Mineral Springs and Petrified Waterfalls

Mexico is full of famous beaches, beautiful churches, quaint colonial villages and ancient Aztec/Mayan ruins. As a matter of fact the abundance of tourist destinations can leave the average traveller clambering to fit it all in. But sometimes something a little different is needed. A getaway from the everyday, so to speak. After the 5th beach and the 50th church, a trip to Hierve El Agua might just be in store.

Some 60km south east the southern city of Oaxaca, sits a place with a positively magnificent cliffside setting. The expansive panoramic of the area, looking over an immense valley, might be reason enough to visit the area. However, the scenery is but a mere perk of a visit to the site. It is instead the steady flow of a natural spring of mineral water that brings locals and tourists alike here. With supposed healing qualities, the collective pools truly make for one of the most unique bathing opportunities in the world. If that weren't enough, the natural wonder doesn't stop there. After a millennia of drips and drops, soaking and evaporation a variety of minerals have been deposited on the cliff side giving the appearance of stone waterfalls. I have seen similar formations in Pamukkale, Turkey. And while the Turkish site is larger overall, the pools and "falls" in Hierve El Agua are infinitely more dramatic.

The only issue is getting there. While there are rumoured shared taxis from the main city of Oaxaca, i failed to find them (although i didn't really look very hard). The only viable public transport option is from the village of Mitla, some 17kms away. Even then, the pick-up trucks posing as buses are infrequent except on the weekends. Alternatively, getting any long distance bus heading to San Christobal or Guatemala could drop you off on the turn off, but it's a very exposed 7km walk to the site from the highway. The best choice is to join a tour. There are ones that only go to the springs, or others that take in some of the other sites in the area (costing around 200 pesos form the 9 hour tour) like Mitla, Tule and Teotitlan. Regardless of how you get there, 2 payments of 20 pesos each, are required to use the access road and the pools. The double payment is meant to appease the 2 indigenous groups "fighting" over the region.

I like visiting the unique, the different and the out of the ordinary. Hierve El Agua definitely fits into that category and comes rather highly recommended (even more so on the less busy weekdays)

You can check out some video from the day at my other blog, Been There, Filmed That.