Nizadu Hostel Oaxaca

... you walk into a "locals" bar and you are not a known face that left us doing the normal cheesy grin to every one to try and give ourselves a friendly group welcome... this fell on blank looks but what the hell it was too hot to go back out at least we had a bona fide Mexican with us (i should explain at this point saydee is whiter than me). So with bee lined it to a free table all the same and every one else seemed to go back to whatever they were doing. The beers went down as good as ...

... times better than those I took of Luke, so I'm proud of my improvements. The setting for the pictures was some of the old hotels and cathedrals in downtown Oaxaca, and it really got me wishing Westerville wasn't quite so... boring. I'll have to check with Hannah before I plaster pictures of her up all over the internet, but if she's OK with it, I'll post some of the better pictures on here for you to look at. I know this was a short update, but ...

... in the afternoon and decided to again take a luxurious night in the Holiday Inn Express.   This hotel is a definite break from the typical Mexican hotel - it has comfortable beds and hot water 24 hours a day!  A beautiful outdoor swimming pool where Sylvain and I had local Mezcal Magaritas and a swim before heading out to ...

... be doing some good! Hot chocolate is the way to go - yummy! Despite the quantity of sheep (borrega) and goats in the hills you never see it on a menu, though chapulines (grasshoppers) often feature, you get toasted ants in your salsa (very tasty) and, if you don't get the worm in your mezcal, don't worry, it is served with worm salt anyway! Strawberries and passionfruit are in season here and, you know me, I won't be going short of good food!

The salsa lessons have been ...

... night, of course, were a riot of flowers and candles - tourists and extended local families! I had no idea how incredibly elaborate the decorations of each grave would be. Never in my life have I seen so many flowers in one small area. We were given an hour to tour the cemetery on our own and then were to return to the school van. Unfortunately (for us), one person decided to take two hours . . . .

... and time in telling me that that city, along with all the other temples like it in the world, were built by two families from Israel, who had been sent there by god to create a new world. He told me that these families knew how to build them because they had previously built the pyramids in Cairo. They travelled across the pacific (geography obviously not their strong point) and landed ´´somewhere´´ in the north of south america, then travelled all the way up to Mexico and ...

... flowers.... Hey Jess here...what a road from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca! Although we have a small hand-held GPS mounted to the handlebars, the base map is terribly crude and inaccurate and it's mostly to record our journey...the little electronic bread crumbs that we drop from place to place. This little mountain road was not on the GPS and we just navigated the old school way...following street signs or the lack thereof! In total, it was 160 miles ...

... It was a different tour than I thought. Well I did get to meet a lot of people though. There was a group of four students from Vermont and they are staying at the Holiday Inn across the street from me. So then they told me they have a pool there! So I think I'm going to go swim there. We are all supposed to meet up tonight to go out to some bars; I'm so tired right now so I'm not sure if I will. Plus Rhonda and I are ...

... tree in the world. Being a sucker for an amazing tree, it should be interesting. We moved our clocks ahead one hour here today and THAT, always makes me happy. A sure sign that summer is coming and the days will be longer. Yippie ki yay. And spring continues to unfolding in yet more beautiful and shocking colors than you could believe possible. Truly spectacular. I had the good fortune of getting out to ...

... have been touched by a thousand unwashed hands, and continue on to touch the food that we buy or they make with said unwashed hands. My western stomach lurched at the food preparation and couldn't convince my mind to eat any market food, regardless of its appearance. Everywhere I go in the state of Oaxaca I feel as though I am surrounded by almost as many Americans as I am Mexicans. In Oaxaca, in Puerto Escondido, in Mitla, in Tlacolula ...