I never want to forget this feeling of calm content and happiness, im sitting drinking a beer, by the pool of my beautiful hostel in the hills over looking Oaxaca City, this place is a gem! Ive decided, as Oaxaca will be my home for over a week, to head out of the city for 3 days to a little retreat just 20min drive away in the hills, to lay by the pool, soak up the glorious sun shine & submerse myself in a great new book that Ive found on the book shelf here & also practise my spanish home work too.
Ive only been here a few hours and I feel so refreshed & at ease. I think on this trip of mine, insticts play a big part, if you feel something is wrong then just dont go with it, walk away, but if you have that excited vibe immediatly about the place you are in & meeting great people, then stay, absorb everything it has to offer & just move on when you are ready. There is no rush & no time limit, just amazing experiences to be had.
I feel I am gushing, but my days are like a roller coaster of emotions, predominantly more ups than downs, this is for sure, but I feel like when I have a perfect evening like this or a whole day, I need to treasure it and store this feeling away somewhere so that I never forget it & once I am home can access it and be inspired to search for it again and bring it into my everyday life.
The family that run this hostel are so sweet and kind. The 2 brothers Javier & Chay run the buisness day to day but Chays children and their mother seem always to be floating around. The mother, I forget her name, I must ask her again tomorrow, was making Red Mole today and has been for the last 2 days, this is a spicy sauce that contains chilies, tomatoes, & a million other spices too all ground together and then made into a rich sauce that acompanys chicken and rice then when there is left overs you use it in tomales. She was making it in a huge pot outside on an open fire, I was chatting to her in Spanish and she let me try some, it tasted spicy and a little sweet, mmm yumi. She is preparing this and other local dishes for Dias de Meurtos (Day of the Dead) which is 1st and 2nd Nov and also celebrations on Halloween too. I have come to Oaxaca especially for this celebration which just so happens to precede my birthday nicely, 4 days of celebrations and traditional festivities are in order I think. Locals cook and get their families together to remember their loved ones who have pssed on, they think that on the 2nd day the spirits come back for this one day so they gather in cemetries and bring offerings and dance and I supose I will see what else they do. I think it is warm, family orientated & festive rather than morbid and sad, a celebration of life and the people who have lived and gone on to something new & exciting rather than a comemoration and mourning.
I wanted to spend these days in Mexico but it was Juash, the Mexican I met in Juayua that told me that Oaxaca is the best and most vibrant traditional place to be, and if I liked, his cousin may be able to show me around, so here I am, and so far, I love it.
Buenos Noches Amigos xxx
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