Mexico -- Sun Spot Of Huatulco Is Just Warming Up

BAHIAS DE HUATULCO, Mexico - "My friend said meet me in Huatulco," said the flight attendant on holiday. "I said, `What's that?"'

We are sharing a ride from the Huatulco airport along brand-new winding roads. Around us, the hills are dotted with construction sites.

The story - probably apocryphal - is that in 1982, former Mexican president Jose Lopez Portillo was cruising along Mexico's Pacific coast when he saw the nine pristine bays that make up Bahias de Huatulco (pronounced hwah-tool-co).

At that time the area, which is in the state of Oaxaca, was populated by a fishing community of Zapotec Indians. President Portillo decided that this was to be the next jewel in Mexico's chain of beach resorts.

If all works well for Fonatur - the Mexican government's tourism development arm - Huatulco will someday roll off the tongues of sun-lovers as easily and frequently as now do the names Cancun, Cozumel and Ixtapa.

But the development projected to one day support a population of half a million and accommodations for two million tourists annually has only just begun.

The flight attendant is on her way to the Sheraton Huatulco, one of three major developments in the "hotel zone" on Bahia de Tangolunda, which also boasts a huge Club Med and the all-inclusive Royal Maeva resort. A vast pink and lavender Holiday Inn, near but not on the beach, has recently opened. Most Huatulco tourists stay in the hotel zone.

Huatulco is ideal for tourist-pleasing.

The coastline is rocky and spectacular. In the bays, warm azure waters cozy up to soft white-sand beaches that nestle between green hills.

An amazing variety of birds has not yet realized that this is no longer wilderness. The Sierra Madres make a pastel backdrop. Fonatur promises that of more than 52,000 acres of land, 41,000 will be kept in their natural state.

Intrepid Companion and I check into the Posada Binniguenda in the town of Santa Cruz, which is the site of the Zapotecs' original fishing village.

Some of the area's original older residents are now peddling carved wooden bookmarks on the streets of Santa Cruz, and young Zapotec men can be seen diving for oysters to sell to lounging sun-lizards in the hotel zone.

The Binniguenda was Huatulco's first hotel, circa 1987. It is unpretentiously charming, with lots of foliage, fountains and pretty, sun-dappled corners. The pool is surrounded by gardens and overlooked by a restaurant.

But if the Binniguenda is long on charm, it is short on action during our September visit. We have the pool to ourselves for hours one afternoon. We never catch the poolside restaurant open. The indoor restaurant serves delicious breakfasts (try the Oaxacan-style eggs) that attract locals, but is otherwise empty.

No matter. The beachfront bustle - and I use that term loosely - is just a short stroll away.

The newness and the amount of construction makes it feel like an incomplete subdivision, a la Mexicana. There are strict building codes and all the buildings - though pretty with their arches and wrought iron - are similar.

Dozens of buildings stand empty or half-completed. Landscape plants are still immature. And, particularly on this off-season weekday, there are almost no tourists.

Santa Cruz has a "mercado" (market) with about 30 stalls full of wonderful Oaxacan folk art - but few customers. Huatulco is said to be the best place outside the city of Oaxaca to buy regional folk art such as black pottery and woodcarvings.

The clean new plazas near the waterfront are all but deserted. Restaurants line the Playa Santa Cruz and waiters call out to passers-by to fill the empty tables.

At the marina, lines of wooden outboard boats with canopies and molded plastic seats wait for tourists. Their operators hawk tours of the bays.

There are few American tourists and little English spoken here. We get by with Mexican-restaurant Spanish and lots of gesturing. Most tourists to Huatulco are from Mexico City, says Valentino, our English-speaking guide to the bays.

For 30,000 pesos (about 10 dollars) we hire a boat to take us to La Entrega, a beach one bay over from Santa Cruz, and pick us up a few hours later. For 25,000 pesos, we rent snorkel equipment.

Then we relax on the pretty beach, which is devoid of anything but blistering sunshine, a snorkel-equipment rental booth, and snorkelers exploring the bay's large, healthy reef.

On another day, we pay Valentino 60,000 pesos each for a tour of the bays and spectacular coast.

We visit La Entrega again, where Valentino shows us a notch in the coastal rocks that is the entrance to a bat-filled cave. We also splash around in the bathtub-warm water of Playa Maguey, which is nothing but white sand, blue water and palm trees.

The inland town of La Crucecita was built in the '80s as home to the hotel workers. It has a lively "zocalo," or town square; T-shirt and souvenir shops; crafts and folk art; and a decent number of decent restaurants, including a Carlos & Charlie's. We have a pleasant meal at the popular Restaurante Maria Sabina on the plaza.

Despite its newness, La Crucecita already has the patina of an established Mexican town. Hammocks hang in courtyards. Chickens, children and dogs wander the streets. Smells of cooking waft from homes.

Eventually we move from the Binniguenda into the Sheraton, which fills up with Mexican families over the weekend.

Our room is large and airy with a view of the bay. The tap water is purified. One swimming pool is being worked on during our visit, the other is busy night and day. There are tennis courts, a weight room, aerobics classes. Water sports include skiing and jet skis, although parasailing does not seem to have made an appearance yet. A golf course, is next door.

The Sheraton has overpriced shops and three restaurants, also expensive and frequently empty. On weekends, themed dinner buffets draw the crowds. There's a breakfast buffet every morning as well as an a la carte menu, although the poor service I received trying to order a la carte one morning was indication that the buffet (33,000 pesos) was strongly encouraged.

The beach has enough chairs and "palapas" to accommodate even the relatively big weekend crowd. The water is warm and somewhat rougher than at La Entrega, but there are lifeguards. Tour boats cluster at one end of the beach while guides walk the beach peddling their tours. Aside from oyster-divers and an occasional jewelry seller, there are few other vendors.

Across the road are several restaurants and stores, where we go to buy the little necessities at reasonable prices.

The restaurant at the hotel Club Plaza Huatulco has good breakfasts at lower prices than at the Sheraton and one night we are the only customers at the large, attractive Restaurant La Pampa Argentina. I have a tasty kebab of South American beef, but the prime rib is an unappetizing and mysterious cut of meat. Perhaps the restaurant - probably kept afloat by government subsidies - did not want to invest too much in meat when customers are so hard to come by.

It is in Santa Cruz that we discover the beachfront restaurant to which we return several times. The Restaurant Ve El Mar has a sand floor and thatched roof. Chickens stroll between the tables and chairs and mariachis peddle songs. Here we have fresh, crisp tostadas; seafood dishes of the gods; and hallucinogenic margaritas. We are not surprised to see the place packed with locals on Sunday afternoon.

Of course, beyond eating, shopping and being a beach-potato, there's little to do in Huatulco. There are two discos, but seeing how empty everything else is we are not inspired to visit them.

There are movies on TV at night. (We watch a Melanie Mayron movie one evening and a Patrick Swayze movie the next, so you can imagine our dire straits.) By the last day, I am reduced to spying through binoculars on Club Med's three beaches.

Tourism officials predict that Huatulco will be in full swing by the early part of the next century. It no doubt will be a major tourist mecca. But for now, it is just beach, beauty and the chink-chink of hammers as it strives for its potential.

IF YOU GO ----------------------------------------- -- Getting there: There are few direct flights to Huatulco; most flights connect with Mexicana or Aeromexico in Mexico City. Huatulco has its own airport (shared rides to hotels are approximately $7 per person). Or you can fly into Puerto Escondito, about two hours and $90 away by taxi.

-- When to go: Depends on your temperament. November through April is high season. -- Climate: Hot. Muggy. Hot. -- What to bring: Lots of sunscreen. Lots of books. -- Accommodations: - Posada Binniguenda: Pretty, quiet, off the beach. 1-800-262-2656. - Club Med: On its own large slice of Bahia de Tangolunda, with everything you'd expect from a tropical Club Med. 1-800-CLUB MED. - Sheraton Huatulco: Resort hotel with airy ocean-view rooms and lots of amenities. 1-800-325-3535.

- Royal Maeva: All-inclusive resort hotel next to the Sheraton. 1-800-431-2822. - Holiday Inn: A vast complex in the hotel zone, it is scheduled to open for business in late September. 1-800-HOLIDAY.

There are other small hotels as well as a campground at centrally located Chahue Bay. Travel agents can book hotels and provide more information.

-- More information: Contact the Mexican Government Tourist Office, 1-800-44-MEXICO.