Friday, November 11, 2005--Hierve el Agua

and Mezcal

With less going on in the city of Oaxaca right now, people are using this as a time to get away. Some take a bus, van, or small airplane over the mountains to the Pacific Coast, to hang out at the beaches of Puerto Escondido or Huatulco, showing up a few days later looking tanned and relaxed.

We decided to take our first trip to Hierve el Agua, a natural feature 80 km (48 miles) east of Oaxaca. For years, friends have told us we should, but we thought it would be too touristy. They were right and we were wrong.

The road passes by El Tule, with its huge tree, the small archaeological sites of Dainzú, Lambityeco and Yagul, and close to Mitla and the weaving towns of Teotitlán del Valle and Santa Ana del Valle. So a day trip to Hierve el Agua can also include several other interesting sites.

Hierve el Agua is a place where mineral-rich water has cascaded over a cliff for thousands of years. The result is a frozen waterfall of multicolored rock. During the rainy season and for some time afterwards, water collects in pools at the top of the falls, where people can take a swim. I've never taken in dip in a more spectacular place.

(Above, natural "Infinity" pool at Hierve el Agua)

(Right, another view from the pools at Hierve el Agua)

There's a trail that loops to the right from the pools, up and past the frozen cascades in the picture above, down and around its base, and back up to the pool area. The walk takes from forty minutes to an hour, depending on how fast you are going up and down. It provides some spectacular views of the cascades, the unique vegetation, and the surrounding country:

View from the loop trail at Hierve el Agua

The route to Hierve el Agua also passes through the heart of Oaxaca's mezcal region. We stopped at one of the Beneva mezcal factories, where we were shown the major steps in making mezcal. We saw mounds of the large "pineapples," the sugary heart of the maguey plant that is the basic ingredient of mezcal; the huge pit in which they are cooked and where they pick up mezcal's smoky flavor; the one-horse-powered mill in which they are crushed, the barrels in which they ferment, and the wood-fired alembico (still) which captures the high-powered spirits.

A worker shovels shreds of maguey out of the mezcal still.

After a very informative tour, we were offered tastes of mezcal, starting with blanco, fresh from the still, then reposado, rested for six months in white oak barrels, then añejo, aged one year, and last (and clearly the finest) the reserva, aged for five to seven years. By the time we left, we were very happy campers indeed.

You can get a very non-commercial introduction to mezcal at the Union de Palenqueros de Oaxaca at Abasolo 510 in the center of Oaxaca. If you drop in, you'll probably meet Francisco Monterrosa Morales, who comes from a long line of palenqueros--mezcal makers. His father is the author of a very detailed book on mezcal that is available at their outlet in Oaxaca, although only in Spanish.

Union de Palenqueros de Oaxaca at Abasolo 510

Francisco very patiently explained to us the different kinds of mezcal, how they are made, and how to tell if the mezcal you are drinking is the genuine article. According to him, true mezcal, as opposed to mezcal adulterated with alcohol, sugar, and artificial flavors, will always produce a ring of fine bubbles when it's poured into a glass. Sure enough, all of their hand-made mezcals produced bubbles.

We tasted a number of their mezcals, and found we liked their añejo best. It was very smooth and just slightly smoky tasting. In contrast, we found that the highly touted and more-expensive tovala, made from a type of maguey that only grows wild in the mountains, tasted too much like turpentine for us to appreciate. However, its very striking flavor made us realize that some of the more commercial tovala mezcals that we've tasted probably were not the real thing.

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