| The Palm alarm is set for 5:45 am. Sara and I are both
awake before it goes off. Just excited to be off on further adventures,
I guess. Sara goes down to rattle Mitch’s cage. We finish cleaning out the frig and the kitchen and finding
places in the suitcases to stash last minute items. Elo has offered
to drive us to the airport. He’s an early riser and is generally up
anyway, puttering around in the early morning in the garden or in
his wood shop. We are at the airport by 7:15 am, checked in and ready
to go. We speculate on the plane that will take us to Oaxaca, but
when a cute little Aerotucan taxis in, we know this will be our plane.
It seats approximately 15 people. We leave about 8;15 after some delay
in maintenance and gas routines. On the plane are the three of us,
two other passengers and the pilot – no co-pilot. |
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Puerto Airport - Our Aerotucan Plane Getting Gas |
Farewell to Puerto |
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It is a magnificent flight over the mountains. I can’t imagine
what it would be like to drive this route. Nothing but one switchback after
another. I get a nice picture of the San José del Pacífico (cloud mountains.)
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| Mitch and I sit right behind the pilot and avidly watch what he does with all those switches and dials. He uses the autopilot for most of the trip and our cruising altitude is about 9200 feet. I love watching the terrain change beneath us. | |
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Mitch Got Some Good Terrain Shots |
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Oaxacan Mountains |
| Narrow Strip Farming in the Oaxaca Valley |
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The flight lasts about 35 minutes and as we exit the plane,
the air is brisk and clean. So very different from the tropical, smoky haziness
that pervades Puerto. Oaxaca City is very arid and with very low humidity. For
the first time since we have been gone, I consider putting on a sweater in the
morning breeze. As soon as I get in the sun, though, I forget about the sweater.
We
walk to the Mexican Airlines terminal to make sure Mitch and I have our tickets
straightened out for the return flight. We get a van right outside to take us
to downtown.
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We are too early to check in (it’s only 10 am), but are able to leave our bags at reception and go off to find breakfast on the square. I have a ham and cheese omelet. I am hungry for eggs – haven’t had any since we’ve been gone. I also have a chocolate agua; (hot water and melted chocolate) which is absolutely delicious.
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We stroll around the Zocalo and visit the Catedral de Oaxaca; which is undergoing a serious exterior renovation. It has a few interesting items, but it is a fairly pedestrian Catholic church.
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Breakfast on the Zocalo While We Watch The Crowds... |
...and Listen to the Marimba Players |
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| Sara at the Side Entrance to the Oaxaca Cathedral The Front Doors Were Under Renovation |
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Mitch and Sara head up the Pedestrian Mall
to Check Out all the Goodies in the Shops |
From the Cathedral and the Zocalo we walk up the Andador de Macedonio Alcala (pedestrian mall with no auto traffic that leads north from the Zocalo to Santo Domingo) poking into all the shops and finding all kinds of delightful items. We will be coming back for souvenirs. We enter the Santo Domingo cathedral, but there is an event (wedding??) going on, so we don’t wander about. Well, actually I wandered about a bit before I realized people were staring at me for intruding.
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We head back to Santo Domingo and the Santo Domingo Ex-Convent
and Cultural Center, seat of the Dominican Order in Oaxaca since the
16th century. The museum is lovely The exterior faces a
large esplanade planted with row upon row of an unusual desert succulents,
around and through which area run wide walkways. The Monte Alban treasures
are just amazing. We poke around the other rooms – mostly colonial
stuff, and enjoy views of the extensive cactus garden from the second
floor terraces.
The cathedral is now open, so we wander over there. Walking into the Church, one is struck in awe by a dazzling display of baroque ornamentation, gilded plaster, towering columns and intricate paintings and reliefs on every side. Above, the ceilings are a wonderful, tangled tree of saints and miscellaneous personages. Amazing rococo with a meso-american twist. Everything in sight is gold-leafed and outlined in black.
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dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary is another astounding exhibit of elaborate, resplendent decor. Completed in 1731 after about 7 years of construction, its gilded plaster, shining columns and arches, paintings, moldings and embellishments seem to carry on a constant dance of divine movement. |
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Mitch's Pix of Santo Domingo |
We are getting a bit peckish and decide to have a little
pick-me-up before we head back to the hotel to clean up for dinner.
I have an espresso and tamale. While we are sitting at our little
café on the Zocalo, I spot Kyle and Mark. We call them over and they
have a cocktail with us. We have a brief chat about our adventures
(They have driven up from the coast on those hair-raising roads) before
they run off to dinner. We make plans to meet them in the morning
at the Hotel Camino Real for the buffet breakfast.
Back to the hotel for a little respite and a couple of
shots of Mezcal with Mitch—who gives Sara and I shot glasses and little
purse-key chains, souvenirs from Puerto.
We search for a particular dinner location, but are unsuccessful in finding it. We are stumbling, blithering fools by the time we find a place to eat. It is not very good, but we are too tired to care. The Zocalo is alive. All the sidewalk cafes are full and the park is full of people, bands are playing and the vendors are out. It would be fun to sit and watch it all, but home and bed are all I care about.
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Sidewalk Cafes on the Zocalo
Puerto
Escondido |
Next >> |
