Oaxaca pics - Hierve El Agua, El Tule

We visited surrounding sights of Oaxaca city. We went to a tapestry house, a nice man showed us how they make rugs etc and the dyes they use, my hand was a pallete for the colour mixing, so I was left with a pink hand, I didnt mind so much. We also visited Hirve al Agua a petrified waterfall, really stunning, Age had a swim, it was chilly though so I just dipped my toes in. ooh and also saw El Tule which is the largest tree in the WORLD!!! SO so huge, its was really stunning with the light shininig through the branches, and just the sheer size of it.

Pics of Oaxaca celebrations, cemetry and my bday

Where to next.... San Cristobal

San Cristobal was next on the list, this seemed to be the destination that most people headed to next, at some point, it had great reviews so we thought we´d check it out. We took a 1st class night bus as it was a 13hr journey, this saved on accomodation for the night and actually is the only way to do these big journeys. With a bag of treats to see us through, we boarded the bus and of we went into the night, soon to awake in our new exciting destination, and even though you get there a bit tired and groggy, this soon lifts, helped by the excitement and buzz of being somewhere new, and not being able to wait to explore.
We had heard San Cristobal was cold as it was up in the mountains, but on arrival at 11am seemed nice and warm, the cold was to come later, in the afternoons and evenings, ooh after 3 months of summer sunshine and hot hot heat, my little body doesn´t feel equipped for for the drop in temperature - I don´t know how I will ever adjust to living back in cold climates of the UK eek!!
After 1 night in a sweet, but cold hotel, we explored and discovered these great apartments which over looked the whole city, we´d have our own terrace too, the price was high, well, for our budgets anyway, (actually half the price of a travel lodge in England!) but we decided this was too great to pass up so treated our selves and ended up staying 3 nights. We cooked ourselves spicy pasta in our cute little kitchen, ate frsh fruit and pastries for breakfast in the warm morning sun on our private terrace and curled up and watched films in bed in the evening, sipping on good wine, ahh bliss!! Its so lovely to have a base like this for a few days, this is something I miss a bit, my things spread around me, having complete privacy, being able to go to the supermarket and then cook a lovely meal in my own kitchen.
There was some kind of festival happening over the weekend we were there and the main sq was filled with a huge stage and live music and djs playing into the night. One evening we happened to bump into Craig again, randomly, so the 3 of us eneded up enjoying a few drinks together inthis funky little bar, shared some great food and danced in the main sq till nearly 1am.
Me and Age have this habbit of being able to bumble around places for days without actually planning anything or really seeing all of the sights, so we decided it was about time to go an explore behond the confines of the city and see what else was there. An amazing trip to a Canyon followed, (again the pictures will be posted shortly when Age wakes up and shows me how) there we were at miday on a Wednesday flying up this Huge incredible canyon, in a speed boat, spotting crocadiles, monkeys and pelicans on the way, what a wonderful life!! It was such a fantastic sight, and I had been really sick (food poisoning I think) earlier in the night but this re charged me and put the fresh air back in my sails horray!
We ended up staying in San C a bit longer, (not in the nice apartment but a cheapy, and bit smelly hostel) than expected due to us both being sick, but now that was all out of our system it was time to head on to Palenque and absorb ourselves in Mayan culture.
I had heard about a super place to stay called El Panchan nr Palenque, from a mexican guy id met in Juayua El Salvador, it was in the jungle, I wanted to find this place. After a couple of nights in town, we headed out to the jungle and found El Panchan, a fantastic, peaceful, calm place consisting of little groups of cabins, a great italian-mexican restaurant and not much else. Our cabins were run my Margarita, a lovely chatty lady who kept very spic and span cabins and rooms. Once settled, all you could hear was the buzz of the jungle insects, trickling water from the nearby river and the distant call of monkeys and gheckos, bloomin brilliant and tranquill!
So so lovely to enjoy really good home made pasta, by candle light, listening to local bands as we people watch and chat about our days exploring.
I´ll tell you more about the ruins later, but now, breakfast beckons and a stroll by the sea front, as weve moved on to a place called Campeche, a small colonial town by the sea on the mexican gulf coast in the Yucatan, its a complete mixture of very old town, 80´s beach front and pastel colours, and some slightly modern buildings thrown into the mix.

Hasta luego amigos xxxx

Back at the beach

So, after Oaxaca City, it was time to head to the beach, Puerto Escondido on the Pacific. It was a long old journey from 5pm-12 midnight, in a little shuttle, just me, Age, a nice Irish guy that we would later befriend, and 9 Mexicans, all of us packed cosily into this tiny minibus. It wasn´t that far to the beach but the route took us over mountains and along dirt tracks! Amazing scenery, untill it went dark that is, and a beautiful red sun set, but then just a bumpy rickety old ride the rest of the way. On arriving we discovered that we had the pent house, well thats what I called it anyway, in this lovely big hostel over looking the bay, this was the perfect well come. Our room was lovely and spacious, we had a balcony and our own bathroom, which is always a treat! and just outside our door was a lovely lounge area with grand piano, lots of books and another balcony just behond it, which you could see the sea and the surrounding bays from, just beautiful, that and a building site to the left (but we won´t look left!) We had landed on our feet. It´s such a gamble finding a lovely or even just nice and clean room sometimes, even when the guide book recomends it, so just before I find my destination i´m always a little aprehensive as to what will be there waiting for me, but when its a lovely suprize and exceeds expectations, its a fantastic feeling. Little things on this trip make me so happy.
On exploring Peurto, it seemed to be, just as we expected, quite a touristy spot, but with some beautiful beaches and a lot of the tourists still being Mexican, we were happy for a few a days. We went off exploring to find smaller coves to just lay in the sun, watch the novice surfers practice and of course eat plenty of freshly caaught fresh fish mmm mmmm mmm. We spotted a man bbq ing large red snapper at a little eatery right on the beach, the place was filled with mexican families all filling their faces with differnt fish and sea food cocktails, so decided this was the perfect spot to settle, re charge and sample the wonderful smelling fish. The chef showed us our large snapper, smothered half of it in Diablo sauce, a vibrant red -orange, spicy like hell! tasty devil sauce, and left the other half with just a bit of garlic on, popped it on the barbie for a few minutes and wha-la! a yumi, fresh, spicy treat for us to feast on while sipping cold beer and margaritas and watching an old mexican couple who had been there all day and were drunk as skunks on Bacardi, dance and sway to an old cheesy tune floating out of thier gheto blaster he he!
At the Mayflower, which was the name of our hostel, we met a bunch of people, ranging from a 30 something american called John who constantly ate fresh dorado fish and body surfed, without a board!! (didnt know you could do that) but he was so so tall, his body could act as a human board, he was friendly. To lots of young uns! mainly from America or Canada, just traveling for a few months. We all ventured out one night together, ate really really good tacos from a locals place a bit out of town, played a lot of fuse ball, then myself, Age, the irish guy, Craig and a middle aged, hippy lady we met that night along the way went dancing in this open air bar, which had an amazing DJ, the setting was fantastic, just off the beach, under the stars, the only problem was, we were the only people there, the rest of the gang had headed home as it was quiet out and was 3.30am, but we had to stay for at least a little dance as this place was so unique! It was a funny funny night!
The hustle and bustle and good mix of people gave the hostel a good vibe but it was also great that when we wanted, we could get away from it all and retreat back to our room in the pent house and feel a milion miles away from anyone.
I´ll post lots more pics once I figure out how to on this darn computer!!

Lots to report

Hello

Well ive been a little bit naughty and not updated you on my travels in a while. Lots to tell.
I´ll start with the Dias de Meurtos (Day of the dead) 3oth Oct-2nd Nov celebrations in Oaxaca City, the weekend Age flew in to join the adventure. It was such a fantastic weekend. The whole of the state of Oaxaca and I think Mexico (but Oaxaca being the best place) celebrates in such style and the energy is electric for this occasion. In the main plaza, the Zocalo, huge sand sculptures were being created like murals that adorned the floor and you couold feel the buzz inthe air of things to come. On the night of the 3oth, lots of processions flooded the streets, hundreds of party goers in halloween masks, fancy dress, kids of all ages, teenagers, adults and oldies all dancing in the streets to the familiar sound of regatone, this quick beat drummed out by small brass bands, 3 or 4 average looking men, no uniform or formality, just brought together by their love of music, amazing talent and they were surrounded by hundreds of followers, everyone being swept up in this warm, crazy, contagious excited buzz!
The lovely thing was, looking around, no one was exculded from this event, everyone was caught up in the energy, and there was something for everyone to enjoy. Everyone was merry, but no one was too drunk, or was self concious or too cool, everyone just got stuck in and had a good old giggle. Age saw wrestler masks on the sat afternoon, as wrestling is a really big thing here in Oaxaca, so of course, he wanted one, and bought me one too, and named me the Pink Stink! but I won´t be keeping that name!! With candy floss in one hand (yes I am a Blackpool girl!) and rum and pinapple in another we put on our masks and quickly joined a parade and danced and jigged and laughed our way all around town with the rest of the masked prosession, getting laughed at along the way, as even though wrestlling is a big thing here, im not sure that it had a place in the Halloween - day of the dead celebrations! After a lot of running around, we snook off for a bite to eat to re-charge, at some fantastic local street food stands, here we enjoyed Tlludya, it´s like a big crispy tortilla with chorizo, cabbage, beans and avocado on with picante salsa applied liberally over the top, yuuum yummm! mexicans travel far and wide to these stalls to gorge themselves on this and then head off, back on their journeys, and I can see or rather taste why.

On the evening of the 2nd, we took a trip to the Pantheon, the main cemetry, to see this side of the traditions. The 1st and 2nd are 2 days to remember the loved ones who have passed on, old and young. I had never seen anything like this, the whole of the cemetry was awash with thousands of bouquets of beautiful flowers, they covered every single grave. Families sat around the graves, sang songs, lit candles, ate toffee apples! chatted, cried, laughed, drank and toasted the memory of these family members that they had loved and that had no gone on to a new exciting place. The Mexicans believe that on these 2 days, the souls of the dead come back and visit their families, so I suppose, they party, and put on a good show for them. I felt privaliged to see this and be a part of it, even if from a distance, and quite over whelmed, as even though this isn{t my culture, it´s lovely to believe that for this day (and it being the day before my birthday) someone that I have loved and that isn´t here anymore, may be close by and in my presence, by my side, it´s comforting.

Well, after a crazy few days in the city, I took Age up to the Oaxacan hills to La Villadda for a few days of lazing by the pool and relaxing, perfect. Oh yes, and my birthday of course. What a fab way to spend it, the sun was shining, Age made me a beautiful card full of fresh wild flowers and decorated the room with them too, and had bought me my favorite Baci choccies from Italy to enjoy too. Happy happy happy.

Bye for now, but I have lots more to update you on so keep tuned as I won{t keep it so long till the next issue xxx

La Villada in the Oxacan Hills

Hers some pics of the beautiful multi coloured candles in one of the churches in the main square, it had been filled to the brim with thousands of colored lillies and the smell was amazing, it is in the Zocalo which is the main plaza of Oaxaca City and the other picture is of the cathedral and the others of my lovely retreat in the hills.