Andrew & Arianna on the peak of Piedra Larga in the Sierra Norte Oaxaca
Arianna and I took a trip with an ecotourism organization (Expediciones Sierra Norte), up into the mountains northeast of Oaxaca. The organization is run by a group of small pueblos in the mountains as a way to bring income into these small and isolated communities. They have a number of options they offer for ecotourism in and around their pueblos including guided day hikes, 2-5 day camping trips, trips on horseback, and rock climbing. Arianna and I chose a day trip up to a tall peak with a beautiful “mirador”. Rebecca stayed home with Ostara because her asthma has made it difficult for her to enjoy activities at high altitudes, here.
The trip began at the second class bus station at 6:45 am, when Arianna and I caught a 2nd
Typical second class bus in Mexico
class bus headed for Llano Grande in the mountains. When I was 20 years old I traveled through northern Mexico on 2nd class buses, so I knew what to expect. For Arianna it was a new experience. We had come 2 days earlier to buy tickets, so we had reserved seats on the ancient retrofitted Bluebird x-schoolbus – others coming in the morning had to stand in the aisle of the crowded bus. Most of the people on the bus were heading back to their homes in the mountain pueblos with goods from the market. The bus smelled strongly of fresh onions and garlic, as there were bushel bags filled with them in the luggage racks.
Not far from a village, we passed this cave. The floor looked like it had been level. I have heard that in many pueblos such caves are used for small traditional rituals.
The bus ride started with confusion about our reserved seat – a mother with a young child had tickets for the same seats as ours. We compared tickets, and I pointed out to her that her tickets were actual for the following day. It ended up working out fine, as some friendly young tourists offered to stand so that Arianna and I, and the mother with the other child would not have to stand for the entire trip.
The initial road out of Oaxaca was very smooth and modern, not much different than a U.S. highway. But after 30 minutes we turned off this highway at Tlocolula, and headed into the mountains.
One of the many beautiful mountain flowers we encountered in the forest.
The mountain road was twisty and turny with many switchbacks, and was FILLED with giant potholes. The bus driver was constantly accelerating and braking rapidly, and swerving wildly to try to avoid the worst of the potholes. After an hour of driving up the mountainside, an unfortunate gringo raced up from the back of the bus, frantically yelling to his girlfriend in English “tell the driver to stop and open the door, I have to throw up.” His girlfriend didn’t have to translate, apparently the driver caught the drift – all the passengers on the bus sat quietly listening to 5 minutes of violent retching, and we were off again, bouncing, swerving, and lurching our way up into the mountains.
Starting the hike with Rico, Terri, and Arianna
After 2 and 1/2 hours we arrived at Llano Grande. There was nothing “grande” about it. It was a collection of about a dozen houses on a small flat plain in the valley of 2 mountain peaks. We were greeted by a young man who lead us to the tourist office where we met our guide, Rico and his dog Terri. We started off on our hike through pine forest, initially at a gentle climb. On the way, Rico pointed out much of the vegetation in the area: different types of pine trees, medicinal plants, bromeliads, and cacti. The path then began to climb steeply. This is when Arianna started to feel very sick – she developed a severe headache, with dizziness and a stomach ache. I had heard of altitude sickness before, but have never witnessed our experienced it – I tried to sift my brain for what to do and could think of nothing.
We encountered some bromeliads on the trees as we hiked towards Piedra Larga.
Arianna was miserable, and, since misery loves company, she was doing her best to share her misery with me in the way only Arianna can. The guide was incredibly patient with us – we crossed a road, and he asked if he wanted us to call for a car and end the hike. I was thinking at that point it was a good idea, even though I had been looking forward to this experience for several weeks. But Arianna adamantly refused, and promised to stop her whining. She kept her promise fairly well from that point on, and we pushed on to the mountain peak.
When we arrived at the mountain peak, at 3,350 meters, we had an amazing view of the surrounding valleys and mountains. We sat and ate our lunch, watching the clouds roll in over the mountains to the north of us. After eating, we had fun scrambling around the crags and rocks at the peak of the mountain.
Arianna on the ridge as we neared Piedra Larga. We stopped to watch the clouds rolling in, over the peaks to the north of us.
We then began our descent. On the way down the mountain, Rico pointed out a tree that had leaves used to treat altitude sickness – Arianna chewed on these with excellent effect. She said they tasted absolutely terrible, but they completely took away her symptoms for about 30 minutes. Fortunately, I filled my pocket with a half-dozen, so she had plenty to chew on as we worked our way down the mountain. On the descent Arianna was absolutely exhausted, but by the time we completed the 8 mile hike in 6.5 hours, she had a great feeling of accomplishment.
After the hike, we were treated with a simple Mexican country meal of arroz, frijoles,
Arianna sitting on top of the world, on Piedra Larga
chicken with salsa verde, and chili relleno (muy picante!). The food was excellent, especially after a long day of hiking. After eating, we left the restaurant to wait along the country road for a “collectivo” back to Oaxaca. A collectivo is like a taxi that always runs a specific route, is shared by others (until the small Nissan is packed full of 5 passengers), and is very inexpensive ($4 for a 2.5 hour trip back to Oaxaca). We only had to wait 5 minutes before a collectivo screeched to a halt in front of us, and we were off racing down the mountain side (again, swerving, screeching, and lurching to avoid the potholes that could have swallowed our car whole). We arrived back in Oaxaca after an exhausting but exhilarating day.
One last look before we began the descent from Piedra Larga