Tons of fotos...will try to keep the verbage to a minimum.
We took the longer and winding route to Oaxaca and will take the "shorter" route home. We were told the trip would take around 8-8.5 hours and our driving time was around 7.5 hours.
We left Huatulco at 835am and were in Pochutla by 920am...a fast 42km.
Went through a militar checkpoint and they looked through our gear. The soldier was impressed with 12 volt cooler!!
Road block in Pochutla, so we had to figure out a detour. No signs...we ended up on a dirt road and were about to turn around when Bexico using her best español, asked a senorita where the highway was. Two minutes later we were back on ruta 175 and here is the sign we saw.
Bamboo. Who knew?
Green, dark green, yellow AND orange? Who knew?
Just another barrio and another church.
The bamboo turned into full on pine tree forests. Who knew?
The roads were VERY winding.
My poor gal (lower portion of foto) y Bono.
This next foto is of one of the 50 grangy peros we saw on the trip.
Just a nice view I thought.
Even as we climbed higher into the mountains, people need to eat!!
This restaurant was on Suchixtepec mountain.
Along with the pine, came the carpenters.
We drove through one section of 175 where you could see the carpenters handi work on display on both sides of the road.
A hillside town and of course their church.
And some mezcal before church?
This hombre was minding his store.
77 km in two hours...max speed 45km/hr...gearing up and down 300 times...alot of wear and tear on the cars...I am sure he makes a good living.
This just looked appropriate.
As we got higher into the montañas, we saw the houses were no longer made of concrete, but all of pine. It was interesting to see.
Here we picked up a few rib eyes to go.
NOT!!
One of several donkeys we saw today.
And in the middle of no where....
And then there was this good warning to the ninos.
Not sure what kind of leaves they have painted there.
Funky sandia.
As we were about to exit the montañas, we came upon these artisans.
They make and sell the world famous Oaxacan alberijes.
Here arte some fotos of the alberijes.
Three unfinished giraffes.
The hombre working in the stand was super sympatico (friendly) and we did end up buying one of his pieces. Foto when we return to La Crucecita as it is all wrapped up.
The prices these folks charge are a fraction of what we see being charged in retail shops.
There is another town around 13km before Oaxaca, where they also create these fine pieces of art. We drove by San Martin Tilcajete on our way into town and will probably go back and check it out.
Bexico was thrilled to know we were almost out of the montañas!!
The city in the valley is Miahutlan and once there, we went through another check point and this time they also wanted to see our truck documents as well as my ID.
What we did not know was that we still had 2 hours to Oaxaca!! ja ja ja
The highway after the montañas opens up and we made great time. The only hic cup was another road block in Ocotlan and we had no directions as where to go. We followed some vehicles and ta-da...we were back on track.
We stopped in Coyotepec as it is famous for it's black pottery.
The first mercado we went to was not impressive, even if some of it's products were.
So we went for a walk down a side street and passed several pottery shops.
Only to end up here.
I guess this shop is famous as it had a picture of Jimmy Carter on it's wall and the namesake of the business was revered like a saint.
Fotos from the shop.
We ended up buying a black pottery bust. Foto when we return home.
Another painted sign. This time for parents.
An important message down here.
Sounded fun, maybe a bit naughty...so we continued straight in 175.
Oaxaca was only 20 minutes away and with my wing-woman back in full action, we managed to find the centro y zocalo.
We wanted a hotel near both so we can walk to most places and after only a few minutes, we saw a possibility. I threw on the 4-ways and ran in to take a look. Clase de español helped and not only did I look at the rooms first, I requested one with a balcony, got the price ($500 pesos/noche) and asked about parking.
Bexico and I drove around the block, parked out front, ditched our luggage and parked the truck. Parking is gratis (from the hotel) from 9pm-9am only...hmmm. So we paid the $15 pesos/hour until 9pm kicked in and we are still figuring out what we will do manaña.
Room is good...nothing special. But we like the proximity y the balcones!!
Views from the balcones.
Our street address...in case we get lost coming home from la cena!! ja ja ja
I chatted him up and test drove his hand made chairs. They were comfy at $450 pesos each...but we really have no room or need for them. Lo siento I told him.
As for the centro y zocalo? Beautiful!! The centro is so colonial and it reminds us of Italy y France while the zocalo itself with the cafes y restaurantes reminds us of Paris y Roma.
Here are some architecture fotos.
More of those manaña.
And there is a ton of shopping to be had. Both unique items and your everyday shopping.
Shoes and more zapatos!!
And the sombrereria.
And one very large tienda de telas para mi madre!!
We were starving so we did our usual "eat dinner ahead of all Mexicans" as they do not eat normally until 8 or 9pm. We did see quite a few foreigners here...many speaking European languages.
The zocalo was filling up when we arrived and was full of hustle and bustle when we were done dinner.
We had dinner at a restaurante right on the zocalo. Great service to get us in, great service to bring us our beverages y set the table for entrees, food was quick and LARGE portions, but we never saw our mesero (waiter) again. Too bad. Food turned out to be so-so anyway...we will explore and try our first mole on this trip!! And avoid both the Domino's and Burger King we saw!!
Despues la cena, we went for a quick walk and realized we were pooped. Home for blogging and some reading for Bexico. She has had a touch of insomnia so she was really pooped from that and from being car sick...she was out like a ton of bricks.
Last foto...I finally got my hair cut...after 6 months. What do you think?
Manaña? Explore the town!! We are headed to the archaeological site Monte Albán either viernes o sabado and will return via the Salina Cruz route, on domingo.
Hope you enjoyed the fotos. I enjoyed taking them and sharing the experience.
Hasta luego.
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