On Monday morning the September 21st I moved towards Oaxaca with the hope to find the entry of the autopista avoiding me the topes in villages. Bingo after an overland route under repair I found it. It less remained me than 100 km in the mountain without stress. I entered Oaxaca around 9:00 to be in Monte Alban half an hour later. The tourist groups were not yet there. I was almost alone on the site with a pretty light. Oaxaca is at 1550 meters of altitude and Monte Alban dominates the valleys above surrounding from the top of a platform at 400 meters. It was the capital of Zapotecs from 500 BC to 500 AD. The picture gallery gives full information about the structures of the site. Around 13:00 I arrived at the Trailer Park of which I had found the address before. What a disappointment! A vague campground whose toilets and showers, without warm water, are unnamable, no Internet Wifi, no drinking water only electricity. Admittedly the price is consequently, 200 pesos per night. I found, Oh happiness, a cyber cafe at the corner of the street which agreed to disconnect Internet cable of a computer to connect it to my laptop. The downtown area being impracticable with my vehicle, I decided to remain two nights to visit the historical center tomorrow Tuesday. In addition my plan of road laid down visits which I removed for two reasons. My stock in drugs is finished in May 2016 and the ferry from Colon, Panama, to Cartagena, Colombia, does not exist since October 2014 any more. I should put my vehicle in a container and expect the departure of a ship. I must thus be in Colon as soon as possible. Thus in north I had already cancelled Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and, now in the east, I cancel Cholula/Puebla, Xalapa and Vera Cruz. I must be adaptive to go to main sights.
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The town of Oaxaca, capital of the state of Oaxaca, is located at 1550 meters of altitude and, the conurbation has approximately 500,000 inhabitants. On Tuesday morning I went by taxi in Zocalo, downtown area, where I arrived shortly after 9:00. My first visit was the church of La Compania, the arcades of Zocalo and the cathedral dating back to 1553. Then I attended the rise of the national flag fortuitously. At 10:00 I entered the Palacio de Gobierno to admire the mural of the large staircase by Arturo Garcia Bustos representing the people of Oaxaca and his heroes, Juarez, Diaz, Morelos etc In the north in the Jardin Etnobotanico, Templo de Santo Domingo built between 1570 and 1608 ist part of an huge Dominican monastery sheltering the Museo de Las Culturas. The 14 showrooms recall the indigenous cultures by exposing rich collections of objets d'art which it is impossible to see in little time. At the beginning of afternoon I returned to Zocalo to immerse me in the life of the inhabitants of Oaxaca before taking again a taxi to return to the Trailer Park to carry out administrative work.
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On Wednesday, September 23rd I opened site of Ancient Mitla around 8:20 located at approximately 46 km away from Oaxaca. It is made up mainly of two groups of buildings. The group of Las Columnas and the group del Norte. The interpretative panels of the picture gallery give some information. Moreover geometrical mosaics represent in a very stylized way the sky, the earth and the feathered serpent as well as other beliefs. Archeologists conjecture that the high clergy practiced the human sacrifices with extraction of the heart. As several panels specify it the destruction of the site proceeds of the will to erase the beliefs of native-born people to impose those of the Spanish conquerors. From time immemorial conquerors destroyed the preceding civilizations. Daesh does not make exception. The adjacent church testifies to the re-employment of materials coming from Ancient Mitla. I found a bivouac before the village of Niltepec on Mex #200. Around 17:00 Alexander & Emilie, a young French couple came to greet me. We exchanged information.
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At approximately 12 km northwards from Tuxtla Gutiérrez the Canon del Sumidero is an impressive crack where Rio Grijalva runs. A hydroelectric dam was built in 1981 creating a 25 km-long reservoir. I visited it in lancha, motor boat, during two hours, between the vertiginous walls. On the banks of the river fauna exposes itself to the sight of the tourists, birds of prey, monkeys in the trees, caimans being stretched out on the sun, white herons and a bunch of gray pelicans. Waterfalls emerge from the mountain falling in fine rain along the steep slopes. It was an dramatic spectacle. I continued my way until San Cristobal de las Casas where I found a bivouac close to the cemetery. During this day I passed from 60 meters to 2125 meters of altitude
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On Friday morning September 25th I left in search of a Trailer Park. I had three addresses; alas none was operational. I had turned during 16 km in the city by very crowed quadrangular one way streets. I returned to my bivouac of the day before and, in way I stopped at a hotel to inform me. The receptionist accommodated me cordially and indicated me the Park Trailer La Merced close by drawing me a plan to go to Guadalupe Victoria. This Trailer Park is actually a vast quay level which is used as garage by taxis, paradas and bus with some sites with a electrical socket. There is a Wifi connection. But as for single the bano, it is there too unnamable. But its advantage is the localization in the west in the Guadalupe street which crosses the city from east to west via Plaza 31 de Marzo and while leading eastwards to the church of Guadalupe at a few hundred meters above the city located at 2125 m altitude. After to be installed me and to have lunched I went on a trip in the city. It walked less than ten minutes to arrive at Plaza 31 of Marzo. I strolled around the cathedral, closed, and around the Plaza with its kiosk and its arcades. Then I undertook to traverse the part of Real Guadalupe transformed into mall to go to climb the staircase leading to the eponymous church from where the view on the city is superb. Then I traversed again the street Guadalupe but from east-to-west to return to the Trailer Park little before 17:00. End of the day a downpour fell on the city.
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On Saturday morning I returned on foot to Plaza 31 of Marzo to go northwards to visit the Templo Santo Domingo de Guzman which was built in the 16th century and of which frontage is a jewel of Baroque art and of which the interior is decorated with gold. I attended the communion of two richly dressed children accompanied by mariachis. The convent shelters two museums. Museo de Los altos de Chiapas conceals some archaeological nuggets. Beside Centro de Textiles del Mundo Maya exhibits more than 500 parts carried out by hand. Back to the center I continued towards the south to see Arco del Carmen dating back from the 17th century. I was back to the Trailer Park for the lunch and administrative work.
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