![[huatulco church]](images/huatulcochurch.jpeg)
In 1616, the Spanish destroyed and abandoned the port, moving their
settlements further inland, as they did elsewhere along the coast,
which explains why the county seat of so many municipalities here are
located where they are.
The name Huatulco comes from Quauhtlelco, a Nahuatl name that means "place where wood is worshipped" from cuauhtli - timber; telosa - to bow; and co, meaning place of.
Legend has it that when the Spaniards first arrived there they were astonished to find the Indians praying to a cross.
They were told that long ago, an old, bearded white man came from the sea and presented the cross and told them to revere it.
The Catholic church recognizes this mysterious visitor as the apostle Saint Thomas, but to students of prehispanic México, he is the Plumed Serpent, Quetzalcoatl or Kulkan, the bringer of culture for the Toltecs and the Maya.
The cross is said to have withstood those pirates attacks, even Cavendish's attempts to burn it and pull it down with his ship.
In 1612, Bishop Juan de Cervantes brought part of the cross to the
cathedral in Oaxaca. From this piece he fashioned a copy of the
original, which can be seen today in the church in Santa Maria Huatulco,
a clean, pleasant town surrounded by impressive mountain peaks. Other
fragments of the Holy Cross are said to be kept in the cathedral of
Puebla and in the Vatican.