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Yaxchibonam

Oct 5, 2009, 9:40 AM

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OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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Hola amigos,
Is there already available information about where in Oaxaca City (central points) to catch 2nd class and/or colectivos to the outlying pueblos? If so, where can I find it? ANY tips or information to add to the community knowledge base would be helpful.

I am trying to gather good information on these inexpensive means of transportation so i can help myself and others without a car get around. I live in Jalatlaco.

I think I know a little -- like you can catch 2nd class/collectivos to Tule and Mitla from the Sports arena on Chapultepec, right?

And you have to catch a cab to the Abastos market to catch a collectivo to Ocotlan, yes?

I want to go to the Tuesday market in Atzompa and have no idea how to do that via 2nd class bus or colectivo. This information is well known to the locals, but not yet to me! Please help if you can. Thanks!
Yaxchi

Vichil

Oct 5, 2009, 10:36 AM

Post #2 of 12 (4116 views)

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Re: [Yaxchibonam] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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They all leave from the market area. If you know the routes you can catch them en route if you do not mind standing all the way since they only leave when they are full. There are vans as well as taxis (all share a ride type) going to the outlying pueblos from the market area..

I just remember that area is also known as la camionera vieja. (The old bus Station). There you will get transportation for Santa Maria Atzompa, Zaachila and so on. I would think that most buses end up there so if you take a bus to the old station you do not have to take a cab.

(This post was edited by Vichil on Oct 5, 2009, 2:08 PM)

geri

Oct 6, 2009, 3:55 AM

Post #3 of 12 (4075 views)

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Re: [Yaxchibonam] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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There are several bus routes to Ocotlan in terminals on Bustante a few blocks south of zocalo. If you email Linda Martin, she has maps of bus routes and colectivos (the bus companies and govt. don't have route maps because the Mexicans know where to go). Her email is: Ridgecliff@hotmail.com

I have seldom had to stand on a bus or small van to villages. They run frequently, not when full. Colectivos run when full but they are passenger cars.

Go to the sitios, (colectivo taxis) near Abasotos market. Walk up and down the streets where the taxi stands are parked to get a feel of which ones go where.

You can take a bus near the ADO station, either side of the road depending on which direction you are going, to Abastos market. Take a bus marked CENTRAL, NOT centro.

Buses also run along Vasconcelos to CENTRAL and Plaza de Valle, where there are shopping malls, cinema, etc.

I used to live in Jalatlaco. It's the best as far as access to public transport is. It's so cheap to go by bus that if you make a mistake, it doesn't cost you much, so experiment.

hope this helps.

Yaxchibonam

Oct 14, 2009, 5:09 PM

Post #4 of 12 (4004 views)

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Re: [Vichil] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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Thanks Vichil,
I think I am just beginning to understand the system. I am going to try and get to Zaachila tomorrow morning....wish me luck!
Yaxchi

Yaxchibonam

Oct 14, 2009, 5:17 PM

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Re: [geri] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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Hi Geri,
I woke up last night wondering if I had thanked you for your response, and I am finally getting around to it! You were very helpful, and you are right, Jalatlaco is wonderfully located for transportation. I live only 2 blocks from where the buses and colectivos stop on Vasconcellos, across from the ISSSTE. The other day I caught a collectivo to Tlacolula there (it arrived about 30 seconds after I did), and ended up staying with the same driver round trip to the ruins in Yagul. He morphed into a private taxi from Tlacolula to the ruins and back, and I paid him $12 USD to wait for me in the parking lot for 1.5 hours because apparently no taxis or buses go there to pick up people. I think I will take my chances next time though, and see if I can hitch a ride with some tourist or tour back to Tlacolula. Worst comes to worst, it seems like the INAH folks who take admission could call me a cab. They must have a phone. Or...I wouldn't mind spending the night there. Except for the billions of fire ants!
Yaxchi

geri

Oct 14, 2009, 6:59 PM

Post #6 of 12 (3979 views)

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Re: [Yaxchibonam] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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You are great! This brings back the memories of how I first explored Oaxaca by public transport, 8 or 9 years ago. My attitude was: "It's the journey not the destination." Even if I got on the wrong bus or didn't make it to where I intended, I ALWAYS had a great experience. There was a spell that a friend and I would just hop on a bus to find out where it was going. We'd ride to the end of the line, walk around, and take another bus back.

At Yagul, did you go up to the "bathtub?" Its a huge rock, scooped out so that it looks like an ancient bathtub. If it were indeed a bathtub, then the area had more water than it does today. Anyway, you follow the trail to the right, just beyond the entrance and at the top follow the back ridge along to the right. The views are fantastic. Don't give up. Keep going past the first plaque/monument vista area. It's worth the hike.

Once the workers took me back to the highway, once I walked and I think once there happened to be a taxi there. As you venture out more and more, you'll gain confidence that you won't get stranded anywhere. The Mexicans DO NOT want extranjeros to get stranded. Oaxacaquenos are great folk! I love your spirit!

That reminds me, I haven't been to Zaachila in years! It's about time.

Please keep us posted about your day tripping experiences.

Carron

Oct 15, 2009, 8:39 AM

Post #7 of 12 (3948 views)

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Re: [geri] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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I more than once spent a memorable weekend in Oaxaca visiting with Geri. On one such occasion we enjoyed a chartered bus trip (very clase ejecutivo) which took a load of mostly Americans to an outlying cathedral in the middle of nowhere to celebrate its renovation and the repairs to the ancient pipe organ there. Following the goose-bump chilling concert, we emerged into an ominously dark night. One of the Americans--who actually spent a lot of time in Mexico--was freaking out. "What will we do if we miss the bus back to Oaxaca????"

Meanwhile Geri and I were plotting eagerly on what we could do with ourselves if we got left behind and could actually spend the night in the enchanted and enchanting place. Unfortunately, we didn't miss the bus.

Vichil

Oct 15, 2009, 9:26 AM

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Re: [Yaxchibonam] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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Carron has a nice story about an organ.

If you want to see a fabulous one go to Tlacachahuaya. The church and convent were built on top of a prehispanic temple in the 16th century. They have a great 16th century French organ that was restaured in 1991. Something to hear and see.
If you go there ask the encargado to show you the organ upstairs, he will do it for a 10 peso fee. Do not miss it.

The story goes that the heir to the Zaachila throne Natipa was married on that location to one of the daughters of the village chieftain. The wedding party got out of hand when some Zapotec guests and Spanish guests started a fight. The story goes that a huge brawl ensued and the bride Guieche and the bridegroom Natipa were killed there. The other ending says that both of them died after overindulging during the fiesta...
Considering that a modern wedding there last about a week and that mescal flows freely, who knows how long the weddings lasted in the 16th century. Plenty of time to kill oneself overeating and overdrinking....
Do not miss that little ex convent and church.
It is on the way to Tlacolula , on the right handside before you get to Teotitlan.

geri

Oct 15, 2009, 10:45 AM

Post #9 of 12 (3927 views)

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Re: [Vichil] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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Vichil : I believe Tlcachuaya is the oldest church in the state of Oaxaca. Not sure. It's a pretty little village and you're bound to see folk riding around in donkey-pulled carts, although these are rapidly disappearing, giving way to motos. In pueblos nears Oaxaca city, three-wheeled motorized vehicles are replacing the animal-powered and pedal-powered carts of the recent past.

Carron: I had forgotten about that trip. I think the church was Nochitlan (or maybe Yanuitlan) and it's still under renovation, maybe not open to the public but you can usually ask around and find the caretaker with a key. In that general area, they are excavating a VERY exciting Mixtec site. It may prove to be as large and important to the Mixtecs as Monte Alban was to the Zapotecs. The site isn't accessible to the public (hopefully it will be) but there is a small, but impressive, museum of the artifacts in the church in Teposcolula -- another idea for day trippers.

Update re Monte Alban: Due to the increasingly heavy traffic, especially tour buses, and the small parking area at Monte Alban, soon vehicles will park at a soon-to-be-opened excavated site in nearby Atzompa and shuttled from there to Monte Alban. Although it's near the pottery village of Atzompa, it's considered to be part of the ancient Monte Alban settlement.

Vichil

Oct 15, 2009, 12:11 PM

Post #10 of 12 (3919 views)

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Re: [geri] OAXACA CITY: 2nd Class/Colectivos to outlying pueblos

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It may be one of the oldest, I don´t know.
I went there for the first time with some young friends from Teotitlan who were getting married. In order to get married in Teotitlan they had to get their papers from Tlacochahuaya . I would have thought that the church in Tlacolula would have been a more important one but as I do not know anything about the hierachy of the church there I do not know how it came about that that little church was were the records were kept.
The church was part of a convent so it may have been one of the first mission. If one of you finds out , I would love to know!

Just corrected Tlacochahuaya spelling. Zapoteco is a beautiful language but they have some serious tongue twisters..

(This post was edited by Vichil on Oct 15, 2009, 3:46 PM)

Yaxchibonam

Oct 18, 2009, 9:32 PM

Post #11 of 12 (3840 views)

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Re: [geri]Question about Yagul

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Hi Geri,
I had quite an adventure with a young friend this Saturday, during a short break in the weather. We took collectivos and buses to the entrance of the new excavation at Atzompa. We walked all the way up, spent 4 hours wandering around, and then found ourselves stranded there as a thunderstorm approached. I forgot it was Saturday, and the workers who were there in the morning weren't coming back after lunch! I'm putting up the pictures on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaxchibonam/sets/72157622482617473/

...but if you haven't already seen it, you should try and go before they open it officially in January. We had such freedom to wander the place alone! And when we thought we might be stuck up there...I remembered a story I read about you, and felt it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to wake up in the city of the Cloud People the next morning! My friend Adriana was born in a Mixe village in the Sierras, and she is a real trooper when it comes to the unexpected!

And being a modern Mixe, she had a cell phone, which ended up being very useful when the dark clouds closed in on the mountain.

Next weekend we plan to back to Yagul, and I wanted to make sure I understood your directions to get to the "unofficial" site where the bathtub is carved into the rock. From the parking lot, if you go up the hill, you will come to those stairs leading up to the right, to the forteleza...is that they way to go? I don't remember seeing another path off to the right...but I could look again. I heard that there were unexcavated parts of Yagul "across the river", which is not enough for me to go on.... Can you help direct me?

I am looking for an occasional fellow explorer/photographer to visit pueblos during the week (Adriana is available only on weekends) Any takers? I live in Jalatlaco, close to transportation.

Thanks Geri!
Yaxchi

(This post was edited by tonyburton on Oct 19, 2009, 7:46 AM)

geri

Oct 19, 2009, 3:00 AM

Post #12 of 12 (3830 views)

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Re: [Yaxchibonam] Question about Yagul

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WOW! Thanks for the photos. I walked up to Atzompa a few years ago before they started the excavation. I remember a ritual site with dead chickens and mezcal and just vague hints of the ancient ruins which they are now reconstructing. This is very exciting. That's one of the charms of Oaxaca, there's always something going on to pique my curiosity. It's like having several worlds within an hour's drive in any direction.