Hierve el Agua and Mitla Day 9

We’ve done really well with health.  But, today, Esther and Yo are feeling a bit under the weather.  They decide they will stay back at the hotel today and rest. Probably a good decision.  Enjoy a quiet day and be ready for the next adventure.

The rest of us head out for Hierve el Agua which means boiling water in Spanish.  It is about an hour and a half drive.  The first part is good paved roads through the valley.  We leave the main road and start climbing in the mountains.  We go through small villages with small herds of goats, small fields of corn, squash.  Passed several burros pulling carts or carrying wood.    At the site, there are mineral springs that bubble up in this area and form mineral deposits that look like waterfalls.  We stop at the top to see the overview.

Juan and I walk down to the ponds. The water is cool, fresh and refreshing.  Swimming in such a beautiful, natural setting is a rare joy in life! 

The town of Mitla  is our next stop.  When the Spanish arrived in the area in the 1500’s, they found a robust area of trade.  The town  continues to be a place of trade.  There several areas in town where you see ruins but one area is particularly well preserved and that is where we visited.  The Spanish built a church using many of the materials from the Mixtec structures.  But  much of the original Mixtec structures remain.  The intricate stone work is beautiful!

We all enjoy fresh fruit ice cream.  Very refreshing.  Ready to do some shopping.  Diane decides that Juan needs a new hat.  We find one that is quite dashing.  I try one on and am surprised that it actually fits me and that I rather like it.  We end up buying matching hats. 

Diane and I continue looking at all of the stalls of colorful merchandise.  I’m lured into a stall by a small child that looks to be about the size of my granddaughter.  I use her as a model for size.  Once we are in the stall Diane and I look at other things and end up buying several blouses,  and skirts.  Since we are such a small group, we can be more leisurely in the shops.  We really enjoyed interacting with the kids and women in the shop. 

For lunch, we stopped at a place that makes mescal.  It used to be that they demonstrations of the traditional way of making mescal, now there is a small museum  but no demonstrations.  Good food!

A quick stop at one of the rug shops in Teotitlan del Valle where they do dying of wool and rug weaving.  All very beautiful but no purchases today. 

We are glad to see that Esther and Yo are feeling better after a quiet day. 

Tonight Mexico is playing Chile in the America's Cup.  We decide we want to watch it in a place along side Mexicans.  The game ended up being pretty disappointing and we went back to the hotel at half time.  No sense in watching them fall apart!