Tag Archives: water

Huatulco

Can Desalination Quench Huatulco’s Thirst?

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By Randy Jackson

Check into a luxury resort in Huatulco, and you’ll find cascading pools and long, powerful showers. Water feels abundant. Yet just down the road, a neighbourhood may be waiting days for a water truck to arrive. Between the blue Pacific and the green forested mountains, this idyllic destination hides a growing imbalance: Huatulco’s potable water supply is no longer keeping pace with the demands of an expanding resort and its surrounding communities.

This struggle mirrors water issues found across Mexico. While long-term infrastructure investment remains essential, relying solely on public funding may no longer be realistic. To meet the growing needs of Huatulco, it’s time to consider new approaches, ones that combine modern water technologies, public-private partnerships, and conservation. There is no silver bullet, but with the right vision, Huatulco could become a model for sustainable water management across Mexico and beyond.

Huatulco’s Water Situation

Huatulco’s water infrastructure was planned and built by Mexico’s national tourism agency, FONATUR (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo), in the 1990s as part of the original development blueprint for the resort. The system draws from eight semi-deep wells in the Copalita River watershed, feeding into 16 storage tanks along a 12-kilometre distribution main line. While still operational, the system is showing its age. In 2022, CONAGUA (Comisión Nacional del Agua) classified the Copalita aquifer as having medium availability but noted that the downstream infrastructure was increasingly outdated. A year later, the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) confirmed the need for major upgrades.

Today, over 50% of Huatulco’s potable water goes to the tourism and hotel sector. Per capita use is heavily skewed, with oceanside hotels and condominiums consuming a disproportionate share. Meanwhile, population growth has steadily increased overall demand, straining both supply and delivery. Much of this concentrated water use takes place within the tourism corridor, a relatively compact stretch of just four bays and eight kilometres of coastline. Inland neighbourhoods, in contrast, often face shortages and delays.

This imbalance, while problematic, may also represent an opportunity. Could the tourism sector pilot a localized, sustainable solution, one that draws from the very ocean it overlooks?

Modern Desalination Technology

In the 1967 film The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman’s character, Benjamin Braddock, receives career advice in an iconic exchange. A friend of his father says, “I just want to say one word to you. Just one word: plastics.” It was sound advice for the industrial boom of the 1960s. Today, if I had just one word to offer, it would be desalination.

As climate change alters rainfall patterns and droughts become more frequent, desalination is no longer an experimental method; it’s a proven way to convert seawater into drinking water. Countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia now rely on it for the majority of their potable water. In Israel, up to 80% of the drinking supply comes from desalination. Mexico, too, is investing in the technology. Across the country, some 350 plants are currently processing around 750,000 cubic meters (198 million gallons) of water per day. For context, Huatulco’s wells produce about 11,000 cubic meters daily, a small fraction by comparison.

There are two primary methods for removing salt from seawater. The older method is thermal desalination, where water is boiled, the steam is condensed, and you’re left with fresh water. It’s effective but expensive and energy intensive. The more common method today is reverse osmosis (RO), where seawater is forced through a semi-permeable membrane that filters out the salt. Thermal plants, such as the one built in Rosarito, Baja California, in the 1960s, have largely given way to RO systems due to their lower energy demands and reduced environmental impact. Today, nearly all new and planned desalination projects in Mexico and worldwide use RO technology.

Several small to mid-scale RO projects are now being implemented in coastal communities, some driven by necessity, others by innovation. A closer look at a few of these projects may offer valuable insights for Huatulco.

Some Innovative Public-Private Projects

The municipality of Los Cabos, Baja California, requires major new developments, especially luxury resorts, to install their own desalination plants. There are now between 25 and 30 such facilities in the region, many of which are privately or community-operated, often located within gated developments. One notable example is Pedregal, a high-end residential community perched above the blue Pacific in Cabo San Lucas. Its privately operated desalination plant supplies water to the development, but soon it will do more. Pedregal is set to become the first private desalination facility in Baja California Sur to sell potable water to the public system. Construction is expected to begin in 2024-25 on the infrastructure necessary to connect the existing plant to the municipal network, demonstrating how the public and private sectors can collaborate to address local water needs.

A very different kind of project is taking shape in the city of Fort Bragg on the northern coast of California. The city is piloting a small-scale desalination system powered entirely by ocean waves. The unit, developed by Oneka, a Canadian water technology firm, is tethered offshore and utilizes the motion of waves to generate pressure. That pressure drives seawater through reverse osmosis filters, producing fresh water that’s piped back to shore. The pilot will begin with a single “iceberg-class” unit capable of producing about 50 cubic meters (13,000 gallons) per day. More units can be added to increase capacity as needed. Though modest in scale, the project demonstrates how renewable energy and desalination can be combined to meet local needs.

Thinking beyond the wells, such examples are worth considering for Huatulco, especially since the tourism zone is just eight kilometres long and accounts for a large share of overall water use while inland neighbourhoods face periodic shortages. With the town’s freshwater supply already stretched and the distribution system in need of repair, Huatulco will need to look beyond conventional solutions. Could a small-scale desalination plant focused on the tourism corridor provide the necessary stability to ease shortfalls and support continued growth?

What If?

What if the leaders of Huatulco’s resort development, the all-inclusive hotel operators, and officials from FIDELO (Oaxaca’s state-level development commission), FONATUR and CONAGUA sat down together in the spirit of Mexico’s new National Water Plan, which covers 2024-30? Could they envision a shared solution, such as a small-scale desalination plant serving the tourism zone, that would relieve pressure on the existing water system? Could that, in turn, free up more of the town’s limited freshwater supply for inland neighbourhoods that suffer water shortages? Might it also allow public resources to focus on repairing leaks and upgrading infrastructure rather than drilling more wells?

It wouldn’t solve everything. But it could be a first step, concrete, local, and scalable. And perhaps, if done thoughtfully and transparently, Huatulco could become not just a resort town managing a water crisis but a model for how public and private interests can come together to build a more sustainable and equitable future.

For contact or comment, email: box95jackson@gmail.com.

Huatulco

Ice Crystals of Emotion

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By Kary Vannice

Water is more than just a vital substance to sustain life. For centuries, humans seem to have known it holds mysteries that bridge science and spirituality. From ancient creation stories to modern scientific studies, water is valued not only for its life-sustaining properties but also for its deeper, hidden potential. In the early 90s, Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese researcher, set out to prove water’s ability to interact with human consciousness and answer the question: Does water respond to thoughts, energies, and emotions?

Our daily life is intimately intertwined with water. Not one living thing on planet Earth can survive without it. Humans are composed of 60-70% water, and the human brain is nearly 85% water. This physical connection hints at a deeper relationship – one where water reflects our internal state and acts as a conduit of energy and information.

In his book, Hidden Messages in Water (2005), Dr. Emoto demonstrated water’s potential to reflect and retain emotional and energetic imprints. His studies involved imprinting water with various words, intentions, and music before freezing it and photographing the resulting ice crystals. Water samples exposed to positive expressions formed intricate, symmetrical patterns, resembling snowflakes. Water exposed to negative words or feelings, on the other hand, produced chaotic patterns and irregular shapes. These results represented visual proof of water’s sensitivity to external stimuli, suggesting that it might be more than just a passive resource. It might actually be interacting with the energies around it, and be impacted by feelings, thoughts, words, and intentions.

This sensitivity is not a new idea, however. In Native American traditions, rivers are revered as sacred beings that sustain life and connect the spiritual and physical worlds. Aztec mythology celebrates Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of water, fertility, and childbirth, who is seen as the provider of life-giving rain. These ancient perspectives align with the notion that water is more than a substance, it’s an energetic force woven into the fabric of life itself.

The unique molecular structure that allows water to interact with its surroundings seems to also allow it to retain information from its environment, creating what is known as “water memory.” It is believed that water carries imprints that influence its behavior. Knowing this is true, it could be said that water acts almost like the subconscious mind, which stores impressions from our experiences and interactions.

Many spiritual traditions teach that everything is “mind” and speak of the “primordial waters” as the background energy of all creation. It seems science now also links water to mind and substance to unseen energy.

In the Christian Bible, the “water of life” flows from the throne of God, symbolizing eternal life and spiritual renewal. The Quran also emphasizes water’s foundational role: “We made from water every living thing.” And in the Hindu tradition, the cosmic churning of the ocean symbolizes the origins of life, the universe, and the nectar of immortality. In almost every spiritual tradition, water is seen as both the origin of life and a medium for spiritual connection and renewal.

Since both ancient wisdom and modern science support the idea that we are always in a two-way conversation with the water in us and around us, choosing more positive emotions, thoughts, and intentions can have a profound effect on both our internal and external worlds.

This unique quality of water is a testament to the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things, a reminder that we are not separate from the world around us. It demonstrates that even the smallest ripple of emotion can grow into a wave, reaching places we may never see. Knowing water carries information gives us the opportunity to contribute to a positive flow of energy that uplifts not only ourselves but also the environment we live in.

The mystery of water’s intelligence may never be fully understood, but the lessons from Dr. Emoto’s work are profound, and offer us the opportunity to interact with water in a more intentional and empowered way. So, the question is, how will you interact with water today?

Huatulco

Huatulco’s Water Supply Revisited: Is There Relief in Sight?

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By Randy Jackson

In January 2023, I published an article in The Eye titled “Huatulco’s Water System: In Survival Mode?” It had become evident that Huatulco’s water supply and delivery infrastructure was already stretched to its limits, with frequent interruptions in service leaving residents without water for days. Since then, Huatulco’s population has continued to grow, alongside ongoing hotel, condo, and resort developments. With these changes, I set out to re-evaluate Huatulco’s current water situation. My goal has been to answer the following three questions: What is Huatulco’s water supply situation today? Has FONATUR stepped away from its role in managing Huatulco’s water supply? And are there any plans in place to expand Huatulco’s potable water availability?

What Is Huatulco’s Water Supply Situation Today?

Two years ago, the eight FONATUR wells near the Copalita River supplied up to 15 million liters of potable water daily. At the time, available data indicated that 78% of this water went to residents, hotels, and commercial use, while 22% was lost through leaks or allocated to irrigation. Since then, no updated water supply or demand reports have been published. However, two notable indications of what the water supply issue might be for Huatulco are in the public domain.

The first is a study by the Comisión Nacional del Agua (National Commission on Water, CONAGUA) titled Programa Hídrico, Regional 2021-2024, Región Hidrológico-Administrativa, Pacífico Sur. In this 80-page report covering the coastal region of Oaxaca, Huatulco’s water and sewage system was classified as having a “type 2 deficit.” This classification refers to situations in which, despite having sufficient natural water availability, the infrastructure or management practices are inadequate to meet the demand effectively.

Under the heading “Problems detected in the consultation evaluation process for the PHR 2021-2024,” the report identifies “issues such as misuse of domestic and business water resources and leaks in Huatulco’s already obsolete distribution network.” While no additional explanation is provided, numerous sources addressing Mexico’s water supply overall identify leakage as a critical problem, with rates averaging around 40% and ranging from 30% to 70%.

The second indication emerged in March 2023, with media reports covering a federal inspection of Huatulco’s water system conducted by the Federal Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT). This inspection pointed to the need for substantial upgrades to the system. However, no specific plans for these upgrades have been published since, apart from the construction of a 108,000-liter storage tank, which is currently underway.

How Are Huatulco’s Wells Doing?

Since there are no published statistics on Huatulco’s current water supply, I revisited the well sites to speak with a well-site operator. The operator assured me that all eight wells were running normally. Operators record the flow rates of each well daily. This is a manual process; the data are recorded in a spiral-bound notebook. A random glance through the operator’s notebook suggested that production rates were close to 15 million liters per day—the same number I observed two years previously. However, this production rate is significantly higher than the reported water delivered to customers.

The information on water deliveries, obtained by a request filed under the transparency laws of the state of Oaxaca, shows that water deliveries to all types of users for the first nine months of 2024 came to 2,598,310 cubic meters, or 9,482,882 liters.

The last reported water sales data I could locate was for 2017, which showed a volume of 11,238,861 liters per day; this year’s sales are 84% of those in 2017, despite seven years of increasing population.

The well operator I spoke to suggested that many supply problems in the last two years were due to breaks in the pipes supplying water to Huatulco. Water supply varies considerably from day to day and seems to depend on the residential area. In Santa Cruz this past year, the supply was far more intermittent than in previous years. Anecdotal responses from a few residents in other sectors suggest a supply not much worse than previous years, but consistent days of good water pressure are rare.

During my visit to the well site, five water trucks were awaiting their turn to fill up. One truck driver told me that 50 potable water trucks served the greater Huatulco area. These private companies buy water from the system operator and resell it to areas and residences not connected to the Huatulco water system, or they are connected but have no supply from the pipes.

From the above, I conclude that although the well system seems to have maintained its production levels, Huatulco’s outdated infrastructure severely constrains water delivery to residents. Without substantial infrastructure upgrades to address leaks and increase storage, the water system will continue to fall short, especially during peak tourist seasons.

Has FONATUR Stepped Away from Managing Huatulco’s Water?

The short answer is yes. The entire water and sewage system is now under the responsibility of FIDELO – Fideicomiso para el Desarrollo Logístico del Estado de Oaxaca (Trust for the Logistics Development of the State of Oaxaca). FIDELO is like a public corporation. It was created on February 15, 1997. Its stated main objective is to position Oaxaca as a competitive region for developing various productive sectors through the promotion and execution of logistics, social, commercial, and tourism projects.

Emilio Rivera Moreno is the current Director General of FIDELO. He oversees the Huatulco operations as well as other responsibilities within the organization.

Are There Plans in Place to Expand the Availability of Potable Water in Huatulco?

The short answer is – not that I could find. Given the critical water shortages in Oaxaca City, Mexico City, and across Mexico, combined with limited funding for water infrastructure, it seems unlikely that Huatulco’s water needs will be seen as a priority. The CONAGUA report referenced above lists 119 municipalities in Oaxaca as having a Type 1 deficit, meaning water availability is below current demand, leading to overexploitation. Fortunately, this is not Huatulco’s current situation.

However, there is a glimmer of hope. Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has pledged as part of her 100 campaign proposals to guarantee access to clean water through a National Water Plan. This includes revising the existing Water Law and allocating $110 million MXN ($5.4 million USD) from the Social Infrastructure Contribution Fund (FAIS) to support water projects in Mexico’s poorest municipalities.

The photo accompanying this article shows a mural painted on the outside wall of the sports complex in La Crucecita: Cuidemos el Agua – “Let’s take care of the water.”

For comments or contact, email: box95jackson@gmail.com.

Huatulco

Drinking Water in Mexico

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By Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken

“Can I drink the water?” is a common question asked by tourists and travelers in Mexico. Decades ago, in the early 1970’s, in Mexico, as in many other places in the world, the answer was generally, “Stick to soda or beer right from the bottle.” At that time during our early visits to Mexico. “And what about ice?” we would ask, as many tourists still do. “Never drink liquor or soft drinks with ice,” we were advised.

The penalty for not heeding this advice often occurred a few hours later. The dreaded travelers’ diarrhea variously called Montezuma’s revenge (or other names such as Delhi Belly according to location), and accompanied with cramps and necessitating frequent trips to the bathroom, felled many visitors. Sometimes the cause was bacterial or viral contamination in the water or ice, but frequently the cause was simply that the concentration of minerals in the water was different from what was customary to the travelers’ gastrointestinal tracts. You may have noticed this if you have welcomed visitors from Mexico to the United States or Canada, and they experienced similar symptoms.

The Garrafon – Bottled Water, Better Water

Over time, the questions about drinking water stayed the same in Mexico, but the answers changed. Perhaps the largest shift in the question and answer for drinking water occurred in the late 1980’s and throughout the 1990’s, when bottled water became available and popular throughout Mexico and the larger world. The sight of garrafones – large water jugs – filled with purified water and outfitted with a hand pump became ubiquitous in the kitchens and common areas of hotels and rental units. Ice was frozen from garrafon water in small inns, and hotels purchased large bags of ice made from purified water. A covered pitcher of water from a garrafon with a couple of glasses were often left on tourists’ bedside tables.

But then the plastic-bottle craze swept the world. From small bottles of purified water that barely quenched an ordinary thirst to large bottles that required herculean strength to transport, drinking water gradually filled many shelves in tiny bodegas in rural villages and in huge city supermarkets.

Drink Enough to Avoid Dehydration

Today, advice about drinking water in Mexico is generally “Drink water with every meal and whenever you’re thirsty – but leave the single-use plastic bottles on the shelf.” This advice is based primarily on two factors: the health of the humans drinking the water and the health of the planet. Over 60% of our bodies are composed of water. Water is needed by virtually every organ in our bodies. We are constantly eliminating water from our bodies in trips to the bathroom and between (by perspiring and breathing). We need to replenish our water levels frequently in warm climates. Even a minor lack of water or dehydration can result in very unpleasant symptoms – headaches, cramps, and even high fevers.

Travelers to Mexico who arrive by plane should be aware that they are likely to arrive dehydrated unless they take full advantage of the free purified water served on the plane. The very low humidity onboard and the difference in air pressure act to deplete the water in bodies. Drinking alcohol has a diuretic effect (more frequent trips to the bathroom) and further dehydration. So seriously consider asking the cabin attendants for agua rather than cerveza or vino. And when they come through the aisles with cups of water, grab one. You’ll feel much better when you land fully hydrated.

Upon reaching your Mexico vacation destination, keep drinking water. Although a common assumption is that adults need eight glasses each day, there’s actually a range of individual needs determined by gender, body weight, health status and notably environment. Obviously high temperatures result in more perspiration – so if you’re vacationing in Mexico’s wonderful beach towns and resorts or exploring architectural ruins in the jungle, you’ll need to drink more water (unless you ordinarily live in a tropical climate). High altitudes also lead to fast water elimination, so if you’re in Mexico City or another mountainous area, your drinking water needs will also increase. Exactly how much you should drink is not easily answered, but drinking enough water can be simply gauged by paying attention to how frequently you’re thirsty. If you find you’re often thirsty, start drinking more and more frequently until you find you’re rarely experiencing a dry mouth and throat.

Don’t worry about drinking too much water; cases of water toxicity (hyponatremia) are extremely rare in healthy people and have been mainly attributable to athletes who have decided to dramatically increase their water intake to as much as 6 liters in three hours before a race. You can monitor whether you’re under- or overdoing the drinking water by the color of your pee: if it’s a deep yellow, drink more; if it’s almost clear, drink less. On the other hand, excessive perspiration and more frequent urination can result in an imbalance of salt and other minerals essential for life – easy to remedy by taking a daily vitamin/mineral pill and if needed downing a bottle of electrolyte water available in most Mexican supermarkets – but given the sugar or other sweeteners added, it’s best not to make a habit of electrolyte water.

You’re Good, But All Those Plastic Bottles???

Okay, you’re convinced to drink more water in Mexico. But where can you get a safe supply? For the sake of the health of the world, please don’t get your needed daily intake of drinking water from the little plastic bottles supplied by many hotels in Mexico, sold in restaurants and stocked in an obvious place in many Mexican groceries. One good environmental way of handling your water needs is to bring your own empty water bottle; after you’ve passed through security, head to the nearest water fountain and fill your bottle for drinking after you’ve landed and before you reach your lodging. At top-tier hotels and restaurants you can almost always be sure the water served is safe to drink and ice is made from purified water –and you can ask your server to refill your water bottle for when you’re off to the beach or a day trip.

Staying Good with the Water

If you’re not sure about the water in your less expensive hotel – use their garrafon or head to the nearest market and buy the biggest bottle of water you can carry back to your room. The larger the bottle, the less expensive the water per milliliter and the greater chance the bottle can be recycled. There are many reputable brands such as Bonafont, Ciel and Epura, owned by Coca-Cola.

If you’re staying in a condo – ask the owner about the quality of water. If it can’t be guaranteed as safe, the owner will likely provide a garrafon of water – sometimes at an extra cost but a worthwhile expense. If you’re staying in an area that was developed by FONATUR (the federal agency in charge of increasing tourism), chances are a water purification system was set up for the whole area. Where we stay in Huatulco, not only is there municipal water purification but the condo association has its own secondary purification system, and the refrigerator water dispenser has a filter – so we’re largely independent of store-purchased water.

If you’re planning on traveling to rural undeveloped areas in Mexico – places where water comes from a river where clothes are washed, people bathe, and sewage seeps in, bring packs of your favorite teas and just drink water that has been boiled. No need to ask for ice because there’s probably none to be found. But if you’re vacationing in the many beautiful places in Mexico where foreigners usually hang out, enjoy your margaritas and cervezas but remember – in addition to the good-time drinks, be sure to drink water.

 

Huatulco

Mexico City’s Water Crisis

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By Julie Etra

Mexico City is facing a severe water crisis, a situation rooted in centuries of mismanagement dating back to the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, now modern-day Mexico City. After the conquest, Tenochtitlan expanded into the five lakes that formed the closed basin of Mexico. These lakes, which had no natural outlet, varied in elevation and water quality. The Mexica (also known as the Aztecs) had successfully engineered the lakes by building a series of dikes and causeways starting in the 1420s, separating the brackish from fresh water.

Before 1466, fresh water was sourced from the springs at Chapultepec, accessed via canoes or trajineras (shallow-bottomed boats). During this time, the poet-engineer Nezahualcóyotl built the first aqueduct. However, the Spanish, inheriting a system they didn’t fully understand, began a series of drainage projects to dry what they considered a swamp. These efforts, combined with land-use changes such as grazing, cultivation, and deforestation, led to erosion and siltation. These projects, along with seasonal rains, couldn’t prevent periodic floods, which struck in 1555, 1580, 1607, 1615, and 1623. Despite persistent flooding, the Spanish refused to relocate to the mainland, convinced that the lake system could eventually be drained.

The first major engineering project came in 1607-1608, under the direction of Enrique Martinez. A tunnel was excavated to a low point in Nochistongo, called the Desagüe, but the plan failed. In the great flood of 1629, the only dry spot left was around the Zócalo (then known as the ‘island of the dogs’) where people sought refuge. The Catholic Church leaders, undeterred, even held mass on the rooftops. The floods lasted for five years, and the death toll reached over 30,000, largely due to disease in the unsanitary, muddy conditions. Despite these horrors, the Church and the government (which were essentially one and the same) justified staying on the island, minimizing the destruction in their reports to the King of Spain, instead of moving to the mainland.

The paradox continued into the 20th century with ever-larger engineering projects. In 1857, Francisco Garay was awarded a contract by the federal government to design a new system. His project included a 50 km tunnel from San Lázaro, east of the city, which channeled rivers and incorporated over 200 minor canals. The goal was not just to drain the basin, but also to provide irrigation for fields and create a waterway transportation system—a lofty vision that was never fully realized.

Under the regime of dictator Porfirio Díaz, the “Great Canal” was constructed at the end of the 19th century, abandoning Garay’s multi-purpose plan in favor of a more direct, single-minded effort to “conquer nature.” Between 1886 and 1900, the canal, 47 km long, with a 10 km tunnel, dams, and bridges, was built. Despite the scale of the project, the government could not overcome the topography, and flooding returned in the 1920s and again in 1945. By then, the canal’s flow had become nearly flat, and it filled with fine sediment. This required the construction of 11 pumping stations, a costly and inefficient solution.

Another attempt came in 1975, when an elaborate system of underground tunnels and pumps was installed at depths ranging from 88.5 ft. to 712 ft. (22 to 217 meters). The most recent infrastructure, built in 2019, included a massive 38-mile tunnel system meant to drain water away from the city.

Ironically, the water crisis in Mexico City today is one of scarcity rather than excess. The city, historically plagued by floods, now struggles with dwindling water supplies. About 30% of the city’s water needs are met by the Cutzamala system, an archaic network of dams, reservoirs, canals, and pumps. This system, one of the largest of its kind in the world, includes seven reservoirs, six pumping plants, 322 km of canals and tunnels, and a large water treatment plant. The main reservoirs—Villa Victoria, Valle de Bravo, and El Bosque—are located in the states of México and Michoacán, some 85 miles from the city, requiring an extensive network of pipes to deliver water to the capital. Currently, these reservoirs are at a historical low of just 30%. El Bosque, suffering from deforestation and urbanization, no longer contributes as it once did.

The rest of the city’s water comes from groundwater within the Mexico City Basin, which is being pumped out at twice the rate it is replenished. This groundwater is often contaminated and has caused ground subsidence in certain areas. Some buildings around the Zócalo, in particular, have started leaning due to this subsidence, according to a recent New York Times article. The pump system operates 24/7, posing a significant maintenance challenge. None of the water from the taps is potable, and the city relies on bottled water for drinking.

The situation has been worsened by prolonged droughts and the effects of climate change, although last summer’s rains provided some relief. Claudia Sheinbaum’s federal government has promised to address the issue with a national water initiative. As former mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum is familiar with the city’s aging infrastructure and its pressing water needs. She has stated that solving the water crisis is near the top of her agenda.

¡Muy complicado! ¡Suerte! (Very complicated, good luck!)
For more reading, check out this link: ‘Grist article on Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico Citys water crisis

Huatulco

You – Yes, You! The Impact of Tourism on Mexico’s Water Shortage

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By Deborah Van Hoewyk

We’ve probably all heard about the water crisis in Mexico City (see Julie Etra’s article elsewhere in this issue), but Mexico City’s problems are just the worst example of a country-wide shortage of water.

· Historically, 30 of Mexico’s 32 states have suffered from water scarcity; currently, drought conditions affect all of Mexico except Oaxaca and parts of Veracruz and Puebla. January to May of this year was the driest spring ever recorded.
· Having water is not the same as getting water – in places with plumbing, up to 40% of the water is lost through leaks in poorly maintained piping. Huatulco homeowners often experience water cutoffs (rumor has it that the water is diverted to the fancier hotels).
· Reservoirs have receded, leaving mudflats littered with trash, surrounding brownish ponds where once there were sparkling lakes; some have been closed. Perhaps worst off are the three reservoirs that comprise the Cutzamala system, which supplies Mexico City. Authorities started reducing the water distribution in October 2023; in June, they shut it down for 6 hours to make repairs. Fortunately, the rainy season has restored the Cutzamala system to 67% of capacity, from a low of 28% in June (the system is completely closed when the level drops to 20%).

Tourism and Water

Despite the water crisis, Mexico is a wildly popular tourism destination. In 2022, tourism employed 2.8 million people, over 7% of the Mexican workforce, who served over 38 million visitors. In 2023, Mexico as a tourist destination was 4th in the world, 2nd in North America; over 42 million tourists visited Mexico. In 2022, tourism spending constituted 8.5% of Mexico’s GDP; in 2024, estimates say it will make up 14.2% of GDP – tourism brought in $2.3 billion in June of 2024 alone.

All those tourists, including non-resident snowbirds, presumably come from places that are not experiencing a water crisis. And they bring their water consumption habits with them, along with a pretty accurate perception that drinking tap water is not a good idea in much of Mexico (see the Chaikens’ article elsewhere in this issue). A 2012 article on “Tourism and Water Use” in the journal Tourism Management indicates that each tourist visiting Mexico used 300 liters – just shy of 80 gallons – of water per day; in Randy Jackson’s article elsewhere in this issue, tourism consumed 15% of Huatulco’s water supply.

Current data on just how many tourists are using that water are hard to come by, outdated, and generally only count people who arrive by plane; we do know that nearly 500,000 people arrived at the Huatulco airport in 2018, and that arrivals this year are almost back to pre-pandemic levels. As tourism increases, so does tourist water usage. Rest assured, however, it’s not just that those folks are splish-splashing, taking a bath. Direct consumption of water is far from the only impact tourism has on Mexico’s water supply.

The Price of “Big Tourism”

There are those who argue that Mexico’s government privileges the interests of tourists and the tourist industry over those of local people, especially through large-scale tourism projects that bring more tourists. Referred to in 2023 as “anchor products” by then Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marqués, they include new and remodeled airports, the highway from Oaxaca to the coast, the largest aquarium in Latin America (in Mazatlán), the Callejón de Liverpool honoring the Beatles (also in Mazatlán), museums, arenas, and a Chinatown in Baja. More tourists, more swimming pools, more 5.3-gallon garrafones de agua.

The biggest “anchor product” of them all is the Tren Maya (Mayan train), pet project of Mexico’s last president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Intended to promote – Torruco Marqués said “detonate” – tourism in the Yucatán, the train will transport visitors from Mayan ruin to Mayan ruin throughout the Yucatán Peninsula, with side stops for other attractions. The track runs for 1,554 km (about 966 miles); the seven sections run from Palenque in Chiapas up to Mérida in Yucatán, over to Cancún and down to Chetumal in Quintana Roo, and back over to Escárcega in Campeche. In addition to tourist passengers, the train will carry freight; notably, the primary freight client is Pemex (Petróleos Mexicanos), which will be hauling fuel.

Various efforts to make the Mayan Train sustainable have taken place. The train itself provides low-impact public transportation, reducing traffic emissions. Portions are electrified or hybrid ultra-low-sulfur diesel and electric, there’s an extensive tree-planting program to replace the clear-cutting for the track, there are safe passages for wildlife, and large portions of track have been elevated to avoid disrupting the landscape beneath the tracks.

The Mayan Train and the Great Maya Aquifer

Missing, however, seems to be any concern for the Great Maya Aquifer (Gran Acuifero Maya, or GAM) one of the world’s largest aquifers, extending through the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Chiapas. It provides drinking water for 5 million people – if you’ve ever gone swimming in a Yucatán cenote, a water-filled sinkhole, you’ve been in the GAM.

The Yucatán peninsula was once a huge underwater coral reef, but has risen out of the sea to form a plain composed of porous coralline and limestone, and the latter is water soluble. When rain, which is slightly acid, falls on the peninsula, it percolates through to the underground cave system, wearing away the limestone. When the limestone is weakened by serving as a water filter, it collapses into the underground system, creating the open-air cenotes.

The GAM is a network of underground caves and rivers. The Great Maya Aquifer Project, part of the National Institute of Archeology and History (INAH), is mapping the aquifer and investigating “cave archeology and paleontology” – basically, what fell, or what the Maya threw, in the water, along with artifacts and wall paintings done before the caves filled up.

The Mayan train speeds over the aquifer, sometimes on crumbling limestone only three feet thick. Track builders drove 15,000 long pilings down through the limestone and into the aquifer to support the train; the impact of construction on the aquifer has yet to be measured. The process coats once pristine caves with a shards of concrete and broken stalactites. According to Guillermo D. Christy, a civil engineer with the group Cenotes Urbanos, a voluntary collective focused on preserving the cenotes of the Yucatan, “Pouring concrete into a cavern, directly into the aquifer, without any concern or care – That’s total ecocide.”

Tourism’s Indirect Effects

Less direct are the impacts of increased tourism brought by the Mayan Train. As the Yucatán population has increased (Playa del Carmen had 46,000 people in 2000, and 304,000 in 2020 – a 661% increase), the cenotes have been filling with the trash and human waste generated by too-rapid urbanization. Nearly 50% of individual wells have registered contamination. The cenotes and the wells connect to the aquifer.

Contaminating the water supply destroys more than clean drinking water. One of Tulum’s more popular tourist attractions is a cenote park called Dos Ojos (“Two Eyes”). Dos Ojos is a community-managed attraction in the nearby ejido of Jacinto Pat (ejidos are community-owned lands). Recent explorations have revealed that Dos Ojos is connected with the aquifer. The path of the train was routed around the two main cenotes, but passes directly over several others.

Some Jacinto Pat residents are not happy. An article in Time magazine (by Soraya Kishwari, January 2023) focused on the Maya Train’s impact on indigenous lifeways. One villager spoke anonymously about not wanting the Mayan Train: “It will destroy the jungle, our home, and contaminate the cenotes, our life source.” Gabriel Mazón, a resident who refused to move to make way for the train, says, “As a people, we have allowed ourselves to be bought … there is no support from indigenous people [for the Maya Train]. If our ancestors could see what is being done in their name, they would die of sadness, knowing how they have been profaned, prostituted, and their culture and traditions used.” Mazón continued, “We are little more than a brand or marketing slogan for the government. The people have already been paid off. There will be no more benefits. All we have left to wait for now is the invasion.”

Changing a culture by changing its environment is a very complicated issue. As culture and local heritage are redefined to meet tourist expectations – as they are made into commodities that are more “salable” to outsiders – culture and heritage change to reflect the value placed on them by those outsiders. You can live without water for three days; living without your history is a long, slow death.

Huatulco

Huatulco’s Water System: In Survival Mode?

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By Randy Jackson

In survival training, there is the Rule of Three’s: You can survive three minutes without air. You can survive three days without water, and you can survive three weeks without food. Air, it seems, is plentiful enough. But knowing we only have a three-day survival window without water should make us all prioritise a clean, dependable, potable water system. In Mexico, as in most places in the world, people depend on the government to provide sufficient potable water for their needs. In Huatulco, the potable water system, built and maintained by FONATUR (the Fondo Nacional de Fomento Turismo, the National Tourism Promotion Fund), is facing the challenge of meeting the growing demands on the water system.

Anyone living in Huatulco, even for part of the year, is well aware of the frequency of water outages. In some sectors, people are without water for several hours every day. Other sectors experience frequent unannounced water outages for multiple days each week. What has mitigated the seriousness of the water delivery problems up to this point is that virtually all residential buildings and hotels have water storage tanks and cisterns that hold three or four days’ worth of water. This mitigation measure can give the appearance of “all is well,” but it seems apparent that the demand for potable water in Huatulco is seriously challenging the capacity of the FONATUR potable water system to provide it.

In my attempt to understand Huatulco’s potable water system, I set out to answer four basic questions.

(1) What area and population does the FONATUR water system serve?
(2) What are the uses of water in Huatulco?
(3) How much potable water is available?
(4) How much potable water is needed?

First, what do we mean by “potable” water? Potable water covers normal household uses. Drinking, cooking, washing, toilets and showers. FONATUR provides “gray” water for irrigating street plantings, but many residents use potable water for lawns and plants. In Huatulco, it also includes the water used in swimming pools.

(1) WHAT AREA AND POPULATION DOES THE FONATUR WATER SYSTEM SERVE?

For a past article in The Eye (January 2022), I noted that the government census showed 25,000 residents in the Tourist Zone of Huatulco, including La Crucecita. This, plus the approximately 7,000 hotel guests here in the high season, means that the FONATUR potable water system is serving approximately 32,000 people. In a 2022 request to fund a water study, FONATUR indicated that this number would rise to 41,000 by 2030.

Other communities within the larger area of the municipality of Santa María Huatulco, which includes the communities of Santa María itself, Copalita, Coyula, and others), all have potable water sources outside of the FONATUR system. The FONATUR water system covers the area from the Copalita River (think La Bocana), westward along the coast covering all the communities and bays along the coast as far as Maguey, and inland to include La Crucecita.

Most of the FONATUR water delivery is by pipe to end use, but in some sectors, like H3, the water is trucked in by FONATUR.

(2) WHAT ARE USES OF WATER IN HUATULCO?

In 2018, FONATUR, under their obligations for transparency, published a presentation on the potable water system for Huatulco. The 2017 consumption data are summarised here:

(3) HOW MUCH POTABLE WATER IS AVAILABLE?

The FONATUR potable water supply comes from eight wells along the Copalita river. The total water extracted from the wells in 2017 was 11 million litres per day. In a recent budget request document (2022), FONATUR reported that their current well production was 15 million litres per day, and stated that the amount was insufficient to meet existing requirements.

A budget of $9.7 million pesos ($500,000 USD) was granted to FONATUR for a pre-investment study in 2023 of locations for new wells, with the goal of bringing the potable water supply up to 21 million litres per day. As this budget is only for well site selection, it is probably safe to assume that any additional potable water for Huatulco is some years away.

For some time now, I have been aware of persistent rumours that some of FONATUR’s potable water wells are impaired or non-functional. By visiting the wells and talking to operations personnel, I can confirm that all eight wells are in operation, and only one well (#8) has a reduced flow rate, roughly 25% lower than the average of the other seven wells. My investigation would confirm that the combined volume of all the wells is about 15 – 16 million litres of water per day.

Of course, the amount produced is not always the amount delivered. As shown in the consumption table above, 14% of the water produced from the wells was lost. Water lost due to leakage is a perennial problem in water delivery systems around the world. The loss rate in Canada and the United States is around 12%. In Mexico overall, the loss rate is thought to be between 20% and 40% as a result of underfunded maintenance of water infrastructure. Here in Huatulco, the reported 14% loss was before the last major earthquake. In just the previous month (December 2022), FONATUR finished replacing a damaged section of mainline pipe near La Bocana. Water lost from leakage is not only from the pipes and tanks used to deliver water to consumers. There are leaks in the water storage cisterns of residential buildings and hotels. Although the loss from private cisterns would not show up in the FONATUR water loss statistics, it would still reduce potable water availability to consumers, requiring even more supply.

One final note on water availability. Stating the obvious, the FONATUR Huatulco water system is dependent on funding. That funding is provided by the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). In 2022, Huatulco was allocated $250 million Pesos ($12 million USD) to improve deteriorated infrastructure, including water.

For 2023, the PPEF (El Proyecto de Presupuesto de Egresos de la Federación , basically the Budget of Expenses project) has announced their proposed funding for the tourism sector as follows:

*Ixtapa (Guerrero), Huatulco (Oaxaca), Bahía de Banderas (Nayarit), Los Cabos and Loreto (Baja California Sur), Pacific Coast (Sinaloa), Cancun and Cozumel (Quintana Roo)

The 2023 appropriation for the Mayan Train is $8.7 billion USD. A Bloomberg news story from July 2022 reported the total cost to Mexico to complete the Mayan Train could reach $20 Billion USD.

(4) HOW MUCH POTABLE WATER IS NEEDED?

Water systems around the world are sized in accordance with the formula:

Population times average water use/person/day = Volume of water needed per day

The volume of water per person varies in different countries and regions. The international OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has collected data on the per capita use of potable water. The United States leads the world in consumption at 380 litres/person/day, Canada is at 335, Italy 250, and Sweden at 200 litres/person/day. I found only one reference on comparable water use in Mexico, and that was for Mexico City, which uses 200 litres/person/day.

To figure out Huatulco’s per-person use of water, I used the Huatulco water consumption by category table above. If residential users consume 34% of the supply, and the population is about 25,000 people, consumption would come to 154 litres/person/day. Per person use by hotels, 28% of consumption, is substantially higher. Depending on occupancy rate, hotels use between 450 and 900 litres/person/day.

I’m still, however, trying to answer this question: How much potable water is NEEDED? The full answer to this question would depend on what “need” means. Or better still, do we need all the water we use? So let me throw out one more number. The World Health Organization suggests the minimum per person requirement for water use is 30 litres per day (for drinking, cooking, personal hygiene and laundry). As we all use way more than that, it is an open question as to how much even modest conservation efforts might reduce the demand on the Huatulco water system.

Although water conservation could be an important part of the solution to Huatulco water shortage problems, conservation of a shared resource never seems to happen voluntarily. So Huatulco-ites should expect to see their water bills continue to rise, and water outages to keep on keeping on.

Randy Jackson email: box95jackson@gmail.com

Huatulco

Reducing Water Consumption in Your Home & Life

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By Kary Vannice

Elsewhere in this issue, Randy Jackson’s article, “Huatulco’s Water System: In Survival Mode?” makes a very compelling case for residents of Huatulco to become more conscientious about their water consumption. As residents living within the FONATUR potable water system, each individual consumer plays a vital role in the state of Huatulco’s current and future water situation.

If you’ve experienced some of the water shortages that Randy reported on, instead of pointing the finger at commercial users, real estate developers, or the people living in other sectors, which does nothing to improve the situation, take empowered action. Evaluate your own daily water use and choose to reduce your consumption where you can. Lead by example and demonstrate to others how we all can pitch in and make a difference, in both big and small ways. Every drop counts!

Even if you’re already taking small steps to conserve water in your home, such as shutting the water off when you brush your teeth, shave or wash your hands, there are more but lesser-known ways you can contribute to community water saving efforts. If you’re not sure where to begin, here are some examples on how you can adapt your household and your lifestyle to be less water consumptive.

In the bathroom:

· Check your toilet for leaks. This is easily done. Simply add a few drops of food coloring to your toilet tank and wait to see if the dye shows up in the bowl without being flushed. Toilet leaks can waste up to 100 gallons of water per day!
· Put a plastic bottle filled with sand and water in your toilet tank to displace some of the water so it uses less with each flush.
· Time your showers. A fun way to do this is to listen to music as you bathe. Allow yourself one or two songs to get your body clean and then turn the water off and get out!
· Consider taking only cold showers. Not only has this been proven to be better for your overall health, but it will also deter you from languishing in the shower.

In the kitchen and utility room:

· Today, dishwashers consume less water than hand washing, but most users still rinse every single dish before putting it into the dishwasher. Most modern dishwashers don’t require this. Only pre-rinse a dish if it still has enough food on it to make your pet happy!
· Don’t leave the faucet on when cleaning vegetables. Fill the sink or a large tub and soak all the vegetables at once.
· Store a jug of water in the fridge instead of running the tap to let the water get cold before filling your glass.
· Wait to run your washing machine or dish washer until you have a full load. If your machine has an “eco” mode, use it!
· Instead of pouring half full glasses of water or left-over ice cubes down the drain, pour them into one of your house plants instead.

Around the house:

· Get out your broom! Instead of using the hose and excessive amount of water to clean off your driveway, sidewalk or deck space, use a broom instead. And, on the rare occasion when you do use your hose to clean outdoor space, be sure to attach a squeeze nozzle, so that when not in use, you’re not wasting water.
· Water outdoor plants either very early in the morning or in the evening. Less of the water will evaporate into the atmosphere.
· Select plants and landscaping vegetation that don’t require excessive amounts of water.
· Consider finding a way to reuse the water your AC pulls from the air. Because the water is fresh water, it can be diverted to water outdoor vegetation or be captured and used for cleaning.

Lifestyle changes that will help with global water conservation:

· Adopt meatless Monday. The commercial meat production industry consumes a tremendous amount of water. Some statistics claim you could save 133 gallons of water with each meatless meal!
· Invest in reusable water bottles and take them with you when you head out to enjoy the beach or the surrounding area. On average, it requires twice as much water to produce a plastic water bottle as the amount contained in the bottle.
· Extend the lifecycle of your products. Nearly every product you buy requires water to produce or transport. Try to buy fewer single-use products and more products that last. And when you decide that product is no longer useful to you, consider donating it or recycling it instead of sending it to the landfill.

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Women and Water

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By Brooke Gazer

From the comfort of Huatulco’s first-world development, it is hard to imagine that there are places in the state without access to water. But this is not an uncommon problem – over a third of Mexican households lack potable water, 2 million households have no water at all, and over 10 million receive water only every few days. Often the lack of water has “deep roots,” going back to land disputes that can go back to Spanish rule. For many communities throughout the Oaxacan Sierra, water is an all-consuming daily concern.

One of these communities is San Pedro y San Pablo Ayutla Mixe, a town located about 123 kilometers (75 miles) east of Oaxaca City, with over five thousand residents (2010 census); about 87% of the residents live in poverty.

You might wonder why a town would develop without a viable score of water? The answer is that it did not. Originally the residents drew water from pipes connected to a natural spring, but rural Oaxaca is rife with complicated land and water disputes. The one between Ayutla and Tamazulapám del Espíritu Santo is only one of three hundred in the state. When this dispute reached a violent climax in 2017, Ayutla lost access to the spring they relied on. Hauling water is currently the only alternative the residents have to survive.

For families in the Sierra, roles are clearly defined. Men labor in their fields, or travel away from home to take jobs on construction sites. Providing water for the family is women’s work. To meet the minimum needs of her family, each woman hauls an average of ten buckets per day. Ten buckets. If the bucket held eight liters (a little more than two gallons) it would weigh over 17 pounds. This would mean five grueling trips, carrying two buckets weighing roughly 35 pounds per trip.

The well is located 40 minutes into the forest, but the difficulty is not just the distance. It is downhill to the well. On their return, these women must carry their burden uphill, possibly on their shoulder or with a rope around their forehead. It is likely some can only carry one, which might mean ten trips, or smaller buckets. Half of a women’s day may be consumed just hauling water.

Ten buckets of eight liters would provide her family with 80 liters per day, less if the buckets are smaller. With care, she could boil black beans, prepare dough for corn tortillas, wash dishes and clothing and reuse wash water for bathing. To put this into perspective, in Mexico City, the average daily water consumption per person is 150 liters.

Life has always been hard for rural women in the selva (forest). This backbreaking chore is over and above her normal household duties, which are all performed without electricity or any modern conveniences. But for the past year, the coronavirus pandemic has placed an added burden to her nearly impossible routine. Extra water is required as everyone must wash their hands more frequently and to wipe and disinfect high-touched surfaces. This requires additional arduous trips to the well each day.

It has been over four years since this community was denied access to the spring that brought water into the town. Even understanding that this is a poor community with limited resources, one might still ask – was there no way to install a pump and a pipe from the current water supply? There may be two possible answers to this question. One might revolve around precarious land and water claims, preventing the town from installing any infrastructure surrounding the water source. The other could be that in these communities, men make the decisions regarding how resources are used … and it is women who haul the water.

Brooke Gazer operates Agua Azul la Villa, an oceanview B&B in Huatulco (www.bbaguaazul.com).

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Learning to Swim

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By Randy Jackson

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” — Isak Dinesen

A kind of cultural cornucopia can bring fresh perspectives and new insights. When the land, the people, the climate are all different from what we are used to, it’s possible – if we are open to it – to learn new dimensions about something we thought we already knew. Spending time in Huatulco can offer such opportunities. As an example, in my time in Huatulco, I’ve come to appreciate new aspects of swimming.

I learned to swim as a child. As far as I can recall, like most children, I loved every moment in the water. Water meant playing. Amongst my band of childhood buddies, we named a small island (mostly a pile of driftwood) in the Columbia River after me because I was the first one (of us) to swim across the frigid brown spring waters (in doing so contravening all parental dicta not to do that). When I was a teenager, my high school was located within walking distance of a beach on a recreational lake. With our local hot springs pool below a cloud of shifting steam in the winter, and the coarse cinnamon sand beach in the summer, we teens had swimming meetup places free from parents the whole year round. Swimming throughout my childhood and youth remained synonymous with fun and play.

As an adult I decided to enter triathlons. This decision made swimming a more serious undertaking. Rather than swim for play, I swam for fitness. I began a long process of trying to learn how to perform the front crawl efficiently and for longer distances.

The front crawl is a weirdly complex series of motions performed while remaining face down in the water. Of all the swim strokes, the front crawl seems awkwardly unnatural, unlike anything seen in the animal kingdom. Almost all land animals know innately how to swim, moving their limbs while keeping their heads above water. What we call the dog paddle seems to be THE swim stroke of any animal with legs. However, camels, giraffes, porcupines, rhinos and, most notably, apes can’t swim. As an ape species, we humans have to be taught how to swim.

Worldwide, only about 50% of us know how to swim. The World Health Organization estimates that 320,000 people per year drown. Drowning, the WHO report, is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional death in the world. The CDC reports that in the US, on average, 10 people drown every day. Swimming lessons are not primarily intended to teach people how to have fun in the water, rather, they teach a skill set for survival.

As unnatural as swimming is to people, it’s curious that we humans have such a natural affinity towards water. In Egypt, at a place called Gilf Kebir, cave paintings dating back 8,000 years depict people swimming. How, in the eons of evolution, could a creature afraid of water and without an innate ability to swim – learn to swim? Could there be some evolutionary reason for this skill? Well, maybe – there’s the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis.

In 1960, an English marine biologist, Alister Hardy, pointed out that hairlessness is virtually unheard of in the animal kingdom except where the creature spends a good deal of time in the water. He proposed a different evolutionary narrative from that of the mainstream. He suggested that in our evolutionary history, a group of apes were forced, due to competition, to scavenge for food such as shellfish from the sea. This led to certain evolutionary adaptations: principally, to stand erect as the apes would have to do in water to propel themselves and to keep their heads up to breathe. Second, to become almost hairless like other creatures who spend large amounts of time in the water. And third, that humans have an insulating fat layer between their skin and their skeletal system that no other non-aquatic creature has – including the great apes. Elaine Morgan (1920 – 2013), a writer on evolutionary theory, has helped popularize the theory of the Aquatic Ape in her books on evolutionary anthropology (she has a TED talk on this theory – https://www.ted.com/talks/elaine_morgan_i_believe_we_evolved_from_aquatic_apes?language=en ).

In Huatulco, I came to realize that my swimming life, parallel to life overall, had three basic phases. The fun and play of youth, the work and responsibilities of adulthood and midlife, and the quiet enjoyment of things in retirement.

My enjoyment of swimming in Huatulco actually starts as I head out the door for an early morning stroll to the beach. With a towel draped over one shoulder, my swimming goggles in hand, my 3-block journey to the Pacific begins. The street sweepers, the shop owners, and passers-by all smile and greet me knowing I’m off to the beach for a morning swim.

Occasionally, at this beach, I see someone who has outfitted their dog with a lifejacket in the water. This allows pooches, like people in aqua fitness classes, to paddle their limbs madly without much forward propulsion. Buoyancy and propulsion, however, do not necessarily mean swimming. Hippos, who spend about sixteen hours a day in the water, don’t swim. Their dense bodies cause them to sink naturally. Hippos propel themselves by walking or running along the bottom. They have masterful control of their buoyancy by regulating the air in their lungs. They bob along the bottom like astronauts skipping semi-weightless on the moon.

At the beach, the regular morning swimmers are typically returning from their swims when I arrive. Como la agua hoy? Hay medusas? (jellyfish). There is comradery amongst us daredevil adventurers, who, with a bit of practiced swim technique can leave the security of land for that other, and larger part of the planet, the world of water.

This water world offers an engagement with nature like no other. Viewing a beautiful panorama or listening to the crash of ocean waves can be wonderful experiences – except for all the many distractions. For most of us, our minds continue to churn on other things wherever we find ourselves. When immersed in water however, we leave those distractions behind as the “here and now” floods our awareness. And we begin. Reach and stretch and pull and kick – breathe – a rhythm forms – rocking from side to side – breathe – we glide through the water.

Occasionally, I will experience a sense of efficiency and flow that more accomplished swimmers often speak of. For me, those moments are few and brief, but wonderful enough to keep me coming back for more. After all these years, I am still trying to learn how to swim properly. I’m slow and my front crawl needs work, but more than ever before I now understand what I want out of swimming. I seek the quiet thrill of moving through the water smoothly and efficiently. With luck, and more time in Huatulco to practice swimming, I can continue learning new aspects of swimming.