![[Atotonilco Termales]](images/atotonilco.jpeg "Atotonilco Termales")
Their tourist attraction is the Atotonilco Hot Springs. The springs are
about an hour and a half on foot or horseback from the town and getting
there is half the enjoyment.
San José Manialtepec sits on the banks of the Manialtepec River which will be an almost constant companion on the trip up to Atotonilco. Leaving the town, you ride over the levee and cross the river, passing women and children bathing, washing clothes or just playing and relaxing in the water. This is the first of six times that the river must be passed to get to your destination.
Soon the path is protected by leafy trees called "Brasil" and "Cacahuanano" which offer welcome shade. You'll ride through Paso el Pedregoso, Rocky Pass, then the river snakes its way through craggy cliffs, including a great rock formation called Eagle Peak. You'll see some enormous Macahuite trees in which termites have made great nests. Abandoned by those voracious insects, they are now home to swarms of parakeets whose cries fill the air.
![[magico]](images/psilocybe_azurescens.jpeg "magico")
You couldn't find an environment more different from the tropical languor
of the Oaxacan coast than the breathtaking vistas of forested peaks among
the clouds in the high Southern Sierra.
San José del Pacífico is a beautiful town, 8,400 feet above us, but only a three hour-or-so drive. It's a favorite place to stop overnight on the drive between Oaxaca City and the coast via Pochutla to Miahuatlan. But this town is worth a trip in itself.
The cold evenings will come as a shock after the balmy nights of Puerto, however many of the rustic inns offer wood-burning fireplaces. There's great hiking and birding along the forest trails, but San José del Pacífico is also known for its psilocybin mushrooms and attracts those looking to sample its hallucinogenic effects. That's why the gift shops offer wooden and ceramic representations of the these fungi, alongside the woolen gloves, hats, sweaters and shawls.
Mushroom season corresponds with the rainy months, but they are normally available year around, preserved in honey. Mushrooms and their healing and visionary properties have long played a role in the culture of the handsome local Zapotec people in this land of the clouds. But be aware that they are an illegal, controlled substance under Mexican law.
The drive up to San José del Pacífico is magnificent. As you begin to climb from Pochutla, you'll pass through San José Chacalapa at 300 meters in altitude, the landscape is still tropically lush, but it's somewhat cooler than the coast. There is a pleasant restaurant with a pool called Los Reyes on the highway.
![[Galera]](images/galera.jpeg "Galera")
There's not really much to recommend this busy, dusty agricultural and
ranching community, besides the fact that it provides direct access, via a
hot and bumpy 28 km dirt road, to the village of Galera across from Chacahua, in the Lagunas de
Chacahua National Park.
Established in 1937, the Chacahua Park is one of the oldest in Mexico and
its 19 miles of sea shore, six island-dotted lagoons, river channels and
mangrove forests comprise one of the most important wetland complexes on the
Oaxacan coast. You can around arrange a tour of the park or the beautiful
beach at Cerro Hermoso.