Inquisitive Spirit

The very dry and barren hills of central Oaxaca hide some of nature’s most wonderful treasures…

Santa María del Tule

I saw the world’s largest tree!  And maybe the oldest!

It is an amazing Sabino or Ahuehuete tree (a type of cypress), over 2000 years old.

This corpulent beauty is estimated to weigh more than 630 tons!

It is almost 150 feet across. Apart from the sheer size, the incredible thing about it is the energy it exudes. Although you can’t touch the trunk, you can feel it from 30 feet away.

So full of life, the knarled arms hang heavily with soft shiny leaves and millions of seeds.

The branches stretch over the fence and you can stroke them (or let them stroke you) with their fine fingers.

This tree is strong – it has a force that made me realize that we can’t destroy the earth, it is much stronger than we are!

There is a second tree on the same site as well, but it is much younger – only 1000 years old!

Apparently there are 12 of these ancient giants in this little town.

I bet they are hiding some intriguing secrets…

Hierve de Agua

This amazing place took my breathe away. If fact I was almost speechless, which doesn’t happen often.

You climb through the mountains – surprisingly dry and rocky – on a windy trecherous road, until you reach a dusty old village. You pass old folks herding their goats right down ‘main street’ and young guys on their bikes herding cows – those weird brahma bull looking ones. Then you arrive at a motley gathering of taco stands and you realize you have arrived. Walking down a short path – which is actually a zillion year old lava bed, you suddenly arrive at the end of the earth, looking over the edge.

Mini geysers send water bubbling happily up over the surface of the emerald green pools. I stuck my feet in and they wanted to smile, the water felt so cool and clean. Following a narrow path through the dry brush, I arrived at a viewpoint where the front of this precipice is wide open to see – and what a sight it is!

A petrified waterfall!  The eyes are confused since there is no movement. You feel like the water is rushing down, but all is silent…

Over 2500 years ago, the inhabitants of this area built an irrigation system, consisting of carved grooves in the rocks with hollowed out bowls along the way.

There are only two places in the world where they have discovered this method of irrigation – the other one is in Turkey.

Obviously there were international spies in those days!