June 5-16 Huatulco, Mexico.

It is hot, hot, hot and humid.  Too hot to sleep except that we are so tired we do sleep but we do not wake up very refreshed.  Besides the heat there are flies, fruit flies and regular flies.  At least there are almost no mosquitoes or no-see-ums.  But the flies are everywhere.  I dig out my bag of bug stuff again and pull out some fly paper strips that I picked up at the 99 cent store before we left.  Within an hour of hanging it up it is black with flies.  Next morning I add a second one and soon a third .  Eventually one more goes outside in the cockpit. 

The marina is small and almost deserted.  A couple of boats leave the day after we arrive.  Almost all of the boats that are left are large motor yachts which are obviously docked here full time.   The swell comes straight in the channel and all the boats are double tied with as many lines and fenders as they can find.  There is a gas dock but it is not working so we arrange to have fuel delivered in jerry cans.  The row of shops is mostly closed although they do open from time to time on a sort of random schedule.  The wifi does not reach to the boat and the hot shower that I had been looking forward to is a cold shower in an outdoor stall with mold on the wall and ants on the floor.  Next to the shower is the bathroom, guarded by 24 hour security.  I have to ask to have the door unlocked every time I want to use the bathroom.  Mostly I just use the head on the boat and eventually realize that I might as well use the hose on the dock to shower.  the water in the marina looks clean but smells foul so there is no chance of a swim here.

It is hot, hot, hot and humid.  Too hot to think.  Too hot to sleep.  I end up sleeping on the deck and still don’t sleep much.  Too hot to cook but I still have to cook meals.  I drip sweat all over the galley.  Too hot to get anything done.  There are three projects that need to be done before we take off again.  The shrouds need have the wrapping around the splice replaced.  The main halyard needs to be freed from its jam and the sail un-reefed.  The mast needs to be checked to see if the creaking is a problem.  None of these project should take more than a few hours.  They take days.  It is just too hot to move.

I have sun shades that I made before we left that we have never used.  I manage to find them and put them up.  At least we can sit on the deck and get some air without frying.  The big awning has to come down in the afternoon when the wind comes up because it is so big it pulls the boat around.   When the when the wind dies at sunset it goes back up.   I have 10 yards of bridal netting that I brought from home and a net canopy with a round hoop at the top that was meant to go on a bed.  Eventually I figure how to rig this to cover the wind scoop on the forward hatch.  I use a piece of the netting and a wooden hoop that find to make another smaller one for the main hatch.  I stitch a long piece of drapery weight along the bottom edge to hold it down.  (You just never know what is going to come in handy)  I also dig out 2 fans and set them up. It all helps a little. At least Alan can sleep. It is still hot, hot, hot and humid.

Part 2

And yet, I find that I really enjoy the town.  It is the most “Mexican” that we have been in, with very little gringo influence.  Many of the streets are double drives with grass and trees planted down the center and paths and benches under the trees.  The trees are covered with brilliant blooms and strange looking seed pods.  It is definitely tropical (Did I mention it was hot?)  There is a large central plaza in front of the church and lots of parks.  Unlike in most other ports, the marina is actually very close to the town.    An easy walk in cooler weather.  The sightseeing buses stop on the bridge and point out the yachts in the marinas.  We can hear party music from the hotels all night long. There is a supermarket about half way to town where I can stop and enjoy the super air conditioning until I have cooled off enough to continue. 

Shops in town are full of delightful Oaxacan goods, brightly emboirdered clothes, rugs and blankets, whimsical carved wooden animals and jewelry.  I have no need for, no room for and no budget for anything (except food) but it is fun to browse.  I spent a happy hour at the local handicraft shop where I get a complete lesson on weaving with the old looms and dying with the natural dyes.  Fascinating.  The indigo color comes from what I think was fossilized charcoal.  Red is cochineal, which is a bug found on cactus plants.  Thousands of the must be harvested, dried, ground to a powder and mixed with water and salt to make a small amount of dye.  Copal bark makes a brown dye and the golden sap has a wonderful smell.  I was encouraged to use the indian names of everything, since those names are much more expressive of the true nature of things than the silly names given by the Spanish and English.
 
The food is wonderful.  We discovered a restaurant called Sabor de Oaxaca and tried to eat our way through their menu.  Chile Rellenos are from here, as is mole.  Coffee olla had a wonderful flavor of cinnamon.  Mezcal is the local version of tequilla, made from the heart of the cactus rather than the leave with a wonderful smoky flavor sort of like whiskey.  We found a “tasting store” and spent an hour tasting all of their mole, mezcal, cheese, chocolate and the local snack of dried grasshoppers, which I actually liked.  I am saving a bag of grasshoppers for Bas and Jack.  The cheese is wonderful, much like a good string cheese.

As a final treat to myself, I enjoyed a temescal spa.  A courtyard attached to a small house in the residential zone.  Two lovely ladies who spoke very little English.  I was the only customer.  First step was to undress, wrap in a towel and drink a class of cool water.  Then I was escorted to the steam house, sort of like a navajo sweat lodge.  Two vents in the floor introduced steam loaded with 20 different herbs guarenteed to detoxify and refresh.  Every 10 minures I was instructed in a different “exercise”; breathing, chanting, visualization.  It seemed sort of silly to subject myself to hot steam, given that my entire experience of Huatulco consisted of hot and steamy, but this was different and in the end, very relaxing.  After my time steaming was done, I was wrapped in a sheet to cool off and then shown to a cool, rock lined shower.  A cup of herbal tea followed.  Then up to the roof where I was scrubbed with red mud and left to dry.  Another cool shower and the the massage.  A plate of fresh fruit ended the treatment.  All this, 1 1/2 hours of bliss for $35!