it” were the four most important words when shopping on a cruise.  I didn’t feel compelled to buy a jaguar though.

Huatulco from my balcony

If you look carefully, you can see that in between the finished buildings there are some concrete structures with the rebar sticking up that may have beeen that way for a long time and may never be finished.

The main square in the town

A big fish mural on one side of the square

We walked around for a while and looked in the shops.  My friends each found something they liked.  I’m not a big fan of silver jewelry so I didn’t feel tempted (that’s a good thing!).  It was incredibly hot and very humid and I felt like I was broiling despite wearing loose clothing.  After less than an hour we returned to the ship and retreated to the air-conditioning.  

We sailed by this little cove on our way out.

In the evening I had made a reservation for dinner in Solis, the alternative restaurant and we had a marvelous time.  We were five women and one man, all of us on the same trivia team.  It was great fun.  We were seated at 6 PM, kind of early, but we had drinks first and talked and laughed a lot.  We didn’t leave the restaurant until not quite 9:30, just in time for the show.  We discovered the most wonderful after dinner coffee drink.  It’s dessert and coffee all in one.  If I could, I would have it for dessert every night, but you can only get it in that restaurant.

The show was entertaining and after it was time for the Club and dancing.  There were actually more people there than I’ve seen any night on this leg of the cruise.  We have two sea days and I think people figured they could stay up late and sleep late.  It was a good day – not particularly exciting, but fun.