Oaxaca #1

All I have heard from Mexicans is that Oaxaca is the best place to visit. It is the centre of Day of the Dead celebrations and even though I didn’t stay for the actual festival the town was abuzz with flowers, skeletons and people and dogs dressed up in costumes, bands, processions etc.

We had a bit of a treacherous journey leaving our accommodation at 8 am, our flight to Mexico City was delayed by a few hours meaning we missed our bus to Oaxaca and had to catch one much later which arrived at 1am. The girls were ecstatic about the premier bus which had reclining seats, personal screens with a variety of films and music concerts amongst others. My enthusiasm was fast waning as the hours ticked by! Luckily we could get into our little apartment with a lockbox key. I spent a sleepless night on the sofa bed and woke with terrible back ache but Kyla offered to swop and didn’t complain once.

We visited the Botanical Gardens in the morning and since they didn’t offer an English tour we joined the Spanish one. Kyla translated for us and I think we got most of the important info. We also bumped into the only two South Africans we met on the trip.

When with seasoned back packers every new destination starts with a 3 hour walking tour. Very interesting and I was keeping up until I needed to go to the loo! Our guide did not see any urgency in this request and I finally announced that I was going home to pee, at which point she of course found a bathroom with relative ease. I have felt my age on this trip - nothing seems quite as easy as it used to be! But Kyla and Jem were very considerate in looking after me and fulfilling my strange requests like a glass of wine at a reasonable price at inopportune times.

After the tour I needed a recharge so Jem and I headed to a bar for Mescal (me) and beer (Jem). They serve them together so most cost efficient. Then on to a restaurant as I wanted to expand my ceviche experience. Worst meal ever - ceviche with ash! Thought I would embrace the culture but it was like fish mixed with last night’s Braai coals. In the meantime Kyla had gone to a free music concert in the main square. All going well until she looked for her purse on the way to find us. Someone had sliced through her cloth bag with a knife and gently removed it. She had her passport and was holding her phone so it all could have been worse.

The next day Kyla and I took Jem to a special lunch to celebrate her 30th birthday as she had been in Peru on 18 July. We went to a very well rated rooftop restaurant Casa Oaxaca and had a really special meal. The spend of the trip and well worth it. Every meal starts with salsa and crisp tortillas put on the table but in this restaurant the waiter made the salsa in front of us adding the obligatory grass hoppers to his mix. We enjoyed a bottle of bubbles and our starters were aqua chile stuffed with ceviche (once again the waiter performed some surgery at the table, removing the seeds and very deftly, cutting the chille up and mixing it all together. Second starter was squash blossoms filled with ricotta, sweet potato and plantain. Both were memorable.

Birthday girl had beef cheeks, Kyla had duck and I had suckling pig for mains.

After all of this I collapsed on my bed to read, Kyla headed off to the Police Station to report the crime and Jemma walked up a thousand stairs to get to a view point to see the sunset. All as it should be at the end of a special day.Read more