Mexico 2018: Oaxaca

2018 Mexico

Friday, June 29:

            We drove to Sacramento, taking 13.5 hours to get there.  The kids went for a swim at grandpa and grandma's house.

Saturday, June 30:

            It was a hot day, got to 105 degrees.  The kids went to see the new Jurrasic World movie.  Later we went swimming again and had some family over for dinner.  We tried to go to bed early, but ended up going to bed around midnight.

Sunday, July 1:

Waiting at the Mexico City Airport

            We woke up at 3:15am, and got everyone and everything packed up and ready to go.  We boarded our first plane to Salt Lake City at 6:10am.  We had a quick layover, then boarded our second plane to Mexico City.  After a four hour flight we had a very rough approach into Mexico City.  We made it through customs and immigration easily and then waited for our third flight to Oaxaca.  A quick one hour flight landed us in Oaxaca around 6:30pm local time.  Becky's parents picked us up and we hit a small roadside restaurant for dinner that served excellent alambre (meat on a spit).  After a long day we finally made it to our hotel which sits on a hillside overlooking the city of Oaxaca.

We finally arrived in Oaxaca!

Our first dinner

Monday, July 2:

Breakfast

            First we drove over to an area called Tule to look at some ancient giant trees.  We then drove out into the countryside and stopped in a small town called San Jeronimo Tlacochahuaya and looked at an ornate church. After getting some ice cream, we headed over to the ruins at Mitla.  Many of the patterns on the sides of the ruins were replicated on the LDS Mexico City Temple. 

"Lion" on one of the trees at Tule

Large Trees at Tule

Church in San Jeronimo

Paintings at the ruins in Mitla

Ruins in Mitla

Mitla

View down into the valley

            We then drove up a curvy dirt road over a ridge to a place called Hierve de Agua (bubbling water).  The water bubbles out of the ground, similar to Yellowstone, except the water is cold.  The main natural pools are right on the edge of the hillside, creating a zero horizon view.  As soon as everyone got in the water, it started dumping rain, so we had to run up and take cover in the covered bathroom area.  The rain quickly subsided, so we headed back to the pools. The kids enjoyed their time swimming around. 

Hierve de Agua

            We then drove back to our hotel and headed to the center of Oaxaca.  We walked around the zocalo (plaza) and ate dinner at various street vendors.  Dinner consisted of tamales with mole, hamburgers, crepes, fresh made potato chips, and ice cream.  After walking around eating and people watching (both of which were good), we made our way back to the hotel.

Tuesday, July 3:

Ball Court

             This morning we drove over to the ruins at Monte Alban, which are just a few miles outside of Oaxaca.  Monte Alban sits atop a hillside overlooking the junction of three valleys.  The kids really enjoyed climbing up and down the stairs on some of the pyramids. It was fascinating looking at some of the glyphs carved into the stones.  Some showed a list of conquered peoples, represented by upside down heads.  Other showed captured leaders bound and mutilated.  Standing on top of the pyramids overlooking the whole area, it was easy to imagine how Monte Alban could completely dominate and control the region. 

Monte Alban

View at Monte Alban

Glyphs showing mutilated captives (notice their faces and intestines spilling out)

            We then took a dirt road over to the village of San Antonio de Arrazola, which is where the famous alebrijes (brightly painted carved animals) are made.  We looked around a few studios, including the original one by Manuel Jimenez.  We talked to his son, who, along with other family members, continues the tradition of carving and painting the animals.  

Black Pottery

          We jumped into the car again and drove over to the village of San Bartolo, where the famous black pottery is made.  We visited the studio of Dona Rosa, who started the black pottery.  While we were looking around the studio, Marcus found a cat and decided to start petting it (even though he is allergic to cats).  On the way back to the hotel, Marcus kept rubbing his eyes and said he thought he was allergic to black pottery (nevermind the cat)!  We went back to the hotel and then back to the downtown area for some more street food for dinner. 

Street Food (really good hamburgers)

Wednesday, July 4:

Need to stay hydrated!

            Today we went downtown and went to the church of Santo Domingo.  The church is richly decorated in the baroque style.  After quietly walking through the church, we went next door to the ex convent of Santo Domingo, which is now the culture museum of Oaxaca.  The convent is an enormous building built in the late 1500s to 1600s.  We spent a few hours exploring the museum. 

        

Church of Santo Domingo

Cultural Museum of Oaxaca (Ex convent)

  

           From there we headed over to one of the bigger markets to do some shopping.  It was getting hot outside, which made it even hotter in the indoor market.  The girls bought some shirts and Jacob and Elise bought some luche libre (wrestling) masks.  We went back to the hotel to swim and hang out by the pool. 

Indoor Market

Meat section of the Market

Making Mexican Hot Chocolate mix

The looks on the boys' faces show how they feel about lunch

            Then, to celebrate the 4th of July we went over to Sam's Club and got some pizza.  When we arrived back at the hotel we were hoping for some fireworks over the city (since someone had been lighting them off every night), but of course there were none this night.  Down in the bar on the floor below us they had a guitar player and trumpet player playing some good music, so Becky and I went down and listened to them on the patio which overlooks all of Oaxaca. 

Hotel Victoria in Oaxaca

View of Oaxaca from our hotel