Oaxaca, Mexico, 2019
July 20 - August 4


Introduction:

We headed out to Mexico City from Boston on July 20, 2019 and made our way back on August 4.

On this trip we visited Mexico City, the city of Guanajuato, the city of Puebla and the city of Oaxaca.

My wife grew up in Mexico City and so spending time with her family was the top priority while there. As for Guanajuato, I lived 20 months there and this is where I met my wife. Our visit there would be to recall the sights of the city we know, to see some new sights and to have our children get to know Guanajuato. Our brief visit to Puebla was due in part to the fact that it is en route to Oaxaca and that we have some family living there; we had not visited the city before.

The trip went off well with no problems. Was great to see family that we had not seen in years. Visiting Guanajuato after 24 years was nostalgic. The Gueleguetza in Oaxaca was a definite highlight of the trip.

We spent one day birding and managed to see some great new birds in the company of an excellent guide.

Trip Preparation:

As usual booked our flights early, and happily got a direct flight from Boston to Mexico City. Booked hotels a couple weeks in advance except for the hotel in Oaxaca, which we booked earlier as this was the time of the Gueleguetza. Made sure we knew any PIN numbers for credit or debit cards.

Flight Information:

We got nice non-stop flights from Boston to Mexico City through Expedia. Each ticket was $452.88. I do not recall seeing non-stop flights before. The flight was very quick without the stop over. On both flights out seat locations were good but not next to each other. We easily swapped with passengers so that two of us were together and the other two were together.

To Mexico City, Sat July 20 Jet Blue 483: 8:51am departure, 1:15pm arrival

From Mexico City, Sun Aug 4 Jet Blue 484: 2:20pm departure, 9:12pm arrival

Auto Rental:

Nada. We were planning to do some renting but my brother in-law was very kind and let us borrow his car!

Lodging (approx. 18 pesos/dollar):

Edelmira Hotel Boutique (7/21-7/24), Guanajuato. Very convenient, in the Jardin Union. Nice rooms. Even has an indoor pool, though we did not make use of it. Free breakfast was very good. Staff in general very good. We had the Deluxe Double rooms. For three nights, $310 for one room, using Expedia points, and $465 for the other. They have another hotel a little outside of the center with plenty of parking and you can park for free here.

Rosewood Puebla (7/26-7/27), Puebla. Gorgeous hotel. Immaculately maintained with neat furnishings. Next to the San Francisco church, the oldest in Puebla. The rooftop pool was pleasant and gave great views of the nearby snow-capped volcanos early in the morning when the sky was crystal clear! We had Deluxe rooms with two doubles. Each was $200.85.

Hotel Victoria (7/27-8/1), Oaxaca. Near the outdoor Gueleguetza theatre, on Fortin hill. I know this hotel and I like it, though some may complain it is outdated. Had a nice room with a balcony. Enjoyed the pool and had a few meals in what I consider to be a good restaurant. Friendly staff. It was $557.01 for the room for five nights, but we had to pay an additional $200 or so for the kids.

Museums and Sites Visited:

Mina El Nopal: In Guanajuato City, and run by the University of Guanajuato. Great tour. Guanajuato was the epicenter of silver mining for the Spanish Empire at one point.

Templo De La Valenciana: Fantastic church in Valenciana, Guanajuato.

Cristo Rey Statue: Atop Montana De Cristo Rey, in Guanajuato. A huge statue of Christ, fantastic views, information center and gift shop, and food stalls.

Teatro Juarez: Old ornate theater in the heart of Guanajuato. Purported to have great acoustics and associated with some significant events.

Museo Iconografico del Quijote: The brain child of a man from Santander, Spain, who initiated this museum as a collection of art works by various artists with Quixote as the theme.

Alhondiga de Granaditas: Old fortress-like storage facility that played a very significant role in the fight for independence.

Mercado Hidalgo: The central market in the city of Guanajuato.

Museo Casa Diego Rivera: The home in Guanajuato where Diego Rivera spent his first six years.

Callejon del Beso: Very narrow street in Guanajuato with a legend about a young couple stealing kisses, and paying a high price!

El Pipila: Statue above Guanajuato City of El Pipila. This hero played a crucial role in the fighting that took place at the beginning of the war of independence. You can either walk up from downtown or take a funicular.

UNAM Jardin Botanico: The botanical garden on the UNAM campus in Mexico City. A known "hot spot" for birds, and a host of neat plants.

Fort Loreto: One of two forts, very near each other, in Puebla where the epicenter of the fighting between Mexico and France took place on Cinco de Mayo.

Teleferico de Puebla: An aerial tramway between two towers on a hill above Puebla, very near the Fort Loreto, that provides great views of the city and outlying areas.

Puebla Cathedral: Grand cathedral in the center of Puebla.

Biblioteca Palafoxiana: In the center of Puebla, the first public library in Mexico, founded in 1646.

Church of San Francisco: Franciscans began construction on this church in Puebla around 1550.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Assumption: Faces the zocalo in Oaxaca, and construction began in 1535.

Santo Domingo: Beautiful church a short walk from the zocalo in Oaxaca that also has a very large and interesting museum, containing much history and incredible treasures from the ruins of Monte Alban.

Gueleguetza: An annual cultural event where groups from the different regions of Oaxaca entertain with dance and music, often while dressed in beautiful costumes.

El Arbol del Tule: In the village of Santa Maria del Tule, just outside Oaxaca City, resides this massive tree. Purported to have the largest diameter of any tree and to be over 2000 years old. The church and church grounds on which it resides are very nice also, as is the plaza outside the church.

Day by Day Account:

July 20:

Very nice and quick non-stop flight to DF airport. Brother picked us up. Got tacos at Dragonejo. Relaxed, a number of relatives stopped by the home of my mother-in-law. Had tamales for dinner from a local place and even more relatives stopped by.

July 21:

Went out to eat breakfast at Sanborns in Coyoacan with mother-in-law and one of my brother-in-laws and his family. Headed out to Guanajuato. The drive was pleasant, even enjoyable in my brother-in-laws car that he loaned us. Took a while to get out of the city, but we made it in about 4 hours. Had dinner at Casa Valadez after settling into the hotel. Nice ambience in this restaurant but would not recommend the food. Realized some of the museums in the center of the city would not be open tomorrow and so rearranged our plans for the next two days.

July 22:

Drove up to Valenciana and discovered the Mina Valenciana was closed; in fact, it is not open very often at all. So we headed back down the hill and had a nice tour at Mina El Nopal. This mine is associated with the very good mining program at the University of Guanajuato. We had a Honduran student lead us on a tour and it was very interesting. At one point, the silver mines in Mexico supplied most silver to the Spanish Empire and Guanajuato was the most productive silver mining area.

After this headed back up to Valenciana and spent some time in the plaza, eating some elotes, and took a look at the wonderful Templo De La Valenciana. I had lived in Valenciana just short of two years and had not gone inside this church. Church was magnificent and little garden was very nice. Got some "regional" candies at a store behind the church.

Next headed over to CIMAT, where I worked when living in Valenciana. Just walked through this fine research and teaching institute dedicated to mathematics and computer science.

Drove the roughly 45 minutes to the Cristo Rey statue atop Montana Cristo Rey. Wonderful statue in a very nice location: atop one of the highest mountains in Guanajuato; second highest I belive. Had lunch at one of the nearby food stands afterwards.

After arriving back at the center, relaxed and then took an evening walk through a nearby part of the center: passing by the Quixote and Pancho statues on horseback.

July 23:

Had another nice breakfast at the hotel and walked over to the Teatro Juarez. This is both a quite old and quite remarkable theater, both for the acoustics and the history surrounding it.

Next we did the Quixote Museum. Very interesting with many interpretations of Quixote and Pancho by various artists.

Next up was the Alhondiga. This fortress of a building, actually a storage place, was the site of a hard fought struggle at the beginning of the war for independence. At one point, the heads of four revolutionaries were placed on the outside corners of the building as a warning. Excellent displays throughout the interior recounting the revolution and its actors.

Next, over to the Mercado for lunch and some lite shopping.

After lunch we visited the home where Diego Rivera spent his first six years. Nice gift shop and several works of Diego and others throughout this rather large home.

We then headed over to Callejon de Beso. We joined the line and my wife and I got a picture of us kissing on this famous narrow street.

In the evening we did some "silver" shopping, picture up some very nice and nicely priced pieces. Finished things up with dinner at Taquero Mucho.

July 24:

Had our last breakfast and headed behind the Teatro Juarez to take the funicular up to the statue of El Pipila. This hero played a crucial role in the fighting that took place at the beginning of the war of independence. We then started driving back to Mexico City. For dinner we ate at a "truck stop" that had excellent food.

July 25:

Went to visit our brother-in-law on the UNAM campus and had a great breakfast at the Casa Club Del Academico. Afterwards the kids and I went to the UNAM Botanical Garden and saw some nice plants and birds.

Later in the day had pizza and cake with relatives at my mother-in-laws.

July 26:

Headed out to Puebla, the city in the state of the same name. We hadn’t been there and thought we would spend a night there and do a little sightseeing, as it is on the way to Oaxaca. Stopped at the large park area where Fort Loreto and the Teleferico de Puebla are, amongst other attrations. Fort Loreto is one of two forts, very near each other, located where the Mexican Army beat the French Army on, you guessed it, Cinco de Mayo. Nearby is also the Teleferico, where you can get great views of the city while riding from one tower to another and back.

Next checked in to hotel, Rosewood Puebla; we thought it would be very nice and it was nicer than we thought!

Went out to dinner at a restaurant I came across on the internet as having very good "Chiles en Nogada". The restaurant, Mural de los Poblanos, was very neat, with two large walls covered with murals containing famous people from Puebla. We met up with some relatives of my wife that she had never met before, who joined us for dinner.

July 27:

Awoke with a phone call from my wife. She was on the roof of the Rosewood Hotel in the pool. The sky, heavily overcast the afternoon before, had completely cleared. Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the former the 2nd highest peak in Mexico, and both huge volcanoes, were crystal clear in the distance. Both have snow caps year round and are at times visible while in Mexico City, but we were on the other side and, unlike Mexico City, there was no smog between us and the volcanos. Twice "Popo" gave out a large plume of ash while we looked on.

We got our act together and took a small bus on a roundabout path to the Zocalo, where we had a modest breakfast. We then went in to the Puebla Cathedral. A grand church, we got to take a pretty good look before a wedding began. We watched a good deal of the wedding ceremony and considered it a plus to have this chance.

It had been suggested to us by my wive's relatives to check out the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, Mexico's first public library, founded in 1646. We were lucky again in that a local symphony was performing in the open area in the center of the large building that the library resides in.

Made our way back to the hotel by taxi but got let out just across the street at the Church of San Francisco to take a look inside. The Franciscans began construction around 1550.

Finally rustled up our belongings and headed out to Oaxaca. The drive was still over four hours, and traffic on this two lane highway made it necessary to sometimes do some passing, but we made it in one piece to Oaxaca. Checked into our hotel and went down to the Zocalo to have dinner at El Asador Vasco. We had eaten with my parents at this restaurant almost 25 years before.

July 28:

Went downtown and had breakfast at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre.

Did some shopping and then took a look inside The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, for which construction began in 1535.

Next walked by the sumptuous Santo Domingo.

Headed back to the hotel and made our way to Zaachila to visit relatives and eat some terrific food at my favorite restaurant in the country of Mexico: La Capilla.

July 29:

Today was the day of the Gueleguetza for us and we made our way to the stadium expecting a great show, and experienced even more than we expected. The people from the different regions of Oaxaca are proud of their traditions and take advantage of the Gueleguetza to show their pride. The outfits, dances and music were wonderful. Later we enjoyed a swim in the pool and then headed downtown. We had a fine dinner at the Mayordomo restaurant. I knew of Mayordomo as a manufacturer of chocolate for making hot chocolate and for cooking, and was surprised to see a restaurant. They had a nice gift shop next to the restaurant. Next to this was a small grocery store where we bought some items for the next morning.

July 30:

The girls and I, together with a guide, were going birding today. We met our guide, Eric Martinez, at the lobby at the scheduled time and headed out, first to Etla, arriving at the foothills just before sunrise. We birded our way up the hill, slowly, stopping for five minutes to an hour or more, at higher elevations. My list of new birds to be seen in the central valley of Oaxaca was not so big, and most on the list were tough to get in the field. With Eric's excellent knowledge of the area, the habitats and the birds, I was quite pleased with what we did manage to see, getting 6 lifers here, which included unexpected and excellent sightings of greater swallow-tailed swift. After Etla we headed over to La Cumbre. There is one main road to take through the center of Oaxaca and a truck was broken down on it, with the result that it took us a very long time to get to the highway that takes you up to La Cumbre. We had a great lunch at El Colibri restaurant just past the entrance to La Cumbre and then headed into the reserve. Though later in the day than we would have liked, our guide was still hopeful that we could get some of the target species. While we did miss out on a least one, we did well and called it a day, leaving enough time to get downtown before darkness. We ate at the hotel and chilled for the night.

July 31:

Our last full day in Oaxaca. We went to the Hotel Quinta Real for a very nice breakfast. While the food was quite good, the hotel itself is very nice. Formerly a Convent, my wife and I had a pre-wedding photo shoot here about 25 years back, when it was the Camino Real. We also saw a mini-Gueleguetza here back then: it was several dancers who performed a reduced set of dances from the real Gueleguetza. Not sure if they still have it, but there was a trio of guitar players. We then went to the museum which is part of the Santo Domingo complex. This was impressive. A lot of history about Oaxaca, and Mexico in general, and beautiful treasures from the Monte Alban ruins. I do not believe you can see treasures of this value at the ruins themselves. It's a large museum and we did not see it all. We then drove over to nearby Santa Maria del Tule, to see 'El Arbol del Tule'. This is the largest diameter tree in the world. We paid a child to walk us around the tree and point out the various features. The whole church grounds are beautifully maintained and the plaza outside is also very nice. We have some snacks and headed back to the center of Oaxaca. My wife went to visit a relative while me and the kids got some pizza from Domino's Pizza.

August 1:

Had the buffet breakfast at Hotel Victoria. I found it to be better than the one at Hotel Quinta Real, though the latter was great also. Headed out on the drive to Mexico City, arriving there at about 6pm. In Mexico City, took care of some routine tasks, such as clothes washing. Went out for tamales at a nearby eatery, walking back with my daughter.

August 2:

We were in take it easy mode today, at the mother-in-laws home. Took a walk over to the movie theater complex and saw La Camarista. I was the only one that gave it a thumbs down. For dinner we went to the nearby excellent Taqueria los Gueros.

August 3:

Went with some of the in-laws to a great breakfast at El Cardenal in San Angel, Mexico City. Afterwards went to the nearby church and plaza which is filled with indoor and outdoor shops, containing a myriad and multitude of creations by artists. Was surprised at how many foreigners were present. In the evening we had several in-laws over at my mother-in-laws home for a 'party'. Had some food delivered, including a cake for Olivia's birthday. We played games, chatted and had a warm, relaxing evening.

August 4:

Had a somewhat leisurely breakfast and then, at 11am, headed out to the airport for the non-stop flight back to Boston.

Birds:

Happy with what we saw in the time spent birding: 75 seen and 6 heard very well. 8 endemics seen and 1 heard. 9 lifers seen and 1 heard. 7 new birds to the country of Mexico, 5 new to Oaxaca and 1 new to Mexico City.

DF (Mexico City), BG (UNAM Botanical Gardens), GTO (Guanajuato, all new birds for GTO), PUE (Puebla, all new birds for PUE), HV (Hotel Victoria in Oaxaca), ET (Etla, Oaxaca), LC (La Cumbre, Oaxaca)

Lifers are in red, new to Mexico or elsewhere are in blue.

mexican duck (new to Mexico)	BG
.
turkey vulture	GTO, HV
red-tailed hawk	ET
cara cara	route to Oaxaca
.
inca dove	DF
white-winged dove	PUE
band-tailed pigeon (new to Mexico)	ET or LC
.
great swallow-tailed swift (lifer)	ET
.
white-eared hummingbird	ET
berylline hummingbird	BG
blue-throated hummingbird	LC: restaurant feeders
rivoli's hummingbird (new to Mexico)	ET, LC restaurant feeders
.
mountain trogon	LC
elegant trogan (new to Mexico)	ET
.
acorn woodpecker	GTO
ladder-backed woodpecker	PUE
.
spot-crowned woodcreeper	LC
.
greenish elaenia (new to Oaxaca)	ET
greater peewee	LC
western peewee	HV
buff-breasted flycatcher	BG
vermillion flycatcher	BG, GTO, PUE, HV
dusky-capped flycatcher (new to Oaxaca)	ET
great kiskadee	HV
social flycatcher	HV
tropical kingbird	HV
western kingbird	GTO
.
rose-throated becard	ET
.
barn swallow	PUE
.
steller's jay	ET, LC
woodhouse's scrub jay	ET
mexican jay (new to Mexico)	GTO
raven	ET
.
bridled titmouse	ET
.
bushtit	BG, ET
.
boucard's wren (endemic)	ET
bewick's wren	BG, HV
.
blue-gray gnatcatcher	ET
.
orange-billed nightingale-thrush (lifer)	ET
.
clay-colored thrush (new to Oaxaca)	HV
rufous-backed robin (endemic)	DF, BG, Tule (Oaxaca)
robin	BG
.
grey silky	HV
.
slaty vireo (lifer & endemic)	ET
plumbeous vireo (new to Mexico)	ET
hutton's vireo (new to Oaxaca)	ET
chestnut-sided shrike vireo (lifer)	ET
.
crescent-chested warbler	ET
hooded yellowthroat (lifer & endemic)	BG
red warbler	ET
painted redstart	ET
slate-throated redstart	ET
rufous-capped warbler	ET
golden-browed warbler (lifer)	LC
.
elegant euphonia (lifer)	ET
hepatic tanager	ET
red-headed tanager (lifer & endemic)	ET
.
black-headed grosbeak	BG
.
chestnut-capped brushfinch (new to Mexico)	ET or LC
collared towhee (lifer & endemic)	LC
rufous-sided towhee	GTO, ET
canyon towhee	BG, GTO, PUE
white-throated towhee (endemic)	HV
white-collared seedeater (cinnamon-rumped seedeater)	HV
rufous-crowned sparrow	BG
oaxaca sparrow (endemic to Oaxaca)	ET
song sparrow	BG
yellow-eyed junco	ET, LC
.
great-tailed grackle	DF, PUE
bronzed cowbird (new to Oaxaca)	PUE, HV
black-vented oriole	ET
bullock's oriole (new to DF)	BG
.
house finch	BG, HV
lesser goldfinch	BG, GTO, HV, ET
.
house sparrow	DF

Heard only:

west-mexican chachalaca	ET
long-tailed partridge (lifer & endemic)	ET
canyon wren (new to Mexico)	GTO
brown-backed solitaire	ET
russet nightingale thrush	ET or LC
blue mockingbird	ET

Guide saw:

audubon oriole

ET

Guide heard:

mottled owl

ET