I’m grateful that a decade or so ago, it narrowly escaped rampant commercial growth Mexican tourism developers had in mind for it. So today it’s noted for bygone rural character, its almost hidden coves of stone, sand and sea.
Images: Mayan Riviera grows into tourist haven
Images: Ruins of the Yucatan
It’s also respected for environmentalism — the first place in Mexico awarded the reputable Green Globe certification. And also, partly because its population is small, it doesn’t have the troubles that can come with too rapid growth. So you’ll stroll nearby small towns — La Crucecita and Santa Cruz — in freedom and safety. And, finally, it’s affordable. Of course that’s thanks in part to the creation some years ago of the popular “all-inclusive” vacation, which is what my wife Barbara and I took a few weeks ago.
We settled in a hotel — an early Club Med now updated and called Las Brisas — set on 20 hectares facing the silver blue sheen of Tangolunda Bay, one of nine Huatulco bays. Las Brisas is a resort. So it has every amenity, from five restaurants to 13 tennis courts. But its 484 rooms are in buildings surrounded by lots of room — rolling lawns and botanical gardens with over 200 species of plants and 265 exotic birds, some exceedingly rare.
It’s a place for privacy if it’s privacy you want. You could quite obviously spend all your days without leaving the place, just reading in your chair, or windsurfing, snorkelling, playing squash. But Signature Vacations, with whom we arranged our travel, has several guided trips worth taking.
So one day, near noon, in the company of a spirited guide named Alberto Stevan — an Italian industrial engineer who married a Mexican lawyer — we headed to the tropical outback, our open van brushing greenery teeming with animal life.
The most memorable visit was to a speck of a village, Piedra de Moros, where elderly ladies welcomed us and rolled tortilla wraps for lunch. Stevan took us to the local medicinal garden with over 30 plants used by villagers to ward off or cure illness.
“They’re believed,” Stevan said, “to be magical.”
Preparations made from these plants are used to treat skin ailments, ulcers, hemorrhoids and dengue fever.
When I asked if people had a physician he shook his head: “If they have the money yes; if not no. Anyway they’re far from any doctor.”
But, tourism helps.
“One good thing,” he said as we pulled away, “About 100 people in the region have work because of tours and Canadians Signature brings.”
That night we had dinner in one of the hotel’s specialty dining rooms. The buffet is the main eatery but our trip included the option of a few dinners at rooms like the El Kasbah (Arabic cuisine) or the spacious Solarium Grill.
So as southern night fell on the sea, we had Moroccan lamb tagine dishes served with couscous and salads, both grateful for the land we’d seen and people we’d met in a unique part of Mexico, whose past remains for all to visit.
If you go
To Huatulco, Mexico
More information
For details on Signature Vacations in Huatulco, call your travel agent or visit signaturevacations.com. We also made a brief visit to another Huatulco hotel, the nearby Castillo. It’s an immaculate two-star hotel set on the main street of Santa Cruz, with fees geared to thrifty travellers.
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