A visit to the Central Valleys and the Land of the Ayuuk, southern Mexico.
Land of the Ayuuk: about 1,800 m. or 5,940 ft. elevation, Sierra Mixe, southern Mexico. Introduction: In recent posts, I wrote about my experience of road travel along the amazing Ruta Panamericana. Until now, I had travelled on segments of it in five countries, the USA, Canada, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Chile! In this post I will tell you about my latest experience in the sixth country where the Ruta Panamericana goes. It is about travel along this great highway system to the eastern part of the Central Valleys and the highlands of Sierra Mixe in the State of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Incredibly, the Mixe, the indigenous people who inhabit Sierra Mixe, call themselves the Ayuuk, the people who speak the mountain language (Wikipedia) ( Juan de Dios Gomez Ramirez, 2013) ! For me, this could suggest a cultural or linguistic link to the Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) at northwestern BC, Canada. For the ayuukw is central to the culture of the Gitxsan. The a...