It’s truly an impressive site! They are waterfalls over 600 feet tall, but that is not the impressive part at all, the impressive part is that the falling water has literally turned into stone, and thus has become like sort of frozen in time, these are petrified waterfalls. There are only two such waterfalls known in the world, the one here in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and the other one in Pamukale, Turkey. What you are seeing here, has taken thousands of years to form, and they have been formed due to the unique high mineral content of the water.

The place sits about two hours from the center of the city of Oaxaca, in a small rural village named: “San Isidro Roaguia”. You can get there by several ways, if you get a private tour, the tour guide will drive you directly from Oaxaca to the petrified waterfalls. I had a private tour, it was a very good tour and inexpensive. It was a single person with an in-depth knowledge of the region and its history. The tour guide explained to us in detail the physical process that caused the petrifaction of the waterfalls. He also ventured into sharing with us how the tourist site has been managed by the local villages. Another way of reaching the place, is by using the public transit system from the city of Oaxaca, to the city of Mitla, and from Mitla you can take a collective tourist transportation to “Hierve El Agua”. If you are renting a car, beware that the last segments of the road are not in very good shape.

As you travel towards “Hierve El Agua” make sure to stop at the small liquor factories where “Mezcal” is produced. “Mezcal” is an alcoholic beverage that originated in this state of Oaxaca. Most people are familiar with the Tequila drink, and most people identify Tequila with Mexico. Tequila however is just one particular drink out of many, Mezcal is less popular then its cousin Tequila, however it is infamous for having a worm at the bottom of the bottle. Local folklore claims that the worm is for aphrodisiac effects.