Oaxaca - Dia de los Muertos

Day 365.

There had been quite the build up to day of the dead, rumblings in the hostels, posters, street art and most of all the vibrant decorations had started, and this was before we even arrived in Oaxaca...

First we had the delight of taking a 12 hour night bus to get there, unfortunately we're not in India anymore and so the luxury of a double bed is a million miles away, seats with a slight recline only - it would be a long night.

Oaxaca was like a playground for adults, in our opinion anyway! Great food on every corner, markets bustling with life and color, and never being more than 50 meters from the next Mezcalería (Tequilla bars), it being the home of Mezcal meant everybody wanted to show off their product even more.

But the real reason we were here was for Day of the Dead. With the entire cities accomodation selling out 6 weeks in advance the place was booming. Fortunately we found a local couch surfer to host us, making us one of the lucky ones!

As the days approached until the 31st of October the city got more and more decorated, giant skeletons on every building, brightly coloured altars sitting in every entrance hall - the excitement was starting. Not only that but the street artists are out in force painting and selling their DOD skulls - a particularly exciting thing to watch in my opinion, not for Ellie however, who has to be forcibly dragged over to inspect my potential purchases..

To get in the spirit of the festival, and further our understanding of the history a Coco movie night was in order. Once we had our inspiration it was out the next day to purchase face paints. It seemed the entire city was enlisting one of the hundreds of street make up artists to get there face done - our idea, do it ourselves of course... Given we only count in tacos now I'd say we saved ourselves at least 40 x pastor, 1-0 us.

To describe the markets here would be a post in itself, but the craziness is real and we couldn't keep ourselves out, each and every day we would be back there. Come the day of the 31st it was to buy Mezcal for the festival, not any Mezcal mind, ours came in a petrol tin - but for the price we couldn't complain. Petrol tin of tequilla & newly purchased bamboo shot glasses in hand we headed out. Take 1 at face paint was certianly eventful - 5 Mezcals, 1 Mexican friend, 1 interview with German TV and one angry Limbster. The latter apparently on account of me ''ruining her face'' - well I tried.

It was slightly surreal, wandering the streets with everyone from elderly women to toddlers proudly wearing their best attempts of skeleton face paint, from dancing in the streets to elaborate and sometimes rather scary parades (thousand of people deep) making it all the more magical. Nothing however could beat the best part of the tradition - visiting the local cemeteries come 9/10pm each evening.

Unlike your typical cemeteries at home these one would come alive (quite literally too in the mind of Mexicans) and made for a sight like nothing we've quite seen before. Families would gather around loved ones, decorate gravestones and light more candles than you could ever imagine. Celebrations would vary from a quiet meal with a Mezcal or two around a lost grandad to a real celebration - Mariachi band and all to sing the night away with old amigos. Even we didn't quite have the stamina, calling it a night at 2am seemed late for us - but the night was just beginning for the families who would celebrate until sunrise with their awakened loved ones.

Its worth noting on Day 3 our face painting attempt had significantly improved, turns out limbster was better off alone, leaving me instead to fudge my own face this time (Me and my high expectations apparently). Sometimes the small moments are the best and sharing a beer and painting each other on a picturesque terrace balcony, overlooking this amazing city was certainly one of them.

Although basic our couch surfers will be memorable and was a real throw back to the days of sharing a single bed in ellies teenage room, just less hot and stuffy, yes Mexico is in fact cooler than Diane and Paul's house on a winters night.

Limbster found a new fave Mexican speciality Street snack, I'll do my best to explain how it goes, open a bag of crisps sideways, fill it with hot fresh sweetcorn, a wedge of mayonnaise, 1 or 2 limes over the top and finished off with a handful of queso and chilli - so bad but so good.

Notes.

In my experience when in doubt best to offer Cien, Limbster disagrees.

If unsure you'll will like it, always buy two, particularly when buying art.Read more