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| Advertising wall in a rural village |
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| Backyard pig |
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| Open air kitchen in an Oaxa village |
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| Ready to offer their wares.... |
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| Village girl helping out...note 'Barbie dolls Oaxan style' on the right... |
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| Back of a truck...license plate of Oaxa and invitation to 'Continue with progress!' |
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| Rural village church near Huatulco |
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| Mixed Palms, nursery advertising |
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| Tree barnacles....?? |
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| The most humble home has a garden.... |
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| Young Nogales cactus leaf |
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| Forming Adobe bricks. |
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| Hand crocheted childen's clothes offered for sale in a rural village |
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| Village children and their small parrot... |
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| Community gatherin place beside a village church |
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| Global connectivity - hinterland village with access to Cyber space. |
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| Modern facilities as a concession to tourist requirements... |
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| Oaxa woman in her back yard |
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| Grandma preparing tortilla dow... |
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| Villager selling Tequila and local honey |
We anchored in Huatulco, a Nahuatl word meaning 'the place where the wood is adored'. At the end of the dry season, there was not much wood to be adored, as all vegetation had turned a drab grey and brown. And no rain in sight yet, despite being a few weeks into the 'wet season' without a drop.
However, the nine lovely bays of Huatulco region glittered in blinding splendour. Azure waters, white sandy beaches and a craggy shore line have more than enough to offer, they are now a sprawling settlement made up of luxury resorts with remnants of colonial villages near the coast. Cruise ships by the dozen visit throughout the tourist season, and a huge modern dock juts out from the old modest breakwater to accommodate monster cruise ships. Luckily, MS Amsterdam was the last one to call here before things really quieten down for the hot - supposedly wet - season. We had to arrive early, before an armada of hundreds of Pangas and small fishing yachts were scheduled to pour out of the little protected harbour into the Pacific to participate in an early morning local fishing competition.
I headed into the interior, together with a handful of other valiant travellers, who were not adverse to brave the broiling heat of inland valleys to visit a couple of local villages to experience and taste Oaxa life and culture. A brand new paved highway led inland, freshly painted with unbroken yellow lines. Obviously the local people were not yet used to the meaning of those, as everyone happily drove on either side of them. We soon headed off onto a dirt side road, which - after a mile or so - was impassable. A number of helmeted street construction workers laboured around a ditch which opened across the entire width of the country road, trucks and earth moving equipment blocked progress. In no time, our driver ambled towards the construction crew, and after a bit of gesticulating and conversation, the backhoe filled in part of the deep ditch and we crossed over to the far side.
Remote villages are poor, but they all have their little church, school and community hang out. Villagers scratch out a living, some raise pigs and chickens, many grow a little field of Nogales, edible cacti, and some - like the ones we visited - benefit from the odd tourist visit.
Very modest and humble dwellings, very modest and humble people. Very polite, their earthen floor homes swept neatly, their open air kitchens well ordered. All 'tourist-friendly' villages had built very 'tourist-firendly' facilities of brick, with 'running water' provided by a water filled drum on the roof.
Nogales cacti (which are sometimes offered in Canadian grocery stores) are edible raw, boiled or grilled, mixed with scrambled eggs, added to salads, or as an alternative to a hot dog bun. Vitamin rich, they take on taste and aroma of any food, to which they are added. Fortunately, their spines are removed before they are offered for sale.
Abode bricks, the traditional building material of the region, are still being fabricated by hand - and foot - but at a price of a dollar a brick they have fallen behind much cheaper cement blocks in sales. A villager demonstrated the simple and effective way of mixing straw and loam, stomping around in the water logged mixture and forming them with a small wooden box. Backbreaking work, but definitely effective, if one has access to loam and desires to be self sufficient.
Villagers offered home made wares, embroidered clothing and table ware, artistically woven and adorned basketry, tequila, painted pottery and crocheted children's clothes.
The detour into Oaxa, as the Mexicans know it, was certainly an eye opener and a stark contrast to the North American inspired coastal resorts.
