Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Apologies as this blog entry is a few weeks late. I am now actually in Guadalajara, Mexico. Still better late than never!


Two boat journeys, one detailed bag search at customs, thanks to the sniffer dog being hot for dried pasta, and what should have been just a day but actually also turned into an overnight and full day twenty three hour mammoth bus journey later, I finally arrived in the Mexican city of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ca like the London restaurant of the same name).

I was über excited to be there, not least because it was my first Mexican city, but also because Id read good things about Oaxaca - namely about its food, markets and colonial buildings. I also quite like frequenting the Wahaca restaurant in London and I wanted to see the country where Thomasina Miers the founder of Wahaca had got her inspiration to open her chain of restaurants from. 

Oaxaca, the city, certainly didnt dissapoint me - only its internet access did. The service was truly shocking and is one of the worst Ive experience during my travels in Central and South America. If it were not for this blip I would go as far as saying Oaxaca is officially my current favourite place Ive visited.

Main Cathedral in Oaxaca

Motorbikes having a chat

Local band

Palm tree lined streets

The food I ate whilst there was delicious, especially the beef tacos. Although they werent the typical tacos I was used to eating. For a start they came in soft flour tortillas, not the crispy shell tortillas you see in the Old El Paso adverts. They were also surprisingly simple in their appearance. Literally just meat inside them and nothing else. The condiments - spicy chipotle sauce, salsa and guacamole came seperate. And the best thing about all of this? It was super cheap! You can eat loads and still pay less than a fiver. Tacotastic!

Taco with added condiments

Whilst I managed to savour the culinary taste of Oaxaca I was unfortunately unable to try any of its alcohol as it was the weekend of national elections. Elections, I found out tend to bring rather alot of unrest in Mexico so the government passed a law banning the consumption of alcohol during this period. It is called the ley de seca - dry law and for some reason this law also stretches to us travellers. Mexicos famous margheritas will just have to wait for now...

Shopping in Oaxaca is awesome. With regards to the markets in Oaxaca, despite not being a massive fan of shopping I still managed to buy up half the Benito Juarez market. I now own several more hats, bags and scarfs all of which I am going to have to post home as Im already fed up of lugging them around. It is just as well that I managed to somehow miss the Artisans market just down the road from the Benito Juarez market as I would certainly be carrying more items with me and it would be costing me more to post it all home. I shall most certainly be coming back with an empty suitcase (and a sister and friends?) next time I visit. 

When in Rome...
N.B. this wasn't one of the hats I purchased!

My favourite purchase was a print from an art gallery / workshop situated in an indoor market called Mora. I had spent ages scanning all the prints on display trying to find one to buy but none were jumping out at me. It wasnt until I went to walk out of the gallery that I noticed a stencil of a print lying on a table. I asked whether they had any prints of it but the artist said he had only produced t shirts with this print. After admiring the t shirts I ended up wanting a print version even more so after expressing my keen interest the owner Alejandro agreed to screen print me one that very evening. Im pleased to say Im now the proud owner of print number 2 of what will be 100 prints signed by Alejandro which he has decided to produce in the colour way I chose - black and gold. :D

My print : D

Walking around Oaxaca was really quite pleasant. Not only are the buildings beautiful but a lot of the city is pedestrianised so it meant you didnt have to watch out for VW Beetles hurtling at you every five minutes - there are so many of them here from when VW opened up its first plant in Puebla in 1967. It was like seeing Herbie the anthropomorphic VW Beetle from the Disney films every where I went. 

Beatles about!

Having spent a good few days in Oaxaca I decided to get some sea air and head to the coast and visit the town of Puerto Escondido which means hidden port. The shuttle bus there was nicknamed the "Vomet Comet". After several hours being tossed around each time the bus went up and down a mountain and left and right around a corner I realised why it had been christened so. To make matters worse there appeared to be donkeys roaming aimlessly pretty much on every road we went down (?!) which meant the driver kept braking suddenly. All just fuelling the treachery of an already sickening ride.

Thankfully I arrived in one piece and decided to stay on Playa Zicatela which is just down the coast from Puerto Escondido itself. 

And relax...

The beach here is huge in the surfing community and regularly hosts surfing competitions and is among the top ten surfing destinations in the world. It wasn't hard to see why - the swell of the sea was immense and you could hear the waves crashing before you saw them. It reminded me of the advert Guinness did a few years ago with horses thundering towards you from the water:

I didnt dare venture into the water, there were signs everywhere telling you not to unless you knew what you were doing and I certainly didnt. Instead I just marvelled at the brave surfers being led into the surf by a lifeguard on a jet ski (the waves were that big that they needed help to get past them into the calmer sea behind) and then gaze in admiration as they rode the waves so deftly. 

Look at it crash down!

Brave surfer

Lifeguard on jet ski

Seeing as there was no swimming to be had on Playa Zicatela I made my way to Playa Carrizalillo which is just around the bay. The water there was much calmer although the rip tides were still strong which prevented me from venturing in too deep. 

Chillaxing

As it is currently low season there really werent that many travellers or tourists to be seen throughout my time in Oaxaca or Puerto Escondido. I've quite enjoyed this as its meant that the last few weeks have felt like a holiday rather than travelling. I've had time to relax and slow down. All of which has been good as I feel like Ive been travelling too fast through most of the countries I've visited recently. It has finally caught up with me in the form of waking up and embarrasingly not knowing which country Im in. Only for a split second mind!

As my impending return to London life draws near *sigh* I have also had time to take stock and appreciate where I am currently. I've needed this. Whilst I have been lucky enough to visit the most amazing and wonderful places during the last eight months (wow seems so long when you write it), I have recently found myself becoming a little complacent. A stunning beach has become just another beach, an awesome panorama just part of every day life and going on another tourist tour has become, well, just a little routine. All of which is terrible especially when this should be a trip of a lifetime. So Im pleased to say I've given myself a much needed shake and stopped being a spoilt brat and Im now valuing everything that little bit more. Just in time as since writing this blog I've finally got around to booking my flight home *Yay * so I´ll be reading travel blogs rather than writing them in just under a months time...