La Cruz Cultural Centre; Octopus Garden

La Cruz cultural centre; Jardin del Pulpo, Octopus’s Garden or Hikuri… one wonderful place.

Oxford dictionary defines Cultural:

The intellectual and artistic achievement or expression; refined appreciation of the arts, etc;
Customs, achievements, etc., of a particular civilization or group;

The Octopus’s Garden is truly the cultural centre of La Cruz. There’s always the fabulous fresh roasted Nayarit coffee; both a café to sit while enjoying and available to take home. Organic coffee is grown by local Huichol Indians and roasted on-site by Wayland’s hand!

There’s the breakfast café; the treehouse studio and restaurant; the sprung wood dance floor where salsa, yoga, and other classes are held and movie nights too. An onsite hostel and, not to be missed, the gem of this oasis; the Huichol art gallery and store.

With great thanks for our community’s never-ending support Aruna and Wayland Octopus´s Garden is the sanctuary so many enjoy. Aruna proclaimed “Taking a different tack (sailors term for direction) we’re renting rooms at our hostel and focusing on dance and exercise on the sprung wood dance floor .”

Wayland & Aruna continue to manage.

- Coffee roasting,
- Huichol Gallery
- Dance and exercise classes in the salon upstairs; review the weekly schedule posted at Octopus’s garden and online on their Facebook page;
  - Yoga;
  - Hugo with Salsa;
  - Ecstatic dance;
  - Movie nights;
  - Concerts
  - And more…
  - The Hostel.

The overall experience;

Aruna “When we first set up in La Cruz we were printing T-shirts. We’ve moved from the T-shirt industry towards entertainment, turning the shady garden patio into a restaurant and music venue with a palapa covered bar upstairs. Since there was nowhere for dancing or classes, we decided to build the large salon, upstairs in the cool breeze between the trees, with a sprung wooden dance floor and a beautifully arched roof of laminated bows. Now there are dancers; Salsa, Tango, and the local favorite Cumbia! Our hostel is attracting travelers from all over the world. Come and visit our oasis!”

Yoga amongst the beautiful tree tops.

I interviewed the proprietors to find out a little about the backgrounds:

I asked Aruna to share how their family came here and created this La Cruz cultural centre:

“Wayland, Kaerolik and I sailed into La Cruz in March 1990 on our 36-foot catamaran, Taulua, after 8 years traveling from England.

We came to the Bay of Banderas to meet the Huichol people and over the 25 years we’ve been here have made many friends among them and visited the sierra mountains lots of times, learning about their very unusual way of life and their remarkable traditions. Of all the indigenous people in the world they have the most shamans per capita and are some of the most expressive.

Kaerolik, our daughter, now lives in Puerto Vallarta. She happily entered school here when we moved off the boat, and now is an Environmental Engineer with her own consulting business.

We had built our catamaran in England with unusual materials: pine beams and stringers from our London home that was to be demolished, ashwood ribs cut in the woods of the Cotswolds, and for the skin – canvas and paper and tar. Her design a blend of the Polynesian multi-hull and the Irish curragh, the finished boat was very elegant… though our yachting friends often said she looked like she was from another planet! Stay tuned for Wayland and Aruna’s autobiography of their journey on their paper boat and beyond.

The original ‘tender’ above the kitchen window.

When we first set up in La Cruz we were printing T-shirts to finance our work with the Huichol; which was to build several spinning wheels and introduce them to the women so they could augment their traditional weaving skills. This screen printing was one of the first industries of la Cruz, and over the years more than 60 people from the village worked in “Hikuri” as the business was called. The 8 armed printing machines are called “octopus” in Spanish, so when people started knocking on the door to buy our wholesale shirts, and we had no time to cook for ourselves, we opened a small café in the patio and called it “The Octopus´s Garden” after the Beatles song. Through our connection with the Huichol, we started a collection of artwork; their yarn paintings are like a window into another world. This is now on show in the Huichol Gallery here and many beautiful pieces are for sale as well.

The Hostel; With 28; two double rooms and two twin rooms. There are two dorms – 10 beds in the mixed one and 8 in the women’s. These are on the first floor up, and share showers and kitchen and a social area. Apart from this, we have the Garden Room with its own kitchen and bath, this is especially recommended for social people who like music. Towels and sheets are provided.

The little village of La Cruz grew, first with a highway to Puerto Vallarta, and then with the Marina, but still, it is a friendly family town where people sit at their doors to chat in the cool of the evening, and visitors are welcomed. The large Huanacaxtle trees that grace the town have ear-shaped seedpods, and we like to say that so many musicians have moved here because all the trees are listening.”

Casa Hule has joined the team. Visit Italy in La Cruz, Mexico; savor the flavors!