We started our day with some very sad news, an Uncle of Deb’s had passed away overnight. We feel for all Cliff’s family and friends, Especially Brian, Mirela and Nick. Our love is with them all.
After breakfast we went up to the large church at the city square near our hotel. It was open and lots of people were going in for the 9am Sunday service. I found it very reflective with the organ music playing, but Deb couldn’t find the peace she was looking for there, so we left.
When we got back to our hotel we were told our driver was there, we weren’t expecting to be picked up until 10am. So we finished packing (it was almost all done anyway) and had left the hotel by 9:20am for Oaxaca (pronounce Wa-harka) about 290km away (3hrs+ drive).
It’s a little bit clearer today, we can see that there are mountains either side of us, that we couldn’t see yesterday, even though they are probably less than 15km away!! This area has a lot of market farms on the plains and the mountains are mined for their limestone, most of which is used to produce lime, hence the smog!
Our drive was through the middle of the Rocky Mountains (the same ones as in Canada), they are magnificent, and we got to an elevation of about 2200m. Needless to say, there wasn’t a whole lot growing out there in the countryside other than “forests” of pencil like cactus, they looked pretty surreal. We crossed into Oaxaca State around 11am.
On the way we saw a burnt out bus, it was burning when our driver went passed in the morning, and a car/bus crash. The bus won, the car was about half its original size. Again that happened this morning and our driver passed it just after it happened.
We passed the city outer limits around 12:40 and were in the hotel a bit after 1pm. As we came in there were hundreds of cars lining the street, apparently on Sundays they have a used car market there, complete with the traffic police to check rego etc of the cars for you.
At check-in as we were going through the formalities, we were offered a Double shot glass of Mezcal each. I gladly accepted and was given a tray with orange and chilli salt on it to go with the shot. The girl at the front desk was horrified by the amount of Chilli salt I put on the orange, “when in Mexico”, LOL
We had lunch at the hotel and went out for a tour of the city in the afternoon.
We left the hotel with our local guide, Gabriel,(our driver tomorrow will be the same as today -Manuel), at 3pm for a walking tour of the city. It’s a great old town, with a very large well preserved “Old” area, which has been listed by UNESCO (which town in Mexico hasn’t been listed by UNESCO I hear you ask!!). Our walk started with a visit to an 1570’s Nunnery that had been restored, and now was an elegant hotel. All the main features had been retained and many of the original frescos could still be seen on the walls. Even the old washery, where the nuns did their washing was in place, and look all so much grander I am sure than the days when they washed there.
We then moved onto the local Museum, again in an old 1570’s complex that housed both nuns and monks (in different sections of course). There we saw a great range of the history of the building itself, the re-established botanic gardens out the back (with many endemic Mexican Plants), and many archeological pieces from ruins around the area. So fascinating, the lip piercing, ear lobe rings and jewellery wouldn’t be out of place in todays fashions. We saw many fine artefacts from the ruins we are visiting tomorrow, just to spike our interest. We then moved next door to the attached Church. The church faces East/West typical of the Dominican Order. It was an over the top Baroque style church, with the style extending from the alter to the front door. This church had also been restored, after being used as stables for a time!
At one time in Mexico’s history, a President, who just happened to come from Oaxaca, broke the tie of the church and government and nationalised a vast amount of church property and turned a lot of it over to the armed forces. They didn’t take care of the historical buildings and it seems often delighted in changing the use of some building in a perverted way (churches to stables and prisons).
From there we walked down the centre of the old town being shown many of the distinctive and historic buildings. The town has used a green tinted rock in many of its prominent buildings, and it became known as the jade city in days gone by.
We arrived at a Chocolate shop!! Deb’s eyes lit up. 🙂 We were shown how chocolate starts as beans and goes through drying, roasting pressing, mixing with various ingredients to get the chocolate so many love today. Its history was interesting, the samples delicious! We left the shop with just enough (I doubt it will last the day out) and went to the old town markets.
The old markets are as old as the town, and sell a colourful array of goods from food to clothing and trinkets. While we made our way through we got to sample a couple of local favourites. First up was Chapulines, (Grasshoppers toasted with garlic, lime juice and salt) an acquired taste, but not unpleasant, and at 10pesos a protein fix bargain. 
Next we got a local drink that predated the Spanish arrival. Crushed cocoa bean mixed with water and a sort of sugary syrup and cocoa butter, I liked it but it wasn’t Deb’s favourite.
Did I mention the rain? Just as we walked out of the first church the skies looked dark and you could feel rain on its way, but the stall holders were still trading, so I guessed the rain was a little way off. As we were walking down to the markets a few drops quickly developed into a down pour, that continued for the whole time we were undercover in the market. As we were leaving the market we saw a lady slip on the wet floor and crack her head on the floor. She was shaken, dirty but seemed ok. We got a taxi back to our hotel and decided to eat in tonight. More “mole”, (that’s pronounce “Mole eh”) this time with piglet, yum. 🙂
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Deb, I am so sorry to hear about your uncle’s death. That had to be hard. Otherwise, it sounds like you are enjoying your travels. We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.