Oaxaca & Sierra Norte with Aire Libre

Aire Libre's Oaxaca trip was my first true introduction to the beauty of international trail running. My interest was piqued when I heard a podcast with founder Mauricio Diaz talk about running as a way to connect with new places, people, and cultures and to see the tourist experience as something that could enhance communities, not take from them.

"I found out that running was just the best vehicle and the best medium to get to know a place - and eventually, to get to know yourself." - Mauricio Diaz, CEO and Co-Founder, Aire Libre

Our Oaxaca trip was exactly as Mau described - an immersion into the vibrant and rich culture of the Sierra Norte and running was simply the vehicle between each experience.

Fitness

Aire Libre puts a strong emphasis on experience over pace - you might be encouraged to leave your watch behind, to pay closer attention to your body, and move at whatever speed is right for you. Several members of our group were overcoming injuries and walked the majority of each day. We had a minimum of four guides each day, so no runner was ever left behind.

Days on our trip spanned 5 miles to 15, often with a few thousand feet of elevation gain, so baseline fitness is important. I was relatively new to trail running when I participated in my first Aire Libre trip, and I managed without issue. If you've ever successfully jogged your way through a half marathon or even a 10k, you'll manage just fine.

Aire Libre recently made the beautiful choice to expand their offerings to include hiking experiences, if that's more your speed (pun intended).

Tunnels and bridges of the Sierra Norte

Key Highlights

We started and ended our trip in Oaxaca, a mecca of art and food. We explored Jardin Etnobotanico, the stunning botanical gardens, visited local clay artists, and started or ended each day with a yoga session, often in front of the incredible Oaxaca cathedral and led by one of our guides. Even though that first day of running in Oaxaca, nestled at 5,000 feet felt like being shot of a cannon, our time in Oaxaca was full of exploration, fun and food.

A yoga session at the door to the historic Oaxaca Cathedral

Stops along our journey included a tour of Sombra Mezcal, where we got a tasting and a tour of how Sombra recycles waste from mezcal production to build earthquake safe bricks for homes. We visited the Sam Dixza workshop, a traditional Beinzaa (Zapotec) family of weavers who offer incredible demonstrations of how they dye and weave their beautiful textiles. I left with a armful of gorgeous rugs and a few bottles of mezcal to enjoy back home.

Mezcal tasting at Sombra Mezcal and exploring the Sam Dixza Textiles Workshop

For the four days that we ran through the Sierra Norte, running from town to town and staying in villages such as Pelenque, Cuajimoloyas, and Amatlán, each day a runner from the village would join us. We ended our final run on the famous Hanging Bridge of Benito Júarez, a super exhilarating and joyful bookend to our trip.

The Hanging Bridge at Benito Júarez

We had the incredible privilege to participate in a Temazcal session. After running our way to Lachatao, an indigenous village in the Sierra Norte, we were introduced to a Temazcal. During a Temazcal, one enters a hot, dark dome, not unlike a sweat lodge, and is led through a series of rituals, chants, and stories. A pre-Hispanic tradition of the Zapotec, a Temazcal is a way to communicate with ancestors and re-connect with Mother Earth in an intensely powerful way. It was an emotional and healing experience I will never forget.

Accommodations and Food

Throughout our trip in the mountains we stayed in modest, simple but comfortable cabins. In town in Oaxaca we were given the option to upgrade to a single room, if preferred, but mountain towns required bunking together (to no one's chagrin). After a long day's run we'd hang out together in the village, taking in a yoga session or a nap, or gathering the courage to try Pulque, a pre-Hispanic beverage made from the lightly fermented sap of the agave.

In Oaxaca we got to enjoy the incredible splendor that is Oaxacan cuisine - mole, chocolate, fruit! Up in the mountains we were treated every day to delicious, homemade meals.

Ending a long day of running with a cold beer and a home cooked meal.

Aire Libre and Group Dynamics

On our first night in Oaxaca, our group gathered for dinner at the restaurant Zandunga, nervously introducing ourselves. Mau Diaz, co-founder of Aire Libre and one of our guides for the trip, told us a story - while on a three-day trek across the Arizona side of the American-Mexico border, trail running in the ancestral land of the Tohono O’odham Nation, he had chatted with a member of the Hopi Tribe. They discussed the “snake ceremony," a tradition in which tribal members run a race to honor their gods. When Mau asked how many miles long the race was, the response came, "Measuring distance and time taking is something white men invented."

This set the tone for our weeklong adventure together. Our goal was simply to be together, to absorb the stories and cultures of the communities we encountered, and to be present with ourselves and the earth. This is the ethos for all Aire Libre adventures and why I returned to Mexico with them again, three years later.

Our Oaxaca group, bonded together on our last day on the trail

If an Aire Libre trip piques your interest, you can get $100 off your trip by using discount code AL_REFERRAL and provide my full-name in your registration: Allison Slater

All photographs on this page shot by Edgar Garcia