Huatulco ("wah-TOOL-co") is located in the southwest corner of Mexico in Oaxaca, about 150 miles southwest of Oaxaca
City. Despite it being known throughout Mexico as one of the most beautiful resort
destinations in the country, the Bahias de Huatulco have remained relatively sleepy and unknown to gringos since the area was first
developed. When you try to explain it to people, they say "wah-where?" and assume you're coughing up
phlegm when you reiterate "wah-TOOL-co, it's in wah-HAHK-ah". Though the Bays of Huatulco have always existed as a place of natural wonder, Huatulco
as a place on the map is something of an
artificial construct. It only came into existence in 1984 as a planned development by Fonatur, the government tourism
agency responsible for Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Playa del Carmen, and Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo. In one of those "eminent domain" sort
of things governments do, they announced in 1984 that everything between the Coyula and Copalita rivers, 22 miles of coast encompassing nine
dramatic cliff-laden bays and some thirty-six beaches, was now government land and part of the Bahias de Huatulco development plan. The sparsely
populated fishing villages of the bays were bought out and the people were transplanted to the new town of La Crucecita
a half mile inland, but not a great deal took place for the next ten to fifteen years. This explains
some confusion in looking for Huatulco on a map - though it is commonly referred to as if it was a town, the name actually refers to the whole Fonatur area of the Bays of
Huatulco. While La Crucecita is the main town and population center, it doesn't always show up on maps.
 Its stunning mountain backdrop and unusual collection of natural features - the most extensive
coral reef system in Pacific Mexico, whitewater rivers, canyons, jungle waterfalls, spectacular beaches, and cliff-laden coastline - seemed to make it a no brainer to
become a top international destination. Instead, Huatulco languished in pleasant obscurity. The only thing putting it on the map at all during
the early years was the presence of a Club Med in Tangolunda Bay, now the site of Las Brisas resort. Beginning in the late 90's, however, Huatulco finally began to show signs of life.
New hotels and restaurants cropped up, residential development increased, and Fonatur made a renewed effort to turn it into a destination. The focus
changed from plans for a new Cancun to making it sort of an anti-Cancun. The conservation side of it was touted - 75 percent of the land
was to be set aside as green space, wastewater was recycled, and Huatulco would be a new model for eco-tourism. The Huatulco National Park was created in 1998,
encompassing 29 percent of the land of Huatulco. This was a huge step in keeping much of the Bays of Huatulco pristine, but Fonatur continues to
do some creative math to claim 75 percent of the area is set aside for conservation. (A requirement the Inter-American Development Bank saddled
them with as a condition of loans made for Huatulco's infrastructure since Huatulco's coastal forest is somewhat unique.) While the marine zone of the national
park runs from San Agustin to Santa Cruz, prime coastal tracts were carved out of the national park area at the
Cacaluta and San Agustin ends of the land section to allow Fonatur the option to develop those areas someday. Fonatur
is in the business of development, and much of the reason Huatulco remains as tranquil
and beautiful as it does has to do with the environmentalists and local organizations who fought to have the National Park created. It has been
their commitment (and the IADB loan conditions) that have contributed to Huatulco's green halo as much as anything.
To its credit, Fonatur has adapted to the new vision and is actively promoting it, though the reality of what developers are allowed to do is not always
in line with the low-impact, low-density model that is touted. This isn't to say that most of Huatulco isn't still a place of unparalleled beauty, but
just to inject a note of realism into some of the "official" eco-image that is being promoted. Both citizens and visitors have to keep holding Fonatur
to their promises of developing it as an ecological model. Virtually
everyone who comes to Huatulco is impressed by the fact that it is so quiet and tranquil. Few of them would return if it lost what makes it so unique.
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