On the last day and-a-half of our stay in Oaxaca we had an opportunity to visit some of the region’s best-loved tourist highlights. First on the itinerary was a visit to the state’s mineral springs known as Hierve El Agua. To travel to this spot which draws many tourists we had to take the busy western highway, passing the fabled tree of Santa María del Tule which we had visited the day before.

The valley view – bereft of any blots on the landscape, ie, peacock imitating musclemen!

We arrived at the famous springs town of San Lorenzo Albarrados after one-and-a-half hours and 62km on the road. Parking in a cliff-top car park above the springs themselves, we first took in an attractive panoramic view of the valley…the view was apparently too inspirational for one of our party, Tansel, a gormless young zennial weightlifter from London who wandered down to the edge. Once there this alpha-male contemporary “Arnold Schwarzenegger” couldn’t resist the chance to shed his shirt and strike up a series of highly stylised topless poses against a backdrop of rolling hills and valleys. As the bearded Tansel (who bore a passing resemblance to Hercules as seen in those atrocious Italian sixties “sword and sandals” movies) enthusiastically flexed his overdeveloped pecs and shoulders, another member of the group who he had demographically aligned himself with on the trip, a tall slim model-proportioned millennial girl named Kimberley obliging snapped away with her iPhone. It made for an amusing albeit almost surreal spectacle on the rock.

With Tansel’s penchant for self-indulgent preening sufficiently satisfied (and most importantly captured on camera) the group got down to business, commencing its descent to Hierve El Agua. We set off down a winding bush trail, at about two-thirds of the journey the trail forked presenting you with two options, left, a short cut to the springs down a sharp, rough track, or straight ahead, a longer, more circuitous trail close to the cliff edge thus offering the prospect of spectacular views of the valley and springs.

In a hurry to get to the springs I took the short cut but regretted it later after sensing some missed vistas from the scenic route especially of the limestone ‘waterfalls’. After emerging from the bush the approach to Hierve El Agua✳ itself is via a 60m-wide rock platform which ends abruptly on the edge of a daunting precipice. The platform comprises several shallow natural infinity pools including two artificial ones provided for visitors to swim in (staff pump water to the tourist-magnet pools from the springs).

Mexico’s calcified kale (‘castle’)

Nearby there’s a visitors’ change room. There were already several Swedish and Japanese tourists in the larger pool and a number of our tour group were keen to join them, not necessarily to immerse themselves in the allegedly healing springs but to cool off on what was an un-wintery warm day in southern Mexico. I had come to the springs with swimmers and towel originally planning on a dip, but immediately I got a close look at the water, I decided that I wouldn’t be joining in on the auto-immersion. The bathing springs were turquoise-green in colour (high mineral concentration? chemicals?)…already obsessed with bugs in the food, I wondered about bugs in the water, what put me off was its unprepossessing appearance, a question of water quality, it was far from pristine, it didn’t look clean to me (evidence of massive overuse?).

Oaxaca’s travertine terraces

Oaxaca’s own, home-grown travertine marvel
The terraced pools were gorgeous but the real natural wonder was below on the cliff face itself, there were waves of white or off-white coloured rock formations which ‘cascaded’ down the face of the cliff, giving this geological phenomenon the thrilling illusion of a waterfall! Known to the locals as cascada chica), in effect it could be described as a “petrified waterfall”, the formations are calcified, the same geological process that produced the world-famous Pamukkale Travertines in south-western Turkey (see also FN below). In both locations the naturally-generated hot springs, with carbonated minerals in the water, are thought to have therapeutic qualities for anyone bathing in the pools✦.

Complex of Mitla’s Columns

Mitlá – centre of Zapotec culture
After exploring Hierve El Agua we moved on to Mitlá which is 44km from Oaxaca de Juárez. The ruins at Mitlá are those of what was once an indigenous religious settlement for the Zapotec people (at one point this site was also under Mixtec control). The core of the buildings, parts of which are surprisingly well-preserved considering their age, is known as the Columns Group and within the Columns is the inner core, El Palacio Conaculta-Inah, which is both the archaeological and the architectural highlight of Mitla.

El Palacio’s intricate fretwork frieze

In pride of place, centrally located, is the Palace…this structure is a stand-out of Pre-Columbian architecture because of the quality of its fretwork (a mosaic of interlaced decorative design). The various tombs, panels, friezes and even whole walls of the Columns are adorned with elaborately carved, distinctive geometric designs in intricate detail. We followed our local guide as he took us on a tour of the Columns’ ruins – which went from the high point of the Palace Courtyard to narrow subterranean tunnels leading to darkly lit, underground tombs (which proved a very tight fit for even the smallest member of our entourage!)

FN: Hierve El Agua and Pamukkale are unique in nature as two instances of the world’s few remaining travertine formations – a consolidation of solidified limestone deposits forming from terraced mineral springs^. Hierve El Agua is admittedly minuscule in scope compared to the breathtaking and mesmerising blue and white appearance of Pamukkale’s vast terraced pools, but this petrified ‘waterfall’ encased in rock is a mightily impressive sight in its own right.

Another point of difference between the two was distinctly olfactory – visiting the “cotton castle” of Pamukkale, it was nigh-on impossible not to be affected (if not overcome) by the overpowering smell of sulphur in the air, it was everywhere! El Agua’s sulphur deposits by contrast didn’t exude that same hold over our sense of smell (thankfully!).

Oaxaca’s “Maravilla Chica”

Travertines NZ style (Source: www.theguardian.com)

┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅
✳ Spanish, translated literally as “the water boils”
✦ The pools’ platform ledge is not the prime vantage-point to view the calcified waterfalls, the optimal view is below, further down the valley

^ Interestingly a locale near Rotorua in New Zealand was once a member of Turkey and Mexico’s exclusive “travertines club”, being similarly geologically endowed…NZ’s own travertine rock formation in the geyser-rich North Island was destroyed in 1886 by a massive cataclysmic event of nature – the eruption of nearby Mt Tarawera [‘The Lost Pink and White Terraces of Lake Rotomahana’, (by Kaushik), Amusing Planet, (2015/09), www.amusingplanet.com]