Huatulco Life was inspired by people with a passion for Huatulco and the Mexican lifestyle. It is a place to find out more information about the region and enjoy the beauty of the Oaxacan coastline through the photo gallery. From time to time, other interesting tidbits about Mexico make their way into the pages of this blog. Enjoy!

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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Rare Jaguar Sighting Caught on Tape in Oaxaca, Mexico

By John Ganjei for Mexico Today

Mexican authorities are reporting that a jaguar has been spotted for the first time near Mitla, 24 miles from the southern Oaxaca state capital, Oaxaca City. Mexico’s National Commission for Protected Areas says the jaguar is the first one confirmed to exist in the area and likely migrated from Oaxaca’s Sierra Juarez mountain range.

The jaguar was detected by remote cameras attached to trees and other vegetation used by conservationists to observe the movement of animals at night. The camera also captured a puma and a white-tailed deer. 

Israel Juarez Hernandez, the Secretary of the Commission for Communal Property, said that the sighting of jaguars and white-tailed deer was extremely rare, and surprised even long-term residents of the area.

"There were rumors and talk that there were pumas, but the fact that this jaguar was spotted here in our mountains is very rare, like the white-tailed deer. I have not seen one myself, but it's been proven that the white-tailed deer has existed here near our community," he said.

For many cultures, Jaguars are an important symbol of pre-Columbian mythology. As the jaguar is quite at home in the nighttime, the jaguar is believed to be part of the underworld. One such god is Xbalanque, one of the Maya Hero Twins who descended to the underworld, and whose entire body is covered with patches of jaguar skin. Another is God L, who is "the primary lord of the underworld" and often is shown with a jaguar ear or jaguar attire, and atop a jaguar throne.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Historic Oaxaca

 Text sourced from Wikipedia

The city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name. This city relies heavily on tourism, which is based on its large number of colonial-era structures as well as the native Zapotec and Mixtec cultures and archeological sites. It, along with the archeological site of Monte Alban, were named a World Heritage Site in 1987. It is also the home of the month-long cultural festival called the “Guelaguetza,” which features Oaxacan dance, music and a beauty pageant for indigenous women.

Have a look at Fotopedia for more images  from Oaxaca...click here

Friday, May 18, 2012

Sun Country Adds New Routes to Florida/Mexico

By Ben Mutzabaugh, USD Today

Sun Country's newest destinations will be Tampa and the Mexican city of Huatulco.

The Minnesota-based leisure carrier announced the new cities Thursday.

Sun Country will fly to the destinations from its base at Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) International Airport.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Best Wishes on Mother's Day

Huatulco Life wishes all of the Mother's a very special day.  Thank you for nurturing and guiding us to become the people that we are today.

We hope that on your day, you feel truly appreciated for everything that you have done.

Happy Mother's Day!

Copper Canyon's Gringo Runner

Tarahumara Runners of the Copper Canyon
Original post by Doug "Diego" Rhodes via calnative.com

The Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyon have long been acknowledged as the world’s greatest long distance runners. Their reputation was recently popularized by the May 2009 publication of Christopher McDougall’s book “Born to Run.” Much of the book focuses on the exploits of Micah True, an American runner who spent a good deal of time running with the Tarahumara and founding the Copper Canyon ultra-marathon race in the bottom of the canyon. In March of 2012 True, known in the canyons as “Caballo Blanco,” died on a solo run in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness. As a tribute to True, we asked our good friend Doug Rhodes, an American outdoor adventurer, owner of Copper Canyon’s Paraiso del Oso Lodge and long-time resident of Mexico’s Sierra Madre, to share some of his memories of “Caballo Blanco” with us.

The following is a collection of a remembrances, sort of the way Micah was, all jumbled up.

Riding my mule towards Batopilas many years back, I encountered a goofy looking gringo wearing running shorts about the size of my bandanna. Bare-chested and running in the hot sun, my suspicions of this guy’s sanity were confirmed when he introduced himself as the “Caballo Blanco” (White Horse) and let out a whinny to prove it. Little did I realize then that guy and I would share trails, tears, and experiences and that we would become friends, indeed, more than friends.

One of my favorite recollections is when he asked to join us heading to our ranch at Los Alisos from Batopilas. We’d just finished a pack trip and had a small herd of horses to take across the mountains. Little did we realize that the lead horse would be this long-legged gringo known as Caballo Blanco. Now, our prize Appaloosa “Andy” is the Alpha or lead horse of the pack, a critter not known to take second place to anyone. Imagine our surprise when Andy fell in behind Micah, trotting down the trail with Micah in the lead, Andy right behind Micah and all the other horses trotting behind them. Micah kept looking back over his shoulder at the pack. When he zigged, the horses zigged as they did when he zagged or slowed down. It was an unbelievable sight; we nearly fell out of our saddles laughing.

Another time Prospero Torres and I sponsored a faina to work on the trail above Los Alisos. (Note: A faina is a communal work project with food, fermented corn tesguino, and sometimes dancing after the work is finished.) Micah showed up and worked hard all day alongside the Tarahumara men. That night he ate as usual, like a horse. Then the dancing started, Micah could not quite get a hang on the traditional dancing so, as was his habit, he just did his own thing, a sort of 1920s type thing where one places their hands on their knees, brings the knees together and swaps positions of the hands over the knees. His dancing embarrassed the heck out of me but the Tarahumara laughed and loved it. Micah had a way of doing the strangest things and getting people to love him for it.

Back about 2001 or so, Micah got the wild idea of starting a marathon from Urique to Batopilas to get the Tarahumara people running again and, knowing him, just for the fun of it. Several of us helped him out as we could but most of the funding came out of Micah’s pocket and set the trend for future races. Micah never had much; material things seemed not to matter to him, but he shared what he had with friends and for what he believed in and he sure believed in his race.

The May 2009 publication of the book “Born to Run” catapulted both Micah and his race to virtual legendary status.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Triathlon is in the Bag

Steamy!  It is the only way to describe the 2012 ITU Huatulco World Cup Triathlon.

The competitors were out in full force this past Sunday and what greeted them were 36 degree temperatures, high humidity, and some stiff competition. 

It was apparent as the race wore on that just finishing was going to take every ounce of determination that the racers could muster.  There was simply no way that they could cool down enough to be somewhat comfortable.  Even the water stations and hoses spraying water on them, were no battle for the May Huatulco weather.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Weather

I believe that where it says 35 degrees with SMOKE, means that it's smoking hot...feels like 46 today!