Hotel Maria Luisa Oaxaca

... or the build up of trees around their accompanying squares. Behind where we were stood up the hills there was a large stadium that annually housed a local festival that they had which looked, true to Mexican style, a lot of fun. From the photos of all the floats and traditional costumes being paraded around in the sun with the backdrop of the coloulful city it would be an obligatory visit if you happened to be there amongst the festivities. The other striking thing from being up there ...

... good museum (of which there are many) and a trip to Monte Alban - a wonderfully preserved ruin on one of those mountain-tops immediately south of the city. Impressive Jacaranda trees full of bright purple blooms were everywhere and spectacular. The elaborate architecture of the many cathedral/museums with their ornate sculptures and colorful paint accents could be a subject for an entire visit.   There are two campgrounds near the city and we chose the one in the suburb of San ...

... for the third and fourth coats in the bedrooms (the paint was so bright and the paint job was so contrasty, that it required four coats!). AT and I had some great discussion about prayer and brokenness. We then caught a few busses to get back to the house, and in between busses, we stopped at another delicious restaurant called Natural.  Wednesday - Woke up to someone honking outside. AT, who was up already, walked over to the window, then looked at me and told ...

... spruce!) and then mixed oak forests to Latuvi - the steep descents on needle covered slopes were treacherous, especially on the knees, so was happy I'd borrowed a couple of sticks to take the pressure off. With only a few biccies to keep us going, it got to be a very fast hike by the end as we were all starving!

Day 2, 5 hours to Amatlan following the Camino Real, the ancient coast to coast trading route and a river valley for much of the way, was the most scenic ...

... very popular revival assemblies illustrate, I believe, some discontent with a Catholic church that continues to be politically conservative. Although you can enjoy wine, women (or men), song and cigarettes and still be a Catholic, you still shouldn't mess with the church hierarchy, with the status quo, the established order. And the Oaxaca economic, political, social and ethnic mix can sometimes make for very dicey situations.

... a month back in China. She got her Bachelor's degree in China and Master's in London. She does not speak Spanish so when I said, "Excuse me", for putting my coat over her armrest she was so happy to find someone to talk with. The flight to Oaxaca was 40 minutes. The only hectic time was getting our suitcases from the baggage claim carousel, through customs, and then getting our things to the ticket booth for the taxi ...

... is that this city was a political, militaristic site of religious ceremonies, rituals and tortured captives, which became more apparent when we visited the museum at the end and saw the state of some of the skulls they had found here in 1972. The entire city is based around a huge plaza area which is where the many ceremonies would have taken place, then at one end the city is dominated by the South Platform, a temple/pyramid built in AD 500 with a 40m wide base, then ...

Buenos Dias mis amigas! This morning for breakfast I had the same thing as Saturday, eggs with tomato, avocado, and beans. For the fruit we had the tuna, which is the color of a kiwi but has a ton of black seeds in it, but you eat the seeds. By the way just to let everyone know I am usually typing really fast when I write my blogs so my spelling and grammar is probably horrible, don't judge! I researched the teacher strike thing online last night and I found out is it no big deal, they ...

... a great fun. I went to visit El Tule last week. It is supposedly the largest tree in the world, estimated to be some 2000 years old. It is truly a spectacular sight, and the best analogy I can use for you all who are reading this that the trunk pretty much takes up an entire city block. It also plays host to an incredible amount of bird and bees, making this monster hum with life. It was quite a spectacular sight. I though we ...

... day - the cathedral , zocalo , alameda , market and what I thought was the highlight which was the Iglesia de Santa Domingo and the adjoining Convento de Santo Domingo house which houses a very good museum of Oaxacan history. The cultural museum only opened in 1998 and before this the ex-monastery building was used by the Mexican military as a base. On the second day I went on an organised tour to a number of different places in the Valles Centrales around Oaxaca ...