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Oaxaca Market |
Itinerary
(B, L, D) = breakfast, lunch, dinner included)
Day 1, Saturday (D). You will want to make your travel arrangements so that you arrive in Oaxaca City by no later than 5 pm. Our hotel is located in the historic center of this Spanish colonial jewel, UNESCO world heritage site, and cultural hub. We will meet at the hotel for an orientation talk with Eric Mindling, our local tour guide, at 6 PM, and then head out for a welcome dinner of fine Oaxaca cuisine. Overnight: Oaxaca.
Day 2, Sunday (L). This morning is market day in the valley Tlacolula valley, and we, along with folks from many surrounding villages will head to Tlacolula to market. We will immerse ourselves today in the swirling, wonderful, and sometimes sensually overwhelming world of the Sunday market to see how shopping has been done for the past few thousand years here. After finding lunch in a market eatery we’ll escape the bustle to a place where there is deep peace…a cedar draped cemetery of topsy turvy tomb stones like you’ve never witnessed before. And then on to a place that’s been around even long, the remains of the Zapotec stone palaces and ball court at Yagul. Birders, bring our binocs, the bluffs here provide good bird watching. In the afternoon we return to Oaxaca. Overnight: Oaxaca.
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In Oaxaca City |
Day 3, Monday (L). We will begin our day with a private guided tour of Oaxaca’s ethnobotanical gardens representing plants from all corners of this mega-diverse state. The gardens are situated in the grounds of the ex-convento of Santo Domingo, itself a site worth seeing. Afterwards we’ll spend the day exploring the old city. Oaxaca has superb museums featuring both the abundant pre-Hispanic as well as burgeoning contemporary art of the region. There are shops offering fine folk art and a downtown market brightly filled with produce and people. The central square of Oaxaca with its towering laurel trees, dappled shade, open cafes and constant stream of passersby is a perfect place to spend an hour or half the day taking in the world around. Overnight: Oaxaca.
Days 4, Tuesday (L,D). Today we leave the city and drive into the Sierra Madre high country, destination: Ixtlan, a timber town surrounded by predominantly pine-oak forests. Ixtlan is a model for sustainable forestry such that the village’s communal lands have maintained such a well-preserved diversity of life that WWF has rated this area as one of the world’s 17 outstandingly diverse ecosystems. We’ll take a hike in the pine forests this afternoon and spend the night in the community owned and operated adobe guest cabins.
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In the pine-scented highlands of Oaxaca |
Day 5, Wednesday (B,L,D). This morning birders can head out early with a guide to do some bird watching. Today we’ll have a guided tour of Ixtlan’s saw mill and furniture factory. These are models of truly sustainable, socially responsible businesses that actively set an example for the rest of Latin America. These are well-run village owned coops that are the heart of this village’s economy and sustainable forestry practices. For lunch we’ll visit another little coop that is producing tasty trout from the cold creeks of this high country. There should also be time to visit town and take a short hike before we return to our cabins in the pines and have dinner at the diner there. Overnight: Ixtlan.
Day 6, Thursday (B,L,D). We’ll journey on from Ixtlan, travelling through the sierra until we come to the high ridges over looking the Oaxaca valley. Here, where agave plants grow bigger than Volkswagon Beetles, we’ll stop and give ourselves a good hike. Then we head down the steep mountain side and back into the Oaxaca valley. Our destination is the legendary Zapotec rug weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle where we will spend the next three nights in the little B&B run by a fine rug weaver and master natural dyer. Teotitlan will serve as a perfect base camp by which to explore this richly cultural Zapotec valley. This village is famous for its traditions, beautifully crafted weaving, indigenous culture and pride, Zapotec language, amazing cuisine, and outstandingly hospitable people. Overnight: Teotitlan.
Day 7, Friday (B,L,D). We’ll begin the day with a visit to Teotitlan’s very local morning market next to the church. Here you can try out a chocolate corn drink, corn pudding, corn tamales or boiled turkey blood. You choose. There are no protein bars or soy smoothies here however. Then we travel to one of the best preserved pre-Hispanic structures in Mexico, the palace of Mitla, legendary for the craftsmanship in the stone mosaic designs that adorn the complex. From here we head to the hills, travelling to a mineral spring called Hierve el Agua, where we’ll have a chance for a hike through an arid landscape of cactus, agaves, desert palm and frozen waterfalls! You’ll see what I mean when we get there. There are also spring fed pools to swim in, fine views and a little palm thatched eatery called Alice’s Restaurant where all they serve are quesadillas made from fresh tortillas and local cheese with soda or beer. We can supplement the meal with a visit to a family run mescal still in the village. Overnight: Teotitlan.
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Your trip guide making tortillas in Teotitlan |
Day 8, Saturday (B,L,D). We head across the valley this morning to a small foothill village of potters who have been working in this same spot for a couple thousand years. We’ll visit a family of Zapotec women who are master potters and see how they create art from corn field clay. Then we head back to Teotitlan and explore the town that has been out our front door a bit more in depth. This is a town of 5,000 weavers and we’ll head out and meet a couple of them, learn about Spanish floor looms, tapestry weaving and natural dyeing. We’ll also enjoy the treat of a home cooked meal in a weaver’s household. Overnight: Teotitlan.
Day 9, Sunday (B,L,D).We pack our van, bid farewell and head into the spiny sticks today. We travel to the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán valley biosphere reserve, famous for its spectacular diversity in cactus and bats (though if you ask an Oaxacan they’ll tell you it’s the mangos, limes, and heat that give this place its name!). For us it will be a river, red rock cliffs, cactus forests, hikes, quiet evenings and a search for a certain bird that will give this place it’s name. And maybe the heat. We’ll be staying in a little village that time seems to have forgotten, a place out of a Clint Eastwood movie called Quiotepec. This friendly town now has cabins to receive visitors and lots to see. We’ll take a hike this afternoon to get a lay of the land and river. Overnight: Quiotepec.
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Hierve el Agua Mineral Spring |
Day 10, Monday (B,L,D). Aside from cactus and mangos, this area is also known for the military macaw. The population and distribution of the Military Macaw has been decreasing over the past fifty years. The abundance of the Military Macaw has now decreased to less than 10,000 globally. This decrease is mostly due to deforestation and the capturing of wild birds for the pet trade industry. Military Macaws are now listed as Vulnerable on the 2006 IUCN Red List Category. A healthy and protected population of these macaws roosts in the steep and inaccessible side canyons of the Cuicatlan valley and biosphere reserve. In the day they fly high into the mountains to feed on nuts and fruits. Our hope today is to spot these beautiful birds at one of their common roosting sites. While we cannot guarantee that they’ll be there, the odds are good. We will wait for them to return to their roost after their daily feeding. They arrive around 5:30 pm like Honey coming home from work. It is roughly a 2 hour, up hill hike to get to the overlook and blind where we observe the birds from. NOTE: This hike is not for everyone. The climb is steep at parts, we begin in the heat of the day and return after dark. We will discuss the conditions before leaving. If there are folks who opt out you have the option of staying in the village to explore, visit or splash around in the river. Overnight: Quiotepec.
Day 11, Tuesday (B,L,D). We rise in the pre-dawn cool for a breakfast of fresh fruit and tamales and then and then head out to the almost unknown and seldom visited red stone ruins across the river. The ruins top a large hill at the convergence of two rivers. In the morning cool, we will hike up and explore these ruins like the old-time discoverers of antiquity. These ruins are just now beginning to be excavated and understood. The location and views are breathtaking. Should the sun become hot, we will descend back down to the cool river below to splash and swim or take shade under a willow. Returning to our base camp we’ll have an early lunch and then load up for our return journey to Oaxaca. You’ll have a bit of free time this afternoon in the city to clean up and stroll before we have our last group dinner. Overnight: Oaxaca.
Day 12, Wednesday. Departures…or trip to the beach? |
This is a journey into a remote and beautiful corner of Mexico. Oaxaca is known for natural and human diversity and in this trip we explore both. Our path takes us from the 5,000 foot high, semi arid central valleys filled with villages and corn farmers to the 9,000 foot high pine forests of the Sierra Madre and into a deep river valley of red rock and cactus forests like you’ve never seen before. We’ll meet indigenous potters and weavers, Zapotec villagers who run one of the most sustainable forestry operations in Mexico, small town mango farmers and fire water distillers. We will travel from small villages seldom visited by tourists to the bustling and delicious world heritage city of Oaxaca, we visit markets, crumbling pre-Hispanic temples and take hikes on trails that have transported people and trade good for thousands of years.
This is a special trip, a small group of family and friends joining for a custom adventure into a place where few go.
