Goodbye Oaxaca Roadtrip: Day 5 Zipolite - Sta. Catarina Juquila
You can read about something, but ... okay. I've driven around a lot of Oaxaca, yet still I looked at the map and thought, oh sure we can drive from Zipolite, stop in and see this museum, look for this unexcavated site, get to Juquila and see the church, then drive back down to, oh, Jamiltepec or so. We're talking about 250 miles or so. Well, the road along the coast wasn't so bad, but as soon as we got to Puerto Escondido and turned inland, oh my hell. I think there was as much pavement as dirt and sand, but let's just call it 50-50. A road so bad that if I was ever to scout locations for a post-apocalyptic movie, I'd say: Hwy 131. G figured it out; we averaged 15 miles an hour!
Needless to say, we scouted out no ruins, saw no museums, just endured and finally reached Juquila, the town of Oaxaca's supreme Virgin (out of three). The whole town is crammed with places for pilgrims to stay, all of it down-home. And a lot more expensive than we're used to in Oaxaca. But we found our room, found some comida, then set off uphill to see the church and little Juquila. She's a very native looking Virgin: short, with dark skin and black hair. And sitting in her golden case in the middle of a riot of flowers and candles (and a large blue teddy bear) at the front of the church. Which started filling up. Hey! It's time for mass. So we stayed for mass. The pews were completely full, and people were standing (or kneeling) in the aisles, the space between the pews and the altar, and at the back of the church.
We didn't do a whole lot else, as we were full of comida and worn out from that ugly road. We went back to our room and watched Mexican TV while Vivani played with her cookie wrapper and hat.
You can read about something, but ... okay. I've driven around a lot of Oaxaca, yet still I looked at the map and thought, oh sure we can drive from Zipolite, stop in and see this museum, look for this unexcavated site, get to Juquila and see the church, then drive back down to, oh, Jamiltepec or so. We're talking about 250 miles or so. Well, the road along the coast wasn't so bad, but as soon as we got to Puerto Escondido and turned inland, oh my hell. I think there was as much pavement as dirt and sand, but let's just call it 50-50. A road so bad that if I was ever to scout locations for a post-apocalyptic movie, I'd say: Hwy 131. G figured it out; we averaged 15 miles an hour!
Needless to say, we scouted out no ruins, saw no museums, just endured and finally reached Juquila, the town of Oaxaca's supreme Virgin (out of three). The whole town is crammed with places for pilgrims to stay, all of it down-home. And a lot more expensive than we're used to in Oaxaca. But we found our room, found some comida, then set off uphill to see the church and little Juquila. She's a very native looking Virgin: short, with dark skin and black hair. And sitting in her golden case in the middle of a riot of flowers and candles (and a large blue teddy bear) at the front of the church. Which started filling up. Hey! It's time for mass. So we stayed for mass. The pews were completely full, and people were standing (or kneeling) in the aisles, the space between the pews and the altar, and at the back of the church.
We didn't do a whole lot else, as we were full of comida and worn out from that ugly road. We went back to our room and watched Mexican TV while Vivani played with her cookie wrapper and hat.
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