After breakfast at El Secreto (see the picture below) we left Oaxaca. The first 120 miles were from the mountains down to the coast. The road was good but extremely windy. It hugged the edge of the mountains with not a straight spot to be found. Luckily we were in the outside lane and there wasn’t much traffic because in a lot of places the rain last night had caused multiple rocks to come down on to the inside lane in a lot of places effectively making it a one lane road. I’m glad it wasn’t raining while we were driving! The 120 miles took us 4 hours!!

Tonight we are San Cristobal de las Casas. You can see us in the picture eating cheese and crackers overlooking the town.

We are leaving our car here for 9 days. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 we get picked up by a van for the all day drive to our first stop on Guatemala!

Tonight is our last night in Oaxaca. Before I start sharing our adventures today I want you to see two picture of the roof top terrace at La Secreta where we are staying. If you look at this post from our trip to Oaxaca three years ago you can see the roof before it was decorated. Below I have included a picture of the roof now. We have enjoyed going up there after dinner every night that we have been here.

 

This morning after breakfast we took the car out of the parking lot and headed out of town to the valley east of Oaxaca. Teotitlán is a village that is known for its weavers and woven rugs and fabric. We wandered around the town admiring rugs and settled on one we liked. We needed cash to pay for it which meant that we had to go to a town further east that has an ATM. We had been told about a formation even further east that is called Hierve el Agua which means the water boils. It is a cold spring that has left deposits formng a dry waterfall.

We decided to go find it. Even though we had been told it was a long windy road that was dirt for the last part we really had no idea how long and bad the road was. The countryside and villages were fascinating and beautiful but the formation itself was a bit of a disappointment.

We too k a few pictures and then drove back to Teotitlán to buy the rug we had been discussing and pondering whether to get. I am really glad we bought it. I think we will hang it over the bed in our bedroom..

Tomorrow we head to San Cristobol de las Casaas

Duke and I are on day 10 of our Spring 2014 road trip. Today was the first day of no driving. We had a wonderful breakfast at our B&B in Oaxaca. The other people staying here are a young couple from Houston who flew down for five days in Oaxaca. They were going horse back riding today.

We headed to Monte Albán. Monte Albán is the Zapotec capital on a flattened mountain top near Oaxaca. It was first settled in about 500 BC. The flattened mountain top has a 360 degree view and the enormous grand plaza has a large collection of ancient buildings. We hiked around the site and then looked through the museum. It was interesting to learn that the first writing in the Americas was probably here.

We took a local bus up and back. The bus picked us up and dropped us off near several chocolate stores and markets. The smell of chocolate in the air was enticing so we stopped for a hot chocolate with bread and a tamal.

Then we walked through the indoor market. First there were lots of lunch counters then stalls for vegetables, spices, poultry, fish and finally we walked through a smokey area where the meat was laid out on display and if you picked some they would cook it over the charcoal fire right next to the display. There were probably 15 displays and fires.

Tonight it was raining again when we headed out for dinner. We ate near our B&B and then wenet backup to the roof top area to enjoy watching the rain and the fire and drink some Mazcal. It was a great day!

We really didn't do Puebla justice. We did no exploring except to find our way to and from the hotel. We'll have to come back again.

Today was our 9th day of traveling and I'm looking forward to spending 3 nights here in Oaxaca. We are staying at the same place we stayed last time we were in Oaxaca. El Secreto is a wonderful B&B. We have a kitchen and a roof top deck where we relaxed tonight and shared a drink while watching the rain.

 

For dinner tonight we ate at a great restaurant overlooking the Zocalo. It is fun to people watch while eating dinner.

Before we headed for Oaxaca this morning we used a brochure from the hotel to find our way to a a small town that sells onyx and marble. They had some absolutely beautiful pieces. We checked out several stores and final bought an onyx and marble sink that Duke will use when he remodels our guest bathroom. It is beautiufl and the price was very reasonable.

 

Not much new today. After a great breakfast in our B&B in Guanajuato we drove a fairly long drive from Guanajuato to Puebla. We did about 310 miles and it only took about 5 hours. So far all the roads on this trip have been quite good. Mostly divided highway toll roads (Cuota). The tolls for the use of those good roads today were $45.

When we got to our hotel we just vegged out and watched bull fighting. It was fascinating but gory.

We have had nothing but excellent food on this trip. My meal tonight included onion soup, a stuffed chicken breast with a mole sauce and a corn flan for desert. It was so delicious. I don’t have a picture of tonight dinner but last nights was equally delicious so I will include a picture of it.