Hotel Posada del Centro Oaxaca

... by a good ole' San Francisco representin' Odwalla juice.

 

We boarded without any trouble, and had a decent 4+ hr go of it into Mexico City.  The kiddo slept for about the first hour of the flight, and woke up to a complimentary breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and a muffin.  It definitely could've been worse.  Boring.

 

We exited the plane in Mexico City and followed the line around a few bends.  Seemingly simple, despite the horror stories I've been reading ...

... creations! Not exactly shopping at New World as Michelle put it!! A taste of a genuine market/ mercado, a real eye-opener - every type of chilli you can imagine and then some. Marta - the hostess- made sure we got the freshest stuff - and what a collection! Our first dish was molle pollo - a variation on Katie's chocolate chicken from yesterday- wrapped in plantation (banana) leaves and steamed - it is local ...

... the companionship he offers. I look up to him as a role model, and I deeply admire his faith. I hope to learn a lot from him in the coming months.3. If I were to get excommunicated from the US, there's no doubt in my mind that I would move to Oaxaca, Mexico. I am in love with this city.4. The number one (numero uno :-) thing on my to-do list is learning Spanish. Much Love,Stephen

... Barbara took great delight in viewing while I spent my time trying to find the only washroom that was strategically hidden in a little corner at the bottom of a staircase. As a result I ended up seeing a lot more of the beautiful exterior of this building with its reflecting pools and cascading waters while Barbara got to see the fabulous paper display.

Information was hard to find as there were no information panels, guides nor other tourists. So ...

... for about ten minutes. Gotta love it! Here amanda and I ate a fried grasshopper, and have it on video to prove it! I also found another little monster that I wanted to buy but they were not up to bargining and got really upset with me! Oh well. The last stop was the black pottery factory. We saw a demonstration of how the pottery is made, and of course, got a chance to buy some pottery. For dinner we headed to a restaurant that had a mole ...

... more 'lived in' so to speak. The buildings were crumbling more, graffiti was sprayed across them and it felt more localised...not really what we had read in the book though. That evening we set off to the Zocalo and the image I had of the place TOTALLY changed! It appears that Oaxaca is somewhat divided, the north of 'Independence Street'/square being the posher part with the south being the cheaper part...guess where we were! The square was stunning, a huge bandstand was in ...

... back to the States, hah the things I worry about lol. It finally sprinkled a little bit tonight, which is really good sense we are on a water shortage; I'm really roughin it over here! I have to take less than 5 minute showers and can't flush the toilet unless it is necessary, pretty annoying. I pretty much didn't do any of the errands I planned on doing either oh well, my naps are important to me. Well I'm off to bed, tomorrow is café social! Buenos Noches mi gente! So ...

... was served on the patio with creative presentation and magnificant flavors. We all had something different and each entree was superb. This is a restaurant deserves a special trip and plan to spend some time enjoying the atmosphere. Entering San Martin we were amazed that the streets were bare and ther were no shops. We all wanted to purchase Alebrijes for souvenirs Circling through the streets doors started to open ...

... with a huge porch upstairs. They could not be nicer if they tried. The bakery and wood fired oven are also off the courtyard. They bake only sweet treats. Can I tell you how amazing the place smells. I go down in the morning and get myself a fresh baked sweet roll to have with my breakfast. Could be dangerous long term for my waistline. Rosie has been really nice, sending up special aguas (waters) with the boys and ...