11 febrero 2021
The theme for today is birds!
I enjoy your ride report. You will find the best tlayuda in Puerto Escondido beside the Oxxo on the Calle el Muro. They open around 18:00.
If you look for the best place to take a break in Oaxaca there is no better place than Puerto Escondido. Great beaches. If you look for a great place to stay, La Casa Elena is a great to relax for a while. She's located on la Calle Amapola located behind the new mercado. She has no sign. One of her sons son runs the little tiendita Guadalupe. The easiest way is to get there is off calle el muro/el Hotel Blater away from el centro. If at last you can't find it. Go al nuevo mercado and look for el restaurant Polleria Las tres hermanas. Fatima the owner, is maried to Elena's son Javier jr. One of her daughter will happy to walk you down to la casa de Elena. Just say Richard & Gladis from Canada sends you. The price is around 2000 to 2500 peso a month and you have acces to a kitchen and fridge to cook your own food you can buy at the mercado. There is ample space to work on your bike. There is a Honda dealership if you need parts on the highway 200 on the way out of town towards Acapulco. Elena is extremely honest. I can check for a phone number, but they speak only Spanish or call me anytime 514-291-1004 in Canada (it's free from Mexico) and I will easily guide you. Most of their customers if not all are from Argentina.
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https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/fad5-5fe4c-4716/view
I had set my alarm to wake me before sunrise to give me the best chance to see the birds come out of the sima.
A bit of history here: La Sima de las Cotorras is a 140-meter deep sinkhole in western Chiapas. The sinkhole is similar to the cenotes found in the Yucatan, but this one is not filled with water. The geography provides a microclimate inside the sima which is different from the surrounding area, and provides a perfect home for Mexican parrots and parakeets. The birds fly out in the morning to look for food and return in the evening.
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In the 1980s a plan was hatched to turn the area into a tourist destination. A road was built. Cabins, a lodge, and a restaurant were added. There’s a camping area with a bathroom. And a rim trail going all the way around the sima.
They had lofty goals.
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Unfortunately, those tourists never came. According to Wikipedia, only about 10-15 people visit each day, and despite the cabins and camping area, very few people spend the night here. And hopes that foreign tourists would flock to this spot also never took flight. Again, Wikipedia says that foreigners make up just 2% of the visitors.
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So where was I? Oh yes, sunrise. Apparently the caretakers were awake, too. I could hear the morning news blasting from the TV
I got dressed and started a hike around the rim trail. My calves were sore from yesterday. Ouch.
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Every ten minutes or so, a swell of chirping and squawking would rise up from the sima and if you looked carefully, you could see a group of birds circling higher and higher up and out of the deep hole. It’s a fascinating sight which does not lend itself well to amateur photography.
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It was here that I realized I must have lost my telephoto lens. It’s an awkwardly shaped item, about the size, shape, and weight of a golf ball, which makes it inconvenient to pack and carry. It doesn’t fit well anywhere. And it’s black. I figured I must have left it at the last hotel where I stayed. Damn.
I left via highway 190 heading southwest. It’s a fairly uninteresting road, though I did find these trees and hills captivating.
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Later in the afternoon the road got a little more curvy and interesting.
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And I stopped to get a bite to eat and lost the lunchtime lottery. The place had a sign out front advertising numerous dishes.
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When I went inside, the guy there seemed to tell me that they only have one thing available today. When I asked what it was, he said something about beef… and that was good enough for me.
..and this is what I got.
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I hate to be a picky eater, but I just couldn’t stomach this. I ate most of the broth and a few bits and pieces. The pineapple juice I got was good.
Well… now I know not to get mondongo.
Things got a little windy, but not too bad.
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And I arrived in Tehuantepec. It’s a good stopover point, but I especially wanted to come here because this town/region is known to have a highly matriarchal society. Women generally earn more than their husbands. Wives take care of the finances. According to Wikipedia: “The city's markets are dominated by women, known as Tehuanas, who make up nearly all of the buyers and sellers. Until the 1970s, there was a complete ban on men in this area, but this was relaxed at that time. Today still it is estimated that less than five percent of the people seen in the market are men. The historical reason for this is that traditionally women worked in the markets as men worked in the fields. Today still, men in the market can be subjected to taunts by the women who question their masculinity.”
Frida Kahlo is said to have adopted Tehuana clothing as a way of projecting her feminine power.
The market was mostly closed up by the time I arrived, so I walked around the city to check things out. This was the first time I saw these comically tall three-wheeled mototaxis.
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Powered by a small two-stroke which is directly under the pilot, the back is a flatbed with benches, good for hauling passengers and/or cargo. They all have a fairing mounted way up high in front of the handlebars.
Here a group of them wait in line as market vendors close up shop and carry their wares home.
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It’s like a Hitchco*ck movie around here!
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And an interesting mural.
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Almost everything was closed up, but a few food stands were open in the square, so I stopped at one and ate my first tlayuda on the recommendation of the vendor. Oh man, it was awesome.
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Plan for tomorrow is to check out the bizarre market.
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