Huatulco On Your Own

Getting Around

Orientation

Your ship will dock at the Cruise Ship pier at Playa Santa Cruz, in Santa Cruz Bay. Your excursions will commence from this area.

Taxi services link the three separate areas of Tangolunda, Santa Cruz and La Crucecita. Fares average around $50 pesos from La Crucecita to Tangolunda, and $30 pesos from Santa Cruz to Tangolunda.

Given the limited amount of time your cruise ship will be spending in port, renting a car is impractical.

Since the distances between Santa Cruz, La Crucecita and Tangolunda aren't great, walking is a good--but potentially damp--alternative, considering that you're in the tropics.

Riding a bike in the area is another alternative. Rent a Bike Huatulco has about a dozen locations in the Huatulco area.

Shopping

What's Special in Huatulco

Two market places, one in La Crucecita and the other adjacent to the Marina in Santa Cruz, sell a large variety of Oaxacan-made goods. These include alebrijes (see below), shell objects, carved gourds from Pinotepa de Don Luis, bule gourd water carriers, hammocks and woven bags, palm hats, black and red coral, silver, seed, bamboo, and clay jewelry; leather goods, wood and coconut shell masks, onyx chest sets, ashtrays and figurines, wood carvings, baskets, rugs, and native textiles (shawls, huipiles, and table linens). The silver jewelry is mainly from Taxco, but in the shops you'll find some Oaxaca filigree.

The shops at La Crucecita carry jewelry, black pottery and other ceramics from various parts of Mexico, ironwood sculptures of birds, coastal textiles from the Amusgos towns and native villages in the Central Valleys, painted wood animals, featherwork, hammocks and bags.

The hotel shops in Tangolunda also carry boutique clothing, paintings, prints and sculpture, Cuban cigars, and crafts from various parts of Mexico.

Alebrijes Alebrijes are brightly-colored folk art sculptures of fantastical animal-like creatures. While Pedro Linares first used the term to describe his papier mache creations, it is now commonly used in reference to the Oaxacan woodcarvings popularized by Manuel Jimenez.

Pedro Linares started out as a common papier mache artist who eked out a living on the outskirts of Mexico City by making traditional pinatas, carnival masks, and Judas dolls for local fiestas. In the 1930s, he broke from tradition and started creating elaborate decorative pieces that represented imaginary creatures he called alebrijes. Inspired by a dream when he fell ill at age 30, these papier mache sculptures were brightly-painted with intricate patterns and frequently featured wings, horns, tails, fierce teeth, and bulgy eyes.

Linares' unique creations were discovered by a gallery owner in Cuernavaca, and have since been exhibited around the world. Linares received Mexico's National Prize for Popular Arts and Traditions for his work. Linares' sons and grandsons carry on in Pedro Linares' tradition, and have become sought-after artists in their own right.

The alebrije name is often used in reference to the fanciful woodcarvings created by artists in Oaxaca. These popular folk art wood sculptures are also known as animalitos, monos, or simply figuras. While most share the bright colors and fanciful subjects popularized by Linares' work, individual artists generally have very distinctive carving and painting styles.

Manuel Jimenez is recognized as the founder of folk art woodcarving in Oaxaca. Like Linares, Jimenez progressed from carving simple pieces in the local tradition to creating internationally-recognized works of art.

Inspired by the woodcarving of fellow Oaxacan Don Pascual Santiago and the papier mache work of Pedro Linares, Jimenez began carving stylized monkeys (monos) and other creatures in the 1960s. His critical and financial success spawned a new industry for small villages in one of Mexico's poorest regions. There are now over 200 woodcarving families concentrated in the villages San Antonio Arrazola, San Martin Tilcajete, La Union Tejalapa, and San Pedro Cajonos.

Oaxacan Cuisine

Oaxaca cuisine is vibrant, inventive and diverse, and always includes fresh, high-quality ingredients. Oaxaca is famous for its moles, which come in many varieties. These include negro (black), amarillo (yellow), coloradito (reddish), almendrado (with almonds), verde (green), rojo (red), Manchamanteles (tablecloth stainer) and chichilo negro.

Moles, which vary in spiciness, are elaborate and labor-intensive, often requiring more than 30 different ingredients. Moles are predominately served with chicken, but you can also order them with pork or beef. Mole negro is the most ubiquitous dish, and is made with 20 or more ingredients, including chopped chocolate and burnt grain. The dish has undertones of toasted chile and wave upon wave of textured spice and heat.

Other typical and popular Oaxacan dishes include:

• Cakes and breads
• Saltamontes or Chapulin: The local grasshoppers come in two sizes; they're boiled then fried with garlic, salt and lemon juice
• Tlayudas: Over-sized tortillas
• Tamales
• Quesillo: Oaxaca's special cheese made in long strips wound into a ball

Some of the unique regional fruits available in Oaxaca include:

• Mamey: this fruit has bark like brown rough skin and is orange inside. It is soft, smooth, thick, and creamy.
• Chico zapotes: some say this fruit tastes like peaches with a hint of lemon; some say it has a taste of pineapple; others describe it as a mix of mango, coconut, caramel and vanilla; and others say it's like orange sherbet.
• Tejocotes: like teeny golden apples, though the color can range from red-orange to a translucent golden yellow. They have a sweet and sour taste, which is reminiscent of something between a plum and an apricot.
• Nanches: the size of raspberries, but they contain just one stone. They're like cherries or plums.
• Papayas
• Mangos: peeled and carved into easy-to-eat sculptures on sticks

Some of the interesting regional desserts available in Oaxaca include:

• Barquillos: pastries filled with puddings
• Sugar cane and walnut candies similar to pralines
• Empanadas: Coconut and pineapple turnovers
• Gasnates: Cones full of merengue
• Polvorones: hard, flat donut-shaped cookies
• Cocadas: coconut dessert made with sugar
• Besos (kisses): which resemble miniature cream puffs
• Turrones: of stiff-beaten egg whites with red sprinkles, inside two wafers open like a shell

Restaurants

Recommended Restaurants in Huatulco

See our Recommended Huatulco Restaurants Map for the locations of the restaurants listed below.

El Sabor de Oaxaca
Oaxacan
An airy and pleasant restaurant in a covered courtyard. Specializes in regional Oaxaca cuisine, offering moles, tlayudas (corn tortillas with cheese and other fillings), chilies rellenos (stuffed chilies) and other dishes.
Avenida Guamuchil #206, in the Hotel Las Palmas
La Crucecita

Restaurant Ve El Mar
Seafood
This friendly, casual restaurant serves lobster, ceviche, shrimp and other seafood dishes.
On the beach at Playa Santa Cruz

Grillo Marinero Calle
Seafood
Featured on the Travel Channel "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman." A seafood restaurant favored by the locals, open only for lunch.
Carrizal and Macuhitle in La Crucecita.

Pollo Imperial
Mexican rotisserie chicken
Very good and inexpensive marinated rotisserie chicken served with boracho beans and a macaroni and ham salad.
On Carrizal, between Guamuchil and Blvd. Chahue in La Crucecita.

Jarro Cafe
International
They offer good breakfasts, sandwiches, hamburgers and steaks.
Located across from the Barcelo Huatulco Beach Hotel, in Tangolunda Bay.

Cafe Vienna/Astriaco
International
At the Hotel Plaza Huatulco, around the corner from Don Porfirio's

Cafe Huatulco
Coffee emporium
Serves a variety of coffees brewed from locally-grown beans. Also sells bags of coffee.
Located at the plaza near the marina in Santa Cruz Bay, and in the Plaza Esmeralda shopping center at Tangolunda.

Activities

Tour Operators in Huatulco

• Rent a Bike Huatulco has about a dozen locations throughout the Bahias de Huatulco area. They also offer moped rentals and eco tours. Tel: (958) 587-0669
• Aventuras Huatulco Located on the second floor of Plaza Conejo, a half block from the zocalo in La Crucecita. Excursions include mountain biking, coffee plantation, bird watching, rock climbing, kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, deep sea fishing, bays tour and visit to the villages. Tel: (958) 587-0054
• Hecho en Mexico Tours Sport fishing, bay tours by boat (14-passenger Super Panga), and land tours via large 12-passenger van. Tour guides are bilingual. Tel: (958) 587-1860
• Huatulco Watersports On Santa Cruz beach, beside the gas station. Jet ski tours, rentals, instruction. Tel: (958) 587-2818
• Servicios Turisticos Del Sur Located at the Hotel Castillo, Santa Cruz. Rafting, horseback riding, 4-wheelers, coffee plantation tours (La Gloria), bicycle tours, neighboring towns. Tel: (958) 587-1211
• Rancho Caballo de Mar Located at Playa Punta Arena, Bahia de Conejos. Horseback riding. Reservation required, English and French spoken. Tel: (958) 587-0366
• Xpert and Professional Travel Plaza Coyula local 11, behind Banamex in Santa Cruz. Coffee plantation tours, waterfalls tours, snorkeling tours by boat, bird watching tours, ATV jungle tours, sport fishing, zip line, cooking classes, horseback ridding, rafting, local villages tours.
  Tel: (958) 587-1290