Bahias de Huatulco is made up of nine bays and located on Oaxaca's Coast, at the end of the Southern Sierra Madre. Its topography is populated by mountains, valleys and hillsides, irrigated by the Coyula, San Agustin and Copalita rivers.
Huatulco was the 5th and latest development by the Mexican Federal Government through the National Tourism Fund, and it encompasses about 9 square miles of territory and includes 22 miles of the Mexican Pacific coastline between the Coyula and Copalita rivers.
The vegetation is exuberant to say the least. There are tree species, like tepguanje, cazarate, poppy, fichus, mecianos, colorin, as well as the thorny low forest, thorny scrub, gallery forest and mangle in the coastal corridor.
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The fauna is typical of the neo tropical zones where there are few big mammals and predators; rabbits, squirrels and white tailed deer can be found. There is also a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians like salamanders, frogs, toads, iguanas, turtles and snakes, as well as an extensive variety of birds, where the most important are the hawks, sparrow hawks, owls, doves, pelicans, gulls and sparrows.
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Huatulco has nine thousand plant species (more than 50% of the nationwide species), 264 species of mammal (40% of the nationwide level), 701 bird species (63% of the nationwide level), 470 reptile species (26% of nationwide level) and 100 amphibian species.
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Eighty percent of the vegetation is low forest caducifolia, but with species up to 59 feet high which is very peculiar for this type of forest.
Huatulco is also rich in marine fauna, such as oyster, lobster, shrimp, dolphin, turtle, red snapper, marlin, clam, snail and occasionally whales.
The Bays of Huatulco are one of the largest ecosystems in the Mexican Republic, to such an extent that former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo declared it a protected zone. It has since been declared a national park.
And now, Las Brisas has come and established a wonderful setting to enjoy all of this natural wonder.
• A colonial gem for a neighbor, Oaxaca is a short 30 minute flight from the bays. Explore the markets and surrounding villages, venture out to mountain-top archeological sites or just sit back and soak up the easy-going, friendly ambiance of this provincial town - alive with history, culture and art.
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THE CROSS OF HUATULCO:
Long before Columbus, the Huatulco area was well-known to the Zapotecs and their predecessors. The name itself, from Nahuatl means "Land where a Tree is Worshipped," reflects one of Mexico's most intriguing legends-- of the Santa Cruz de Huatulco - Holy Cross of Huatulco.
When the Spanish arrived on the Oaxacan coast, the native people showed them a huge cross they worshipped at the edge of the sea. A chronicler of the time, Ignacio Burgoa, imagined the cross had been left by an ancient saint-- maybe even the Apostle Thomas - some 1500 years earlier. Such speculation aside, the cross remained there as the Spanish colonized the area and established their headquarters and a port which they named San Agustin, on the westernmost point of the Bays of Huatulco.
Spanish ports and their treasure-laden galleons from the Orient attracted foreign pirates - Francis Drake in 1579 and Thomas Cavendish in 1587. Cavendish arrived at Bahia Santa Cruz, where he saw the cross the Indians were worshipping. Believing it to be the work of the devil, he and his men tried to chop it up and burn it. Failing at this, Cavendish tied his ship's mooring ropes around the cross and with his sailes unfurled he tried using the force of the wind to pull it down. Frustrated, he finally sailed away, leaving the cross of Huatulco still standing on the shore.
By 1600, a steady trail of pilgrims were chipping pieces from the cross, so much so, that in 1612 Bishop Juan de Cervantes had to rescue it. He brought the cross to Oaxaca, where he made four smaller two-foot crosses from it. He sent one each to church authorities in Mexico City, Rome, and Santa Maria Huatulco, head town of the Huatulco municipio. Cervantes kept the fourth copy in the cathedral in Oaxaca, where it has remained, venerated and visible in a side chapel, to this present day.
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