Oaxaca Family Adventure: Hiking Among The People of The Clouds

What can I say, the natural environment in Oaxaca is something special especially since it is richly shaded in greens during this rainy season. We drove 90 minutes into the mountains parking in the small town of Benito Juarez, one member of the Pueblos Mancomunados association which unites 8 villages in promoting ecotourism in their region. We then climbed about 1.5 miles to a look out point where we snacked on regional treats before hiking down another path, making a loop. Back in town we devoured a delicious lunch of soup made from squash vines, fried mushrooms, and pot beans, fresh tortillas, Aguas de Jamaica and Limon, and apples cooked in cinnamon and sugar cane. The meal tasted especially delicious considering it was local and after working up an appetite.

I think I took about 250 pictures mostly transfixed by the enormous agave cacti. These in particular are the maguey cacti which send up a tall asparagus-like flower which produces babies before the plant dies. They can live as long as they have sufficient resources. We definitely passed very old ones that were taller than Pat--100 years or more. At times I felt like we were in a pre-historic environment and other times a fairy forest full of pines, moss, and mushrooms. At one point Yves, our Swiss born guide spotted a small calico butterfly perched on a yellow flower. He coaxed it onto his finger, then onto Abe's, and finally onto Penelope on whom the butterfly climbed further. Penelope carried that small mariposa quite a distance before it flew away. She talked to it the whole way, too. Yves and his German wife lead tours in Oaxaca and southern Mexico, they support local healers specializing in plant medicine and steam baths, and they help send girls to a private school. They are certainly an interesting pair of transplants.

Yves was able to give us tastes of the plants growing along the path--tasting of mint, green apple, lemon, and he told us which was for gastritis, which for headaches, and the best root for washing your hair. He also told us of a French man who lives in the region and grows mushrooms. He then creates a tincture which apparently is very curative. Yves claimed that two drops in your morning coffee will take care of your illness. Unfortunately none was for sale in the tourist stand today.

Oh, there was a very long hanging bridge that tested all of our nerves. Abe was excited about the zip line possibility until he saw that it stretched over a deep canyon. Luckily the men with rigging failed to show and we continued on. We returned tired and still voraciously hungry from all that mountain air. It was a gift to be in the trees, clouds, and mushrooms today.