Oaxaca
Ah, Oaxaca. We've had three wonderful days here.
We arrived from Zitacuaro via Mexico City. We decided that we don't really have time to do Mexico City properly so we'll try to do it after we see Tamble. Anyhow - all we saw of Mex City (or the DF as they call it here) was a couple of bus stations and the Metro (which runs on tires incidentally...). Anyway, we successfully negotiated Mexico City and were on our way to Oaxaca!
Gawd bless the Mexican bus services. They are (nearly) always clean, quick, reliable and occasionally - as in this case - early! We got to Oaxaca a half hour early and checked into a nearby hostel with really cool parrots in the courtyard. (These parrots let themselves out of their cages whenever they feel like it and treat residents to song whenever they feel like it!) We went for a wander that evening and came across a nearby park full of people walking dogs. We knew we'd like Oaxaca.
One of Oaxaca's main claims to fame is its internationally renowned cuisine. We found ourselves a veggie friendly restaurant called Flor de Loto and tried a few local specialities like enchiladas with a mole sauce (that's a spicy chocolate sauce - not a sauce made from an underground dwelling tunneling mammal).
On our way back to our accommodation we stumbled upon some live music. The city plaza was full of people listening (and occasionally dancing) to some funky latin tunes, playing with balloons (mainly the kids) or selling the same (the balloons, not the kids). A good time was had by all. We were particularly fond of when the band all started dancing in a manner reminiscent of the Moody Blues circa 1960. Good fun.
The next day we set out to discover Oaxaca. We went downtown for brekkie and then passed through markets, museums and other things starting with M as well as chocolate shops, churches and other places starting with C. We also arranged a tour of nearby Monte Albán and several nearby towns. We bought dinner at the market and ate on the terrace at our hostel: tortillas with local 'quesillo' cheese and salsa as well as fruit and beer. We were also running dangerously low on purified water (so no drinking water, no water for teeth brushing) as our stingy hostel wouldn't give us any so rather than go out and buy more plastic bottles, we bought a huge 5 gallon bottle (the ones you get for water coolers) and refilled all our bottles and containers.
The ancient Zapotec city of Monte Albán is one of the best examples of early meso-american civilisation in Mexico. It was initially settled around 500 BC and was abandoned for unknown reasons around 1000 AD. Although it's apparent that the site has been extensively rebuilt it didn't detract from the impact once we scaled the impressive northern platform and saw the city laid out before us. All of the elements of the city were apparent from our viewpoint - especially once they'd been pointed out by our expert guide.
We wandered past palaces, observatories, sacrificial altars (!) and even an ancient ball-court. Apparently the winners were sacrificed to the gods as their prize. What an honour! People say fame is short-lived these days...
We were also taken around local markets and were shown local arts and crafts such as wood carving and making black pottery. We were taken to a local restaurant for a buffet lunch and mezcal. The mezcal (fiery drink of which tequila is a type) was free (sweet!), but the lunch was 120 PESOS (about 6 quid) each which we thought was a bit steep so we ate our own lunch. We expected to make an extra stop to see some green pottery, but it turns out there wasn't time. We managed to get 30 PESOS back, though - which paid for our brekkie so I guess that worked out.
Anyhoo, we just had one day left (we'd arranged an overnight bus to San Cristobal de las Casas) so we checked out of our hostel and visited the Santo Domingo cultural centre. This is where they store all the treasures from the excavations at nearby archaeological sites including Monte Albán.
We also tried to mail home some tequila which we've been lugging around since Puerto Vallarta - but the Mexican post office told us we couldn't. Guess we'll have to drink it instead! Ah well...
Next stop, the Zapatista stronghold of San Cristobal. At least good old Cristobal is the patron saint of travelers - so we should be OK.
We arrived from Zitacuaro via Mexico City. We decided that we don't really have time to do Mexico City properly so we'll try to do it after we see Tamble. Anyhow - all we saw of Mex City (or the DF as they call it here) was a couple of bus stations and the Metro (which runs on tires incidentally...). Anyway, we successfully negotiated Mexico City and were on our way to Oaxaca!
Gawd bless the Mexican bus services. They are (nearly) always clean, quick, reliable and occasionally - as in this case - early! We got to Oaxaca a half hour early and checked into a nearby hostel with really cool parrots in the courtyard. (These parrots let themselves out of their cages whenever they feel like it and treat residents to song whenever they feel like it!) We went for a wander that evening and came across a nearby park full of people walking dogs. We knew we'd like Oaxaca.
One of Oaxaca's main claims to fame is its internationally renowned cuisine. We found ourselves a veggie friendly restaurant called Flor de Loto and tried a few local specialities like enchiladas with a mole sauce (that's a spicy chocolate sauce - not a sauce made from an underground dwelling tunneling mammal).
On our way back to our accommodation we stumbled upon some live music. The city plaza was full of people listening (and occasionally dancing) to some funky latin tunes, playing with balloons (mainly the kids) or selling the same (the balloons, not the kids). A good time was had by all. We were particularly fond of when the band all started dancing in a manner reminiscent of the Moody Blues circa 1960. Good fun.
The next day we set out to discover Oaxaca. We went downtown for brekkie and then passed through markets, museums and other things starting with M as well as chocolate shops, churches and other places starting with C. We also arranged a tour of nearby Monte Albán and several nearby towns. We bought dinner at the market and ate on the terrace at our hostel: tortillas with local 'quesillo' cheese and salsa as well as fruit and beer. We were also running dangerously low on purified water (so no drinking water, no water for teeth brushing) as our stingy hostel wouldn't give us any so rather than go out and buy more plastic bottles, we bought a huge 5 gallon bottle (the ones you get for water coolers) and refilled all our bottles and containers.
The ancient Zapotec city of Monte Albán is one of the best examples of early meso-american civilisation in Mexico. It was initially settled around 500 BC and was abandoned for unknown reasons around 1000 AD. Although it's apparent that the site has been extensively rebuilt it didn't detract from the impact once we scaled the impressive northern platform and saw the city laid out before us. All of the elements of the city were apparent from our viewpoint - especially once they'd been pointed out by our expert guide.
We wandered past palaces, observatories, sacrificial altars (!) and even an ancient ball-court. Apparently the winners were sacrificed to the gods as their prize. What an honour! People say fame is short-lived these days...
We were also taken around local markets and were shown local arts and crafts such as wood carving and making black pottery. We were taken to a local restaurant for a buffet lunch and mezcal. The mezcal (fiery drink of which tequila is a type) was free (sweet!), but the lunch was 120 PESOS (about 6 quid) each which we thought was a bit steep so we ate our own lunch. We expected to make an extra stop to see some green pottery, but it turns out there wasn't time. We managed to get 30 PESOS back, though - which paid for our brekkie so I guess that worked out.
Anyhoo, we just had one day left (we'd arranged an overnight bus to San Cristobal de las Casas) so we checked out of our hostel and visited the Santo Domingo cultural centre. This is where they store all the treasures from the excavations at nearby archaeological sites including Monte Albán.
We also tried to mail home some tequila which we've been lugging around since Puerto Vallarta - but the Mexican post office told us we couldn't. Guess we'll have to drink it instead! Ah well...
Next stop, the Zapatista stronghold of San Cristobal. At least good old Cristobal is the patron saint of travelers - so we should be OK.
posted by Trace at
3:28 pm
4 Comments:
So when you say you were trying to mail tequila home, I'm assuming you meant to your 'home' in Seattle. How thoughtful!
By
Anonymous, At
11:18 pm
Who posted that?!?
By
Trace, At
6:20 pm
It turned out to look like It instead of LT.
By
Anonymous, At
6:04 pm
A-ha! Is that Kirsten pretending to be her mother? :)
By
Trace, At
9:16 pm
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