Wednesday, October 22, 2019 - Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

Wednesday, October 22, 2019 - Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

A tropical dreamscape, Huatulco is a small resort in Oaxaca where the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains meet the Pacific Ocean approximately 500 Jim south of Acapulco, Guerrero.  Until the airport was modernized in the 2000's there was no easy way down to Huatulco, and even today the only international flights come from Chicago and various airports in Canada.  The resort has nine bays and 36 beaches along 30 kilometers of untouched coastline.  On land are waterfalls, canyons and coffee and tropical fruit plantations.  Four different sea turtles inhabit the ocean at Huatulco's National Park, joined by a whole spectrum of other marine specie3s like angelfish butterfly fish, rays dolphins, yellowfin tuna and whales that migrate here in winter.  A trip to Huatulco will be a whirlwind of snorkeling, diving, boat trips to deserted beaches and mountain adventures to villages and farms in primal jungle.

Today's scheduled jaunt is a rafting on the Copalita River - a Class 1 river, so imagine it will be more like a "float"!!. We are off the ship to a day that felt like a world class sauna - so hot and steamy!   Right next to us was a large US Coast Guard ship, with stars and stripes floating in a soft, warm breeze - comforting!  However, I hadn't realized that the US Coast Guard traveled in these waters.

After a rather long and steamy walk, past military security, and through streets where sewer odors wafted in the air, we climbed aboard rickety open air trucks.   When I say "climbed" I do mean that!  Metal pipe swaying ladders were our only conveyance onto the rather lofty heights of the vehicle's seats.   Off we went, rattling our way down the road passing luxury hotels, and not-so-luxury hotels.  Everything along the road and further in is super green and lush, as this area has a tremendous rain fall annually.

Our guide, in his halting English, and often choosing not the best words, tried to sell us a variety of objects that would enhance our raft experience, i.e., plastic pouch for our phone so we could take photos without getting phone wet, bug spray - you name it, he had it to sell!   He also told us that the settlement of Huatulco was 32 years old.   However within the next mile, the number was 33.  Somewhere within the last mile, Huatulco had celebrated another birthday!

Approximately 30 minutes later, we arrived at the milk chocolate Copalita River, and donned huge, heavy life jackets - these certainly didn't cool us down one bit!  Lots of silt in the river as up in the mountains it was raining!  Otherwise, we were told that the river is sparkling blue!!
  

We were advised to leave our bags in the cab of the truck, as there was nowhere on the raft that would not be wet.   UGH!   There went my ability to take photos with my camera - not my phone which I'd left aboard ship.  The rafts appeared to be those first invented, and were being hand pumped with air - several times for each during the instruction period.   Getting into the raft was daunting, down a steep, uneven path.   As I sat on the edge of the raft getting ready to swing my legs over into the vessel, lost my balance and slipped, butt down, into a very wet bottom of the raft.   Glad to be wearing my bathing suit under a long cotton shirt!  Six people in the boat, four guests with paddles, plus me in the middle, and the raft boy in the back with his paddle.   We spent much of the time floating sideways, or backward, which gave us great views of the mountains, covered in rain clouds.

Our raft boy, gave a loud "Yahoo" with every little ripple.   He had such joy that we were all soon smiling.

We stopped half way through to "rest", and/or "swim".   The raft boys (four of them) all did submerge themselves and do a bit of swimming, while they took turns pumping up the rafts - totally confidence building on the condition of our water borne vehicles!   Finally at the end of our journey, just before the river emptied into Bocana Bay, we came ashore and back into our rickety trucks for the ride home.

  

Interesting and very bumpy ride out to the main road, with hanging vines getting tangled up on the truck and broken twigs and debris flying everywhere.   Though we were in a rickety open truck, those in the van ahead of us rode in comfort, with a leaking roof and with the benefit of air conditioning!!

Enjoyed dinner once again out on deck at Earth and Ocean with Kiwi's and Aussies - they are such good company.