Exploring Oaxaca & An Overnight Bus!!

---

1st MAY 2009 - SEEING THE SIGHTS OF OAXACA
I slept rubbish again...my mind is in overdrive as soon as I stop and I just can't switch off at the moment. Not good!! I remembered to say White Rabbit White Rabbit when I woke though...maybe things will look up this month!! Cannot believe it is the 1st May and we have exactly 29 days left travelling...that isn't even a month!! Time really has flown but I was determined to make the most of every second I had left!!

Once we were both up and dressed we went for breakfast. The flyer that we had picked up promised eggs for breakfast and we were both pretty excited for them. It was not to be!! We were brought out a Mexican breakfast which contained 2 bits of dry bread which looked like Nobel cuisine in comparison to the rest of the plate. To accompany the bread we were given a pot of sugar loaded, enamel stripping orange jelly!! Yes...really! Worst thing was that the jelly was the second most edible thing on the plate! We were also given a cup of coffee that was so strong and thick it resembled tar!! The main prize though...the star attraction was some sort of tortilla wraps with a beefy sauce covered in a white gloopy cheese! It wouldn't have even been a great lunch but for breakfast...come on!! I tried to pretend that they were pancakes with chocolate sauce and a dusting of icing sugar. It didn't work!! I managed to stomach about a third and could eat no more!! I washed it down with the jelly and bread!! Worst breakfast I ever tasted and I was still starving! A new weight watchers/slimfast plan should incorporate this meal into breakfast...guaranteed to lose pounds!!

After the trauma of breakfast we mooched around the hostel! Places don't seem to be open in town until lunch time so we spent the morning blogging on the free internet, reading and diary writing. We then had a word with the hostel man about the best places to visit and where we could find a journal shop. He told us some places to go but again with this pig flu business a lot of places were closed at the order of the government! Can't say I was too disappointed about the museums being closed...unless they have a kids interactive section, I find them a little on the sleep inducing side!!

We set out at lunch time and first went on a journal hunt. No luck. the only ones we saw had skeletons/skulls on. Nat wasn't too keen but I kind of liked them. It wasn't a morbid skeleton as it had a sombrero on and was playing the guitar. Looked pretty cool! Skeletons seem to be everywhere in Mexico...some sort of national treasure/emblem! We saw one sat on a bench and could not resist the urge for a photo with him!! A warning about the effects of swine flu perhaps?!! Talking of swine flu...I was starting to think that the whole thing had been blown out of proportion. Hardly anyone in masks in Oaxaca and apart from a spot of graffiti and closure of tourist attractions, we didn't hear much about it!!

At around 1pm, we sat down in the square for a spot of lunch. We were both pretty hungry which wasn't surprising considering the delightful breakfast we had consumed!! I ordered some Italian pasta which filled me up nicely. The square was very busy....there was some sort of protest going on as well as it being a market day. On top of that there were loads of sellers and beggars out as well as a different busker coming to play in front of the restaurant every 10 minutes. Not really a peaceful lunch but interesting all the same!

After lunch, we wandered around the square and the streets. Not quite as nice as Puebla but there were some impressive buildings knocking about. Had to walk down a street that was being dug up by builders and boy did they live up to their name. It was like walking a gauntlet with all the whistles and shouts. It was like they had never seen a female before...so glad I didn't understand Spanish!! We ducked into a shop to avoid it and then strolled through a market where Nat made her first Mexican purchase. As we were walking through the market, the stall owners began to put plastic sheeting over everything and we guessed that a storm was coming. The wind picked up and lo and behold the rain came down. We managed to shelter in a shopping mall for half and hour in which Nat found a journal...hallelujah!!! The storm was really bad but didn't last for longer than 30 minutes. Once it had eased we went to look at the Santo Domingo De Guzman Church across the way. Once again it was very bling and just like the other 4 we had visited! After the church we wanted to head to the gardens but the rain scuppered those plans. We had seen most of Oaxaca by this point and so we headed back to the hostel.

The evening didn't consist of anything exciting really. We used the net, wrote our journals and chatted for a bit before going to bed. Not the most exciting day really!!

2nd MAY 2009 - NOT MUCH TO TELL & AN OVERNIGHT BUS!!
I woke up early after yet another restless nights sleep! Not sure how I am still managing to function to be honest...had about 8 hours in the last 4 days!! I wasn't looking forward to breakfast either after yesterdays culinary delights. We decided to go and eat before getting ready....get it over and done with! Thankfully it wasn't the same as yesterdays and they had replaced the main dish with a bowl of cornflakes and some fresh fruit...now we're talking!! We were still faced with the orange jelly but I didn't feel the need to eat it today as it was no longer the best thing on the plate!

After breakfast we made use of the free internet and caught up on our blogging a little bit! The time and effort that has gone into this thing is unbelievable!! After blogging I had a shower if you can call it that. No power at all...it would have been more forceful if someone had been blowing water at me through a straw! Oh well!! After getting clean, we chilled out at the hostel for a bit and packed up our stuff. At 12pm we checked out and after putting our luggage in storage we had a wander into town to get some lunch. Chicken Fajitas for me and I expected them to burn my mouth out but they were very tame. Tasty though!!I have never seen so many fat pigeons about as I did in Oaxaca. Some of the poor people should take a tip from the pigeons because none of them were malnourished that was for sure! Kept coming around us whilst we were eating and a weird man at the next table kept trying to hit them with his stick! Sounds like the worst meal ever but just an average day in the life of a traveller!!

After food we strolled around the square and then headed back to the hostel to pick our bags up. We then caught a bus to the 1st class bus station. It was only a 15 minute ride tops. Couldn't believe it took us 2.5 hours to get there on the 1st night! Crazy!! At the bus station we bought tickets for the 5pm bus to Palenque. 2 aisle seats next to each other. We chilled in the bus station where we read, wrote our journals and bought some food to take on the long 14 hour journey. I wasn't looking forward to spending 14 hours on a bus!!

5pm came and we boarded. I reclined my seat, put in my earphones and we were off. Lassie 2 came on screen (dubbed in Spanish). I never even knew that Lassie had been resurrected!! Started a new book...very girly and easy to read. I read about half of it before putting it down when the lights went out to try and get off to sleep. Not successful as every hour (or so it seemed) the bus stopped for some reason or another and the lights came on again. We had a toilet stop, a snack stop, a stop where the police got on and searched everyone (big rifles on them...quite scary), a pick up stop and at 3am a cleaning stop. What a joke...3am and they make everyone get off the bus so it can be cleaned. That really was taking customer service too far!! Back on the bus at 3.30am we made our way to Palenque. I did manage to doze from that point on but I certainly didn't feel refreshed when we arrived at 7.30am. It had been a long long journey and I was glad that it was over!!

---