Oaxaca: A city of mole, chocolate and color

I'm back from a four day trip to the state of Oaxaca.  It was a beautiful seven hour bus ride from Mexico City and I'm not leaving without some unforgettable memories, lots of mezcal and lots of chocolate.  Here's a map of where I was in Mexico:

The city I visited (Oaxaca de Juarez) is in the middle of the state and I also took a day trip to a few pueblos to the east of the city.

The worst part of the trip was our hotel...it was called Hotel Chocolate Posada and promised to be a dream based on the description, but turned out gross and uncomfortable.  Oh well, lesson learned (and it was really really inexpensive so I don't feel too bad, although my body hates me for attempting to sleep in those beds).  The plus side was that it was in the middle of the city, next to the chocolate shops and right by the mercados where we had delicious meals. And, it was a really cute-looking hotel (so deceiving...):

Most of our time was spent just walking around the city.  While it's considered a relatively large city, it is surprisingly walkable and rather small (I mean, coming from Chicago, the Bay Area and Mexico City it really isn't comparable in terms of size).  I truly loved being there and was sad to go back to Mexico City.  Every city has a feel to it.  When I moved to the bay area I knew that I loved it in just a few days.  When I was living in LA or when I visited New York I knew that I never wanted to live in those cities long term.  And being in Oaxaca just felt right.  While walking we found some pretty amazing views, many street festivals, ate tons of delicious food and drank a lot of mezcal.  Pictures explain it better than I ever could:

Those last two pictures were taken at a dance performance that was part of the indigenous festival happening in Oaxaca called the Guelaguetza. This festival is world famous and the city was full of both Mexican and foreign tourists.  For about a week, all the native indigenous groups of the state of Oaxaca perform and sell artisans and traditions of their culture and the general atmosphere of the city is very festive making it a great time to visit.

On Sunday, we took part in a group tour of nearby Mitla, a pueblo that became a cultural and religious center after the city of Monte Alban was abandoned.  We started in Tule, the home of a 2,000 year old tree, then visited a mezcal factory to learn the process of making and distilling mezcal and to try the differences new and aged mezcal, after that we made a stop at a market that specializes in wool tapestries where they showed us how wool is woven and dyed.  We finally made it to Mitla to see the ruins and the church there (it was the religious center after Monte Alban, which we visited the last day we were in Oaxaca).  The end of the trip was to Hierve de Agua, which is a fantastic story of adventure, which I will get to in a bit.

Cactus buds from the plant used to make mezcal, or its more famous partner, tequila.

Some rugs take up to a couple months to make working from 4 am to 9 pm!

And after a not so appetizing group buffet lunch, we set off on our view of las Cascadas Hierve el Agua.  These are waterfalls that have been petrified thousands of years ago due to the high mineral content of the water. They are literally rock solid white waterfalls.   I was really excited for this part of the tour, but then we unexpectedly came upon a small problem:  The waterfalls are really high up (obviously) and the tour bus we were on was either not equipped to handle the sharp mountainous turns at a steep incline or it was just being driven by the wrong person...either way, it was one of the few times in my life where I felt like I was actually going to die.  The first time the bus stalled trying to make a turn we started to smell a sharp burnt rubber scent and were told to get off the bus immediately as the bus started to roll backwards ON A MOUNTAIN.  Then we were told everything was fine and that we could get back on the bus.  Then it happened a second time and there was no way I was getting back on that bus of death.  We ended up hitching a ride to the waterfalls on the back of a small truck.  Even though the driver was driving crazy fast, it still felt so much safer than taking that bus...The waterfalls were definitely a sight to see and I'm glad we were able to make it up without having to take the bus again.  Turns out that the driver ACCIDENTALLY took the wrong road up...WTF...and the tour company had to drive a new driver to rescue the bus and all the people that stayed.  Anyway, here are some pictures:

The bus caused a big traffic jam on that small road.

Here it's trying to get out of the way and the tour guide was trying to get us to get back on.  Uh uh.  Not happening.

Bye Bye Bus.  On the back of a small truck.  Much safer...definitely.

Beautiful.

After, a much needed michelada and fried plantains.

 The next day, Monday, we were planning on heading out to a small pueblo where they were having a smaller less-touristy version of the indigenous festival, but a late start in the morning kinda squashed that plan. It ended up being totally fine since we wanted to spend more time in the city of Oaxaca anyway and we found new places that we hadn't before, like a mezcal festival with free samples!

There was stand after stand of unique mezcal offerings. 

One of the most ornately designed churches I've ever seen.  The designs are actually covered in gold.

On the last day in Oaxaca, we took another short trip to Monte Alban.  If you read the post on Teotihuacan, Monte Alban is actually sort of a 'cousin' for lack of a better word.  The city was abandoned even though there is evidence that it had a large population and was the religious center of the people.  The ruins are designed very similarly to those in Teotihuacan (which is about an hour and a half north of Mexico City, so about 9 hours from Monte Alban) and show us how advanced these people were in architecture, math, and engineering.  It's amazing how such similar structures and way of living are found across long ranges all over southern Mexico and central America.  I wonder if they knew about each other or if it's just a complete coincidence...Either way, the ruins are a breathtaking visit. 

And afterward, we boarded a bus back to Mexico City!  Very short trip...too short.  Will definitely be coming back, no doubt.  Especially to visit the beaches on the Pacific Coast, which I have heard over and over are some of the prettiest.

And here are the mandatory extra shots:

The pee-pee dance...hehehe

The view on the bus ride was amazing.  Mountains upon mountains.