Árbol del Tule + Mitla + Hierve del Agua, Oaxaca, México

I joined a day tour (9.45am-8pm) from Oaxaca City to several places, including Árbol del Tule pictured above. It can be as cheap as $150. Very economic.

It is a place that the van has to pass by to go to the other sites, and the town itself seemed pretty nice.

We only went to the main square and nowhere else, since the only thing to visit was…

This tree, holding the title of the tree with the largest base in the world.

It was rather impressive, but unfortunately, it’s now slowly dying.

A very old tree, one needs to pay a little to go close to it and the church next to it. If you want to spare that tiny amount of money, you can quite obviously still take photos from afar.

We were there for only 15 minutes after a brief introduction of it.

Next stop was the mescal factory. A shopping stop. That’s why the tour was so cheap.

But actually it’s pretty good. Not only did we get to see how it’s made, we got to try tonnes of different favours, and everything was cheap!

Another shopping stop was Teotitlan. It’s interesting to see how the different colours were made but everything that’s actually made from wool was really costly.

The “main dish” is the archaeological site Mitla, which is 1500 years old.

It’s not particularly big, but what’s unique about it is the fact that it’s mostly original instead of a reconstruction. 

Why? Mostly because it’s more of a political place (a palace) instead of a religious one. But the Spaniards did build a church right next to it.

The palace complex also contains two small tombs. Very short and narrow entrances. More so than the Egyptian ones.

The aforementioned church before going for a very late lunch.

The final attraction is the best one to some.

Hierve del Agua basically is a place with springs.

The pools from above didn’t seem that impressive, and maybe because it’s the dry season, there isn’t really much of a waterfall.

But the scenery around it was breath-taking, and the pools looked like infinity pools.

Some people swim in them (sunscreen not allowed), but the water is pretty cold.

The pools are very shallow so it’s really about taking photos.

There were holes like these everywhere too.

It’s actually a cliff to the left so slipping off could mean death.

San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula, Oaxaca, México

San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula is a “magical town” 2 hours of van away from Oaxaca City ($100 each way).

The colonial hospital and its ground.

I in fact struggled over going there since it’s 2 hours away and does not have much to see. But I certainly did not regret going, and was glad to be back by 3pm anyway to prepare for my evening tour later that day.

The special thing about the town is the very tiny palace that’s left of the last queen of the Mixtecs (yes, women were allowed to rule).

Otherwise, it’s an incredibly small town.

There are two buildings within the palace complex. I’m not sure if one just was not open as there’s some signs inside, but the library next door was open so it’s like…why?

All in all, it’s a decent town to be in, but incredibly small. Like a village.

Amen Fashion. Black Jesus.

The most impressive structure however, was the ex-convent.

Though the municipal palace was also extraordinary.

The convent has a spacious piece of grassland in front of it, and is per se a pretty beautiful building.

Later that day, some UNAM students came as a big tour group.

Cuetzalan, Puebla, México

Cuetzalan is one of the magical towns of the state of Puebla, the state that defeated the French initially in their intervention to install Austrian archduke Maximilian as the Emperor of Mexico.

One attraction is the archaeological site. It was built by the same culture that built El Tajin near Papantla in Veracruz.

The site is not particularly big, but is not small either. What’s special about it is the rectangles all over the pyramids. It’s also good that it isn’t that much warmer than the city itself.

We took a taxi from the city, asked the driver to wait for us, and then had the driver taken us back to the bus station. It was $320 in total only.

Another main attraction, and arguably the bigger draw, is the waterfall. Or rather, the many, many waterfalls and caves in the area.

We opted for a three-hour tour that cost $400 per person to see two waterfalls.

The town itself also contained several beautiful historical buildings, with the cathedral having a very tall wooden pole installed in front of it.

You can also swim in it.

The city centre is very colourful and there are streets of artesanal products sold.

Around 9 minutes on foot from the centre of town, is the gothic church with its graveyard.

The waterfalls tour included around an hour on this.

In the centre, there was also an interesting restaurant that doubles up as a museum. They are at the same time like a pawn shop and they sell interesting items.

The town and its surrounding area are very hilly.

The wonderful public square.

The gothic church. It has a lot of little jars at the top.

We stayed at an AirBnB a bit farther out in the forest.

Like many typical Mexican towns, it’s very lively at night.

Our hotel.

A highlight for me was this performance of an indigenous ritual.

Some other photos of our hotel.

Huichapan, Hidalgo, México

Huichapan is a small town in Hidalgo, near the border to the state of Querétaro.

It is a small city with a nice colonial centre. It’s not touristy at all and you can’t even find souvenirs.

Its main tourist attraction is in the desert with a $9 collectivo, however.

Special area for children to drive downtown.

Its cathedral. It has 3 main buildings is one of the two complexes that look nice in the city.

Los Arcos in the Saucillo park. It’s around 1.5km from where we were dropped off. There’s practically nothing around the area but there were a couple of families visiting the site.

You can even walk across it.

The presidential palace, the other nice complex downtown.

There are two ziplines and a small shop that sells some snacks.

Near it, is a small cave.

Tecozuatla, Hidalgo, México

Tecozuatla is a small town in Hidalgo on the border of Querétaro. It is most famous for its geiser (pictured above).

We stayed at a hotel next to the city centre. It was only $450.

The city itself was actually pretty bad. It’s very small and it doesn’t have nice buildings. This is its church.

Another tourist attraction is an archaeological site in the desert.

Débuting my sun-proof suit in El Geiser. It’s a hotel resort and a spa.

Several pools had water at 85 degrees and no-one went into them. Elsewhere it’s full of people.

And the landscape is quite beautiful.

This mountain is supposed to look like an eagle with its wings spread.

The pyramids were built by the Xajoy civilization from around the year 400-500.

It’s a platform with a small pyramid (short in height, but wider), plus two other structures, including a government building.

Some drawings on the rock.

Another attraction is the cave where there are some ancient paintings. But travelling to all these places had taken too long so I gave up going.

The nicest building downtown.

It may be difficult to see but there’s an “X” drawn there.