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 Travel & Outdoors | January 2008 
Enticed by Turtles, Sun and Sweet Citrus Scents
 Rachel Dissell - The Plain Dealer
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| | (Ben Chrisman) | | |
If you make Oaxaca your home base for a Mexican vacation, take a few days to come down from the mountains and relax at some of the sleepy beaches on the Pacific coast.
Playa de San Agustinillo
A six-hour roller coaster of a bus ride (or a 40-minute flight) south of Oaxaca, there is a strip of barely developed beaches where the seafood is so fresh, you can watch fishermen take it from restaurant to restaurant by wheelbarrow — if you wake up early enough.
But you might not want to rise that early in a sleepy village like San Agustinillo.
The beaches lining the coast of the southernmost part of Mexico are carved from cliffs. Remnants of eroded lava tubes poke out from the water, enticing snorkelers. Seaside outdoor restaurants, called palapas, create the perfect setting for a leisurely beer on the beach or a romantic sunset dinner.
Must-try dishes include ceviche, made with a ubiquitous whitefish (nobody really will tell you which one), lime juice, onion, tomato and cilantro. And don’t miss a breakfast licuado, delicious milkshakes made with fresh fruit and powdered milk.
Most of the accommodations are skipping distance to the beach, where those who can surf gather — and those who cannot watch them clamber to climb some impressive waves.
We stayed at Posada la Barca, a two-story, four-suite place built into the side of a cliff. The porches have beach views, ham´ mocks and a brick fire pit out´ side. The rustic, simple rooms ($40 per night, www.posadalabarca.com) have a refrigerator, tile showers, a comfortable bed and not much else. The place comes with the company of a friendly beach dog named Baily, who will watch over you as you sun yourself on the beach.
If you tire of lounging, some simple distractions are within walking distance of the beaches. Centro Mexican de la Tortuga
The small coastal town of Mazunte has always been defined by the sea turtles that crawl up onto its gritty beaches in droves to lay eggs each fall. Even its name comes from Nahuatl, an Aztec- derived language, and means “Please lay eggs.”
Decades ago, the townspeople made their money hunting and processing the turtles for their shells, meat and oils.
Now, the town focuses on celebrating, saving and marketing the ancient creatures. The former turtle-processing plant was transformed in 1991 into Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga, a marine turtle center on 10 acres of land where the reptiles are nurtured, studied and put on display. For $2.50, you can get close to the giant underwater varieties. A large circular aquarium building hosts every variety of the sea creatures native to Mexico — including an albino and one missing a flipper. Outside, smaller, land-roaming and river-dwelling turtles lounge under leafy plants. Turtle-tour guides explain (in several languages) the attributes of the sea creatures in the aquarium while outside, the smaller land-living relatives skitter around in roped-in areas while chewing on leaves.
An outdoor lab holds palm-size babies that biologists tag and release back onto the beaches when they grow large enough to defend themselves against predators. In October, tourists can catch a breathtaking glimpse of the reptiles’ life cycle as hundreds of thousands of female — mainly golfina, or olive ridleys — emerge from the waves to lay their eggs under the sand. Outside the museum, shops cater to turtle tourists, selling T-shirts, towels and knickknacks.
For information, call 958-584-3376 or email contacto(at)centromexicanodelatortuga.org.
Cosmeticos Naturales de Mazunte
Just a few minutes’ walk down the road from the turtle museum is a small terra cotta-roofed building bursting with citrus scents.
Women gather around a rough-hewn wooden table in the shop, filling small plastic bottles with oils, soaps and lotions made with natural products plentiful on the coast. The store is a cooperative of about 15 families opened in the mid-1990s with the help of the British-owned retailer The Body Shop. It helps replace in Mazunte’s economy what the ban on turtle hunting took away.
Oil from plentiful coconuts, avocado and citrus provide the base ingredients for the products, which include natural deodorant and bug repellent. Of course, the shop also provides a chance to buy a few gifts for folks back home that are much more authentic Mexico than the sombrero or woven blankets peddled to many tourists.
For information, call 52-958-587-4860 or e-mail cosmentat(at)hotmail.com.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: rdissell(at)plaind.com |
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