The Petrified Waterfalls of Oaxaca, Mexico

The drive through the mountains was both breathtaking and vomit-inducing. I panickily pulled my stiff seatbelt whilst imaging the bus rolling over the edges of the cliff with my head bashing against the metal sides like a pinball.

Riding alongside black hawks suspended in the air atop lustrous greenery was a welcome distraction from the possibility of impending doom.

As always, of course, it was all worth it.

I knew it was as when I’m faced with something unimaginably beautiful it reduces my vocabulary to only expletives. Slack-jawed, my mouth is reduced to exclaiming “FUCK OFF!” It’s my primate brain’s way of saying WOW. The more I say it, the more incredible a place is. Let’s just say, I said it a lot today.

Surrounded by emerald mountains that rolled and lay folded like piles of discarded laundry, trees growing out of cracks and crevices where it just shouldn’t be possible for them to grow, stark against impossibly blue skies and delicate puffs of white clouds drifting by like the smoke from the caterpillars’ pipe.

Rock that looked like the foamy white crest of a wave breaking and crashing down over the side of the mountain. It was hard to comprehend that this was made from minerals and not water. It created such an impressive imitation and illusion of movement. It was a petrified waterfall. A waterfall frozen in time as if a wicked witch has cast a spell over it and doomed it to remain the same forever.

Hierve el Agua is a set of natural travertine rock formations that cascade like water, in fact, they were formed by cascading water from the natural springs above. These springs were highly saturated with calcium carbonate and other minerals which were deposited over the cliff in a similar fashion to cave stalactites.

We walked to its base and took a closer look. It was just as spectacular from the below. An immense stripped column of hanging rock, like stalactites on steroids. In fact, they are created in very much a similar way. We headed back up to the springs, the sources of the mineral water that created this phenomenon in the first place.

A stark white corpse of a tree trunk stands over the mineral rock pools of bright turquoise, water that looks more at home on a Caribbean beach than perched like a giant birdbath in the Mexican mountains.

Hierve el Agua is located about 70 kilometres east of Oaxaca City where we were staying and is a popular day trip. You can go there independently by grabbing a minibus taxi on the outskirts of town, however we opted to go with a tour. It would have been nice to spend longer at the pools and to really take our time here and usually we prefer to do things independently if we can. However, we had heard that recently the number of daily visitors allowed in had been severely reduced and restricted. A tour was a guarantee that we would make it into the area and not be turned away.

The name Hierve el Agua translates to "the water boils" as the natural springs boil up from the earth. Don't be fooled by the name though, it's not a hot spring, far from it. I personally love the phrase "oh, it's refreshing!" to mean, "yikes, it's bloody freezing!". Due to the high mineral content, the pools above are said to have healing properties and are popular for swimming. We slid into the pool and swim to the edge of the infinity pool, with the infinity being the infinity of the endless mountain landscape. Now, these views are the real healing properties, what is it about being in nature like these that just feels so damn wonderful in every atom of your body? How is this even real? FUCK OFF!

Just when you think that this couldn’t possibly get any better, a jet black eagle swoops down to the edge of the pool. We, humans, are transfixed and stare dumbstruck. The eagle looks back at us as if wondering why we are here.

It’s a magical moment where time stands still. If that wicked witch returned to cast a spell and freeze us here at this moment, I would let her!

I’d happily remain here forever.

Thank you for reading! Hearts and tips are always welcome and your support is very much appreciated.

This story was originally published on Medium

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