Chapulines

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In order to avoid "la papa" and the 22 million people who are trying to get to see the pope during his visit I decided to go to Oaxaca - pronounced Wahacka. A lively city of 400,000 people, many of them being from the indigenous people who live in the villages near by.

The hostel Modena had adverts for one way trips from the hostel door to door to a Oaxaca hostel for the same price as a bus fair... it made sense, why struggle when you don't have to?

The sixteen seat mini bus that picked me up from the hostel was clean and new. I said good bye to Robbie - he headed off to Veracruz the same day. I will see him again, hopefully in Central America - but if not Paris. A fantastic time is guaranteed where ever... so many memories over the 3 weeks we travelled together.

As I'm starting to realise, travelling puts you in situations where friendships get accelerated, time stretches and sleep becomes a rare commodity. On the bus I got talking to Reena and Tim - both from England, both studying at Manchester university, Reena halfway through a degree in medicine, Tim finished law and on the last leg of a year long round the world trip. Just add water (or beer) and hey presto, instant friends. I had taken my little travelling guitar out of its case for the journey, to avoid having several day bags, the main bulk of my luggage was strapped to the roof of the mini bus. Apart from my two new friends the remainder of the passengers in the bus were Italian - two separate groups of travelling Italians. It just so happened that one of them also played guitar - all of them sang. For the whole trip the Italians sang, played mouth organs, I played guitar, they played guitar, Tim had a guitar. Bouncing around in a minibus with 10 singing Italians, 2 guitars and a mouth organ - for about 3 hours was really great fun, for the remaining three hours, I wished I hadn't started anything.

Eventually I arrived in Oaxaca, I had got on very well with Tim and Reena and had suggested meeting for food in the evening, they had selected a different hostel to me - the Luz de Luna. My hostel - Don Deigo - was a little further away from the city center. I slept - for the rest of the afternoon. Lovely airy light rooms, comfortable beds and a clean bathroom. I couldn't ask for more. Except there wasn't anyone else around.

8 pm, I found my way to Tim and Reena's hostel. Food time. Oaxaca is known for its cuisine, according to Lonely Planet. Chapulines, fried grasshopper with chilli and lime. Well I've never eaten grasshopper. The market is where the most plentiful supply of the insect treat can be found, Tim hadn't read this section of the LP so I told him that Chapulines are a type of Oaxacan fruit. The market was really crowded, full of the sites and smells that can be found the world over. Fresh food, cooking food, rotting food. Tim kept pointing to fruit and veg stores and suggesting we try there for the Chapulines. Eventually we found them, together with a pot of live spiced maggots... I have my limits. Ten pesos bought me more fried grasshoppers than I could possibly ever want to eat. Grasshopper, crunchy on the outside, liquid in the middle, the best bit was the legs, kept getting stuck in my teeth. Tim to his credit also ate his grasshopper - after getting over the initial shock.

Wandering back from a mediocre - but very cheap resturant, we spotted a British pub. The union jack on the outside gave it away. Inside - it could have been any where, but the landlord spoke English - a little. We asked why it was a british pub? No british beers, no sawdust, no chips, no thugs, no slag-welly wearing girls. The landlord had once been to Chester. Despite not being quite what I had expected they looked after us really well, kept us constantly supplied with pop corn and chilli sauce, and took a photo of us behind the bar.

Back at Luz de Luna hostel we met three more girls who had also studied at Manchester university. During the very interesting conversation that followed I talked to Gary, an older guy from New Zealand who had rented his farm out for a year in order to travel. We drank take out beers and snacked on Chipalines. Eventually I walked back alone to my hostel - I would have to move.

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