Sierra Norte

On Thursday, I went up to the Sierra Norte, which is the mountain range that rises up behind Casa Sagrada. I went up with Shoshanna, Alejandro and their friend Willie, who had just ridden his motorbike from Homer, Alaska. You guys think I'm adventurous.
We drove the main road, dirt with lots of ruts, to the village of Benito Juarez. As we made our way slowly up the switchbacks the vegetation changed from cactus to pine forest. Really incredible how the ecosystem changes so fast. Benito Juarez sits at about 8,500 feet and is the gateway to a lot of smaller villages in the mountains. Incredible views from up there, I took picture and will try to post them.
When we got to the village we left the car and hiked up the trail. If you think you are in shape try walking up a trail at 8,500 feet. Wow!
When we came back down we stopped in the village to watch some of the Independence day fiesta. All the children were dressed up and dancing in native dress. Very cute.
While we were there, we met Shoshanna's friend's Elizabeth, Juan and their son Chai. Chai is 4 years old and one of the boys dancing in the square.
Elizabeth has just started the children's library in the village and doing it all on donations. If you know anyone who can donate Spanish Children's books let me know!
At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon we headed back down to Teotitlan, felt like we were back at sea level. Going up 3,000 feet from 5,000 to 8,000 and back down again in 6 hour can be kind of hard on the body, especially when you've spent all summer at 6 feet.
On Friday I went into Oaxaca city to hear Alejandro's band play. Alejandro is the shaman here at Casa Sagrada, he runs the Temascal, the Mexican equivalent of the sweat lodge and he also practices native and eastern medicine. He plays with a couple of different bands, usually percussion. The band we heard on Fri. night is very good, unfortunately the sound system wasn't!
Back to the Casa on Sat. to take some folks riding. 3 adults and 3 adolescent boys! Everyone had a great time and the horses were wonderful as always.
Hey, I got some photo's posted, I'm a computer geek now:-) Three of the views are from the top of the Sierra Norte, the top one is looking down on Benito Juarez with Teotitlan way down in the valley, the 2nd, a view down the other side of the mountain,then Shoshanna, Willie and Misha, t some of the kids and the last is the view from my room at Casa Sagrada. Not a bad place to hang out for a couple months!