One of the standard package tour offerings in Huatulco is a trip to the local mountain waterfalls, Cascadas Magicas or Llano Grande. While the waterfalls are
advertised in a variety of different ways and in different locations, they are all part of the same river. A tributary of the Rio Copalita called the Copalitilla
cascades steeply down a mountainside over a couple of miles, through incredibly lush jungle surroundings. The source is a spring called Llano Grande. Years ago local
fishermen hunting for the giant freshwater shrimp called langostinos discovered the river hidden in the jungle. The waterfalls range from small ledges to pouring sixty
foot cascades. What makes them so unique is the almost movie-set like beauty of the surroundings, the ferns and moss and jungle vegetation seeming too impossibly
verdant and well-placed. Approaching the Copalitilla from the highway turnoff at Zimatan village and up through Santa Maria Xadani, the first set of waterfalls you reach are called
Las Cascadas de Llano Grande. These are located adjacent to the former La Gloria coffee plantation, where you can have lunch and a plantation tour if you choose. (A note about
this that has left some travelers disgruntled - tour operators advertise La Gloria as a coffee plantation tour when it is not in fact a working coffee plantation.)
The entrance to the waterfalls is 30 pesos ($3), and $10 more will get you lunch at the La Gloria restaurant.
The restaurant is very good, serving huge portions of traditional local dishes.
Llano Grande remains my favorite of all the Copalitilla locations, even though the waterfalls are not the most dramatic. They're every bit as beautiful though and the hike in is considerably shorter.
It's an easy fifteen minute hike along the riverbank through gorgeous jungle, allowing you views of many small ledges and
beautiful clear pools. You see a wide variety of butterflies, including the occasional huge white morphos.
Toward the end you climb away from the river to meet up with the high
trail that also comes from the parking lot, before dropping back down steeply to the river. The package tours seem to inexplicably favor the
high trail, denying their clients the amazing views of all the minor falls coming and going along the river. When you arrive in the parking lot, the river trail is straight ahead of you whereas
the high trail is off to the right.
The trail ends at a large pool beneath
a 25 foot waterfall. Benches are scattered around, and a changing stall, but be warned there are no restroom facilities. There is a great rope swing that challenges most people to hold
on to it through its whole arc. A variety of ropes run up one edge of the falls, making it easy for people
to climb to the top of the falls or out onto them. Wandering downstream there are a few more small ledges to jump off, and more pools of amazing
tranquility and lush vegetation to immerse yourself in. Unfortunately the package tour operators seem to only allow their clients about 45 minutes at the falls, before
whisking them off for lunch and the plantation tour. The whole point of this excursion is to enjoy the waterfalls as long as possible, and real coffee plantation tours
can be done elsewhere in places like Pluma Hidalgo. While the $25-$35 rates for the package tours seem like good value, they're not if you don't get to really enjoy what
you came there for after a long difficult car ride.
About a mile further along on the road from La Gloria is the entrance with the biggest signs, proclaiming itself the official Cascadas Magicas location. For some reason the two
entrances lower on the river are called Cascadas Magicas (Magic Waterfalls) while Llano Grande is separately designated. This probably has something to do with the Llano Grande
entrance being run by the community around La Gloria, whereas the other entrances are run by people from other villages. You pay $5 per person to enter at these,
though it seems you're getting a lot more value for it at the upper Cascadas Magicas location than the lower one.
There is much more in the way of onsite facilities at these places than Llano Grande, including a small restaurant and restrooms at each of the locations. The hiking trails
are also immaculately maintained. A neat aspect of the upper Cascadas Magicas location is that you can hike through caves underneath the falls
and come out under the falls. There are a wealth of different falls and pools, rope swings, and high jumps. If you bypass this entrance and
go another couple of miles down the road, you'll come to the lower entrance. There you will probably be offered the services of one of the "fastest boys in the world" as
your guide. Though I declined the service, one of them ran a half mile after my car - I was going 30 miles an hour - and somehow arrived moments behind me to point out that I
had overshot the trailhead. We ended up with him guiding us that day whether we wanted him to or not, though this is one of the more isolated locations and for safety's sake
it's good to be with a local.
 The hike does exceed the general half mile rule that eliminates 90 percent of tourists from venturing to some places, so it is more for those who really want to go on a
good hike as well as a waterfall jaunt. The unfortunate thing is that you're so sweaty by the time you get back to your car that you've lost all the refreshing aspect
of the cool waterfalls.
All the packaged tour trips seem to go to the upper Cascadas Magicas, so if you want a place to yourself the lower entrance might be for you. The hike
is truly beautiful, too, with a huge mango tree offering unlimited fruit for May-June visitors, and painted bunting nests in trees along the trail.
A few years ago my friend Marcos did some
friends a favor in the mountains by guiding for them when they needed a bilingual guide. Marcos is one of the world's great comedians and storytellers, and though he
hails from Guanajuato and spent much of his life in northern Mexico, he can come up with a legend about any community or place in Mexico at the drop of a sombrero. It's
relation to reality is usually slim, but the detail and flourishes are impeccable.
At La Gloria coffee plantation, he spontaneously picked a butterfly out of the cage and
handed it to a gringa. She asked "what is this for?" He replied. "It's a tradition. You make a wish on the butterfly, release it, and it will fly up to the
heavens and deliver your wish to an angel". Needless to say, the tour group was awed by him and gave him a $50 tip they loved his stories so much. Even the
local guides were in awe, and asked where he had learned his stories. "I just made them up right now," he smiled. "Can we tell them?" they asked. He assured they were
free to re-tell his stories all they wanted. Most people of the
mountains here are Zapotec descendants, and indigenous cultures everywhere are rich with oral history. The thing about cultures with strong oral traditions is that they
love a good story or legend. While some history is sacred concerning its accuracy, there are plenty of times it's allowable to play fast and loose to create a more
entertaining tale.
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