Our neighbors in the hostel, Alex and Maureen, had rented a car in Cancun and driven west to Oaxaca and were about to head back to catch their flight back to the US. I had told them about this mineral spring and waterfall I had heard of that was supposed to be interesting nearby. We even had a pamphlet with a little picture of it, which looked like a kind of frozen waterfall. The guide book said that it was a non-thermal spring that made wading pools and weird mineral formations that look like “a frozen waterfall,” so everyone seems to agree. Alex and Maureen graciously offered to drive us out with them to see it and we jumped at the chance after a quick lunch of giant squash blossom quesodillas. Yum!
It’s about half an hour or so to the town of Mitla where you turn off for Hierve el Agua (“The Boiling Water”), 13 km away. Of course, those 13 km are along a dirt road winding it’s way through the mountains with no guard rails, where passing a car going the opposite direction can be a Very Exciting Event and take over an hour to traverse. (Hi, Uncle Joe! Thinking of you and panic bars and remembering the reason we call it the panic bar!) Alex was an absolute pro at the driving though, and I was seriously impressed a couple of times. Of course we were in the back seat and just got to look at the great views back towards Oaxaca, as the arid desert vegetation gave way to different climate and landscape at the top of the mountains.
Eventually we came to a village whose economy seemed completely dcependent upon this tourist attraction and mezcal production, and bumbled along the dirt roads there for a bit longer before reaching the entrance gate (20 pesos/person). From the parking lot, you had to walk a couple hundred meters down a trail to the actual springs.
Not really what I was expecting. There were a couple of points where the springs bubbled up and the water did seem fizzy, bit for the most part it was just a trickle of water. This then ran down the slope depositing minerals over the years, making a sort of series of gutters and at some points forming into pools.
The “wading pools” were filled with greenish water often covered with brown scum though, so not much wading was done.
Eventually the water overtops the pools, and I guess the “waterfall” is the little dribble as it pours over the cliff. The “frozen waterfalls” is visible a short distance away, and seems to be another spring on the next cliff over whose mineral deposits collected differently.
Interesting and all kind of cool, but it was a all a bit too starkly zen for me after visions of Xilitla.
The road back was full of little home distilleries that produce mezcal. As someone from the US, I would have thought all Mexicans would drink tequila. Jose Cuervo is the national drink, right? So far every Mexican we’ve met has been a mescal drinker, bringing out the tequila only once the party is really going and it doesn’t matter anymore. Anyhow, since we had drank up Alex and Maureen’s stash the night before we decided to stop at one and try some of the free samples. It was really interesting: the entire process was laid out in one little room. You could buy a regular size bottle for I think 200 pesos, but we decided on four small flavored ones (50/bottle, 4 for 150, about 10-12 shots per bottle).
