We toured the countryside today through a travel agent as it would be impossible to cover so much ground in one day by public transport. And it wasn’t expensive at about MXP200 (about EUR10) for 9 hours excluding admission tickets and lunch.
First stop was the town of Tule to see the fattest tree in the world. It is often billed as the largest tree in the world but this is not so … the guide explains that it is a Mexican tree and like Mexicans it isn’t big lengthwise but in girth. It is over 2000 years old and has a diameter of about 14m. It weights in at a whopping 636 tonnes.
We then made a stop at Teotitlan which is the centre of rug-making. Members of the group had a go at preparing wool for making into yarn and spinning it … it certainly looks easier than reality! We then learnt about various natural dyes and their sources. Of course this finished with a display of various works by the artist … but without the hard-sell.
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- The big tree at Tule.
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- At the church by the big tree at Tule.
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- The big tree at Tule.
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- The big tree at Tule.
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- Rug-making workshop at Teotitlan.
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- Cochineale (pinky) is derived from squashing an insect. The colour can be varied by adding lemon (red) and baking soda (purple).
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- Colours from natural dyes.
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- Shrine at Teotitlan rug workshop.
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- Shrine at Teotitlan rug workshop.
Next was a bit of the great outdoors … we drove about 50 minutes to Hierve el Agaua which are a couple of calcified cascades. Calcium-rich water comes out from high ground and driblles downhill leaving white terraces. There are a couple of pools taking a cool dip.
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- Hierve el Agua; calcified cascades.
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- Pool at Hierve el Agua.
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- Hierve el Agua; calcified cascades.
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- At Hierve el Agua; calcified cascades.
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- At Hierve el Agua; calcified cascades.
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- Pool at Hierve el Agua.
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- Hierve el Agua; calcified cascades.
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- Cool dip at the pool at Hierve el Agua.
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- Lunch; lining our tummies before going to the mezcal factory.
For something historic, we visited Mitla which has Zapotec ruins from 2-3 centuries before ths Spanish conquest. These ruins are a mix of religious sites and necropolis. While these ruins are not as towering as others, the size of each block of stone is enormous and no one really knows how they were brought here. I try to imagine what they would have looked like with the original brightly-coloured plaster.
Last stop was the Mezcal factory where we were shown the process for making the spirit that is derived from the maguey (agarve) plant. IT differs from tequila only by the variety of agarve. While I’m not a spiritual person and don’t appreciate shots of pure spirit, I found the various fruity blends very palatable …. mango, pistachio, strawberry, pina colada … you name it. It is just too easy to drink and over indulge!
It was a enjoyable day with a mix of the historic, cultural and the outdoors. Much better than going to Monte Alban pyramids as we’ll have other pyramids to go to later in the trip.
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- Zapotec ruins at Mitla.
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- Zapotec ruins at Mitla.
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- Zapotec ruins at Mitla.
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- Zapotec ruins at Mitla; frieze on the inside.
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- Zapotec ruins at Mitla; detail of the frieze on the inside.
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- The maguey plant from which mezcal is derived is slightly different from that used for tequila.
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- The maguey plant from which mezcal is derived is slightly different from that used for tequila.
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- Many flavours of mezcal.
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- Enjoying more mezcal, courtesy from the gentleman from Monterrey.
