Mitla, Mezcale and thermal pools

A full day tour to Mitla, with a very crowded bus, full of backpackers, an interesting day was had by all visiting a very old tree, 2,000 yrs old with a trunk width of 14.6 metres. A swin in the thermal pools, rug weaving and Mezcale making, the local drink.

A plaque depicting information regarding the tree.

Entry fee was 10 pesos= $1 this money is used to preserve this ancient tree. The tree is surrounded by beautiful gardens..

The tree, noted to be 2,000 yrs old.

The Toparies in the surrounding gardens

After we visited this tree we drove onto a local village, where mats are made, along with other items for sale.

We were all taught about dyeing, using natural products and how many different shades of red that can be developed from a bug that inhabits the local cactus, just by mixing, water, lime juice and white oxide.

Demonstrating how the merino wool is spun, the wool used to weave the rugs.

A rug that caught my eye, of course was Frida, a little too high on the price tag for a rug that was less than 1 metre squared.  $1,500. Although show some interest and it quickly comes to.....how much do you want to pay and chase you out the door asking.....

Then after this visit on we travel to the Mezcale factory, I sampled a small amount, not to my liking, but all the backpackers were into sampling big time.

The agave plants are trimmed, these can weigh a lot, not sure about amount, but all the fronds are trimmed from the base and the stalk is left and chopped into quarters and placed near a pit to be smoked for 8 days. This apparently gives the Mezcale a smoky flavour.

DH had a go at the tequila with the worm, as my stomach is fragile, I did not do any taste testing other than the Mezcale.

The poor donkey pulling the wheel to grind the agave.

A great painting at the Mezcale factory.

After the tasting we travelled to a very dry and hot mountain where a thermal pool is located, believe me this was not pleasant, you had to walk a good 20 mins over a very dry limestone mountain to get to a small oasis on a cliff top, where there may have been a number of pools if it was the wet season, but only one was deep enough to swim. The park has an entry fee and only allows 400 people at one time, believe me I was not getting into this pool, stagnant water and loads of people.

The walk

The pool

After nearly everyone had a swim we ventured intoMitla to have lunch then visit the Mayan ruins.

Lunch DH and I decieded to take the plunge and try some grasshoppers, OK a little salty, I did not swallow.

Off to the ruins in Mitla.

Back to hotel 

Last day in Oaxaca, tomorrow we are off to Merida, Yucatan.

Oaxaca- Pronounced "Wah harka", Mont Alban

 Oaxaca!  what a delightful cultural city, so diverse from Mexico City. Our 4 days spent in Oaxaca were very busy with our tour to Mont Alban, city tour and a full day tour to Mitla. The population of Oaxaca is 500,000 and was discovered in 1539 by the spainards, when they arrived the mountains were all covered in trees, grass and dirt. The spainards did not like the mountains so settled in the small village of Oaxaca. It was not until 1932, that some exploration of the mountains took place by Al Afonso Caso and what was found under the dirt, grass and trees was the Zapotec civilisation and temples. In tomb number 7 is where loads of gold, precious stones, copper, jade and silver were found. The Zapotec has been dated back to the 7 th century. Only 5% of this civilisation has been uncovered, there are other mountains, which could hold more treasures, yet undiscovereed.

Mont Alban

Tomb No 7

Mont Alban and the surrounds

Other mountains that have yet to be explored

The explorer, Al Afonso Casa

There is a small museum attached to the ruins in Mont Alban, all the treasures found in tomb 7 are in the fabulous museum in Santa Domingo, well worth a visit.

The next day we had a walking city tour and covered a very large radius, incorporating the main church, Santa Domingo, the museum, botanical gardens and of course a chocolate shop, on the way was an opportunity to visit some great arty farty shops, so a few purchases was made as well.

Santa Domingo, the main Cathederal in Oaxaca

Some shots of the highly decorated ceilings in the Cathederal.

This alter is new, constructed in 2009, the original had wood rot, all 24 carat gold leaf. 80% of the Mexican people are poor, and their faith so strong, the cathedrals are so ornate....go figure.

 Grandulupee ( Mary) appears to be a bigger spiritual icon than Christ 

The museum is attached to this Cathederal, and I feel that you needed a good day to explore it, we only had an hour, but managed to cover quite a lot.

The entry to the museum, attached to the museum is an amazing library with very old books dating back 100's of years.

Some of the precious stones found in tomb 7, earnings, rings necklaces and carvings. Jade.

Gold

I had to take a photo of this symbol as he is the god for the day of the dead, celebrated every year on the 2nd November. We were lucky enough to partake in this event when we were in San Antonio 2 years ago, this day symbolises all that have died in the past and it is a mass celebration to celebrate their lives after death, with parades and shrines.

The botanical gardens attached to the museum

We ended the tour with a visit to the chocolate shop, that ends our tour for today.

A little roundup and our trip away-Mexico City

My 365 challenge had to be put aside until I return from holidays. I needed to get some quilts ready for quilting and make a gift for our home stay in Paducah.

The reason for travelling to Mexico was to visit Frida Khalo's house, as I have just finished making and hand quilting a quilt with mainly Frida images.

The lead up to holidays were stressful as a very dear friend lost her father and this required a trip to Young NSW, amongst other challenges that I was up against.

This is the bed runner and quilt that I made for our Paducah home stay, I used aboriginal fabrics and for the cushion stitched in the ditch and finished off with piping around the cushion. Karen from Rigebell quilting, quilted Australian animals onto it for me.

I hope Elva is pleased with this gift.

Our flight was not without a hiccup, there was an engineering problem with our plane, we had a 3 1/2 hr delay, which had a snowball effect, missing our flight to Mexico City and not arriving into Mexico until late evening, after 36 hrs of travelling, finally arrived,exhausted and I feel the flu coming on!

Wednesday our first day was spent doing a city tour,  as we are staying in the historic district everything reasonably close. One of the many cathedrals in the square, that we visited on our city tour.

This main Cathederal in the main square is on a slant, slowly sinking.

What is interesting about Mexico City is that it was built on a lake so all the 16th century buildings are slowly sinking, so the Mexican government has put in a hydraulic system under the buildings to prop them up.

Some local Mayan Indians in traditional dress, near the Cathederal.

Some of the gorgeous wood work all painted with 24 carat gold, inside the Cathederal.

Interesting sculpture outside the Cathederal 

A visit to the museum, DH seated below the Aztec calendar 

Thursday we visited the pyramid Teotihuacan, boy was it hot and no shade, but another very interesting and full day, 

The largest of the two pyramids is the sun pyramid and the smallest is the moon pyramid.

The  moon pyramid 

Entry to the museum

A painting depicting the Mayan Indians life, this was where we ate lunch.

Another Cathederal named Guadalupe shrine, ( Mother Mary) this symbol is on some fabric that I own, It is nice knowing the significance of it, The mother of Christ appears to have a great deal of significance in Mexico. This Shrine and Cathederal has a real slope and is hard to walk into the cathedral without slipping.

Thursday was a very long day driving to Cuernavaca and Taxco. A resort town where the wealthy go for holidays, a nice little town. Taxco was interesting with it cobbled pathways and one of the oldest historic churches, St Nicholas built by a father in the 14th century for his son to become a priest, his wealth was made from silver and inside is absolutely amazing. What is interesting in this Cathederal is some paintings of Christ being circumcised and mother Mary pregnant, these are the only ones of their kind in the world

Ornate woodwork with 24ct gold paint.

A pure silver "Mother Lupe"

A view from where we had lunch, the view made up for the food!

DH could have settled in for the day, so relaxing.

Interesting sculptures on our walk to our lunch, I did manage to pick up some Frida items!

What is native to Taxco are the cobbled pathways and streets and the use of VW beetles, these are the taxis, used to transport tourists up and down the narrow roadways, reminds me of Toledo in Spain, minus the VW's

Still not feeling well, the flu has hit me hard, struggling to keep up with tours, but need to press on, after a nights rest, will revive for  Saturday, this our visit to Frida Kahlo blue house and Leon Trotsky's red house.

There was a little hick up with our tour, all sorted so off we go, the long awaited visit to the Blue house where Frida was born and died.

Caycocan where the blue house is located is a very popular spot and in the square is another Cathederal we explored, amazing paintings on the walls and ceilings.

We had a little wait, for about 30mins before we could enter Fridas house, as they only allow 145 people in at one time, entry was $12 and if you paid 20 pesos you could take as many photos as you liked.

The entry to the Blue house.

Frida's family that she painted.

A still life that the presidents wife at the time commissioned Frida to paint, but as Frida was obsessed with all things foetal and uterine, this painting depicted female genitalia, it was rejected by the presidents wife, and never paid for, even the frame is shaped like a uterus.

Fridas bedroom

Some of the casts that she wore due to her polio.

Costumes depicted in some of her paintings.

A reproduction chart in her study....of foetal life

An interesting painting in Trotsky's red house, featuring Diego, Fridas and Trotsky tangled lives.

We didn't get to see Diego Riverias murals as the palace was not opened whilst we were in Mexico City. This concludes our tour of Mexico City we are off to Oaxaca.