Beautiful Smashed Insects and Other Photos

Monday's ride began by following a totally becoming bicycle trail out of Oaxaca. It was down the center of the highway and totally charmed me.

The widest tree in the world! Arbol del Tule. It is a willow species. What an amazing creature. I love traveling by bicycle because we could get there to bask in it's awesome presence before the tour groups tumbled out of their buses.

So many scenes feel like the wild west. On our way into the town of Teotatlan de Valle, a village of weavers using only natural dyes for their craftmanship.

At the village of Teotatlan, we visited a women's cooperative weaving studio. All the dyes are from natural materials. Here she is holding a little wool bag, dyed with the color of smashed red insects in her palm. I was so taken by learning about this whole process, and it reminded me of playing incessantly in Rockville as a child, where we ground up bits of clay pot and made rock paintings.

Although I couldn't buy and carry this one on my bicycle, i gazed at the intricate delightful birds for as long as I could. Again, all these colors come from things from nature!

Cacti with mountain views. On one of the hillsides, near the ruins Yagul, we could see a petroglyph from the road.