Somewhere in Oaxaca

The door is closing behind me. I have just left the AirBnB apartment, which Bjørn and I have been renting for some days.

We are on our way to the bus Station TAPO in Mexico City, from where we are going to take a night-bus to Oaxaca. With the door lucked behind me is my 5 month of exchange at ITAM over. 5 month where I have been living in Mexico City, one of the biggest cities in the world, and where I have had the honer to meet some wunderfull people, learn a lot about Mexicans and their culture, and had time to travel.

A new chapter is starting when we are entering the bus, because doing the next two weeks will we be traveling in the States Chiapas and Yucatán.

The view from the top

It is quiet this Saturday morning, when we are looking for a place to have breakfast at the Zocalo Square in Oaxaca before we are going on a half-hour bus-ride to the famous Monte Albán.

We are taking the first bus to the ruins so we can enjoy the site with not many tourist. It is a bit cloudy and colder than in Mexico City, but the air is more fresh, before the sun is starting to shine though the skies. We are here nearly in silence except of a Spanish group who is talking loudly and shouting to each other, but this noise can still not destroy the beautiful view from the top of the mountain, from where it is possible to get a view over the City of Oaxaca and the surroundings.

In the footsteps of the Mezcal

Many people thinks of Tequila when they hear the word Mexico, but Mexico have a lot more to offer than just the Tequila. From great beaches, nature, culture and people do Mexico also has the Mezcal. The State Oacaxa is famous for its Mezcal production, which is made on the Maguey plant. So when I am looking out of the window of the bus on the days tour, can I see a lot of straight lines of the Maguey plants. There is no doubt that we are in the home field of the Mezcal. After seeing embroidery factory and the world widest tree are we entering the parking site for a Mezcal factory.

The hearts of the Maguey plants are laying in front of a hole in the ground. Just next to this can we see the smoke from the distillation. There is a soft smell of Alcohol in the air. The process of Mezcal starts at the field, where the leaves are cut of the plant so only the heart is left. The hearts are then going to be steamed for around 5 days, in a hole in the ground, which is surrounded by stones, which get their heat from a fire, which is burning for 3 hours before the hearts are going to be dammed.

When the hearts are dammed will they have a brown color. The hearts do now have to cool for a while. After the cooling are they going to be mast by a big stone, which a horse pulls. When the hearts are mast to a form of a porridge will they be stored in a bowel for up to two weeks before the juice is ready to be distilleries.

The first Mezcal which is coming out from the distillery have an alcohol volume around 50%. To make the volume smaller do they distilleries the Mezcal again, so it will get the more normal alcohol volume between 25-45%. After the distillation will the alcohol be stored on barrels. The time the Mezcal will be in the barrels is different from type to type, which can be from 6 month till 8 years. As usually are we finishing our tour with a Mezcal tasting which we have been looking forward to and I can conclude that my favorite at this fabric is the 8 years Mezcal, which have been laying 8 years on barrels. The cheapest Mezcal at this fabric is the blended, which has an alcohol percentage around 20-25%. This type of Mezcal will have different tastes from Coffee to mango, which gives them the name Cream.

The perspective

After the visit to the Mezcal fabric are we heading off to visit the Mitla ruin, which was build at the same time as Monte Albán, located nearly 44 km from the City of Oaxaca. Today is only 30% of the building rebuild where 70% is the original, which is a big contrast to Monte Albán where around 70% of the archaeologically site is rebuild and only around 30% is the original. When we are walking around the Mitla ruin, is it interesting to see all the details they could build when it was build between 450 and 700 CE. Mitla was still used when the Spaniards arrived and destroyed most of it.

When we are getting into the small van and heading of out to the mountains can I not stop thinking of how many historical sites Spain has destroyed when they came to Latin America though Christoffer Columbus in 1492…

We enter some small gravel roads, when we are having the mountains at our site, with the soft and light evening sun sighing at them, so they are looking soft. We have arrived to a viewpoint over the mountains of Oaxaca. Under us is there small natural water from where people are bathing. The water is full of salt and minerals, and the views from this spot with the soft light makes the time stand still. I fill like I can be everywhere in the world! – But right now, at this time am I in Oaxaca, Mexico and our journey to San Cristobal will start in a few hours, but right now is the time standing still, because of this great view I am having in front of my eyes.