Continue your breeze-blown journey, now turning southwest over the Sierra Zapoteca (Zapotec Highland) country to the Valley of Oaxaca [1], the heartland of the Zapotec people and Oaxacan civilization for more than 3,000 years. Below you spreads Oaxaca’s great highland central valley complex: farms, pastures, towns, and villages, radiating in three 50-mile fingers (east, northwest, and south) from the capital city, Oaxaca City [2].
Drawn on by the mystery of the mist-shrouded western mountains, you continue a hundred miles northwest, following the valley of the upper Río Atoyac, where the Sierra de Oaxaca rises again. There, you gaze down on a broad mountain and high plateau landscape, much of it tragically eroded. Oaxacans call this the Mixteca, the domain of the Mixtec people, proud transmitters of a major share of Oaxaca’s ancient tradition. From your high vista, you see a landscape as creased as an old chopping board, dotted with tiny settlements scattered atop rugged mesas and tucked into deep gorges.
A closer look reveals natural divisions in the land. In the center you see the Mixteca Alta—high, cool, and cloud-shadowed. To the northwest, bordering the states of Guerrero and Puebla, lies the Mixteca Baja, a lower, desert-like plateau-land of cactus, maguey, and dwarf palm. To the south, toward the Pacific, at the place where your imaginary journey began, the mountains drop to the verdant, jungle-draped foothills, lush river canyons, and coastal farms of the Mixteca de la Costa (Mixtec coastal region).
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oaxaca/the-oaxaca-valley
[2] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oaxaca/oaxaca-city