Tuesday, 31, 2012

January 30, 2012

Yesterday was truly a feast. I took the all day trip to Tule, Teotitlan Del Valle, Mitla, Hierve El Agua and a bustling mescal maker. Of course we also stopped for a buffet that possibly rivals last Sunday's feast at the hacienda. I'm sure there were no less than fifty dishes presented and the heated ones were all kept bubbling hot. Salads, separate salad ingredients, mixed and separate cooked vegetables, sauces with meat and sauces without meat including moles and salsas. A grill serving every possible meat or combination thereof. Starches, such as potatoes, corn meal, four colors of rice etc. Not to mention various kinds of specialties such as chile rellenos and the like. Then "postres" — deserts, fruits, puddings, including the classic arroz con leche. Drinks included everything imaginable with juices from all possible flowers and herbs. OK — Enough! But no exaggeration!

I loved seeing the huge tree at Tule which is said to have the thickest girth of any tree in the world. Impossible to get a picture of its entirety. Quite impressive and beautiful altogether.

It was a joy to visit Teotitlan again after being there several times last year. We visited the cooperative run by the Chavez family and were treated to a very knowledgeable talk and demonstration by one of Eric Chavez's cousins. Deftly switching from Spanish to English and speaking with comfortable authority. He told us that everyone there begins to learn about weaving or spinning and dyeing at age six. Men do most of the weaving but not all. After watching him demonstrate on his loom he showed us a stack of rugs using various natural colors and featuring different levels of difficulty or use of time. It was when he showed us two pieces done by an eight year old boy that I crumbled. I had vowed not to buy any more rugs this year. No space in my suitcase. But yes, I crumbled and bought both of them. By then the van was ready to whisk us away and down the hill to the mescal production.

I enjoyed my own "in English" tour of the mescal producing operation. And I bought 3 small sized bottles of their wares after tasting at least five of them.

The definite highlight of the trip, however, was Mitla. The Zapotec ruins there are extraordinary and said to be greatly influenced by the presence of Mixtec groups that arrived there from the north. Amazing facades are still in tact on the temple walls that aren't going anywhere soon. It's so interesting to see in stone carving and painstakingly detailed mosaics made from individual pieces of stone. All the wonderful patterns one sees in local Zapotec weavings can be found on these walls. Just breathtaking!

Less than an hour from Mitla is the site of our last visit of the day. Hierve El Agua mineral springs was our final destination, reached after a fast entry up and into the mountains. The name, Hierve El Agua translates to boiling water. The water is not hot, however, but loaded with minerals. As you leave the parking area, a wide but precarious trail leads down to the main pools where the water bubbles from the mountainside. As you descend down the increasingly steep pathway,the views of the deep gorges and dramatic mountain formations are awe inspiring in their own right. Evidently, because of local disputes, this site isn't always open for visitors, so I feel doubly pleased that I was able to see it.

Going back through the mountains was perhaps a bit more "rapido" than I like, but I could tell that the nice young man who had taken over driving for this last venture into the mountains, and who had given me the personal mescal tour, had driven this road many times. I told myself to hold on and relax. Then around the bend — Wow! A rainbow. Must have been raining somewhere out there. A beautiful omen and the nice young, fast driving man took me right to my doorstep at Las Mariposas.