As you can see by the long list of things in the title, it was a long day of exploring the valley outside of Oaxaca. We had a big breakfast and then Jeff came and picked us up from our Airbnb.

Our first stop was about 30 minutes out of town to see Arbol del Tule, the girthiest tree on earth. Is that the scientific word for the tree with the largest circumference? I’m a woman in STEM and I think it is.

We walked the loop of it and then got back in the car to drive to the market, another 30 minutes down the road. This is a Sunday market and it has everything you can imagine: meat, vegetables, cooked food, leather goods, toys, sewing machines, clothing, pots, pans, and so on.

Papa Jeff told Millie she could choose anything she wanted, and within the first minute she chose a K-pop Demon Hunters shirt. We encouraged her to keep looking but she was hyper focused on the t-shirt until we went back to get it. We laughed about how we can bring her to a market that has some of the world’s most amazing artisan goods, and this is what she chooses. But kids will be kids.

I got an awesome woven shirt, and Jeff got a new leather belt. I could have spent all day getting lost in the huge market, but Millie had enough. She changed into her new t-shirt and was beaming about it for the rest of the day.

Next stop: Hierve el Agua. We looked it up and it means “boil the water” which makes sense because it is a series of terraced pools fed by a small bubbling spring at the top. So beautiful.

Nick and I didn’t swim much but Millie and Jeff had a good time splashing in the water while we attempted to find shade.

From here we drove to our fourth and final stop, Mal de Amor, a Mezcal distillery. They had two tours: the indoor tour (about the manufacturing process) and the field tour (about growing and harvesting the agave). We chose the field tour.

A very awesome old ford truck drove us out into the agave fields.

We pulled over and our guide gave us a tasting on an agave spear. A bit gimmicky but fun.

We drove into the small town and had a tasting at a pulqueria. This was fun because most the things we tasted were non-alcoholic, so Millie could participate. We tried “honey water” which is fresh agave juice, scooped straight from the plant. We tried pulque that had been fermenting for 3 days and was slightly fizzy, and a few flavored drinks that have this as the base. Everything tasted slightly fermented in a kombucha sort of way, and Millie loved them all and kept asking for seconds.

We drove back to central Oaxaca as the sun set, and didn’t get back to our Airbnb until after 8. We scavenged the limited snacks and leftovers at the house instead of going to dinner.

Millie was so well behaved all day today. It could have easily been a whine-filled day. We spent lots of time in the car and the activities weren’t geared towards kids. For whatever reason she was just an angel all day long. Talkative, charming, patient, and sweet. We’re heading home with a whole new kid.