We once again walked each day, including at the estuary and along Somenos Marsh, and later, to many of Huatulco's beaches. We spent eleven nights in Huatulco, Mexico. (I created a separate blog entry to detail our vacation.) We were delayed returning from Mexico, so our time in the Lower Mainland was cut very short. We were happy to have had quick visits with Karyn, June, Aunti J, and Elliott before our trip. After returning home, we were happy Michelle Ostan was able to join us for an afternoon at our place, as well as checking out regatta festivities at Brentwood College and hiking to the swing atop Old Baldy Mountain. We will always appreciate tasty meals, treats, and snacks. "March Madness" spilled into April with the UConn Huskies winning. The Jays are off to their best start in franchise history, but are in the toughest division in baseball. Adesanya avenged earlier losses and won back his UFC belt, and the NBA completed round one of the playoffs. I recommend the movies "Tetris" and "The Fallout". Television programming provided us many hours of entertainment. I planned to read more while away on vacation, but ended up spending less time doing so. At any rate, I read another four books in April.
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We had booked an inexpensive basic room in the locally run nine bedroom La Luna Creciente hotel in the "downtown" close to the main square. We were happily given a larger room with a refrigerator, kitchenette, seating area, and patio. We had chosen a centrally located hotel, so it was easy for us to go out for dinner, pick up some Tecate, wander the downtown area, and visit the main square including the Iglesia de la Crucecita, which features the world's largest painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Our original plan after reading about Huatulco's nine bays and thirty-six beaches, was to visit ten beaches in ten days, so on our first full day in Huatulco, we headed to nearby Santa Cruz via the huge walking path that connects the two main towns of the region. The main square in Santa Cruz hosts an organic market on Saturday mornings, so we ate tamales and quesadillas for brunch. The bay also features a nice little open-sided chapel right on the beach. The main attraction is the beach, so it was time to get in the water. From Santa Cruz, we walked to Chahue Beach on a day that eventually involved walking 12 kilometres. Having been to two beaches on day two (our first full day), we were on pace. Observation #1: Everything about Mexico lends itself to drinking beer... the hot weather, the spicy food, the lazy afternoon siesta schedule, the lower prices, and the questionable drinking water... On the 16th, we took a taxi to Conejos Beach. After a quick dip, we walked a short trail to Playa Magueyito. We were given inaccurate intel regarding a shortcut to the road to La Bocana that led us to wander through prickly underbrush in blazing heat before returning to Conejos. Tired and dehydrated, we retreated to Secrets, where we passed as guests for a much needed rest and free beer at the all inclusive resort before walking to La Bocana. We watched a portion of the weekend's surf competition at La Bocana. Observation #2: There is a huge, undesirable difference between 25 degrees as a daily high, and 25 degrees as a nightly low (which is what we encountered throughout our time in Huatulco)! It took almost no time for us to establish a routine for our vacation, rising in time for a street food breakfast before heading to a beach, then returning to our airconditioned room to enjoy cold beers in the afternoon, before heading out around dusk for dinner. We decided to alternate "taxi days" and "only walking days", so we walked to Santa Cruz for another swim on the 17th. Having visited three beaches the day before, we were still ahead of schedule regarding our ten beaches goal. We spent some time just watching the comings and goings at the marina. We discovered "budin" (bread pudding cake, in this case with raisins and a hint of cinnamon) to eat with our afternoon coffee. I sampled mezcal, then enjoyed cervezas back at our hotel. Observation #3: Sustained 38+ degrees weather is (too) hot! Our next "taxi day" began with a ride to the trailhead for Cacaluta Bay. An easy twenty minute hike along a clear trail, much of it boardwalk, brought us to a huge, isolated expanse of abandoned beach. While we were there, two boats cruised the length of the bay and left, but no one else set foot on our "private" beach. I managed to make friends even on this deserted beach. If you look closely enough, you will see that I am in almost all of the beach photos, but I appear as a speck in the distance. We hiked the same trail out and then walked to Maguey Beach. Huatulco has wide sidewalks along its main roads for safe walking. This pretty little bay is well protected, offering easy snorkeling and calm water so inviting it even managed to lure Lisa. Two more beaches brought our total to seven, but we had long ago lost track of the total number of tacos consumed! Observation #4: Lime goes with everything!!! On the 19th, we walked to Chahue Beach again. This time I went in the water and we explored the breakwater pier. We experienced a tsunami evacuation drill while replenishing our beer, papaya, and cake stores at the supermarket. On the 20th, we took a taxi to another trailhead so we could walk the ten minutes to Organo Bay. We discovered that MANY turtles had nested on the beach the night before. I did some more snorkeling and we shared the beach with just two other couples. Eventually a boat arrived with a family, but by then we were ready to push on. We hiked the same trail out and then began the walk to La Entraga. Google Maps had incorrectly positioned the trail, so once again, our walk was considerably longer than anticipated. In contrast to the other beaches, La Entraga is always busy. There are several restaurants on the small beach, safe calm water, and the best snorkeling I experienced in Huatulco. The 21st was the only full day in Huatulco when we didn't go to a beach, choosing instead to shop at both supermarkets, wander the tourist market, and explore the nearby downtown streets. That evening, our room lost power at 7:35, so we were allowed to sleep in a different room with working air-conditioning. The power had been restored by 9:35am, so we moved back into our original room before heading to Santa Cruz once again for the Saturday morning market since it had already been a full week since our first visit. Today would be my third and final time enjoying the sand and waters of Playa Santa Cruz. Observation #5: Mexican food is tasty, but it is not varied. After a week of Mexican food for every meal, I was happy to order a special of the day that featured lentil soup and schnitzel. We reached our first stop on the 23rd, Arrocito Bay, by cab. I went for a quick swim in this small bay. We walked 36 minutes to Playa Tangolunda, where many of the all-inclusive resorts and bigger hotels are located. At the end of the beach, I climbed over some rocks to access pretty Playa Rinconcito Sabroso, a bonus beach for our tally! That brought us to twelve different beaches in ten days (only nine full days). Observation #6: In Mexico, mangoes fall from the heavens and land at your feet, free for the taking. On our last full day in Huatulco, we made our third and final trek to Chahue Beach. Of note, for much of the day, the entire region suffered a water supply issue that resulted in no water to flush toilets. We bought breakfast from a moving cart vendor several times, having learned her delivery schedule early in our holiday. When unavailable, we'd get egg tacos from "Street Tacos" for breakfast. We also frequented our favourite dinner spot, Taqueria Los Parados, for delicious, affordable fish and shrimp tacos. We finished our vacation having enjoyed twelve different beaches, two of them three times, during our eleven night stay. On the 25th, our journey home began... We flew to Mexico City and rushed to our connecting gate. We needn't have. Along with eighteen others, we were not allowed to board the plane, despite having boarding passes and assigned seats. Instead, we were told that since temperatures on the tarmac had reached 28 degrees (which seems like a low threshold by Mexican standards), Aeromexico's small craft could not safely take off at full capacity. We were given a mitt-full of vouchers: one for an overnight stay at the airport hotel, three for our meals over the next 24 hours, and one each for $900 in credits towards future travel. The hotel was comfortable and offered plenty of food in exchange for the vouchers. Lisa took advantage of the gym, and we eventually arrived safely back at YVR 25 hours later than expected.
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