Posada Hostal Don Mario Oaxaca

... police boarding the bus ever couple of hours to shine a torch in our faces but after 8 hours of over night joy and a shocking Austrian film dubbed in Spanish about two guys held in a torture camp we had finally arrive at our destination of Oaxaca. So after flagging down a cab to take us to one of the hostels pinned on the notice board of Rodolfo, which happened to have possible the lumpiest mattress ever, coupled with a dogs blanket for a pillow, we dumped our by now very heavy ...

... if you didnīt see, she would move closer to you, point again, and ask again if we saw... eventually, we always did). Upon our return to the hotel, we expected a shamefaced (but satisfied) Simon to be hanging around... but no. No Simon. Milton and Daryl (Simonīs Netherlands buddy with an awesome name) started hunting... calling cops and whatnot. We went out and ate pasta al fresco on a second floor balcony. The beer was cool, the breeze ...

... ran out and into the other one, cleverly labelled Monguys... hahaha... funny one Mongo.   I then checked out a series of super sweet churches that have been around forever. Combine that with a lot of walking around, and some resting in the shade of the parks, and you pretty much have my day. This morning, I went to the school I'll be spending a lot ...

... local churches with the obligatory brass band, fireworks, candlelit procession, but this time following a float with everyone dressed up to represent some religious theme or other associated with the festive season. Also, the number of vendors increased to accommodate day specific items - eggshells filled with confetti (these guys will be eating scrambled eggs every day for the next month!) and/or flour for smashing over peoples heads, giant sparklers and cans of foam/silly ...

... streets. These were similar to the flower and sawdust creations we saw at the easter celebrations in Guatemala, but they were much better here! Our first dinner was interesting, not quite sure what we were ordering. We ended up with some fatty mystery meat and some really stringy , but yummy, queso fundito. Glad we found the action and great artwork, we headed home and were in bed tired from our travels.

... around abit in the minibus but after hundreds of windy turns we made it to the top and the next 3 hours that lay ahead of us were just fascinating! Monte Alban features numerous ruins of ancient pyramids, palaces of different functions (ceremonial, admin, residences etc..), tombs, plaza's, terraces and ancient stones/sculptures of the 'Zapotec' culture, it was incredible to see how vast this city once was and understand all that went on there thousands of years ago! The ...

... with guacamole, tomatoes, and grasshoppers, stew meat, and for dessert rice pudding. Well thats all for now, I'm starting to notice how small Oaxaca I can walk to the end of the city in 30 min and I see the same people everywhere, it's nice but I'm also getting bored! There is this one guy with dreadlocks that NEVER wears shoes, he is in this cafe right now, also he has a cute little girl but she never wears shoes either, they are true hippies! Anyway I'm done for real now bye bye!

... combine my new knowledge of Spanish (which by the way does not in any way translate literally into English) with my own language has proved to be a disaster. I am embarassed when I read some of the sentences I have constructed. Please be patient with me and know that my English will eventually get better. I have been running around the Oaxaca area trying to see and do all the things I had yet to experience and it has proven to ...

... markets and I tried some chilli grasshoppers, ok. I bought some mezcal with the worm in it (havenīt eaten him yet). Beautiful and intriguing cities are a pleasure to explore and this is the first one Iīve found in Mexico. Last night I chilled at the hostel and began reading a great book about an expedition gone wrong below New Zealand. It is about the crew braving the conditions and being forced to build a camp on a ...