Oaxaca and New Friends

After a stressful trip to Oaxaca we found ourselves in the peaceful and calm surroundings of the Overlander Oasis in El Tule,  on the outskirts of Oaxaca City.  Leanne and Calvin were our gracious hosts and provided an endless fount of information both on the immediate area and Mexico overall. Before settling into Oaxaca they had travelled several years throughout Mexico in a retrofitted highway coach (think Greyhound).You name it, they knew where everything was and how to get it.

Deciding to plant roots in Oaxaca they bought a piece of property with some buildings already situated and made it into their own. Together they possess a formidable range of talents, her a disciplined and precise Med Lab Tech (like Leona) and he a mad inventor and mechanical genius disguised as an automotive mechanic.

The Casita and home for a week

Drawing on their many years of 'overlanding' they built a facility catering to other overlanders.  It is at the same time less than and much more than an RV park,


To accommodate visiting relatives and friends they built a charming and comfortable casita which they also rent out when not using it themselves. It became our home away from home for a week and just the kind of break we needed. We can't thank them enough!

A picture of part of the interior of the Casita

As Canadians we had a lot in common with Calvin and Leanne and spent many evenings visiting and getting to know each other.

In her tenure as a Lab Tech Leanne even worked in Calgary for a short time! Small world!

At left Leanne is showing us how to cut bananas right off the tree!

At right Calvin is cooling roasted coffee done on a machine of his own invention using his gas barbecue, a rotisserie, and various machined parts to create a rotating stainless steel basket.  He has many such marvels scattered throughout the property but in this case he is perfecting the art of cafe rosteria, a la redneck.

It wouldn't be fair to tell you of El Tule without also mentioning the 'biggest tree in the world', for which, by their own estimation, the town is famous.

Whatever the veracity of the claim the tree is astounding and difficult to capture on camera, It's scale is perhaps best shown when compared to the cathedral nearby.  The tree actually sits behind the courtyard in front of the church.

This view of the trunk shows a mass that is at least 100' in diameter.  Brad could probably walk around it in less than a day, but it was really big,

Here we learn of dying wool
traditionally with natural dyes

We also received topnotch advice on the local arts and culture at the Overlander Oasis.  One outing took us to Teotitlan,  a small town outside of Oaxaca which has preserved the ancient techniques of preparing, dying, and weaving natural wool fibres into beautiful handmade rugs.

Rosaria instructs Leona in spinning wool

Rosaria's family have been doing this for generations and still use the same techniques, although Rosaria and her son experiment with different colours and unique patterns. Beautiful work!

She's a quick study!

One afternoon we took our vehicle into the city for a service and thorough check over with a mechanic buddy of Calvin's.  From his shop it was an easy stroll into the core of the city to see the main square and all of the ancient buildings for which the city was justifiably famous.

One side of the huge main zocalo

What we discovered rivalled many of the cities of Old Spain amidst a rich cultural tapestry spanning eons of native  American empires and their traditions.  Museums of Archeology, PreHispanic Culture, Ethnobotany, etc., etc....

It was overwhelming... so we sat in the shade and had a couple of cold beers to mull over the options,  When we finally settled on the Oaxacan Museum of Ethnobotany it was closed for that day! We really are not very good tourists!

Back to the shade for another beer to ponder the remaining options. Before we knew it the car was ready and we had tried all of the brands of beer but none of the museums.  A good day!

We also took a day to go the ruins at Monte Alban on a mountain overlooking Oaxaca.

It was a huge site -bigger than the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan- and a fitting memorial to a civilisation that spanned many centuries.












We had only planned to stay three days in the city of Oaxaca but ended up stretching that to a week! We loved the climate: around mid 20's in the daytime with evenings cooling to mid teens.
No air-conditioning needed.

Apparently summer temperatures rarely exceed the mid 30's.  Even the rainy season is pretty mild with rains in short bursts, primarily in the evenings.

We really could have stayed longer but we know how much time we have to cover the distances yet to go. So sadly we had to say goodbye to our lovely casita and new friends! We have promised to come back for Easter! And get back on the road.

Our next destination was San Cristobal de les Casas in Chiapas. Another eight hour drive where we seemed only to be climbing.  Again we found ourselves in another beautiful and ancient mountain town. But that is, as they say, another chapter.

Hasta luego: B&L