Juchitan to Oaxaca

After leaving San Cristobal, on the way to Oaxaca, I spent the night in Juchitan.  The town is known for having more festivals than just about any other place in Mexico.  The night I arrived was no different... there was a parade going on to celebrate something, but nobody could tell me what ("Es una fiesta.  No se de que).  Oh well, everybody enjoyed it whatever it was.


I also enjoyed dinner in Juchitan.  Now, there aren't many meals that I find really memorable, but this was... in part because it was so unexpected.  Juchitan is not a memorable city, nor was the neighborhood that I stayed in anything to write home about.  But there was a little Italian restaurant down the block that called itself a "fusion" restaurant (I'm never quite sure what that means), but it served a saltimbocca that was among the best I've every had.  A real unexpected treat.

The road to Oaxaca was beautiful.  Despite the wind, much of it was perfect biking road:  Mountains (without steep drop offs), beautiful scenery, and well paved roads.  All-in-all, a nice riding day.



This part of Mexico is the mezcal producing area.  Mezcal is kind of like Tequila, but made from a different maguey plant.  Now, I have always had a problem with mezcal... ever since I worked as a bartender and some distributor had a free mezcal night in our bar.  I (how shall I put this) overindulged and had a hangover that took 4 weeks to recover from.  But this was 30 years ago, so I figured it was worth another try.

Maguey is grown all over the region, with is otherwise quite dry and barren.







I stopped at one family mezcal factory near the village of Coyul.  They make mezcal in the traditional way, using what look like brick kilns to cook the plant before crushing and distilling.








I spent about an hour here, talking with the owner Juana Hernandez.  When I took a picture with her I told her I thought that we made a cute couple, which she found quite scandalous!




A bit further up the road I saw in the distance two teepees.  "What are these?" I asked myself.  Perhaps the homes of some giant breed of Navaho?  Pyramids set down by aliens from Area 51?  So off I went to discover who or what had erected these strange abodes.

The answer:  Storage bins for corn!  Que aburrido! (boring).  Damn, I really liked my giant Navaho theory better. 

Oh well, on to Oaxaca....