HUATULCO, Mexico — If we didn’t know what to do as first-time visitors to this little-known hamlet off the Pacific, and we really didn’t, the decision was made for us. Huatulco is known for its church, the Our Lady of Guadelupe, so when it’s 10 to 10 on Sunday and there’s a man on the roof ringing the bell, you really have only one choice.
You go to church.
This is not totally out of character for us, going to a church of another different faith in a foreign land to listen to a service we wouldn’t understand. Once we walked into a church in Holland for a service that was Dutch to us. Yesterday in Our Lady’s house, most of it was Dutch to us again.
This was in La Crucecita, Huatulco’s principal suburb. Tour buses are always out front, even when there’s no service, and the tourists are easy to spot. We’re the ones who have to be reminded to remove our caps as we enter the sanctuary. Oops. Despite that, there was a welcome in English and even one reading in English for the smattering of non-Hispanic, camera-snapping visitors.
While not every cruise ship is fortunate enough to be here on a Sunday, the Celebrity Millennium was, for nine hours, sufficient to see enough of “Mexico’s Oaxacan gem” to want to return. 
A cruise ship in this harbor looks like a tight squeeze, yet there’s room for two at a time in one of the 10 bays along the southern coast, and depending on whom you ask there are either 15 or 90 cruise ships here each year — it’s likely somewhere in between.
Little English is spoken, even outside the church, but the appreciation the locals have for tourists is obvious. Above one establishment was a sign that read “Welcome our dear tourists” and, with probably more taxis per capita than even New York City, there’s no shortage of people wanting to help. The streets are clean and the prices, jacked up to tourist level, are blatantly negotiable — “A Monty Hall Store, Let’s Make a Deal.”
When it comes to food, you pick your spots, and sometimes you don’t really know because the $ is used for pesos and dollars alike. We found a small restaurant, El Chisme, with quesadillas for $1.20 each, so our lunch bill was only $8 — that’s dollars. It’s at the corner of Carrizal and Flamboyan, if you must know.
The competition must keep taxi fares reasonable. We rode from the ship to La Crucecita, at least a couple of miles, for $2 plus tip. We went from La Crucecita back past the ship and along the shore to Huatulco’s hidden beach gem, Playa La Entrega, and later back to the ship for $11, that high only because our driver waited half an hour for us. 
This is a beach that doesn’t make it onto cruise-ship maps or shore excursions, which is why it’s 80 to 90 per cent locals, but our cab driver, Tereso Jarquin, knew exactly where to go.
One more thing about Our Lady of Guadelupe. The kids’ choir was terrific, the Padre could sing, too, and the church was jammed. Nothing gets lost in the translation there.
That’s it…we’re done.