inspireandshine

Another tour is on the cards today. We'll be visiting the Tule tree, Teotitlan del Valle to see a rug making demonstration, the ruins of Mitla, lunch at a restaurant serving "Camidas Oaxiquenas" Foods of Oaxaca, the ruins of Yagul, and a mezcal distillery. So first the Tule, the widest tree in the world with a circumference of 58m. It is not a very tall cypress, but old at 2000 years. The name Tule comes from a swamp grass that was common to the area before it was developed into farmland. Remains of a recent (or coming?) festival create colour at the base of the tree, with large letters spelling the words "Asuncion de Maria". The arch of the adjacent church has a lavish display of lillies arranged in a huge wreath around the door. The ... read more

Well today is another disaster. Something or everything I ate yesterday was wrong, and I spent the night with sore guts and the trots. That puts me out of action. The kids are quite ok with that, taking the opportunity to visit the pool, play cars, and slide their bionicles down the bannisters. Ky suffers: she clearly wants to be out doing things and eventually walks into town for a couple of hours. Dinner is at the in-house restaurant again. I summon up the courage and eat the lasagna while Ky and Liam share fettucini bolognese. In the evening we all watch Transformers 2 on the laptop. ... read more

An early wakeup call shatters the silence. We take our time getting organised. No rush today. Breakfast is a piece of bread. Around 10:15 we walk down town to find the large toy store. It presents ok, two storeys and lots of stuff, but hard for the kids to get enthused when (a) they've spent all their $200 allowance for Mexico and (b) the stuff is all imported so as expensive as at home, and much the same stuff. So next we head into the main market, the "20 de Novembre". This is gradually coming to life. I have a yearning for a "jugo", a juice, but the lady says "media hora": half an hour. It's only 10:30, but there are lots of stalls open. I really like this market. Produce is sort of in sections ... read more

We are woken by loud bangs, which we'd heard intermittently last night and continue sporadically through the day. They seem to be fired like fireworks but just to let out a bang. Possibly related to the bicentennial celebrations happening across Mexico. As Alehandro had explained, in 1610 Cortez routed Emperor Moctezuma and exactly 200 years later the Priest Hidalgo started the revolution that gave Mexico its independence (from spanish rule). I'm still no better than yesterday , so we make do with a breakfast buffet at the in-house restaurant which is more expensive than the dinner at $160 each, although I don't partake. The boys had been keen to hop straight in the pool, but a bouncy castle in the room next to the restaurant distracts them. It's a bold move by the hotel as the ... read more

Another leisurely start to the day, I decide to hop on the treadmill "caminado" for an exhausting half hour. See how unfit I am, seeing as I haven't been doing any running for the past seven weeks! Ky follows, looking amazing on the elliptical trainer becuase she's been exercising every couple of days. The boys play in the pool again, then eventually we decide to go into town for a drink and an icecream. We walk to the place of artists next to the old train station which is open today, but find it quite disappointing. There is more art on display in the Mercado Hidalgo. So then a drink at a tiny shack opposite the artists' building. We select cokes, etc, and Joseph picks one in a recyclable bottle. As we're about to walk away, ... read more

We had thought of going to the large play-pool facility down the hill from us, but after a leisurely morning doing not much, we instead go back into town for lunch. A set of food stalls beside the Hidalgo Mergado look exciting as at each stall the attendants are waving their menus at us and calling us, trying to get us to visit their stall. I eventually decide to try a chicken enchilada, and order two for $35 each thinking they are single things and that Joseph or Liam will share. Well two plates of enhiladas with chicken and salad on top appear, and Liam is sitting beside me so he shares the chicken, then Kylie comes back after a brief foray into the market with Joseph and she finishes off the rest. We then follow ... read more