The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Overlooking Oaxaca City and surrounded by gold!

It's been a few days since we've had a decent hike, although we were due for a bit of a rest after our Guatemala trip. However, our host Susana here at the apartment offered to go with us up the Cerro del Fortin mountain that sits in the center of Oaxaca City, so we eagerly accepted her offer.

It was about a 7 km (4 mile) hike and it takes you to a series of overlooks that allow you views of the entire city that surrounds the mountain. The guide books say that you shouldn't even go up this mountain due to muggers, but we prepared ourselves by not having anything with us that the muggers would want! Well, maybe our camera, but we needed that for pictures.

Anyhow, there was a police exercise going on at amphitheater on the hill, so there were a lot of police there to scare the muggers away!

Susana and Ruth heading up the hill.

Getting high above Oaxaza.

If you look closely on the hill to the right of center, you can make out the ruins site of Monte Alban.

Susana, Ruth, and Kevin.

It was soooo easy to do a hike without a fifty pound backpack. Admittedly, we only went from 5,100 ft to 5,900 feet, but it was almost effortless with no weight on your back!

Heading back down.

Hard to believe we only saw one or two people on this hike in the middle of a city of a million people! Apparently the trails are pretty busy early in the morning with joggers and dog walkers, but after 10:00am it's pretty much vacant.

A new section of town. Oaxaca is a growing city!

Somebody has some money!

A statue of Morelos overlooking the city. Not sure what he's pointing at!

It was a good walk and we were gone a little over two hours. Relaxed for the afternoon, I even had a snooze in the hammock here! Later on, after 4:00pm when the churches re-open, we walked over to the Templo de Santo Domingo church so that we could see the interior. We had read that it was one of the most ornate in Mexico, with over 60,000 sheets of 23.5 karat gold leaf having been used to decorate the interior. Apparently there's no money in the church business!

Construction began in 1570 and took over 200 years to complete!

Wow.

Wow, again.

The ceiling is amazing.

The "Tree of Life" decorates the ceiling in the entryway.

The domed roof of one of the side chapels.

Definitely one of the more interesting churches we've ever visited. 

Today, we're off to the ruins of Monte Alban!


12 comments:

  1. What a great view from up on the hill. That church is just amazing with all the gilding. Think God hears you better when you pray from a golden church?

    LOL
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

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    1. The church was pretty spectacular, your really didn't know where to look first.

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  2. Awesome pictures again, thanks for sharing!

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  3. Doesn't seem like you ever slow down. How many hiking shoes do you wear out in a year? ;c)

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    1. We don't slow down too often but we are looking forward to getting back to Sherman at the Hacienda Contreras RV Park and taking it easy for a few weeks before we start our trip north to Canada.

      My last pair of hikers lasted me 2 years Kevin's are going on to 2 1/2. We buy good quality ones so that we know they will last for a while especially with what we put them through!

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  4. Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing!

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  5. Any hike you do now will seem like a breeze. Amazing church.

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    1. I think you might be right Contessa but we still have our sights set on a couple of other interesting hikes sometime in the near future.

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  6. We were robbed by two men at knifepoint on that same road in December. Everything was taken, we were lucky that worse didn't happen. Camera or no camera, it's not a pleasant experience.

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    1. We were mugged in Zacatecas that same winter by two guys holding knives as well, so we know what it feels like and you are correct it isn't a pleasant experience. We knew this was a trouble spot but we were happy to go with a local, as I think it helped and that is the only reason that we went on this hike.

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