## Metadata * Author: [[Bruce Whipperman]] * ASIN: B006MGDIRS * Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006MGDIRS ## Highlights Mixtecs, Oaxaca’s “People of the Clouds,” is a virtually untouristed domain, ripe for adventuring. — location: [69](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=69) ^ref-27002 --- Tlaxiaco, the “Paris of Oaxaca” with its splendid Saturday market. — location: [72](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=72) ^ref-4569 --- female-operated MARO (Mujeres Artesanías de las Regiones de Oaxaca) on Calle Cinco de Mayo, a block south of Macedonio Alcalá. — location: [259](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=259) ^ref-56457 --- MARO (Mujeres Artesanías de las Regiones de Oaxaca) — location: [259](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=259) ^ref-58043 --- side are also worthwhile if you have the time. Go to the source in the celebrated handicrafts villages of Teotitlán del Valle (for wool weavings), San Bartolo Coyotepec (for black pottery), San Martín Tilcajete and Arrazola (for carved wooden animals), San Antonino Castillo Velasco (for embroidered blouses and dresses), and Santa María Atzompa (for pottery). — location: [265](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=265) ^ref-54180 --- UNESCO recognized Oaxaca as one of several world sites belonging to the “cultural patrimony of mankind.” — location: [548](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=548) ^ref-58725 --- Mercado Sánchez Pasqua — location: [1179](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1179) ^ref-54686 --- Los Danzantes — location: [1298](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1298) ^ref-42043 --- Juan Montes Lara (Prol. de Eucaliptos 303, Colonia Reforma, tel./fax 951/513-0126, [email protected], $25/hour), backed up by his wife Karin Schutte. — location: [1561](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1561) ^ref-26772 --- Librería Amate (Macedonio Alcalá 307, ground floor of Plaza Alcalá, tel. 951/516-6960, fax 951/516-7181, www.amatebooks.com, — location: [1582](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1582) ^ref-13212 --- Highways 175 and 131, connect directly south over the super-scenic but rugged Sierra Madre del Sur. — location: [1707](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1707) ^ref-59480 --- About the same is true for the paved National Highway 131 route south from Oaxaca, which splits off of Highway 175 three kilometers (two mi) south of San Bartolo Coyotepec. — location: [1715](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1715) ^ref-62972 --- The very long but super-scenic 368-kilometer (229 mi) Highway 190–Highway 125 route connects Oaxaca southwest with coastal Pinotepa Nacional, via the Mixtec country destinations of Yanhuitlán, Teposcolula, and Tlaxiaco. — location: [1724](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1724) ^ref-23153 --- Some sights you won’t want to miss are the archaeological zones of Mitla, on the east side, and Monte Albán, on the southwest side of the valley. Of the markets, the biggest are the Tlacolula Sunday market, the Ocotlán Friday market, the Etla Wednesday market, and the Zaachila Thursday market. Fascinating crafts villages along the way are Teotitlán del Valle (on the way to Tlacolula and Mitla); Santo Tomás Jalieza, San Martín Tilcajete, and San Bartolo Coyotepec (on the way back to Oaxaca City from Ocotlán); and the Santa — location: [1963](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1963) ^ref-45403 --- María Atzompa pottery village (on the way to or from Monte Albán). — location: [1967](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1967) ^ref-51980 --- make sure to visit the Thursday market in Zaachila, unbeatable for its intensely colorful ambience and exotic fruits and other food. — location: [1969](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=1969) ^ref-9535 --- temazcal (a curative hot room), — location: [2076](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2076) ^ref-32805 --- SANTA ANA DEL VALLE This is a sleepier version of Teotitlán del Valle, where virtually every family speaks the Zapotec tongue at home and earns at least part of its living through weaving. — location: [2174](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2174) ^ref-1676 --- The Springs Although Hierve El Agua (9 A.M.–6 P.M. daily, $2) may be crowded on weekends — location: [2334](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2334) ^ref-20842 --- idyllic groves, crystal springs, and limestone caves hidden around San Sebastián — location: [2372](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2372) ^ref-19016 --- de las Grutas. SAN BARTOLO COYOTEPEC — location: [2372](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2372) ^ref-7290 --- Cochineal Farm On your way either to or from San Bartolo Coyotepec and Ocotlán, you’re in for an unusual treat if you stop at the small demonstration cochineal farm and museum Rancho la Nopalera — location: [2388](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2388) ^ref-64932 --- The farm, officially called the Centro de Difusión del Conocimiento de la Grana Cochinilla y Colorantes Naturales, is the labor of love of retired chemical engineer Ignacio J. del Río Dueñas and his son-in-law, engineer Manuel Loera Fernández. They graciously welcome all visitors—schoolchildren, visiting scholars, neighbors, tourists—to their ranch for the purpose of breathing life into the ancient Oaxaca tradition of cochineal dye, the source of the bright reds in many of the Oaxaca weavings. — location: [2391](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2391) ^ref-39787 --- (“El Museo Centro Reproducióa Grana Cochininilla”) at Calle Unión, at the northern, Oaxaca edge of San Bartolo Coyotepec village; after a few hundred yards westbound, on a dirt road, another sign directs you left to the rancho. — location: [2405](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2405) ^ref-30480 --- The people who lived during Monte Albán Period II (A.D. 1–300), by contrast, came under heavy influence from Chiapas and Guatemala in the south. They built strange, ship-shaped buildings, such as Monte Albán’s mysterious Building J, and left unique remains of their religion, such as the striking jade bat-god now on display in the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City. — location: [2669](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=2669) ^ref-32341 --- Playa Zicatela, the most famous (and most challenging) surfing beach in Mexico; — location: [3131](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=3131) ^ref-26598 --- Playa Zipolite (see-poh-LEE-tay), a wide, mile-long strand of brilliant golden sand enfolded by headlands and backed by palm groves, is simply stunning. — location: [3191](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=3191) ^ref-2583 --- entrance corner of the adoquín, cell tel. 044-958/106-4037, — location: [3496](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=3496) ^ref-19825 --- National Highway 175 connects 238 kilometers (148 mi) over the Sierra Madre del Sur from its junction with Highway 200 at Pochutla. The road climbs to around 9,000 feet through cool (chilly in winter) pine forests and hardscrabble Chatino and Zapotec native villages. Fill up with gas in Pochutla. Unleaded gasoline is available at the Pochutla Pemex stations, both on through-town Highway 175, about 300 yards toward town from Highway 200, and on the north, uphill, edge of town. Carry water and blankets, and be prepared for emergencies. The first gas station after Pochutla is at Miahuatlán, 145 kilometers (90 mi) north. Allow about eight hours behind the wheel from Puerto Ángel to Oaxaca, about seven in the opposite direction. — location: [3630](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=3630) ^ref-45003 --- The village’s most inviting roadside attraction is the palapa Restaurant Los Reyes (on the west side, 7 A.M.–10 P.M. daily, $3–8). Here you can pick from a long menu of soups, seafood (cocktails, fish fillets, shrimp), chacales (local river crayfish), meat, — location: [3681](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=3681) ^ref-63762 --- San José del Pacífico This is a little mountaintop town with a tremendous view, so high that the Pacific Ocean is clearly visible far below. The climate is brisk and dry, and pine-clad mountains rise all around, an ideal setting for a few days away from the tropics. What’s just as good—the village has a pair of pretty fair restaurants and — location: [3703](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B006MGDIRS&location=3703) ^ref-27970 ---