Oaxaca
Day 66 to Day 68
Thursday May 13th to Saturday May 15th, 2010
Arriaga, Chiapas to Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Oaxaca Day
Oaxaca to Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico
Mexcal Capital
After the long days of flat, hot and dry high speed riding I was looking forward to heading back into the hills of Oaxaca. I was expecting something lush like the moutain roads through Chiapas. Much to my surprise and delight ...not that I don't like lush and green... It was typical desert scenery. The road twisted and turned relentlessly uphill while with every turn there were new vistas of cacti, reddish brown earth and barren hills. At one point there were even my favourite pine forests for a short stretch. The landscape was dotted with fields of agave and roadside vendors of "mexcal artisanal" were selling a whole variety of locally made mexcal. I caught whiffs of the distilling process as I rounded corner upon corner. For some reason I ended up not trying any mexcal at all ...I have tried it in the past. Maybe the first vendor I saw, with plastic pop bottles filled with "mexcal artisanal" kinda put me off :-) Cue up the banjos and fire up the stills, boys! But in all fairness, the rest of them seemed like reputable small producers ...with proper bottles and all.
The heat was more intense than in Chiapas and I took a little break in some small village along the way. Pre teens were sitting and standing in front of the vilage store, too listless and exhausted from the heat to do anything except slowly lift their eyelids to acknowledge my presence.
Subversive Graffiti, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Angelic Aparition?, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Cedar Door, Oaxaca, Oaxaca. Want one for myself
The twisty dry landscape gave way to straight and flat dry landscape as I approached Oaxaca. I had some trouble finding an affordable hotel in Oaxaca. After all, it is the state capital ...and beautiful to boot. I had no luck with bargaining at the more expensive places and was resigned to moving on to another city before the sun set. I took the wrong road and ended up at the closed gates to Monte Alban. So I decided to head back to Oaxaca for another try. within minutes of reentering the city I had found a little 250 peso place where I lounged while listening to the torrential rains and thunderclaps.
The Crumbly Part, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Monasterio Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
The previous day I had noticed that something wasn't quite right with my battery. It was barely turning over the engine but managed to get me going anyway. A couple of hours of riding and it was still doing the same thing. When I restarted the bike once more in the village with the melting children, it cranked over beautifully and without hesitation. Problem solved, I thought.
Monasterio Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Pro Bicycle Graffiti, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Today was to be my day to visit the ruins at Monte Alban. I unloaded the bike and proceeded to start it up. Nothing! Nada! Rien! Nichts! The battery was dead. I was already imagining something bad, and expensive, while first checking cable connections and then removing the battery. It turns out that the battery was pretty much dry. So much for Bavaria Motors in Panama City checking the battery fluid during the 30,000km service. There's simply no way the battery could have been serviced and then ended up dry this quickly. I found some distilled water for 50 cents and refilled the battery. Much to my surprise and delight, the starter cranked over like it had never had a problem in the first place. I didn't need to recharge the battery at all.
Typical Street Scene and Architecture, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Youth Marimba Players, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
So much for Monte Alban, but a stroll through Oaxaca was still possible. I must say Oaxaca is great. Even though people honk in traffic jams, I'll never understand that one, it's a delight to walk through the nicely restored/kept core. There's a long pedestrian zone with restaurants, shops and night clubs filled with Oaxacans enjoying their Friday evening. The oversized Zocalo was teeming with people from all ages. Kids were mock fighting with air filled tube shaped balloons, older folks were sitting listening to a musical youth talent show and everyone was well behaved. Clowns were entertaining the smaller children and a few dazed foreigners were taking it all in. A troupe of 5 young Marimba players from nearby were wowing the crowds and receiving standing ovations. I'm not sure how they managed to perform an Italian classical piece on two Marimbas, but they did.
There's a Donkey in There Somewhere
Another long day lay in store for me as I headed out of Oaxaca towards Taxco, Guerrero. Light rain was falling and I was bundled up in my rain gear. Soon I had to stop to put on my fleece jacket and cycling gloves to keep warm. It was actually quite nice not to be overheating for a change. The road once more climbs and twists as if trying to reach the gods in the skies. The dry, scrub filled desert landscape changes to cool pine forests shrouded in mist. One curve turns into another in a smorgasboard of hill carving. Then it all drops down again and all the gear has to come off once more to prevent from overheating.
Typical Church in Puebla State.
I'm finding Mexico to be quite expensive after almost 2 months in the land of $10 hotels. I'm torn between heading across the border fast ...where I can camp or be put up by other travellers... and just gritting my teeth and enjoying this wonderful country a bit more.
I'm now less than an hour south of Mexico City and will probably head to Taxco tomorrow. Mexico City does tempt me and it would be shame to miss it now that I'm so close. Will she do it? Will she chicken out? ...stay tuned.
Thursday May 13th to Saturday May 15th, 2010
Arriaga, Chiapas to Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Oaxaca Day
Oaxaca to Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico
Mexcal Capital
After the long days of flat, hot and dry high speed riding I was looking forward to heading back into the hills of Oaxaca. I was expecting something lush like the moutain roads through Chiapas. Much to my surprise and delight ...not that I don't like lush and green... It was typical desert scenery. The road twisted and turned relentlessly uphill while with every turn there were new vistas of cacti, reddish brown earth and barren hills. At one point there were even my favourite pine forests for a short stretch. The landscape was dotted with fields of agave and roadside vendors of "mexcal artisanal" were selling a whole variety of locally made mexcal. I caught whiffs of the distilling process as I rounded corner upon corner. For some reason I ended up not trying any mexcal at all ...I have tried it in the past. Maybe the first vendor I saw, with plastic pop bottles filled with "mexcal artisanal" kinda put me off :-) Cue up the banjos and fire up the stills, boys! But in all fairness, the rest of them seemed like reputable small producers ...with proper bottles and all.
The heat was more intense than in Chiapas and I took a little break in some small village along the way. Pre teens were sitting and standing in front of the vilage store, too listless and exhausted from the heat to do anything except slowly lift their eyelids to acknowledge my presence.
Subversive Graffiti, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Angelic Aparition?, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Cedar Door, Oaxaca, Oaxaca. Want one for myself
The twisty dry landscape gave way to straight and flat dry landscape as I approached Oaxaca. I had some trouble finding an affordable hotel in Oaxaca. After all, it is the state capital ...and beautiful to boot. I had no luck with bargaining at the more expensive places and was resigned to moving on to another city before the sun set. I took the wrong road and ended up at the closed gates to Monte Alban. So I decided to head back to Oaxaca for another try. within minutes of reentering the city I had found a little 250 peso place where I lounged while listening to the torrential rains and thunderclaps.
The Crumbly Part, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Monasterio Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
The previous day I had noticed that something wasn't quite right with my battery. It was barely turning over the engine but managed to get me going anyway. A couple of hours of riding and it was still doing the same thing. When I restarted the bike once more in the village with the melting children, it cranked over beautifully and without hesitation. Problem solved, I thought.
Monasterio Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Pro Bicycle Graffiti, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Today was to be my day to visit the ruins at Monte Alban. I unloaded the bike and proceeded to start it up. Nothing! Nada! Rien! Nichts! The battery was dead. I was already imagining something bad, and expensive, while first checking cable connections and then removing the battery. It turns out that the battery was pretty much dry. So much for Bavaria Motors in Panama City checking the battery fluid during the 30,000km service. There's simply no way the battery could have been serviced and then ended up dry this quickly. I found some distilled water for 50 cents and refilled the battery. Much to my surprise and delight, the starter cranked over like it had never had a problem in the first place. I didn't need to recharge the battery at all.
Typical Street Scene and Architecture, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Youth Marimba Players, Oaxaca, Oaxaca
So much for Monte Alban, but a stroll through Oaxaca was still possible. I must say Oaxaca is great. Even though people honk in traffic jams, I'll never understand that one, it's a delight to walk through the nicely restored/kept core. There's a long pedestrian zone with restaurants, shops and night clubs filled with Oaxacans enjoying their Friday evening. The oversized Zocalo was teeming with people from all ages. Kids were mock fighting with air filled tube shaped balloons, older folks were sitting listening to a musical youth talent show and everyone was well behaved. Clowns were entertaining the smaller children and a few dazed foreigners were taking it all in. A troupe of 5 young Marimba players from nearby were wowing the crowds and receiving standing ovations. I'm not sure how they managed to perform an Italian classical piece on two Marimbas, but they did.
There's a Donkey in There Somewhere
Another long day lay in store for me as I headed out of Oaxaca towards Taxco, Guerrero. Light rain was falling and I was bundled up in my rain gear. Soon I had to stop to put on my fleece jacket and cycling gloves to keep warm. It was actually quite nice not to be overheating for a change. The road once more climbs and twists as if trying to reach the gods in the skies. The dry, scrub filled desert landscape changes to cool pine forests shrouded in mist. One curve turns into another in a smorgasboard of hill carving. Then it all drops down again and all the gear has to come off once more to prevent from overheating.
Typical Church in Puebla State.
I'm finding Mexico to be quite expensive after almost 2 months in the land of $10 hotels. I'm torn between heading across the border fast ...where I can camp or be put up by other travellers... and just gritting my teeth and enjoying this wonderful country a bit more.
I'm now less than an hour south of Mexico City and will probably head to Taxco tomorrow. Mexico City does tempt me and it would be shame to miss it now that I'm so close. Will she do it? Will she chicken out? ...stay tuned.
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