Oaxaca

Monte Alban stretches out behind us and behind that the city of Oaxaca.

There are hundreds on little stores and stands selling Mexcal in Oaxaca. When I heard the name Mexcal I had visions of a worm swimming in the bottom of a bottle of tequilla, this is actually true. Indians made the mexcal from the aquave plant, used the fibre for making fabric etc. and ate the worms that lived in the plant. Thus, the worm in the bottom of the bottle!


Ken checks out the legs in the market.

Santo Domingo Cathedral, every wall shone from gold or silver.

We spent 3 pleasant days touring from Taxco to Oaxaca, riding again through the mountains. In this area you can see where water is coming out of the ground and in one town we stopped in they had made hot pools you could visit, we didn't stop and in retrospect I wish we would have made the time. The difference in this short leg of our trip is that on our last day, wanting to make a little time, we took the toll highway for about 60km at a cost of about $51 pesos or $4.50. The highway was great, it cut off about 30 kms and NO TOPES!!!

Arriving in Oaxaco we found it a bit more expensive but it is a big city, about 350,000 people, and very touristic so I guess it was to be expected. However, we managed to find a very cute hotel for $300 pesos and we settled to in the big city life. The first thing on our agenda was to visit Monte Alban, the oldest of the Zapotec ruins, dating back from 300 BC to about 800AD. They were by far the largest ruins we have visited and for the first time we hired a guide, $300 pesos but money well spent. From him we learned a lot about the ruins and because he spoke English quite well we were also able to talk to him about things that are happening in Mexico today, just the thing Ken enjoys doing. On the same day we rode out of town and visited a tree which they claim to be the biggest in the world, over 14mt. wide and 38 mt in circumference and over 2000 years old. We both agreed it was pretty darn big!

The rest of our stay we parked the bike, again in the foyer of our hotel, and hit the streets of Oaxaca visiting many of the squares, churches, and overwhelming markets. We even enjoyed a class of wine and a beer sitting at one one the restaurants around the main Zokalo. We found the St. Domingo cathedral absolutely amazing...the money. And the Asbesto market was bigger than any of the others and the walk from our hotel was very interesting, walking through streets with some very friendly girls and some hotels way cheaper than any we had seen in the rest on town. Oaxaca is a very artsy city, housing many theatres for art and music, museums, and if you are looking for Mexican handicrafts this is the place to come. One of the hotels we checked out in the arts district was over $200.00 and I'm sure it is not near the top of the scale.

We have really enjoyed our time here but we not feel the need for warmth and the sand. Today we head for Puerto Angel, on the west coast. Time to take some clothes off and put some sunscreen on!