The above map is a work in progress showing some Costa Chica communities. The climate is very hot most of the year, and the summer rains can make transportation somewhat difficult, as the roads don't generally hold up that well. There are few major tourist attractions in the parts of the Costa Chica where most blacks live, although there are a few pleasant local beaches: Playa Ventura and Punta Maldonado in Guerrero and the beach at Corralero in Oaxaca. I should also mention the wildlife reserve in Chacahua, Oaxaca located near the black town of the same name.

While the Costa Chica is home to many blacks, there are also many indigenous groups, as well. I have spent very little time learning about these people, and can't speak with very much confidence about them.  What I do know is that there are two major indigenous ethnic groups in the region: the Amuzgos [pictured to the left] and the coastal Mixtecs, (and to a lesser extent, Tlapanecos and Chatinos). What is also clear to me is that there is very little social interaction between blacks and indigenous people. Part of this is the issue of the language barrier, but I believe the issue is much more complex than that. There has been a long history of hostility between the two groups, and while today there is no open hostility, negative stereotypes abound on both parts.

Most of the homes in the region were round mud huts, whose roots have been traced back to what is now Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Now, the norm is a one-room or two-room house with wall of adobe or cement cinder block.

The economic base of the Costa Chica, not unlike most of the rest of the countryside, is agricultural. These campesinos, or peasant farmers, concentrate most of their efforts in the cultivation of corn, almost exclusively in order to make tortillas for their own consumption. Other common crops are coconut, mango, sesame, and some watermelon.