The drive from Tonala to Huatulco was pretty much standard except the winding hilly roads played havoc with our already bad brakes. It seems that when I put a lot of strain on them they get very spongy to the point of going almost all the way to the floor. Probably needs a new master cylinder. One of the first things I did once we got settled in Huatulco was to take the van to the local Goodyear store. I asked them rotate the tires, which needed to be done, but I really wanted to get a look at the front disc pads. They were about 75% worn so I had them put new brake pads on the front and evacuate all the old brake fluid and put in new. All for $50 USD. The brakes feel better but we’ll see once get back on the road. I’ll have the master cylinder changed if this doesn’t work. One thing I miss about not having a real home anymore is the fact I can't do the work on the van myself. It was always a great pleasure to me. I will say though that the cost of labor in Mexico is very cheap and the Mexicans work very hard. As an example we had the van washed in Huatulco. The cost was 60 pesos, about $5. Two young men spent more than an hour throughly washing the van top to bottom, inside and out. I couldn't have done a better job.
I almost forgot that we were also searched by the military at one of their checkpoints and the "officer" (I use the term loosely) managed to get a "gift" from us. He got in the back of the van and was meticulously looking at every little thing we had in there. I got suspicious and watched him very closely or he probably would have just taken a few things. He would pick up something, turn to Pat and say "Regalo?" (gift). Pat said "No, es importante" or "Yo necessito". As it turned out Pat gave him a trinket-looking flashlight with a value of about nothing. It made me slightly hot under the collar and I just stared at him. Finally he forcefully told us to move on and we slowly drove away. It was hard not to confront the guy but we had to weigh up whether it was worth it so we just chalked it up to experience.
View of Santa Cruz, main beach town in this area.
Our first night we stayed in a nice hotel with a beautiful view of one of the 3 bays of Huatulco. We are still getting good deals on the rooms with us receiving about 35-40% off the posted price. Every hotel recepcionista tells us that they are completely booked starting December 18th or some such date through the first of the year but Pat and I think that is wishful thinking since we keep getting great deals. And when we glance at their reservation book it looks suspiciously open.
View outside our room at 4-star hotel - 58USDs.
Our second night we switched to a hotel closer to the small town of La Crucecita which has a beautiful zocolo and church. Restaurants and shops ring the zocolo and the town is lively all day and night. La Crucecita is our kinda of town. It has a colonial feel to it but is about half a mile from the beach.
The zocolo is clean, plenty of benches, restaurants to lounge, Dominican style church overlooks the zocolo.
One problem with traveling is that our diet has suffered. The Mexican diet does not includes a whole lot of vegetables (we eat them cautiously) and anyone who knows Pat knows she loves her verduras. So with that in mind we searched for a hotel room or condo with a cocina. We found the perfect place (Hotel Eden Costa)while driving around town so we booked it for 10 days with an option for 8 more. The pool is right out the sliding glass door, they have mucho channels on Sky satellite tv, beach is a 5 minute walk and Pat has her cocina.
Bahia de Huatulco has many small unspoiled and uncrowded beaches.
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