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Articles Tagged ‘Oaxaca’

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The Oaxaca Rollercoaster

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

Day: 21
Awake early we walked in the crisp cool Oaxacan morning air to catch our bus to the coast. In the distance puffy low clouds obscured the tops of the mountains, a beautiful send off from Oaxaca. Finally we were headed to the beaches. For the first time on the trip we weren’t on a luxurious Mexican bus. For the remote Oaxacan coast we were taking a share mini-van. It was a 14 seater and aboard was us, an italian tourist and a couple of mothers with their young daughters. Pretty empty really. The driver stood on the corner yelling out repeatedly our final destination in an effort to attract new passengers, “pooochuuutla Pochutla”. It was quite comical to watch, he would just point at random people asking them about going to Pochutla, a 6 hour trip away.

Eventually we were off and about 2 hours in we climbed high into the mountains. This is where the fun started. I don’t think the road was ever straight for more than 20 metres. After climbing high into cool pine forests we raced down to the Oaxacan coastal plain. It felt like we were on a roller coaster. One of those rides where your hips get sore from the constant right then left movement. Personally I was loving the ride and admiring the incredible change of scenery to tropic jungle when I looked over at Jordana. She looked liked someone had just punched her in the stomach, her face was pale white. “I told you to take some gravol”, I blurted out to her. Probably not what you want to hear when you feel sick, but she should have listened to me. After the dirty look she gave me I just went back to gazing out at the thick green jungle.

Finally we arrived in the hot, dusty town of Pochutla. Jordana made it without being sick, I can’t say the same for the young girl seated in front of us. We quickly grabbed a cold coke, funny how I only drink soft drinks while travelling, and then easily found a taxi for 100 pesos for the 15 km drive to the coast. It had been a dizzy but absolutely spectacular drive. I thought how the best places we’ve come across while travelling are always the harder ones to get too, hopefully San Agustinillo wouldn’t prove any different.

Posted in Mexico | 1 Comment »

Lov’in Those Olmecs

Sunday, November 25th, 2007

Day: 19

Our first day in the beautiful colonial city of Oaxaca and we are taking a bus 10km outside of the city. Situated atop a mountain are the Olmec ruins of Monte Alban. I had been excited to get here ever since we were in Chicago at the Field Museum. They had a large exhibit on the Olmecs and specifically Monte Alban. I had never even heard of Monte Alban before, but it looked and sounded incredible.

The day started with a huge filling breakfast at a hole in the wall restaurant. I had the Entofrioladas, no way I spelt that right, anyways this is a huge plate of soft tortillas, eggs, beans all drenched in a mole sauce. Mole is a chocolate based sauce that is slightly spicy. More about mole later, all this and coffee for 25 pesos. Very tasty stuff.

Our bus left the city limits and quickly headed up the mountains to Monte Alban. After paying at the ticket office and seeing the small but excellent site museum we walked up a short hill to the main site. Wow, what a terrific view of Oaxaca City and of the surrounding mountains. Down in the valley below small fires burnt, farmers clearing their land. In front of us was the vast gran plaza of Monte Alban. To our immediate right was the southern terrace, a massive structure built into the hillside with even more buildings beyond and atop it. To our left at the far end was the northern terrace, an even taller structure that looks over the vast plaza. All along the sides of the plaza are temples with beautiful carvings. We wandered the site for just over 2 hours. There were ruins everywhere, down hillsides and of course the well preserved ones around the main plaza. Late in the day distant thunder echoed across the valley and added to the experience. The ruins here are very impressive and the setting is stunning, we both enjoyed the experience of Monte Alban over the more famous Teotihucan. Monte Alban is an incredibly peaceful and beautiful place. If you are ever in this part of Mexico do not miss it.

Back in town we spent the afternoon sipping coffee around the zocolo. Apparently we had missed a large anti-capitalist protest that left graffiti all over the city. Including covering the walls of our hotel. It reminded me of the large student riots that occurred here in Oaxaca last year. However this time all was peaceful and by nightfall city workers armed with buckets of paint, painted over the leftist messages.

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Hail, Nacho and Oaxaca

Saturday, November 24th, 2007
Day: 18 An uneventful travel day so a very short entry. We battled the Mexico City metro one more time. This time we brought weapons, our backpacks. The station for our bus to Oaxaca is only a few stops and ... [Continue reading this entry]

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