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.
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This is the view from the road. When we first drove by,
I thought it was an abandoned building foundation |
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| The view of the drying pools from above. They are about 2 inches deep |
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| This awesome salt miner. |
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| This is the deepest well at the site. |
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| Juan Diego |
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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!!!!
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| That's a skull! Of a person! Who worked at the salt mine millenia ago!! |
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Juan Diego agreed this is probably an ancestor of his,
and he agreed to let me take pictures and post them. |
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| 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.
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| scooping from the pile of salt on the floor |
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| 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.
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| Woodcreeper |
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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.
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| Dry |
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| Wet |
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| 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:
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Unlit.
The reflection of the overhead lamp in the glass table makes it even more majestic and awe inspiring, don't you think. |
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| 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...?
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| Carolyn and her first Oaxacan hot chocolate (with pan dulce, claro) |
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| Joe with stop for any live music. These guys were great |
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| I just liked these guys' dog. |
And then they packed up and left. :(
To finish up, here is a photo that I like:
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