Villas Juarez Oaxaca

Oaxaca is a fascinating city with culture, amazing architecture, and much to explore.  It has been on the top of my 'Travel To Do List' for about 10 years and the visit was well worth the wait (and the 4 days of travel time).  It is a cleaner, more put together Mexican city with history… but it still has the great food and beer that Mexico is know for!  It is a quaint little town that is in the valley of a huge mountain range.  It took awhile for old Wesley to ...

... firewood, and then we grilled our own mexican food over the camp fire. We then got in our sleeping bags (well, my bag is in Westerville, oops - I ended up sleeping in a blanket, which I shared with Jacob, and neither of us actually ended up sleeping, because it was way too cold :-). Anyways, we got in our bags, and then Lucas, who hauled a guitar the whole way, led us in some solid acoustic worship for a good while ...

... making an effort as many of the beggars just sit there with their hand or bowl out! There are always some clowns putting on a show in the plaza! (seriously!)

Then there are all the Saint's Days - while here there has been the days of The Virgen de Guadalupe, effectively the patron saint of Mexico and also the Virgen de Soledad, the patron saint for the state of Oaxaca. As well as the usual pilgrimages, by individuals and by local churches, by any available, the tougher ...

... Some have rather suspicious coughs and I wonder about tuberculosis. In the evening there was music everywhere - on the Alcala, on sidestreets, and the Zocalo - brass bands, orchestras, parades, stilt dancers, and clown acts. We weren't really hungry but couldn't resist visiting a bakery with fresh holiday treats. They were very light and flaky, not very sweet, but tasty. We passed an arched entrance to an interior courtyard, with ...

... steps in setting up a blog - so if you choose, you can read and see pictures of our adventures thus far! Maybe one of the PLU students will help. (Hasn't happened yet . . . Sorry!) For the next few days we will be adjusting to being in class four hours a day, another hour of one-on-one conversation exchange with a student who teaches us Spanish and we help them with English, plus studying so will probably not be writing much.

... extraordinary when you think of what it would've seen over the years had it had eyes. A circle around the tree, and a few markets later we were once again on one of the local buses headed into Oaxaca. We were told if we wanted to see an incredible market we should head to Mercado de Asbestos. And we weren't disappointed. This market had everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. If you could think it, it would be available to buy somewhere. It was huge! There were rows and ...

... 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 ...