Ventanilla

Ventanilla has 649 residents (2020 census; 634 in 2010 and 483 in 2005) and lies on the coastal plain of Santa María Colotepec, at an altitude of 40 to 64 m depending on the source. It is one of the municipality's 78 localities, set inland with no beach of its own. Do not mix it up with La Ventanilla in Santa María Tonameca, the crocodile lagoon near Mazunte: they are two separate places that share a name.

The name became familiar through the Barranca Larga-Ventanilla motorway. The 104 km road, which opened in early 2024, starts at federal highway 200 at the Ventanilla junction and climbs to highway 175 at Barranca Larga, close to the city of Oaxaca. This end has one of the two toll plazas, Ventanilla, at a spot called Paso Lagarto. For drivers coming down from the capital it is the last toll before Puerto Escondido.

The village itself is small and rural. Its nearest neighbours are Aguaje Ramírez, about 1.8 km away with 128 residents, and Charco Seco, about 3.4 km away with 117. In 2020 nearly every home had electricity (98%), nine in ten had piped water and 92% had a cell phone, though only 13% had internet. About 8% of people identify as Indigenous. There is no registered lodging in the village; hotels and hostels are in Puerto Escondido and Zicatela, the latter about 16 km away.

As elsewhere in the municipality, each community marks its patron saint with mass, a calenda parade, brass bands and dancing, often a rodeo, over three days. We did not find the date of Ventanilla's fiesta; ask locally.