El Árbol del Tule - Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca

About 9km outside of the City of Oaxaca is the town of Santa Maria del Tule and the historic tree - El Árbol del Tule. It is believed by many that this is the oldest tree in the world with estimates ranging from 1200 to 3000 years. The Zapotecs believe that the tree was planted 1400 years ago by Pechocha, a priest of Ehecatl, the Aztec wind god. Once thought to be multiple trees that had grown together but DNA testing confirmed that it is a single tree. It is also accepted that this tree has the largest diameter and circumference of any living tree today.
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SLIDESHOW: https://picasaweb.google.com/118146709599975173363/SANTAMARIADelTULEOAXACAMEXICO?authkey=Gv1sRgCKbMj7XV0J6kpQE#slideshow/5781909485813054754

Fascinating, thank you for (as usual) your great photos.

Nice pics Neil but I believe the bristlecone pines are the oldest trees in the world.

Chris:

Far be it from me to lay any claim to the accuracy of the age estimates on this tree! In fact, there is one self proclaimed expert who estimates this tree at 6000+ years. It is also almost impossible to get agreement on the circumference, diameter or height - all of which would seemingly be quite simple measurements.

While some of us may be accused of being "older than dirt", this tree has managed to survive one heck of a long time!

It's a very impressive tree,did you get to Monte Alban while you were down there?

viajero wrote:Nice pics Neil but I believe the bristlecone pines are the oldest trees in the world.

As one who lives in Chiapas and visits Oaxaca often including at least a couple of visits to the Tule Tree, I must admit the Tule Tree is impressive but there is much hyperbole surrounding this tree and many claims that may be greatly exxagerated. The oldest tree on earth is thought to be the Methuselah Tree, a bristlecone pine in the U.S. west, ranging in age between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. The tallest tree in the world discovered so far is the Hyperian Tree in Redwood National Park in California at 379 feet tall which dwarfs the Tule Tree at 130 feet. The most massive trees on earth are to be found in Sequoia National Park in California.

The Tule Tree is a cypress and may very well have the largest circumference at its base of any other known tree on earth but as one who has had the privilege of standing in the shadow of the Tule Tree and some magnificent baobab trees and among the Sequoias and California Coastal Redwoods, I can assure the reader that the Tule Tree, while most impressive, is most notable as an anomaly in the center of Tule, a town not especially noted for magnificent trees other than the Tule Cypress. Still - well worth a visit. That is one fat tree trunk. Don´t miss stopping off in Tule if you are ever down that way.

Chris:

To answer your question, yes we did go to Monte Alban. We returned home last Saturday with over 3000 new photos that I have been processing into albums. I just uploaded our Monte Alban photos this morning and they are on my list to report on today.

Funny story on our trip to Monte Alban: after bragging about the wonders of our GPS a few days prior, I chose to follow the road signs instead of the GPS when heading up there. The next thing we knew, we were following a very narrow road up the side of the mountain where oncoming buses often required one to back up to find a wide spot for them to pass. Kathy was on the drop off side of the car and not overly happy about the experience. Note: I had the dash cam recording the entire way and will be processing videos and uploading to YouTube once done with the photos. Just before we arrived at Monte Alban, we came to an intersection where we joined up with the alternate route that happened to be an excellent road that the GPS had tried to route us to.

Live and learn but I am glad we were able to experience the drive up! Needless to say, we returned to Oaxaca via the preferred route.

With respect to the Dawg's comments, I would have to agree on his analysis! Seeing this tree was an experience but there doesn't appear to be a reason to return. Interestingly, we visited the small artisan's mercado to see what it had to offer. While Kathy was off looking for treasures, I started talking to one of the merchants who happened to have a great command of English. Turned out that he had spent 25 years in Seattle installing hardwood floors but now lived in Mitla.

So CG, I suspect I wouldn't be the only one here who would really enjoy reading about your travels and looking at the photos and getting your insights as to where you found the best shopping for arts and crafts.

Are you blogging this trip by any chance?

MC:

At this point, I am too busy and have too much on my plate to even consider putting a blog together. I am assembling a day by day master list of all my photo albums (41) from this trip and will do the same for the videos that I assemble and upload to YouTube when I get that portion done. I also try to write reviews on restaurants, hotels and attractions on TripAdvisor with the hopes that they will assist travelers from all over the world and attract more tourists to the Mexican economy in the lesser visited spots in Mexico. I will be posting some observations and our opinions about various areas that we enjoyed.