Oaxaca to Mitla - 4 Jan 2024

What a day!

We left Oaxaca city at around 11am and headed for Mitla in a taxi. Which by the way was of great quality! The driving was interesting though. Most of the road had double yellow lines to indicate no passing. However the slow vehicles stayed on the shoulder and the faster vehicles overtook, which meant they crossed the yellow lines. It was a little hair raising at first, especially when a big red truck was coming in the opposite direction! 

At regular intervals there were ‘reductors’ which were speed humps, remember that we were travelling at 100kpm! Well I am hoping the car speedo was in kilometres and not mph! 

Once we were out of the city we passed road side stalls for all manner of food and drink and I also spotted a grazing horse tethered to a stake on the side of the road.

We passed so many Mezcal plantations that it felt a bit like a Mexican style Barossa Valley. Mezcal is similar to tequila and comes from an agave plant. There are many different styles, but more about that later.

Arriving at Casa Regina we were greeting by Sarid and Aeneas and several other guests who had travelled from New Zealand and other places. Casa Regina is a small boutique style hotel that is authentic in style and has amazing views of the mountains. Our accomodation is a small casa with a bedroom with an enormous bed, a lounge and bathroom. The walls are all a brick that look handmade and some have pieces of straw in them, these are traditional adobo bricks. It is really very lovely and is cool inside, which is great because the temperature was around 28 degrees. But being in the desert it was a comfortable dry heat, and then a low of around 15 in the evening.

Our front door key. 

Obligatory beer and fresh watermelon juice. 

After meeting more guests we popped down to the township in a small tuk tuk for 50 pesos which is about $5. The market here is mainly open air around a large square and we made a couple of purchases including some handmade leather sandals to top of our authentic wedding attire. I also bought a hand painted hat which is really a necessity (isn’t every purchase a necessity?) as the sun is very glarey.

After a spot of shopping we thought that we had better get something in our belly as next on the agenda was Mezcal tasting! So we stopped at a little cafe and lo and behold Sarid and a couple of others were already there. This provided two bonuses, firstly the food must be okay and secondly Sarid could order in Espanol.

The toasted buns that we chose were filled with roasted pork, onion, tomato and mild chilli. I had guava juice, which is only similar to New Zealand guava in its shape and flavour. Other than that is the size of a small apple and hard. I keep forgetting to ask for no ice, but so far so good.

Back at the Hotel we readied for the Mezcal tour. I thought I would quickly jump in the shower, but alas we had no water. So into the pool I went, and it was so warm it was like swimming in a clear soup. But it washed away the dust and grime of the day.

About twelve of us boarded a nice tour van and off we went. We did make a purchase at the Mezcal distillery, but it was another hat for me and not alcohol. 

A very noisy barrel truck pulled up and merry tourists jumped off, and we jumped on. 

The barrel took us through the plantation with a guide talking in Espanol and then English, shot glasses were passed around and again we tried really hard, but it was not for us. The planted rows of agave rolled into the distance and were in the shadow of a beautiful mountain range. We are already sitting at 1400 feet in Mitla.

I am also in awe of the cacti, not that I would want one in my garden, but they are huge!

We stopped along the way to try more mezcal, but this time in a more traditional form, poured down an agave leaf into our mouths. Once in the mouth you need to dip your head and breathe through your nose and you raise your head. Actually it was almost nice and we were lulled into have it another try once we rebounded the barrel. But out the window it went and we drank beer instead. 

The last stop was to try beverages with no or much less alcohol and we drank from a small gourd that had been made into a cup. There were four or five to try and they were all very nice. Our favourite was the passion fruit flavoured pulque. It was truely superb.

As we drove back in the barrel we passed a herd of, well, all sorts of things!

Dinner was had at Origen Maiz which served us tlayudas. We had these a couple of nights ago in Oaxaca and they were okay, but these were outstanding. Sitting outside on a rooftop balcony we were close to the tlayudas making. A small coal barbecue style chimney had a mesh top. The tlayudas is a large crisp tortilla stiffed with goodies, we chose chorizo. They all have a local stringy cheese called quesillo. The chorizo had a smokey and full flavour and the whole thing came together so well. We were fascinated watching them cook them.

The views from the balcony were beautiful, and we were soon joined by some of Sarid’s family, some who spoke English and some not. I got Sarid to translate for me so I could tell her parents what an amazing woman she is and how much we love her. Of course it was hard for Sarid to say these things about herself, but I had enough Espanol to ensure she had passed on my words. She cried, her Mum cried and even I had a bit of a tear. It was lovely to finally meet them properly.

A difficult descent from the balcony!

Home to bed and we slept the best in a long time, maybe we should sip on Mezcal more often.