2015 Our Doings in Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

Huatulco was Mexico’s newest planned coastal resort and lies along nine sandy bays. The Mexican government began its infrastructure work in 2008 but the Quinta Real was built earlier, in the 1990s. It is in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, extending over 21 miles of littoral between the Coyula and Copalita rivers. The area called La Crucecita is where most of the restaurants were. The main square where the mercado is was closed for renovation. The town is not inviting—a beach town that is old but not charming.

Our first four nights we stayed at the Quinta Real on Tangolunda Bay, the second three nights we stayed at Secrets on Conejos Bay. While we were staying at the Quinta Real we went out touring a bit. On Monday we rented a scooter for two days from Aventura Mudo, tel. 958-581-0197 across from Dreams Hotel on Tangolunda Bay for Mex$600/US$37. On our first excursion, we took a drive toward Santa Salinis. The area looked semi-tropical, with cactuses. It was baking hot in the sun but on the scooter, the wind made it pleasant. Then we went in the opposite direction toward Bahia Entrega to find an outdoor restaurant on the beach for oysters and grilled fish. A young man also on a scooter, “guided” us to overlooks to see the views and then to the restaurant he worked for. Because we didn’t have anywhere in mind to eat, his place, Palapa Bufadero, was okay with us.

At the palapa, we had a huachinango (red snapper) a la grilla/parilla. The price was Mex$350 a kilo and we had a small one costing Mex$245. Unfortunately, the good-looking fish we chose was over-cooked and so it was dry—almost too dry to eat. We also had a jarra de limonada that was good. A woman came by saying she was selling ostiones/oysters for Mex$100 a dozen. We had seen a man selling oysters on our beach at Bahia Tangolunda and his price was Mex$200. So we bought 12. They were not oysters (ostiones de roca). They were called concha nakar and they were in a shell that looked like a scallop shell. They were very tough and not so tasty. We were not happy with our beach lunch experience.

Our palapa dining experience was not delicious or even good

After lunch, we went into Santa Cruz to see the cruise ship harbor and investigate going to a park called (of all things) Hagia Sofia. It was too far and Audre was getting crippled on the scooter. She didn’t want to go far on it. For dinner that night we had salads at Cupulas Restaurant at Quinta Real. There was a full moon and it was magical. The service was good too. We met a couple from Park City, Utah, and their friend from Denver who have a fractional ownership at one of the villas on the grounds of the Quinta Real. They had us over for a drink to see their villa and we had a wonderful time getting to know them in their large, beautiful condominium. It turned out that we have friends in common. How cool is that?

The next day we drove our scooter to La Playa Bocana and visited Parque Eco-Arqueologico Copalita. The entry fee was an expensive Mex$80 x 2 but it was an area recently developed by the Mexican government (Fonatur y Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia) and was well done. It had been inhabited by Mixtecs and Zapotecs starting around 1500 BC. The architecture of the museum was beautiful and the exhibits were very well done.

An exhibit at the museum of the Parque Eco-Arqueologico Copalita

The park was where the Copalita River meets the sea at La Playa Bocana. The effects of Hurricane Patricia were evident in the beach strewn with debris and the dirty, brown water. While the beach at Bocana is long it is not particularly pretty. The ruins were good but the museum was great—both the architecture as well as the displays. We had a nice walk under the canopy of the trees to the outlooks.

The ruins at Parque Eco-Arqueologico Copalita

Unfortunately, Dimitri tripped going up some stairs and scraped one of his arms. It bled profusely.

We passed by the Bahia de Conejos and the Dreams hotel. We decided to check it out. It is an all-inclusive (food, drinks, water sports) hotel part of the AM Resorts. We had never heard of it but it was new and the pools and beach and the equipment looked great. They made us an all-inclusive offer of US$205 a day (which was almost as much as we were paying at Quinta Real) and we decided to try it for our last three days in Huatulco. We lazed at the beach or the pool and ate and drank way too much. Our beach vacation was complete!

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