Blogs from Oaxaca, Mexico, North America - page 73

Looked around Oaxaca and visited some very ornate churches, the most impressive being the church of Santo Domingo, described as "one of the most extravagantly gorgeous churches in the world", or basically where the Spanish had used the most ripped-off gold. Still, very impressive. Later in the evening we walked up the hill overlooking the centre of Oaxaca to see the statue of Benito Juarez and watch the sunset. Benito Juarez, born in the 19th century, is Mexico's national hero and its first president of Indian descent.... read more

Wanting to see more small town life I hopped on to a bus to the above with no real idea of what was there. Two hours later, up a slow road I reached the town and it´s community ran tourist office. I said I wanted to do some trekking and after paying 50pesos for some reason and armed with a basic handrawn map they drove me to the entrance. The track seemed basically a farm track, and although it was all very natural and attractive, it seemed to lack any particular focus to make it more than pleasant. A little dismayed over why I had to pay money to walk what seemed a public road and get no real information, thoughts ran through my mind on how to add a bit of adventure to it. I ... read more

The bus rode through some beautiful landscape en route to Oaxaca, glorious mountainous landscape, with cacti taking the place of trees. After a while the land flattened and lost some of its interest. At this point my mind drifted on how to liven up my trip a bit. Slow progress with the Spanish had been frustrating me, which so many of my plans and options revolved around. Uncertainty over what to do about work and a general concern about spending too much time and money drifting from city to city and not seeing the more interesting and less accessible places. I had written a travelling philosphy to which I want to obey to make the most of my trip, I think I´m a little way off at the moment and I need to rectify the situation, ... read more

Heeeey! Five weeks in between blog entries already eh?! If you think Mexicans are lazy, come and have a look at me… So after thoroughly outstaying my welcome in Puerto Vallarta I made my way to Guanajuato, a beautiful beautiful colonial city which owes its wealth to producing a third of the world’s silver for almost two centuries. It was their annual Cervantino festival so the town was pretty packed with visitors. Sadly most of the events laid on were far too highbrow for yours truly so I went out and got drunk with a couple of sound Mexicans down on holiday from Chicago. Guanajuato’s built right into an improbably steep valley so I’d picked a very bad place to start jogging and going to the gym but fear not… I haven’t been in weeks now! ... read more

Well here we are back on the beach! Before I go on I want to thank everyone who has been sending me messages through this site (and those over email as well!) I do appreciate word from home! So we left Oaxaca city just hours after my Monte Alban blog entry, and we engaged in a bus ride that we won´t forget for quite awhile, twists and turns for hours on end, vomiting excellerations and decelerations (sp?) we somehow wound up on the coast again... I can´t even begin to explain what this ride was like, I slept a lot and it wasn´t that big of a deal, but at random points I would look out the window and just see what was (supposed) to be our road, although it looked more like a dirt path ... read more