Oaxaca Part I
As I sit in the hotel room and write, Matt is taking the bus back to our last hotel where we hope our tent poles and stakes are waiting for him. This extra “rest” day is not completely unwelcome; we have descended from the mountains and are finding the heat and humidity of the low lands as large an adversary to riding as the mountains were. Perhaps a day of heat without the exertion will help in acclimating.
After more than a week in Mexico City and almost two weeks without riding (due to bussing in and out of the city,) we are happy to be on the road again. The first two days on the bikes were great, we were feeling strong and not encountering too many hills. The Footprint Guide told us that the toll road between Puebla and Oaxaca was beautiful and stayed between 1500 and 1800 meters in elevation. Very nice, at least for those first two days. Then we found ourselves descending to below 1100 meters only to spend the rest of the day climbing back to an elevation of almost 2200 meters (for a total of over 2000 meters of elevation gain—our biggest day of climbing to date)! The moral of the story—never trust a travel guide when it comes to road elevation or distances.
We knew we had entered the state of Oaxaca when hot chocolate was offered along with coffee at breakfast. Oaxaquena chocolate, a blend of cocoa, sugar, cinnamon and almond, is divine. We purchased several brands so that we can have a tasting when we return to the states. We also visited the impressive ruins of Monte Alban and the gold-laden Santo Domingo Church, with its accompanying former convent that is now an amazing museum.
We are two days out of Oaxaca (the city; we are still in the state), heading towards the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the geographical boundary to Central America. We visited two archeological sites on the way out of town. The first was Yagul, which had a fortress/lookout on a hill above the city. Climbing up to the top offered great views of the ruins below and of the Valley of Oaxaca. The second site was Mitla, where the modern day city was built almost on top of the ruins. In fact, some of the buildings were destroyed and the stones used to build the church which sits amid the older structures. Milta was a Zapotec city and has intricately carved patterns on many of its buildings.
We have made arrangements for our language school in Guatamala, at the Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco de Espanol, which came recommended by our friend Melissa. We will be taking classes for two weeks. One week in the city of Xela (also known as Quetzaltenango) and one week at the branch school in the nearby mountains on a coffee finca. We have about two and a half weeks to get there, so hopefully there won’t be many more unexpected delays. We are also working on our route and schedule through the rest of Central America, so if you want to meet up with us somewhere let us know soon and we will happily work you into the plans (even tentatively)!
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