Huatulco & Oaxaca De Juarez
After a 40 hour smooth voyage we made it to Bahia de Huatulco! This is a coastline with nine tropical bays and 36 beaches. The water is rather rough however which makes it hard to swim due to the swells. There are two towns, one is the tourist town of Santa Cruz, as well as bigger town of La Crucecita which has a few big box Mexican chains and lots of restaurants, more shops and lots of small businesses. It is 35 pesos for a cab to town or an easy bike ride. We really liked this area as it is very clean and had a safe, friendly, community feel to it. We were surprised to see quite a few tourists, mainly Canadian. It is very hot here, with 90 degrees being a very typical daytime high and very high humidity. After two days of enjoying our new surroundings we decided to rent a car and drive 6 hours on a crazy, meandering, rough road through the mountains to the city of Oaxaca de Juarez. The mountains are beautiful and many residents live along the road selling local goods such as coffee, bananas, jackfruit, plantains, squash, mezcal (homemade) and even gasoline! (Jugs are available since there are no gas stations. It is syphoned into the car!) Many family restaurants as well. Basically they are homes that have a dedicated area for a restaurant. Half way to Oaxaca there is a town called San Jose del Pacifico. It is a small village known for magic mushrooms. There was a Mazateca Curandera (sound familiar??) named Maria Sabina Magdalena Garcia (1894-1985) that very well known for treating people with these mushrooms for medicinal and hallucinogenic purposes. We were told that the Beatles traveled here to see her! She has long passed but her legend lives on as we saw her picture and information about her everywhere. We stopped for lunch and walked around a bit, enjoying the beauty of the mountains, valleys and the lush jungle.
San Jose del Pacifico - The interesting mountain town on the way to Oaxaca de Juarez.
The view from the top in San Jose
We arrived in Oaxaca de Juarez late afternoon on March 8th. Checked into our super cute boutique hotel, Casa de Sierra Azul, located walking distance from the centro. The staff didn’t speak much English and we had to knock on the huge front wood door each time we needed to get into the hotel! There was an outdoor courtyard and bar in the middle of the hotel where breakfast was served. We walked around a bit, admiring the colorful streets and all the cute shops, churches, and old architecture. We found a cocktail bar (Selva Cocktail Bar) I read about and had a few mezcal drinks and appetizers, then wandered around until we found a great restaurant (Origen) where we had the best raw scallops we’ve ever had! We also had great meals at Los Dazantes and Casa Oaxaca. This is also a foodie city and we are starting to understand why! We had two more full days of exploring the city. We visited the Mt. Alban ruins (the ruins where a city was located around 500 BC to 800 AD), the beautiful historic churches, the town square, the art galleries, artisan shops etc. We used the hotel bikes to cruise around a bit. We stopped for a mezcal and mole lunch one day and got spoiled, as the owner was there and shared his homemade mezcal and our waiter kept bringing food and mezcal over to us to try. Mole sauce is a Oaxaca speciality, along with mezcal. There are at least seven types of mole, with slightly different spices. Every one we had on our trip was excellent! The mezcal tasting was fun too, they were all delicious! Mezcal has much more of a range of complexity compared to tequila, since mezcal is made from thirty types of agave while tequila is only distilled from blue agave. It tends to have a more smoky flavor than tequila due to the way it is produced. Each establishment we went to in Oaxaca City had so many mezcal choices it was mind blowing!
One of many beautiful churches in Oaxaca
So much mezcal to choose from!
The streets of Oaxaca
Mole...a Oaxacan speciality!
Mt. Alban
Mt. Alban
Upon arriving back in Huatulco, we needed to watch the weather to determine when we could cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. This passage across this Gulf is 225 miles and takes two days. We need to wait for a calm window due to the Tehauno winds that are localized winds that blow with great force across the narrow isthmus. It was looking like later in the week so we knew we had some time to explore Huatulco a bit more. We did have to find fresh produce and provision a bit, so we visited the Saturday market in the town square of Santa Cruz, walked the beach, had some nice dinners, went on walks and used our folding bikes to get around to run our errands. We found a strip of three small establishments, right off the beach. They were housed in shipping containers so they were small, a bit larger than a food truck. One was a healthy breakfast/lunch spot, one was a coffee shop, and the third one was a Spanish tapas place. They were in the midst of a soft opening, so we felt privileged to find them and check them out. The owners were so nice, and the setting so inviting on the sand beach with wood tables, a canopy, plants, lights and pleasant music. We walked down for breakfast on three occasions. We also found a nice wine store and gourmet food shop nearby, which is a godsend in Mexico! As much as we appreciate all the local produce and food, there are a few things we miss and this store had some of them (such as canned tomatoes which are weirdly hard to find in Mexican grocery stores). The wine store had wines from some big wine regions, but we try to drink the local Mexican wine, which I have mentioned before is quite nice from the region of Guadalupe (northern Mexico).
Our morning hangout on the beach!
We finally found our weather window after closely looking at the weather charts. We left on Thursday for our long trip across the Tehuantepec. The trip takes two days and we are buddy boating with Vicki and Chris on Rainbow’s End, another Nordhavn that just happened to be in our marina when we got back from Oaxaca. It was nice to see familiar faces and have friends to spend time with. We went on a tour with them up to a coffee plantation and waterfall while in Huatulco. It was quite beautiful and we were able to swim and enjoy a nice lunch of chicken mole, guacamole, rice and beer. We also were able to come close to a local racoon, badger, iguana, parrot and turkey. We learned about the local plants and trees that produce cocoa, coffee, cinnamon etc. Now it’s time to head out across the bay to the southern border of Mexico…Chiapas! Chiapas will be our last stop before heading into Central America!
On our way up to the waterfall we stopped to see some local animals. Darryn with a Mexican Racoon!
On our way to the waterfall
Swimming at the waterfall with Chris and Vicki
The night sky on our voyage to Chiapas