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CL Wanderlust

Joined February 2018Living in: Vancouver, Canada
  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day6

    tortilla making stop

     April 5 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    next stop was to make traditional tortillas. they had a metal press that was more like a stool. the stove was a big wood burning platform where a rounded structure was on top. it was built up with bricks and a round metal pan was on top. this was where you cooked the tortilla. there was a layer of powder, limestone?? or just lime ??? that was on the stove top. Alejandro tried to explain the process to us, but from wikki: traditional corn is soaked in limestone to peal of the skin of the corn prior to it being ground. this soaking also allows vit b, niacin and a certain amino acid to become available when eaten. called Nixtamalization (see wikki :) ) the traditional round pan was made of clay, but today it is thin metal. wikki calls it a comal. much like my crepe pan. we will have to try this at home. my last attempt at home didn't work so well, and my attempt here even though the lady was helping, i didn't get it on the grill correctly and it a was a bit folded. But it tasted great.

    The traditional salsa was very spicy, in a granite bowl or maybe basalt 3 pestle bowl. these may be A molcajete - traditional mexican version of mortar and pestle. they were also at the resort next to the breakfast omlet making station where they also made a breakfast tortilla. they had salsa in them too at the resort, but not as spicy as this one!

    The prickly pear cactus that they use for eating has very small prickles so it is easy to prepare. not like the big ones we see growing at the side of the road.    Read more

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  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day6

    Cascadas Magicas - on the Copalita river

     April 5 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    road trip out to Cascadas Magicas. the water falls Organized at the Hotel -Paraiso Huatulco - Alejandro (alex) was our tour guide and driver. He was very good.

    Cascadas Magicas is a foothill destination. Leafy foothill country laced with rivers, springs gurgling through sylvan, vine hung woodland, rich with birds mammals and butterflies. the headwaters of the Rio Copalita where you first hike a forest trail and then climb passing a gorgeous procession of Bubbling aqua blue cascades magical waterfall. (moon guide book Oaxaca)

    Our first stop was at a roadside home where they had anteaters, everyone piles out for pics...much like in Cuba when we visited the farm and they had some of the animals of the region. They also had a parakeet.

    Alejandro said that we were going up the Madonna Hill to a natural spring. 500 m elevation. The road we were following was an old trail in use for 9,000 yrs, caves in the area.

    the Copalita river is named for the Copalita tree which is a Mexican tree that produces a sap that is used for incense for over 2,500 yrs. this sap was used as incense in pre Hispanic rituals. maybe protium copal?? there are a couple of trees with common name of copal.

    Road side dwellings were pretty primitive, much like Cuba. stretcher block, open sides, kitchens, hammocks, chairs, metal roofs. some stores with the coca cola signs....it was interesting to see how many american products are sold in Mexico. For a country wanting to put up a wall they seem to want to sell an awful lot of stuff there.

    the tall tree i believe is the Ceiba tree. another type of central american tree sacred to the mayan. they were very tall and straight with smooth green bark.    Read more

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  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day5

    Weaving looms in La Crucecita

     April 4 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    traditional weaving looms. Oaxaca is known for their woven blankets. fascinating display on the natural sources for the dyes. red comes from a little bug that lives on the prickly pear cactus. called cochineal. it is a scale insect, white on the plant but when dried and ground it becomes red.

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  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day5

    Church in la Crucecita

     April 4 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    The Church in la Crucecita. built in the 1980's it has the largest mural of "our lady of Guadalupe'. It was very pretty, and the colours in the church were very bright.

    She is the patroness of Mexico. in 1531 Juan Diego saw a brown skinned version of the Virgin Mary enclosed in a dazzling aura of light. She told him to build a shrine in her memory on that spot where the Aztecs had long worshipped their Earth Mother Tonantzin. She also told him to go the cathedral and tell the archbishop her instructions. The archbishop did not believe him. So she realized a miracle was necessary. She instructed Juan Diego to pick some roses at the spot she had appeared to him, in itself a miracle as roses did not occur there, he wrapped them in his rude clock and when he took them to the archbishop and opend his clock there was an image of the Virgin Mary herself imprinted on the cape. Since then the brown virgin, La Virgen Morena or Nuestra Señora La Virgen de Guadalupe - has blended native and catholic elements into something uniquely Mexican. Pope John Paul elevated Juan Diego to sainthood in 2002.. (source Moon travel book Oaxaca)Read more

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  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day5

    and more plants

     April 4 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    first one is one that grows at bloedel, noni from hawaii??, (morina citrifolia) next is a yucca of some sort it did have flowers at the top, then a terrible pruning of some of the trees in the plaza, figs and others, and a pink poui or cuban tabebuia (Tabebuia heterophylla) Pink Poui or Cuban Tabebuia (Tabebuia heterophylla, bignoniaceae family. native from mexico to Venezuala,Read more

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  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day5

    trip into la crucecita, plants ??

     April 4 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    all these plants in front of the church, pulmaria or is that the desert rose (adenium obesum), purple one? ? member of bignongiacea family?? pink one?? very distinctive flower, Red one a hibiscus of some sort. Mango fruit which was almost mature. growing in the courtyard of the church. (Mangifera indica) and last one?? there was a yucca too in bloom.Read more

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  • CL WanderlustHuatulco mexico
    Day4

    the grounds were beautiful

     April 3 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Lots of palm trees, big open spaces to sit while wind blows through in the shade. Lots of tropical plants, Yellow butterfly palms, Gingers, a big monkey pod tree (Samanea saman) by the breakfast palapa (blooming white balls, albizia like foliage that closes at night), purple rhoeo plants in a planter box outside our door, the birds making nests in the butterfly palm. a wren of some sort. Pineapples (Anana colossus) being grown as ornamentals, Birds of paradise, Banana, Deifenbachia, Plumaria (frangipani), Ixora??? is this the red one, flower petals in 4's, , Octopus tree (Schefflera actinophylla) which was just starting to bloom, red upright panicle of flowers,Read more

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