The name translates directly to the Bay of the Saintly Cross. This bay is very important to this town, for it is the founding bay and the reason for the existence of the small town itself. Now you might have come here to check out the beach life and water ecology, and this may come to you unexpectedly, but it’s so happens that you’re standing on legendary grounds of possibly biblical importance and proportions.
The name of the bay comes directly from a wooden cross that was placed at the mouth of the bay. Historically, when the imperialist conquerors known as the Aztecs, came to this land, they subdued by force the original people that inhabited this land. At that time, when the Aztecs arrived, they noticed that the people in this region worshipped a wooden cross, and thus they named the district: “Huatulco”; which in “nahuatl” (the language of the Aztecs) has the literal meaning of : “place where the wooden cross is venerated”. And so it was that it came to pass that another band of imperialist conquerors came to this place, known as the “Spanish Conquistadors”. The Catholic missionaries that came afterwards could not help but notice that the native inhabitants worshipped a cross, thus it was narrated to them by the locals the origins of this worship. The local natives told of a tall fair skinned bearded man that came to them, many centuries ago, over the ocean carrying this large cross. It is said that the man placed the cross in its place and then said to them: “I leave here with you a symbol for your healing. You must venerate it and respect it, because there will come a time when you will come to know the One and only true God of heaven and earth.” Then, it is said, he stayed with them for a few time in prayer and then left, because he was required to be somewhere “else”. Thus it came to pass that through out the subsequent centuries the indigenous people of this district took care and venerated the cross, as it was ordained to them. Any part that would come off the cross, it would become part of a medicinal potion. When the Catholic missionaries heard this legend they built a parish next to it, to commemorate the cross and to protect it. Religious thinkers speculate, since then and up to this day, that it was St. Thomas, the apostle of Jesus, that had brought this cross to them. As you may know, St. Thomas died in India.
And so the cross stood in its place for centuries, until, Thomas Cavendish, a British pirate, raided the poor little town, and not finding anything of value, burned the entire town down. The only structure left standing was one “insignificant” cross. Immediately, he ordered that to be burned again, but although burned, it would not fall. Being inflamed with pride and anger, he asked the cross to be hatched down, but they could not hatch it down. Then he asked for the cross to be pulled down, but it could not be pulled down. He asked for the cross to be tied to his boat, so the boat could pull it down, but the cross could not be pulled down by the boat. Frustrated, he left the tiny port town with their mysterious cross standing over the bay as he parted on his ship. Later he died off of the coast of Brazil.
News of the miraculous event spread quickly, and people from every part of the world came doing pilgrimages to the miraculous cross. Noting at one point 2,000 believers came from as far away as the land of Peru, in South America. Believing, whether right or wrong, that the splinters off of the cross could serve as miraculous cures for their ailments, they were, little by little, destroying the ancient mysterious wooden cross. Noting that the cross might fall, in 1612, the cross was removed from its place by order of the Archbishop, and sent to the state capital of Oaxaca. There the cross was divided, and one piece was placed inside the main Cathedral in Oaxaca, and another piece was placed in the town of Santa Maria de Huatulco, finally another piece was sent to the Vatican in Rome to the Pope. The city of Huatulco still celebrates the day of the Holy Cross on May 3rd, and surprisingly, the Mesoamerican natives still, up to this day, celebrate it in their own pre-Hispanic (pagan?) way!
How is that for an interesting legend? Never saw that in an Indiana Jones movie! Now the cross that you are seeing here is a replica of the original cross, put in the exact same spot where the original stood. The parish next to this cross has a place of worship inside where the Word of God is recited, and this very story, and the reason for the existence of the parish, is written on the inside of the building for anyone to read.
Santa Cruz Bay
Anyhow, this is the central bay of Huatulco. Here you will have walking access to the town (“crucesita”, which means, little cross) where you will be able to obtain horse riding tours, scuba diving lessons, local cuisine and handcrafts. It’s a small unspoiled town, with plenty of restaurants at very reasonable prices.
You can try “Tlayudas” which is a type of Mexican pizza, although they are not eaten at a Mexican national level, it’s a local dish, so its more like a Oaxacan pizza. It’s a giant tortilla like sort of pie, with black beans spread on top of it, local cheese, tomato, avocado, and choice meat on top. It’s good, it will fill you up and it’s cheap. You can also try dry crickets, yes...I said crickets. In general Mexicans do not eat them and find it strange that someone should eat such a thing, but it so happens that the Mesoamerican people of this land ate it before, and thus it is still eaten up to this day, here, locally. It’s considered to be an aphrodisiac. I have had them personally, and once you get over the fact that it is an insect and it is a cricket, they taste good with a little bit of hot-sauce and lime, and as a snack while your drinking a beer and watching TV...kind of like Doritos, but not quite. Beware of its aphrodisiac effects…readers have been warned!
