By Vair Clendenning

Every year we decide that we’re going to Huatulco again and every year we go through the same travel trauma, how are we going to get there? Do we fly direct from Calgary or do we fly to Florida and visit friends before flying to Huatulco through Mexico City? Is there a better route that we missed, are there better flights than WestJet and Air Canada? All of these choices make travel decisions difficult for us seniors. Continue reading Getting to Huatulco →

By Julie Etra

It was 2007, Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca City. We left the Valley of Oaxaca and drove over the Sierra Madre to the Bahías of Huatulco for the first time. This area was suggested to us by a client of mine, an engineer who had visited this coast, and who also suggested we watch the Mexican movie ‘Y Tu Mama También’, which included gorgeous yet poignant scenes filmed on Cacaluta beach. We were fed up with Los Cabos and were looking around, for new experiences and opportunities, fewer people, more nature, and a swimmable sea. Mexico. We passed fields of agave (maguey) as we headed south to the Sierra Madre Sur. Up and over via the sinuous one-lane highway, crossing oak-pine woodlands, cloud forest with tree ferns, tropical perennial forest, selva seca (deciduous semi-tropical forest), and the gorgeous coast. The sea, the air, the flowers, the birds, the wildlife, the food, the people, the music. A day on the ocean, a Saturday night on the zócalo, La Bocana, Zimatan. Another day up to the Rio Magdalena, Hagia Sofia and on to Pluma, west to the Lagunas of Manialtepec and Chacahua. The diversity. That’s is what I love about Huatulco, the diversity, right here, and so close.

By Brooke Gazer

We left Canada in February of 1999, spending five months living like gipsies, exploring every beach on Mexico’s Pacific coast. We were looking for the perfect place to open a B&B but had not found it until we arrived in Huatulco.

Continue reading How We Chose Huatulco →

By Marcia and Jan Chaiken

On January 20, 2001 at exactly noon, George W. Bush became POTUS, and Jan became the former Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice. The transition of administrations had not gone well and, sure that the US was in for a catastrophic event, we decided to store all our possessions near Washington DC and drive to Mexico. We packed some clothes, snorkel gear, a pot, a pan, a toaster oven, and Marcia’s computer – essential for the research projects she was still leading in the US – and we headed south. Continue reading How We Wound Up in Huatulco Mexico →

By Renee Biernacki

It’s nearly impossible to choose one attribute that I love about Huatulco. There’s the amazing food, gorgeous bays, unfailing weather, friendly people, and the authenticity. I could go on and on but unfortunately I have to choose one. Well actually I will chose two because the people and authenticity of Huatulco go hand in hand. This extremely diverse town is made up of so many interesting and authentic individuals, which makes this place so captivating. Continue reading Loving Huatulco Life →

By Carole Reedy

1. The view from my terrace as the sun rises over the trees while below the cacophony of the city awakens all.
2. Purchasing freshly ground Cuban coffee from Gran Premio, the 55-year-old corner coffee shop.
3. Tacos de cochinita pibil at the Diablos Rojos baseball game.
4. Talking to taxi drivers, who know more about politics than anyone else in the city.
5. Taking visitors for a ride on the Turibus.
6. Attending morning MET opera transmissions at the Auditorio Nacional…and the lecture just before given by maestro Sergio Vela.
7. Buying pirated DVDs from street vendors.
8. Slugging down vino tinto from my boda bag, accompanied by empanadas de carne, at a corrida de toros at Plaza Mexico.
9. Roaming Avenida Reforma.
10. Observing the care with which young women apply their makeup on the Metrobus.

By Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D.

It wasn’t the climate. It wasn’t the cost of living. It wasn’t the ex-pat community. And we don’t much care for sun surf or sand. In fact it had nothing to do with even wanting to select a place in Mexico for retirement. To be clear, my wife and I had no plans to ever move from Toronto – until we began our love affair with the people of the city of Oaxaca and its central valleys; urban white, rural indigenous, and everyone in between. Continue reading The People of Oaxaca →

By Leigh Morrow

Like many Moms, I remember the moments in my life, not by the calendar year, but rather, by the age our daughter was when the event happened.

This memory is forever etched in my recall banks. Continue reading My San Agustinillo Top 10 →

By Deborah Van Hoewyk

What’s Love Got to Do with Them?

Everyone I know who drives to Huatulco has been in one. Ours was on the road heading out of San Luis Potosí, a confusing city to drive in, so when we saw the entrance to a motel (as opposed to a hotel), we thought it might be our last chance and we rolled right on in. We thought it a little strange when a disembodied voice seemed to be talking to us, and our Spanish wasn’t great, so soon a guy came out to talk to us in the very nice parking lot, where most of the cars seemed to be in garages. Yes, we wanted a room. He asked, “How long?” “Just one night,” we replied. Wrong answer. We didn’t get one of the cute garages. Continue reading Love Motels →

By Brooke Gazer

Huatulco welcomes a wide variety of tourists year-round. In winter, Canadians and Americans come to evade the cold. Summer sees more Europeans, along with Mexican nationals, and people from South and Central America. Many are merely passing through for a week or two, while others stay for the season. And then there are people like us – we love it here so much that we never leave. Continue reading Birds without Borders →