MEXICO!! First stop Oaxaca de Juarez ;)

I am so lucky to have good friends in Mexico! It was so easy to arrive. I was meet at the airport by Rosmy and Marox who I will be helping teaching gymnastics in Condado Fam-Gym in January. First I was going to meet up with Edgardo and spend New Years with him and his family! Edgardo met me in Oaxaca de Juarez where we would spend some time as tourists. Our first trip went to Monte Alban, an old Zapotecan pyramid village.

After walking around in Monte Alban for a while we got hungry and decided to go back downtown and find the market. People say you have not been in Oaxaca before you have eaten in this market! It was a great experience. The market was packed with people eating, preparing food, selling drinks or just walking through to get a look at the culture. We decided to try 3 different meats, and my favorite was the chorizzo!

In addition to the meat we ordered I got to try something new. An old lady came over to us with a basket full of chapulines! Of course I had to try fried grashoppers :D Here is my taco with chapulines, onions and chile.

The next day we decided to take a tour where we would be driven in a van to five different places. Our first stop was at El Árbol del Tule. This is a huge tree in the church grounds in the town center of Santa Maria del Tule. It was 58 meters around the trunk!

We moved on to a little village called Teotitlan del Valle where we got to se the prosess of making rugs. From spinning the wool, natural coloring and to woving the rug.

Some of the rugs they use several weeks making. I also got to try weaving ;)

Our next stop was a little farm where they produce Mezcal, a typical alcoholic beverage in Oaxaca. It is made from maguey plant native to Mexico. When it is ready to get prosessed it looks like a giant pineapple.

Of course I was chosen for some traditional mezcal testing. Here I am ready for a shot of mezcal which is normally finished off with a bite of orange with sal de gusano and a whole gusano! Gusano is a larvae!

We moved on to another archeological site, Mitla, which supposedly was the most important village to the Zapotecs.

After Mitla we grabbed some lunch at a typical mexican buffet before we moved on to our last stop. We spent the rest of the day at Hieve el Agua where we enjoyed the view from the top of two cliffs that look like waterfalls. These cliffs are made over several years of fresh water springs containing calcium carbonate running down the cliffs leaving excess minerals to the cliff.

Of course there was some time to practice gymnastics on the edge of the cliffs :)

Here is a view from above. You can see two fresh water pools where it is possible to go for a little swim.

It was a long but great day! ¡Mucas gracias Edgardo!