Continuing our travels with José into the Mixtec and Trique territory of northern Oaxaca, we traveled to the village of Santiago Yosondúa for 3 days of hiking and for Pat, exploring Trique textiles and techniques. José arranged for a taxi from San Andres Chicahuaxtla to Santiago Yosondúa, meeting up with a local guide Edilberto and driver PePe. It was a trip of about 45 miles (2+ hours) on paved roads, through sometimes mountainous terrain. And we made excursions to see the territory and attractions.
The Drive In
Santiago Yosondúa Driveabout.PatJoséEdilbertoPepe.2024-01-25 … Notes about the Google Earth screenshot: the graph at the bottom shows elevation of the track (pink area) and speed (the blue line). The blue column is from a dropout of GPS coverage.
After a day getting acquainted with the village – Santiago Yosondúa – Edilberto and PePe gave us a driving tour down into the canyon of the Esmeralda River, from an elevation of 7,200 feet to the river at 4,100 feet, a distance from the ridge to the river of about 7 miles. For some sections, the road was “clinging” to the side of the mountainside. This is very rugged topography.
A short distance after leaving the ridge from Yosondúa, we stopped to take in Cascada Esmeralda, a group of waterfalls, (see below). From there, we continued on down to the river, crossing it, and climbing onto the plateau on the other side. The destination – Casa de Los Venados y el Mezcal Nerbasanta Yosondúa. This is first a refuge for venados (deer) but is also a palenque (distillery of mezcal). From there, heading north back towards Yosondúa again along a steep slope down to the river, we passed near Edilberto’s village where we could see farmland on this extensive plateau. To return to Yosondúa we crossed the river, then up the narrow road on the -steep- mountainside, past Cascada Esmeralda, and to the relatively level terrain to Yosondúa.
The Hike/Waterfall Visit
This was a visit to a special attraction for Yosondúa, the Cascada Esmeralda, a large waterfall made up of numerous cascades some 300 feet high. It was not much of a hike, but rather a walk down from the parking place to the base of the waterfall.
Even tho this was the dry season, there was an abundance of water flowing down the waterfall. 
A
n added feature to the attraction – a suspension bridge affording access to the other side at the base of the falls.
Highlight
The photos in the gallery below – Cascada Esmeralda. And in the rainy season? Edilberto has posted photos of the waterfall in full “flow”.
Statistics
Total Distance: .51 miles
Elevation: start 8,666 ft, maximum 8,724ft, minimum 8,649 ft
Gross gain: 75 ft. Aggregate ascending 103 ft, descending 100 ft
Maximum slope: 23% ascending, 20% descending, 7% average
Duration: 0:47, Average Speed: 0.7 mph
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If you haven’t explored these hiking tracks with Google Earth, I urge you to try it. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the screenshot above. For some ideas, check out Using Google Earth Track Files.
Related Posts
Santiago Yosondúa – La Cueva de Yauvekin Visit
Santiago Yosondúa – Lake Walkabout
Posts from Oaxaca Visits
References and Resources
Undiscovered Oaxaca: Santiago Yosondúa
Wikipedia: Santiago Yosondúa
TikTok: Discussion of Mezcal at Casa de los Venados (video, in spanish)
YouTube: Tour of travel from Yosondúa (video, in Spanish)
Tour of Cascada Esmeralda (video, in Spanish)
Photos
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