Huatulco

This weekend I went to the beach at Santa Cruz de Huatulco with 4 students. We took the night bus Thurs at 11 pm and arrived at our hotel Fri morning at 6 am. After napping until about 11, we had a leisurely brunch on the beach and spent the day relaxing in the sun, swimming, and drinking Corona. Then dinner in Crucecita and drinks at a rastafarian bar. Repeat Sat. We caught the night bus back to Oaxaca on Sat.

T had recommended our hotel and made reservations for us. It was cheap, about $30 per person, pretty comfortable and overall satisfactory. Except that a horrible smell emanated from the bathroom sink drain (at least we think that's where it was coming from, it stank of sewer). Keeping the bathroom door closed helped. Our patio looked out on the marina. A quick walk around the marina and we arrived at the small beach, which was populated by about 6 seafood restaurants and 80 people trying to braid our hair, sell us jewelry, roasted peanuts, flor de jamaica, or rides on jet skis.

It was a great trip because we all got along well. Everyone was easygoing and laid back. The only thing that slightly got on my nerves was that I emerged as the automatic leader, dealing with the hotel, the waiter at restaurants, etc. Their Spanish is good enough that they can do these things for themselves, and in fact could use the practice. But I've definitely noticed that I understand much more than they do. For instance, we had bought sodas from a bar so we could use their beach chairs, but then we left them for an hour and had lunch at another bar. When we returned to the chairs, a waitress came up and said that she had to charge them for the chairs, and not a one understood her. I had to translate for them. Weird.

Also, the bus ride was killer. Wind-y switch-back roads taken full speed at night in a large bus are not fun. Dramamine saved me for sure, but the groggy, tired, other-worldly feeling of arriving somewhere at 6 am after napping all night being tossed from side to side on switchbacks is not great. It's worth it for the beach, but next trip I think I'd stay longer to make the bus ride really worth the pain.