sneakbobcat

We entered a busy Tokyo station to depart to Matsumoto, a small town in the alpine region of Japan. The station was hectic, likely as we were travelling at the beginning of Golden Week, one of the busiest if not the busiest, times to travel in Japan. It was also due to be the longest national holiday Japan has had due to the emperor Akihito’s abdication. A period of celebration. We collected pastries from a bakery inside the station, a pain aux raisin, Apple pastry and banana cake to eat on the train. By the time we got to the platform the busyness had settled down and we left for Nagano, one of the larger cities in the mountains in Japan, and a hub for alpine activities. After just over an hour on the Shinkansen, Japan’s ... read more

I arrived early to the Cathedral in the morning and waited to meet Martha and Ivan again for breakfast. There was a friendly Spanish and English teacher and tour guide who came to speak with me while I waited. He asked if I was German, as most foreigners in Puebla were German as there was a large Volkswagen factory in Puebla. We spoke for a while and he introduced his student to me so she could practice English. Martha and Ivan arrived soon after. They took me to one of their favourite spots, a local Puebla restaurant that specialises in roasted meat. They first brought out a hot broth, with a tray of toppings to add to the soup including chili, onion and chickpeas, and served a fresh fruit juice on the side. For the main ... read more

My final full day in Oaxaca I decided to relax, enjoy the breakfast with great tasting eggs and coffee and visit the markets again. In the markets I explored the stalls checking out all of the local goods they had to sell, including all the grains and spices. Oaxaca is known for their Mezcal, so I visited one of the larger Mezcal stores and asked to taste a few different bottles of Mezcal. After three small glasses and tasters Id found the Mezcal I liked, a bottle of añejo with a darker brown colour, smoother than some of the other Mezcal and richer as it had been aged for 2 years. I picked up a bottle as well as some other goods in the market. After the market, I visit the bus ticket office and purchased ... read more

In the morning I woke up early. The breakfast was fresh and delicious, Mexican beans, eggs, fruit and coffee. It was a really nice change from Guatemala and El Salvador, with an abundance of good food and facilities. The hostel was busy. I decided to book another night to relax, although unfortunately they informed me that they were full. I wasn’t the only person that had this problem, there were others having to find another hostel because it was fully booked. I switched hostel, and went exploring the city. Oaxaca was really nice, much more European feeling, with cobbled streets and streetlights. I went down to the markets, where they had a lot of different foods and goods. There were crickets flavored with spice, mezcal with snakes inside and Oaxaca cheese which was a bit like ... read more

Santa Ana is known in El Salvador for its wealth from coffee. More than 90% of export income in El Salvador is from coffee, so while we didn’t have time to visit a plantation, we wanted to visit a local coffee shop. We visited a small place called café expresión, a short walk from our hostel. The coffee, like those we tried in Guatemala, were somewhat disappointing, lower than the standards of an average coffee in Europe. We spent the morning strolling around the city, visiting a local bakery, pharmacy (because I was feeling ill) and then the main square. Ben laughed as he pointed out one of the larger signs in the square indicating a guns weren’t allowed. It was quite funny. At the end of our short stroll through Sabra Ana we passed through ... read more