Manicures, Pedicures and Eyelash Curls

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For anyone who was worried about whether we've been swept up by a hurricane let me assure you that all is well. "All is well" is also how I have to wake up Charlie in the mornings. We have one clock between us and I'm the owner so it has been made my responsibility to let Charlie know the time in the morning by saying eg "it's 8 o'clock in the morning and all is well". What a bizarre thing to say but a friend must do what a friend must do...

As always this is a bit of a catch-up because we've seen a ridiculous amount since Tulum. Here's where we've been and what we've done. Tulum to Chichen Itza (7th wonder of the modern world). Chichen Itza to Merida (lots of music and salsa dancing (not by me although I´m thinking of taking lessons when i get back so I can say yes to a dance without feeling like I´ll make a fool of myself, also lots of Mayan touting for "original" mayan hammocks). Merida to Celestun (return. Celestun for the flamingos and a dip in the Gulf of Mexico). Merida to Palenque (another Mayan ruin in an exquisite setting of national park). Palenque to San Cristobal (lovely town about 2000m above sea level. Lots of tourists. Lots of spanish speaking classes on offer. Lots of rain). San Cristobal to Oaxaca. Man I´m tired. And I'm forty! Apart from not being the world's best swimmer, nor the world's best drinker, I'm not really a good traveller either. The overnight buses are a killer and seem to take me forever to recover from. Although, when I look at the list like that I think it has more to do with the km's we're covering than with the age I am but still, it kind of highlights that I'm no spring chicken. I need my quality sleep and I'm turning into a fuddy duddy.

I'm getting a bit tired of playing catch-up what we've done blogs so will just tell you about some of our sillier moments instead. Like the day in Merida that we spent "waiting" for our night bus to Palenque. It's kind of hard to fill days sometimes but we seemed to have no problems in Merida. In fact, what better way to spend a couple of hours than to watch your friend, ie Charlie, getting her eyelashes "done". We had initially gone into the hairdressers/beauticians with Charlie wanting to get eyelash extensions. I said I would get them too but wanted to see the result of Charlie's experimenation first (see, ever cautious). Problem is, sometimes pictures don't tell the whole story. The before and after shots of the model suggested an extension but what Charlie actually got was an eyelash perm - of sorts. It took two hours, looks good, but an extension it aint. But, it was a very funny afternoon. Charlie looked like a drag queen and gave me a lot to laughsa about in the process. Thanks Charlie ; ) By the way, I decided I didn't need a perm. But I did opt for my first French manicure and Charlie her first pedicure. It was a day of firsts all round.

So now we're in Oaxaca. Everything is wet and getting wetter. Actually, ever since Guadalajara we've had a shower every day but now the showers longer and probably don't constitute showers anymore. It's more like rain and the streets are overflowing. I have now offically worn every item of clothing I brought with me and whilst I was cursing my thermal top and long sleeved t-shirt when we were on the Caribbean I'm now grateful. We're staying in a fantastic little hotel that is was in the guidebook that took a long time to find (at 7 o'clock in the morning following a ten hour, multi-stop, windy road bus ride). But it gave us the opportunity to see the city wake (on a Sunday mind) and stumble across a brass band (complete with tuba and drums) that was playing outside one of the churches. Did I mention it was 7 o'clock in the morning? Actually, it was kind of like the rude awakening we got in San Cristobal at around the same time but it was to fire crackers instead. Sleep is not sacred here. Oh, and neither is privacy. Our hotel, sweet and homely as it is, has a wonderful, mexican cantina like swing door. But for the toilet? It's not really my idea of an ensuite...

Last night Charlie and I went and did a Mezcal degustation at La Cucaracha bar here in Oaxaca. On offer was a tasting of six different shots of mezcal (similar to tequila but made from the maguey cactus). Whilst Charlie was quite happy to taste six I thought my stomach just wouldn´t cope. And I was thinking of that swing door ensuite... So we opted to share. By the end I was feeling, um, relaxed. We followed on by having our own shot of tequila. It made for an interesting walk home. (btw, I like tequila more. if I had to choose...) So this morning. No hangover but a feeling of total tiredness. Is this a hangover? Thought I would continue with the cactus theme and so had a cactus, celery and pineapple "juice" at lunch. Now if I just didn´t look at the colour (bright green!) and didn´t pay too much attention to the the texture (extremely thick and slimey) it was actually quite nice. I am kinda glad though that I didn´t have the catcus soup. Charlie said that I was lucky coz it would be like my drink only warm. Slime akin to when one has a cold...

Nothing else to report on the eating front from me. I´m not nearly as adventurous as Charlie me being a vegetarian and all ; ) but Charlie, well, she went all out and bought herself a little bag of deep fried grasshoppers tossed in chile. She said they were actually quite nice if you just didn´t think about eating insects. I can´t even bear to look at the bag to take a photo without feeling kind of queasy. If there are any lines to be drawn it´s gotta be at eating things with six legs +. No legs is better.

Tomorrow we head off to Mexico City which is exciting. A heaving city with a population the size of Australia and then some. It´s kind of hard to get my head around it but it will be one full on adventure and probably (definitely) quite frenetic. I´m looking forward to it although it will be sad to say goodbye to our little home away from home. Plus, Charlie is determined to get some eyelash extensions in MC. Fingers crossed...

Until then, adios amigos and thanks for sending through some comments. It´s been really nice to hear from home.

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