Enchiladas verdes - Mexico 2005

Another day is almost over down here in México. Time flies by and it is hard to imagine that we have been in this country for almost a week. Our days usually go from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. No, no night life for us.

Today was another adventure. As I told the avid reader yesterday, we wanted to visit the petrified waterfalls today. We had our map and drove according to the directions and I´m sure we would´ve found the waterfalls, if the road would have been better. We exited the highway and drove into a village. It seem like the time had stopped here. There were no asphalt roads, just dirt paths. We saw lots of cattle (and mules). No road signs, of course, but small signs showing the direction of the Hiervos de Agua. @Rosie, forgive me if I torture the Spanish language. So, we followed the signs and the road lead up a mountain. No asphalt, mind you, and marks, no little "fences" that usually separates the road from the gap on your side. We kept driving... well crawling would be a better word because it was impossible to drive regularly. The scenery around us was beautiful but while we kept climbing higher and higher, we noticed a few rain clouds and when reaching a small parking lot, we decided to turn around and drive down again. The waterfalls were probably only a few miles away but not knowing the road and an approaching rain front, we thought it would be better to head back.

It never rained that day.

Instead we visited the old town of Mitla, which has another beautiful archeological site. It wasn´t as big as the ones we had seen before but nonetheless very beautiful. Here, unique in Mexico, the former walls of the temples were decorated with little stones which looked like a beautiful mosaic. We walked around - Silke even ventured down into one of the tombs.

The weather is still beautiful although the sun is really tricky.

I already treated myself to a few Mexican goodies. Here in Oaxaca (where we still are, btw) there is a market called Mujeres Artesantes de la Regiones de Oaxaca (sorry for any typos). The women from the various Indian villages (yes, I know the term is not politically correct) come and sell their crafts, clothes and Mezcal (the Oxaca version of Tequila). I bought a beautiful blousse. Today Silke and I drove to another city, which is known as a town of weaving arts. They still had the old tools they used for weaving clothes and carpets. On a market I bought a beautiful, beautiful scarf. I would have even paid the double price, but after a few negotiations I got it rather favourable. Negotiating the price is a thing here. I´ve never done it before but it does seem to work and there is nothing weird about it.

We met a German tourist group and they told us that they were heading towards the state of Chiapas. When we heard that the roads are supposedly no problem after the hurricane at the beginning of the month, Silke and I are considering continuing our trip as planned and go to Chiapas first and then to the Yucatan. Tomorrow we´ll leave Oaxaca.

Oh, the food! It is still incredibly delicious. This morning we discovered a small place that had a buffet. And after this (when I log off), we´ll go to an Italian place which we had already discovered yesterday evening. Yes, I know, it´s a sin because the Mexican food is so fantastic. Still, after a while you want little taste of "home" and I´m game for noodles.