Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden, Salt production, the scariest drive home

Next day in Zapotitlan Salinas.

We woke up early and went to find breakfast.  This is such a small town that the only food available was cooking on the sidewalk.  We went to one place that had tamales.  I am not a huge fan of tamales but we were sitting by the time we found out what was being served.  They had three kinds, salsa verde, mole and mystery (they of course didn't call it 'mystery' but it was to us).  We ordered three coffees and one each of the tamales.  They placed a giant basket of pan dulce (sweet bread) on the table while we waited so I also had a giant cookie.  The coffee was nescafe mixed with sugar.  And the mystery tamale flavour can best be described as 'blazing spicey hot'.  So, it wasn't the greatest breakfast but it sufficed.

We had made plans to meet Juan Diego at the Botanical Gardens at 9am, opening time.  We arrived just at 9 and met Juan Diego.  But the person with the key hadn't arrived yet.  Plus there was a bit of a crowd waiting (at least SIX people!) so we decided to go up the road a bit to tour the salt mines (mines is the wrong word but I don't have a better one) first.  As you remember from the last post, we had been there in the previous night in the dark so we didn't get the full effect.  

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(Break to say goodbye to Joe and Carolyn who have just left for the airport.  Booo!  Now no one to talk to and worst of all - no Jazz.  I am a bit sad so here is a montage of the two of them being adorably, sickeningly, completely in love in Mexico)

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Ok, back to the Salt Mines!  I pretty much covered the history in the last post.  This time, we could see where we were walking. It is crumbly and old and probably completely dangerous in the daytime, let alone at night.  We got there a little after 9am and there had already been lots of work done that day.  Baskets full of salt (100 + kg each), were there that hadn't been the night before.  There were still two old guys, brothers, working away.  

This is the view from the road.  When we first drove by,
I thought it was an abandoned building foundation

The view of the drying pools from above. They are about 2 inches deep

This awesome salt miner.

This is the deepest well at the site.  

Juan Diego

Juan Diego featured in an Italian book
displayed at the museum in the botanical garden.

Then, after we walked around the salt wells and drying ponds, Juan Diego (I can barely contain my anthropological self!) showed us a skull from a prehistoric burial that had come to the surface in the rainy season!!!! 

That's a skull!  Of a person!  Who worked at the salt mine millenia ago!!

Juan Diego agreed this is probably an ancestor of his,
and he agreed to let me take pictures and post them.

So cool!!!  Then he covered him up and we left him in peace.

After that, Juan Diego scooped us up some salt for us to take home. One can't be squeamish about where their food comes from when you buy from the source in Mexico.

scooping from the pile of salt on the floor

The floor of this building.  

After the salt mines, we finally headed to the Botanical Garden.  Official name: Helia Bravo Hollis Community Botanical Garden.  This was created decades ago by a female botanist (after which the garden is named) to preserve as many of the local plants in one place as possible.  

Woodcreeper

These little buds at the top of the cactus are fruit, which we got to try. 
Like lemon with poppy seeds

Juan Diego showed us how quickly the desert can change with rain. The first picture is a dry cactus and the second is immediately after he poured some water on it.

Dry 

Wet

 

This guy is hundreds of years old

If you are in this area, and need a guide (which you do) find Juan Diego Hernandez Cortes (cell # 237-100-36-06) or just go to his restaurant Casa de la Sal on the main drag of Zapotitlán Salinas (and have a delicious huarache too).  

After the garden, we said goodbye to Juan Diego and headed home.  Our drive up north had been quite leisurely and beautiful.  Our drive south was harrowing.  I guess more uphilland more traffic? 

So, if you've never driven in Mexico, you need to understand that 'lane' does not mean the same thing as it does at home. It is a bit more, let's say, open for interpretation.  The north part of highway 135D is hilly and curvy.  Single lane with barely any straight patches and few 'official' passing areas (dotted line, not an actual second lane, god forbid).  And so many sloooooooooooooooow trucks.  So cars & trucks who are slower drive on the shoulder to allow faster vehicles to pass in the middle, straddling the centre line, hoping and praying to whatever deity they believe in, that the opposite traffic coming unseen around the next bend is also riding the shoulder to avoid a head on collision.  

For one very long stretch, I was the lead 'fast' car.  Which meant like 8 or 9 cars were sitting behind me, allowing me to make the decision about when to pass 'safely'.  The lead car is the one who is going to get shmucked in a fiery crash if anything goes wrong and the followers get to avoid the worst of the danger.  I also 'prayed' loudly to my deity if you consider using the lord's name in vain interspersed with some colourful swear words.  Then, those following bastards, as soon as we were out of the worst of the hills and curves, they all passed me, leaving me in their actual fastest dust.  Cowards!!

We survived that and made it to the city.  No fiery shmucking.  A stop at Pemex to fill to exactly 5/8 of a tank to where it was when we picked it up.  We arrived just in the middle of siesta time which apparently no longer means lunch and a nap, it means get in your car and cause traffic jams in the way of poor jangled tourists.  Carolyn sacrificed whatever it costs for her to get data on her phone so we could use GPS to guide us through the labyrinth of one way streets to get home.  

By time we got home, I was exhausted.  I had a nap and then returned the car, unharmed, 5/8 full for a refund on my 15000 peso deposit.  Whew!  A stop at a bank machine because I had exactly 110 pesos left to my name (around 7 bucks).  I picked up some tacos on the way home and we all just stayed in for C & J's last night because we were all so bagged after our big adventure.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the greatest purchase EVER in the world of purchases!!!  Zapotitlan Salinas also has onyx and marble mining.  There are tons of little onyx stands along the highway.  When Joe and I were returning from our beer on the first day in town, I made him go into an onyx shop. Joe is not a shopper.  I saw the greatest little onyx lamp.  Then I made Carolyn go in with me (she is also not a shopper) as we passed on the way to dinner.  I bought my lamp - a T-Rex! to commemorate our dinosaur hike.  Carolyn bought the herbivore version.  Here is my T-Rex, in all of its glory, behold:

Unlit. 
The reflection of the overhead lamp in the glass table makes it even more majestic and awe inspiring, don't you think.

Lit.  Check out that mable detail!

Ok, back to Oaxaca.  Today was C & J's last day in Mexico.  I convinced them to have a day like normal tourists so we went to the 20th of November market for a hot chocolate which is a thing here,  and to look around.  As noted above, neither of them is into gift or souvenir shopping but even they succumbed (a bit) to the amazing variety of stuff at the market. 

Oh, yeah, another thing from our little side trip.  One of the ladies who opened their table of wares for us in San Juan Raya had stevia for sale, in its natural dried green leafy state.  Carolyn was super excited to find it and bought a big bag for almost nothing. As she was getting her stuff ready to pack last night, I took a sniff of it and realized it was actually oregano.  Probably wonderful oregano which they harvest wild from the desert but still, not stevia.

So, I declared we could find stevia in the market (which is huge).  Shopping Mexican style - just ask around until you find someone who knows who has it.  We eventually found an herb lady who had a giant jar of it.  Carolyn bought two bags (total 16 pesos, about $1, for both).  

My friend Val had asked me to bring back some vanilla.  But vanilla obviously is not grown around here because nobody sells it.  But, emboldened by the stevia success, I asked around and found the guy who stocks it.  20 pesos ($1.50) a bottle!  Four please, and four for Carolyn.  Joe bought a belt.  Maybe a few other little things.  Joe has seen a vendor in the Zocolo who sold whistles but didn't buy one at the time.  Of course, now that he is ready to buy one, the whistle guy is nowhere to be found. So, I am on the job - ready to track down the whistle guy and buy the one that sounds like a bird.  Should be easy...?

Carolyn and her first Oaxacan hot chocolate (with pan dulce, claro)

Joe with stop for any live music.  These guys were great

I just liked these guys' dog.

And then they packed up and left.  :(

To finish up, here is a photo that I like:

Tehuacan Cuicatlan Biosphere Reserve, San Juan Raya, Dinosaurs and Salt!

Seriously, this has been a jam packed day.  I was going to write one post for our two day excursion but I think each day may warrant its own post.

By the way, my U just fell off my keyboard so if I miss a u or two, that's why,

We got up super early (5:30) to set out for Zapotitlan Salinas in Puebla state, north of Oaxaca.  This little town (pop. 3000) is in the middle of the Biosphere and has a botanical garden nearby with guided tours.  The two websites I found about how to visit the biosphere both mentioned this town as the best base of operation for all of the cool stuff in the area.  None of the hotels have online booking so we decided to just arrive and wing it.

Our first order of business was to get out of Oaxaca without crashing the car, and then filling up the tank.  We succeeded on both counts.

The drive up was beautiful.  Dry, rolling hills.  We stopped at one look out and had a nice chat with this couple:

We didn't even get lost (just one missed turn but that barely counts, we knew right away).  We arrived in Zapotitlan Salinas around 11am.  We found a hotel, Valley Spring (or Spring Valley?) and got a room.  I think we may be the only tourists in town.  We dumped our bags in the room and had a quick strategy meeting.  I really wanted to go see the dinosaurs footprints somewhere in the park.  Plus, we all wanted to go to the botanical garden. We have today and tomorrow.  Since we got a late start, we find the footprints today and go to the  garden tomorrow.  Agreed.  But first lunch.

Our car in front of our hotel (Spring Valley)

Our 'double' room.  Fancy.

We wandered up the dusty street and found a place that serves huaraches, oblong sort of tacos.  I think those huaraches may be what has finally convinced Carolyn that food outside of a traditional restaurant is the way to go. I will update this when I find out the name of the restaurant because it was awesome.  The food we great but the best part was the ambiance.  As Joe noted, it is a one stop shop for all of your salt and knitted cap needs.  (Name of restaurant if you are looking for awesome huaraches or a tour with Juan Diego is Casa de la Sal).

I forgot until this minute, I bought that salt shaker too.
We don't have one at the apartment and, for the life of me,
I couldn't find one to buy.  So, now I own this one (with local salt included)

We met Juan Diego at the restaurant.  He speaks English and is a guide at the botanical garden.  He told us how to get to San Juan Rayas, the tiny town with the dinosaur footprints.  Go 5 km up the road and then turn onto a 'calle feo', an ugly road, follow the signs.  Juan Diego also agreed to take us on a night tour later and to be our guide in the garden tomorrow.  You have to have a guide to go into the garden.

So, our next few activities planned, we went off in search of San Juan Rayas.  It was an ugly road, in that it was rough, but the view was anything but ugly.  So many cacti!  

That's Joe for scale

The place is dry as a bone but these little pick flowers were blooming 

We eventually arrived in San Juan Rayas.  We passed a couple of people standing by the main road (one block is paved) but we didn't know where we were going so we just keep going, we could see the museum up ahead so we went there.  It was locked down tight. 

Oh no, I thought, I have dragged C & J all this way for a locked gate and a photo of this fake dinosaur: 

Rrrrr, ye shall not enter.

So we turned around, went back to the main part of 'town', took a turn, drove down a side street, scattering chickens and dogs as we went, took a few more turns and ended up in front of the ecotourism office.  Amazingly, those people we had passed had recognized we were tourists despite us being so incognito.  Maybe the chicken scattering gave us away.  

Bustling downtown San Juan Raya (pop. 220), you can see where
pavement ends. 

Anyway, they had opened up the office and some of the local ladies had come over to open up their craft tables.  We asked the guy at the tour desk for a tour of the dinosaur tracks.  He would have to go find a guide who spoke English.  He left on a bike.  This could take a while.  Nothing to do but shop.  Four women had uncovered their wares.  I bought some honey from one, and a dinosaur pen from another.  I felt so guilty about not giving the other two some business, I bought another pen from one and a woven dinosaur thing from another.   Carolyn bought another hat because she forgot to bring her Monte Alban hat.  This one was only 50 pesos (around $3). 

Note the festive pink string holding it on

Ecotour desk.

Eventually, Porfino showed up.  He speaks English and he can take us to the carnivore dinosaur tracks.  There are also herbivore tracks but they are too far away from the carnivores for us to do both today.  I'm telling you right now, if you ever come here, spend a couple of days in San Juan Raya, there are cabanas near the street chickens. That way you can do more of the tours (there are eight).

Porfino came with us in our car.  We took the calle feo to a turn off onto a calle more feo.  He said we were the only tourists to show up today.  We had the place to ourselves.  

We followed a track through some cactus fields. Then Porfino unlocked a gate and we entered one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I exaggerate not!

It was a mini-grand canyon, with a mostly dry river bed.  We walked quite far along it.  Some unidentifiable birds.  Mostly just stunning views every time we turned a corner or came out of a ravine.  Here are too many photos.

Porfino

Honestly, I was so amazed by this place, I kind of forgot about the reason we were there, the dinosaur prints.  They were pretty cool.  There are tracks for at least four individuals. They start on one side of the river which cut away a huge chunk.  

There were other fossils around as well.  Not nearly as impressive but they show that this area used to be the shoreline of the sea.

We walked back and headed back to San Juan Raya to drop off Porfino (with a big tip!) and headed back to Zapotitlan Salinas.  Joe and I went for a beer then a quick siesta for me, before we all headed out for dinner in time to be back at the hotel to meet Juan Diego for our night walk. 

He took us to the salt mines.  I had read there were something about salt production around here. That would explain all of the salt for sale in the various gift shops and restaurants.  Plus the name Salinas.  Juan Diego gave us some background.  This area used to be under the sea so the ground is completely saturated with salt from the sea water.  The local people have been 'mining' the salt for over two thousand years.  Each family has one or more wells.  These are natural springs where the water is super salty.  They used to haul out the water by hand but now they use pumps and hoses.  They put the water in shallow pools nearby and let the water evaporate.  They wash the salt and evaporate it multiple times before it is ready for sale and consumption.  Depending on the well, the salt might be pink or green or white, it might be for human consumption or for animals.  The wells and the pools are the same era as Monte Alban.  

The whole operation is on a steep and rocky hill and he took us there at 8 o'clock at night, in the pitch dark with just a wee flashlight but we didn't break any legs or fall in any wells (although, I did step into an evaporating pool and soak my shoe).  It was so dark we could see the milky way!  I wish I could have taken a picture of the sky.  

Here are some very bad, dark picture of the salt fields.  Juan Diego said he will take us back tomorrow in the daylight after we go to the garden so I will hopefully have better pictures tomorrow.  

This is an ancient well

The evaporating pools

Ok, it is 11:30 and I have to get up early for another full day in the Tehuacan Cuicatlan Biosphere Reserve.  Plus the dogs have stopped barking so I might be able to get some sleep.