Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Oaxaca 2017






Blog – Oaxaca, Feb 2017

Friday night, February 10

CasAntica, Oaxaca. A former convent converted in to a comfortable hotel. After the first night in the presidential suite, we decided to get 2 smaller rooms today, Jim, Lynn & Margy to a junior suite & Mary & me to this 2nd floor suite that is much quieter than the presidential suite facing the street, 'Nice to not have just a single bath for the 5 of us too.

One of my claims to fame is being Jim's surveying instructor at Peace Corps training, summer of 1970, in the shadow of Montana's Crazy Mountains. Jim went on to a career with the Montana Highway Department, albeit he outgrew surveying early on. Lynn was Jim's Spanish instructor at training. Margy is her sister, married to another Ecuador PC volunteer.

Steve and Julie (my fellow social worker the last several years at Western State Hospital) came out to the airport to greet us last night. They have been wintering here for about a decade now—usually from October thru February. We saw their comfortable apartment today, Most other residents in their little community also are norteamericanos who spend winters here,

Mary and I have been looking forward to this trip for several months. Last weekend we got Mom moved to Willamette Lutheran Retirement Community (WL)—in Keizer, about 3 miles from Mary & Paul, We talked to her this afternoon & all things considered, she is settling in well. Her nice, younger neighbor, 97-yo Pansie, is also her assigned table-mate in the cafeteria. Other residents introduced themselves & welcomed Mom. WL has a nice feel to it. 'Wonderful to get Mom moved in before we left on vacation. Donna is back from a mission trip & will be spending time with her. As will Paul, Mary's husband.

Monday, 2/13, 2 am

Going to bed way early is beginning to catch up with me. Yesterday Mary & I moved again—to a master suite here at CasAntica. Mary had no room to put things in the small, regular suite we moved to on Day 2. Now we have 2 rooms & my taping on the keyboard will hopefully not awaken her.

Friday eve Mary & I joined Julie & Steve for an organ concert at a church here in Oaxaca. The organ was recently restored, part of a project to maintain & restore Oaxacan organs. See http://iohio.org.mx/eng/home.htm The church was packed. There was a screen & seating in the courtyard, where Mary & I sat & were also able to see the full moon through the flowering tree.

Saturday we shopped—at the main 20 de Noviembre market south of the zocalo& amp; the nearby artisan market. 'Found a lovely blouse for 9 yo granddaughter Juliet. And a cloth bag to fill with green coffee beans, assuming Mary and I score some during the trip.

For dinner Saturday, Lynn had heard of a highly recommended restaurant, that she thought was a few blocks away. 'Turned out to be numerous blocks, only to arrive & be told we must have reservations in advance. Mary's knees have been feeling the walking we've been doing, The 2 of us grabbed a taxi back to the hotel, went to dinner across the street at Catedral Restaurant. We were unable to be seated in the main courtyard restaurant, for lack of a reservation, but they had loft seating that was available & we were both very happy with our soups & entrees. I find other travelers have also been pleased with meals at Catedral, as it's ranked #1 by TripAdvisor - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d1032069-Reviews-Catedral_Restaurante_Bar-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html

Julie and Steve have a Sunday tradition of breakfast on the zocalo, where they can count on being served by a favorite waiter and catch up on the week's happenings with other gringos wintering in Oaxaca. Mary & I joined them for a pleasant visit. Mary & I then made our way to Church of Santo Domingo neighborhood. The church was closed, but we visited shops & stopped for a margarita at Los Danzantes. What do you know? Ranked #2 by TripAdvisor - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d1011761-Reviews-Los_Danzantes-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html

Sunday afternoon we joined Julie & Steve and maybe 150 other wintering gringos at a jazz concert at a B&B, Casa Colonial - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g150801-d156504-Reviews-Casa_Colonial-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
Lovely garden setting. We arrived late, fortunate to score comfortable chairs for the delightful concert.

For Oaxaca pics go to


Monday eve, 2/13

After we consulted with fellow guests at CasAntica about a tour guide, today Eugenio, 52-195-1112-3207, took Mary, Jim, Lynn, Margie & me to Hierve el Agua—a petrified waterfall east of Oaxaca - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150801-d4523240-Reviews-Hierve_el_Agua-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
I decided not to go all the way in to the cool pool, fed by “boiling” (read “bubbling”) springs in the hillside, I dangled my legs for a while. Pretty countryside. Nice day. There are various hikes possible, some giving better vantage of the petrified falls, but we didn't venture beyond the upper pools.

Returning toward Oaxaca, we stopped for a brief tour of Mitla, 2nd best known pre-Colombian ruin in Oaxaca, after Monte Alban, Next, the weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle, where we had a tour of the workshop of a well known weaver & got opportunity to buy many rugs of various sizes, Jim got a runner for their entry back home.

Next stop was a Mezcal factory. The others took interest in limited-production “wild” varieties, I got a 750 ml bottle of more affordable Anejo Gran Reserva de la casa that tasted smoother than the 3 cheapest varieties.

For pics of Hierve el Agua go to
For pics of Mitla, Teotitlan & Tule, see


I had asked Julie about organic coffee contacts in Oaxaca. She spoke with her friend, owner of Cafe Nuevo Mundo, a coffee shop near their place. A meeting was arranged with Salamon, a coffee procurer. He didn't have any leads for us to visit coffee fincas. Some of their coffee is sent to a wholesaler in San Diego, CA. I asked him for contact info there & haven't received it yet. He did round up a kilo of green beans for us.

Wed, Feb 15

After breakfast, Eugenio picked the 5 of us up in the van & we visited the Centro de las Artes, an old textile factory converted in to an art school. Lovely hillside setting, where we were given a demonstration of paper-making -

On to the Etla weekly market. Eugenio got fresh produce for home. We bought cheese, tortillas & fruit, as well as gifts to take home. For pics of Etla, go to

Our last night in Oaxaca, we went back to Catedral Restaurant, Jim, Lynn and Margy joining us. More great food & seated very near the guitarist—great songs & voice.

We didn't get together again with Julie & Steve, as Julie called to inform me their stay is being shortened by a decision to return home next week. For several weeks, Julie has been unable to shake being sick—feeling lousy, a cough, usually a fever in the afternoon. They have decided enough already & are shortening their winter sojourn in Oaxaca—returning home next week in hopes medical care there will get Julie well in short order.

We allowed plenty of time to get to the Oaxaca Airport for our 9 a.m. departure on Aerotucan, for our 40-minute flight over the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains to Huatulco. A 12-seater prop plane, we had to stoop to less than 5 feet to get in to our seats. Mary & I have done the road route enough times on previous visits—about an 8-hour trip through the mountains. See pics of flight & Huatulco coastline from the air at

We got collectivo rate of 280 pesos for a taxi to our hotel in Santa Cruz de Huatulco, the Villa Blanca. Arriving before mid-day, they did have a room open for us--3rd floor, loft on 4th floor, musty smell.  With Mary's friend Gayle joining us, we had reserved the Jr suite with 2 queen beds. We asked about other options. On seeing this master suite for an extra 500 pesos/night ($25), we happily took it. 'Still up a couple flight of stairs. Mary has a bedroom on the main level & Gayle & I each have beds in the loft.

Mary promised Gayle we would come to the airport to greet her Thursday eve. I asked the gal at the desk if she had a recommendation for a taxista. She called Andres, 52-958-107-3380. He's an affable look-alike (I think) for Forest Whitaker. 'Speaks English fluently, having lived in LA for several years, until a drunk-driving arrest resulted in his deportation. On the trip back from the airport, we arranged for Andres to take us to Playa de San Agustine the next day, Friday. After getting my permission, he brought his wife & baby daughter along. For sunset, we moved to nearby Coyote Beach, which was a truly spectacular wild beach. The sky cooperated, with a colorful sunset.

For pics of Playas San Agustin & Coyote, go to

In preparation for coming to Huatulco, I made several inquiries about contacting coffee growers. The area around Pluma Hidalgo is a prime growing region. One contact was Arturo V. He came to our hotel on Saturday morning & we talked coffee for about an hour. He explained he is hoping to reduce intermediary costs, to the benefit of small farmers in the area. He claims the 4 best coffee growing regions in the world are Jamaica (Blue Mountain) and 3 Mexican areas—Veracruz, Chiapas & Pluma Hidalgo.
Each morning we have a buffet breakfast at Hotel Villa Blanca, often sitting next to the pool.
Saturday after breakfast we went to the organic market in nearby Santa Cruz. 'Bought a variety of fruits & crafts & 1.5 kilo of green coffee beans, Pics of Santa Cruz Huatulco & Hotel Villa Blanca at

On Sunday, after some pool time following breakfast, we caught a cab to Playa Entrega, a 60-peso ($3) fare. We were able to ignore the hustlers trying to shepherd us to their palapa restaurants. It wasn't so easy to avoid the strolling minstrels, complete with scratchy portable amplifiers of their off-key voices. Aside from that detraction, the breeze made the temperature comfortable. Good snorkeling--the reef just off shore had a variety of colorful fish & some coral. The shrimp empanados ($9) were sabroso.

While at Playa Entrega Sunday, we met Johan, a likable youngster whose dad has a small launch. We struck a deal for a trip along the coast on Monday, for afternoon snorkeling & catching the sunset. The small boat was the right size for the 3 of us, with Johan & his equally young co-pilot, except at times heading in to the waves the boat began to buck & made us nervous. While somewhat colorful, the sunset didn't match that of Playa Coyote.

Tuesday we visited Playa Arrocito (“little rice”). Much smaller than Entrega, it had a single food vendor. We did score an umbrella for shade. Snorkeling was reportedly good there. Near the rocky end of the beach there were some colorful & varied fish.

Wednesday, Andres took Mary & me up in to the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains, to coffee country—Pluma Hidalgo. I had found the website for Finca el Pacific - http://iohio.org.mx/eng/home.htm& amp; arranged for our visit with Janirah, daughter-in-law of 3rd generation owner, Don Antonio Gomez. Besides showing us some of the processing area, we were served mezcal, in addition to coffee. Don Antonio showed us his organic certifications going back for years. We bought 5 kilos of green beans, for 500 pesos—which works out to about $2.25 per pound! We stopped in Pluma Hidalgo on our return, bought more coffee beans in a tienda there. Mary & I look forward to tasting the roasted product of these variously acquired beans. We weren't able to make contacts for wholesalers in the US.

We did get follow up emails from Arturo V, proposing that we make advance purchase at $12.50/lb! I replied we can't enter in to the gourmet market where high prices are the norm.
Pics from our trip up in to the Sierra Madre del Sur coffee region -

Thursday we returned to Playa Entrega, to snorkel again & camp at the nice table under the umbrella, where staff were pleasant, not pushy.

Thursday night we had pizza at the place we'd heard mentioned several times—Oro Negro. It was good, but we won't join the ranks of those raving “best ever”.

I expected to find I gained 5 to 10 pounds, given I made the most of the breakfast buffet every morning at Hotel Villa Blanca. And free of any tourista symptoms the entire trip. But, climbing on the scale on return home, I lost 2 lbs! Skipping lunch & no fridge to raid in the evenings, I guess.

Per Mary's request, staying at only 2 hotels during our 15 nights, we did less moving than trips in the past, where my need to see as much as possible led to typical stays of a couple of nights per location. We were pleased with our upgrades at both CasAntica in Oaxaca & Hotel Villa Blanca in Huatulco. Relying on friendly taxistas (Eugenio & Andres) also served us well.

We chose such nice people as travel companions. It's always a joy to spend time with Jim. Gayle was a hoot, not letting her lack of Spanish deter her from engaging the locals.

Mary is counting down the months to retirement. I've got coffee regions of Colombia on the radar, for a future trip, now that political unrest has reportedly finally settled down there. Mary is talking of a 4th trip to Cuba. Vamos a ver...

Guia Juan