Oaxaca de Juárez – Day 2: Ancient Falls, Trees & Traditions
OAXACA DE JUÁREZ
Day 2: Ancient Falls, Trees & Traditions
August 14, 2022
My days in Oaxaca would be spent inland – much to the chagrin of any spring-breaker who probably visits the city only as a gateway to the coast. According to the locals (and many, many blogs), the region boasts beaches that are among the best in all of Mexico, with Puerto Escondido and Zipolite being the most famous.
I figured I had plenty of nice beaches lined up for the rest of my trip, so I could dedicate that six-hour drive to something much more productive. To that end, I found myself on yet another day tour around the city and its outskirts, joined by a family from Guadalajara who happened to be on holiday.
Trees and Pigments
We started off by visiting the Tule Tree – a 1,500-year-old Montezuma cypress thought to have the stoutest trunk in the world. We were dropped off in front of a small square in the town of Santa María del Tule, where a large tree stood at its centre, with a shrine at its base catching our attention the moment we stepped off the bus. After everyone was done fawning over the impressive wonder of nature, we were duly told to gather up so we could walk to the Tule Tree. Turns out, this was just another regular, run-off-the-mill tree.
Next to a church a short walk away stood the truly majestic Tule Tree – the one we had just been ogling at minutes earlier now paling in comparison. As we ran laps around its massive trunk, it wasn’t hard to picture what our guide had told us – that it can be circled by as many as fifty people! Though still apparently thriving, the tree is, unfortunately, slowly dying – no doubt because of our doing.
Then we made our way to a textile workshop, where some locals showed us the entire process of making rugs – from extracting pigments from natural sources to the actual weaving. For example:
- Indigo: Derived from the Indigofera plant.
- Red: Extracted from nopal which is parasitised by cochineals for at least ninety days, producing carminic acid.
- Orange: Made by mixing the red pigment with lemon juice.
- Purple: Made by mixing the red pigment with crushed limestone.
Hierve el Agua
Among the attractions near Oaxaca, my favourite was Hierve el Agua. This natural wonder is known for its petrified waterfalls made of travertine. These, we were told, formed over millions of years due to deposition of calcium carbonate from the highly mineralised water of the freshwater springs coursing through, forming one later of calcium sediment at a time – much like the formation of stalactites and stalagmites in caves.
But wait – there’s more! This same process also led to the creation of natural stone pools through which hot water bubbles, hence the location’s name, which translates to “water that boils.” Owing to the mineral-rich rocks and the presence of extremophilic bacteria and algae, the formations take on an orange hue, creating a vibrant contrast with the turquoise water of the pools, the verdant green of the mountains, and the bright blue sky.
If that’s not enough, the hot springs sit near the edge of the petrified waterfalls, offering a full view of the opposing mountains. I have to admit, hardly anything can top the feeling of enjoying a dip in their pristine thermal waters while gazing at such a gorgeous vista!
Painting the Studio Red
Back in Oaxaca, I found myself heading straight to my hotel the moment the tour ended. With so much crammed into a single day, it’s no wonder I’d end up falling asleep almost immediately most nights.
In a way, it felt as though I was missing out on some aspects of travelling – say the nightlife other backpackers seemed so keen on. Given how much I was experiencing during the day, it felt like a small price to pay. That said, my FOMO did eventually get the better of me. And so, just like any other backpacker my age, I fired up good ol’ Tinder and started chatting up some people here and there to get myself out of the rut I was beginning to dig myself into.
Enter Chucho – a dashingly handsome guy who invited me to his art studio for a couple of drinks. After the tour, crossing the entire city by foot to meet some random guy did not feel like I was making brilliant life choices. Especially given the fact that I practically knew nothing about him and that I was in a foreign country that’s not exactly known to be the safest. That said, this kinda was my MO after all. And, to be fair, I did perform a thorough background check (thank the heavens for Instagram, am I right?).
A walk across all kinds of charming and quaint streets and equally dodgy and shady neighbourhoods led me to his place. I was given a warm welcome by his pitbull Rojo, shorlty before he too showed up at the door. Being a photographer, a painter and a sculptor, it looked a lot as if he had been a work of art himself. After a brief introduction, he led me to his studio – a run-down shed covered in unfinished paintings, shelves stuffed with white masks, sculptures of all shapes and sizes, glass jars full of brushes and all kinds of stuff lying around. A complete and total disorganised mess, one that fascinated me to no end. It felt like I had stepped into a sanctuary of some sorts, a place where this man poured his blood and soul into his work.
He gave me a tour of the studio, explaining what everything was and what inspired their creation. Of note, there was a shelf full of masks based on people he’d met (to be used in an exhibition in London), photographs and portraits he had taken over the years (a professional through and through), and sculptures based on characters he had created for his claymation videos and books (which are very popular with kids). It was so, so cool! After showing me around and explaining his work as the creator of Chucho Caza, I somehow ended up on his couch with plaster on my face – my visage now immortalised for posterity.
Turns out, it isn’t just nightlife one misses out on when choosing rest over adventure. As much as I value rest and sleep, the whole point of this gap year was for me to try out all kinds of crazy things and experience as much as possible. Screw rest!
