Cholula Veracruz y Oaxaca

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I am currently in Mazunte, Oaxaca. A beautiful beach town on the Pacific coast. Its a very small town, maybe 500 locals. Definite hippie vibe here. I am staying in hanging bed on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. Its so gorgeous! and it only costs $50 MX a night, which is about $4 USD. !! I love it.

I know I have been lazy about posting a new blog.. Sorry. So much has happened in the last couple weeks and I just didn´t want to waste time in an internet cafe when I could be out seeing the world. 😊 You understand.

So I'll start from when I left D.F. about two weeks ago. I met a friend in the Mexico city hostel who was going east to Veracruz as well and we decided to travel together. First stop was Cholula, Puebla. Its a cute litttle town with a pyramid that has been built over many times by each succesive culture and is now covered by dirt, cause its old! They have yet to get the funds to fully excavate. But they did dig a tunnel through the pyramid and we got to walk through and see the steps of the 2nd contruction and outter layers as well. Pretty cool.

Then it was off to Papantla, Veracruz. The ride from Puebla to Poza Rica, a neighboring town was so amazing! We went from dry highland with farms and rolling hills into jungle ravines. There were little mountain villages in the jungle selling coconuts and papaya. 😊 When we arrived in Papantla it was pouring rain and dark out. We ended up in a fairly nice hotel overlooking this town in the hills. The following day it was off to El Tajín. An ancient city, I believe Toltec or Zapotec built in stages from 800 AD to around 1100 AD. This site is known for its intricate pyramid of the niches. I also saw a ball court with a sadium of sorts surrounding it. We wandered off to the edge of the city and came across an indiginous camp where we were greeted by a little boy who spoke no spanish. It was truly an amazing city to walk through, and we were lucky it was cloudy that day or it would have been miserably hot.

The next day we took a bus down to the city Veracruz. Which I only spent 1.5 days in because my travel partner was driving me crazy! lol. 😊 We hung out on the beach one day and wandered around the city. I did get to try pescado veracruzana, a fish dish which was very good. Then off to the city of Oaxaca for me!

The city of Oaxaca has many backpacker hostels but I decided on Luz de Luna Nuyoo based off the name. (Light of the new moon) It turned out to be a great choice, the people I met were all amazing and it had a patio with all kinds of plants, hamocks and a fountain. As well as a rooftop hamock lounge with dogs and kitties running around. 😊 Oaxaca is a very magikal city and many synchronicities guided me through my time there.
My friend Lauren and I took off for a day of adventure to see El Tule, Mitla and hierve el agua. We took a couple of busses to the town of El Tule which has an enourmous 2000 year old tree, with about that many birds living in it. The trunk was as big as a house. (no trees growing out of the branches though for curious Oregonians) Anyway, we then took a taxi to Mitla, Zapotec ruins dating 1300 AD. Mitla has been largly destroyed by the Spanish catholics, they used the stones to build a church. Disgusting.... However, what does remain holds detailed designs depicting their calendar and the four elements. Its beautiful. Their calendar even had the leap year in it! We also got to go down into a couple tombs. From there we walked back to the main road to get a collectivo to heirve el agua, a mineral spring in the mountains about an hour away. There were no collectivos (common trucks which transport people cheaply) running, only taxi´s which wanted 300 pesos or something outrageous. Lauren and I decided to hitchhike to the spring. 😊 We were picked up by a bus only going to San Lorenzo about 6k away from la agua. Our plan was to then catch a ride from there to the water but we ended up walking the whole way... On the way some mezcal makers offered to show us what they were doing and we got to taste some of their product. They took the maguey plant roasted it for 8 days then crushed it by a horse driven stone wheel and fermented it for 15 days before distilling it. Lucky we were walking! The best things we saw that day were unplanned. When we finally made it to the water it was cloudy but of course we got in! 😊 It was right on the edge of this cliff overlooking a valley between mountains. This is a beautiful earth we live in. We weren´t sure how we would get home since it was late and all the collectivos were only going to san lorenzo. But, there was a couple staying in Oaxaca who gave a ride for free. 😊 That night was finished off with good friends Kit, and Joel at La Embajada bar cause they have free Mezcal on mondays. lol. Course it wasn´t nearly as good as the stuff we tried on the road.

I attempted to go to Monte Alban a few days later but it was closed due to the panic surrounding this swine flu. Its really rediculous the way they over hype this flu creating fear unnecessarily... Joel and I did see an awesome satire perfomed on the street, though. They were carrying a corpse and all wearing full on gas masks. They acted out the whole thing peoples´panic and fear to touch each other. It was great. We also saw a mask on one of the statues in the zocalo. lol. Oaxaca did have some excellent cheese and the best mole! Their hot chocolate was very good too, but I prefer less sugar and more chilli and cinnamon.... But the mole!! MMMmmm.

Despite amazing Oaxaca, I decided to leave for the ocean and wait out this panicdemic until i can go to the ruins again, May 6th supposedly. So here I am in Mazunte, on one of the slowest computers yet. No pictures this time because of that. But you can view them on my facebook accout: email = [e-mail]

Love to all!

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Comments

[Adelaide]

Overlooking the ocean!
A hanging bed on a cliff that overlooks the ocean! That's amazing. Sounds like you are having great adventures! I'll look forward to pictures. Ade

[Don]

Gretchen, What great posts. You help us armchair travelers savor your experiences. I hope you are keeping a full journal for posterity.