How the day began: Us gobbling huevos rancheros in the guesthouse. How the day ended: Luna throwing up on the hubby’s shirt aboard the tour bus. These I know for sure.

The trajectory of events in between is a haze of carne asada steam to me now, but gracias to snapshots here and there, I get to piece together the moments that make up our Christmas day in and around the sprightly city of Oaxaca four years ago.

Hubby, one-year-old Luna and I joined a heterogeneous mix of holidaymakers on a mariachi-playing bus that transported us to five destinations in different sites. It was to be an exhausting full day tour, but I wouldn’t want Christmas any other way. Six reasons why.

But first, a pre-Christmas selfie.

1. Santa María del Tule’s Tree.

With gnarled branches and a knobbly trunk, this Montezuma cypress tree looks like an ol’ grumpy granpa Ent waiting for a bear hug. Except, tens of hands are needed to give it a full embrace. Plus it ain’t really allowed, and it’s protected by a fence. The tree sits in the town center of Santa María de la Asunción, beside Baroque-style El Templo de Santa María de la Asunción like a mighty guardian.

El Árbol del Tule (The Tree Of Tule in Spanish) is about 2,000 years old and has one of the widest trunks in the world. If I remember correctly, it is still growing. We were given sufficient time to circumnavigate it and peek into the church which is less than ten minutes, really.

Right on cue, “Vámonos!”, the guide shepherded us to the bus like a herdsman.

2. Oaxaca Textiles

That mandatory part of any day tour wherein you visit what we call a tourist trap. Okay, two ways to look at it. One is, it’s simply for “educational purposes”. Another is, it is a scheme to lure people to buy souvenirs — which you become fully aware of only after you have impulsively purchased a carpet that’s most probably half-price everywhere else. You also realize the carpet doesn’t go with any furniture in your house. You also realize it doesn’t fit in your damn luggage.

The weaving center we were delivered to was conveniently (too conveniently) on the way to the archaeological site of Mitla. It’s just off the highway, in the middle of dry land nowhere. We sat on chairs as the staff discussed about Oaxaca textiles and how they’re made from fibers and traditional dye sources. The lesson didn’t feel rushed and we were not asked to “just look/mira” (oh you know what that means) at the many woven products hanging on the wall. Or maybe we were but I was too busy playing peek-a-boo with Luna — who then had a two-minute attention span — to even notice.

Because I love handwoven textiles, I evidently took pleasure in this one.

I didn’t buy anything.

3. Archaeological Site Of Mitla

You know when sometimes in a package day tour you merely want two or three places/activities out of the long, senseless (or so you feel) list? For this trip, Mitla was one of the two which we were keen to see initially. The Mesoamerican site, more than forty kilometers away from Oaxaca City, was a religious center for the Zapotecs. And it’s the second most visited archaeological site in the state of Oaxaca, next to Monte Alban.

I was intent to see the geometric patterns used to embellish the walls of the structures. They’re made up of cut-shaped-polished stones puzzled together like tetrominoes in Tetris without mortar. Without Mortar! Mexico just doesn’t run out of surprises.

Buildings in the Columns Group are well-preserved and they didn’t disappoint. What did disappoint me was battling my way through mazily wandering hordes of fellow tourists within the limited time we were provided to take in and digest the architectural wonder.

4. Holy Mole!

Buffet lunch with a bunch of mole dishes to choose from. Mole, which means ‘sauce’ in Spanish, come in various flavors and usually consists of tons of spices. This blurry snapshot was taken by a famished and delirious mole junkie before raiding the table.

5. Hierve El Agua

Petrified waterfalls. Doesn’t that sound sexy? Hierve El Agua (the water boils) looks as though it is.

Hierve El Agua is a set of white rock formations located in the Central Valley of Oaxaca. They have been formed over thousands of years as a result of calcium carbonate-rich water trickling down the cliff. With a bulging, weighty stomach (an aftermath of all-you-can-eat mole) I penguin-walked my way to the more accessible “waterfall”, the Cascada Chica. Also known as the Amphitheatre. Atop it are natural pools where we were allowed to dip in. The bigger Cascada Grande can be seen from here. Only a few from our group ventured out to peer at it up close.

I perched on the rim of Cascada Chica’s pool and watched the turquoise water glow when touched by the sun’s soft arvo rays. If such sight was to cap the day I wouldn’t complain. But the tour company had something better, way better, in mind.

6. Mezcal Production

Because of the unpaved, sinuous road to and from Hierve El Agua, dizzy Luna threw up on the hubby’s shirt. Two words: Buffet mole. Imagine that.

So at our last destination, a mezcal production house, a shirtless hubby stayed in the bus. He himself was feeling a bit queasy. I carried Luna on my hip and joined the rest crowding around maguey (agave) hearts where a brief discussion of mezcal production began. Mezcal is made from maguey which is roasted/baked in pit ovens, mashed, then fermented in barrels. Tequila is a kind of mezcal which only uses blue agave.

Mezcal is normally drunk neat. Sometimes it’s accompanied with sliced lime or oranges and salt. Or ground chilis. Or uhm, fried larvae.

We sampled flavored varieties of Mezcal. And boy, were there heaps. In that short time frame, the Europeans did speed-tasting which left them all woozy and more than happy to spend their pesos on bottles and bottles of alcohol. They wobbled their way back to the bus and I teetered down their trail.

Look at that miniscule, innocent-looking shot. I had a few. My drunkenness was caused more by the caring of a toddler whilst on a full day tour.

But like I said, wouldn’t want Christmas any other way.