Cola del Serpiente

This past Friday, we witnessed beautiful old Porsches, Stedebakers, Oldmobiles, Hudsons, Cadillacs, Volvos, and Mercedes roll into the zocalo for the Panamericana Road Race. Seven days through seven Mexican cities race to the border of Texas. Check out the website www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx We couldn't stay to cheer on their departure on Saturday as we were headed out of town ourselves, into the countryside to the small village of Apoala. 

With a population of 200 indiginous Mixtecas, Apoala is an idyllic farming community in a secluded valley. To get to this out-of-the-way place, we hopped into a collective van for an hour and then continued on winding dirt roads by taxi for another hour and half. We checked into one of the three rooms at the eco-tourist "lodge." 

Our guide Luis, aged 12, led us to the caves to see stalactites and bats. I was intellectually prepared, but I didn´t much like the experience of scrambling through guano only to arrive in a claustrophobic cavern to listen to bats screeching. I will not be taking up splunking. 

I much prefered the hike through the canyon sliced out of rock by the Rio Apoalla. Apparently, a long time ago a two-headed eagle lived in this canyon and now serves as the town mascot. The bucolic scene came alive as a shepherd strolled down the mountain with his flock of goats, burros brayed across the river and air plants and lichen hung from the trees. We continued on to the cascada (waterfall) named Cola del Serpiente or Tail of the Serpent and had a swim. There are few things in the world better than jumping into your own private sun-drenched natural pool after a good hike.