I arrived into Oaxaca in unusual style, on the cheapest bus available from D.F. on a Saturday night (according to the woman at the ticket office at least), at the not-so-stylish hour of 6am. That bus just so happened to be 1st class (hence ‘unusual’ being the operative word) and I don’t think I could have wished for more space or tighter luggage security. I could have wished for a longer trip than 6 hours but fear I may live to regret that considering the bus rides ahead of me. After a few hours of reading in the comforts of the bus station (turns out it’s still dark in Oaxaca at 6am. And at 7am), I headed off to the hostel, carrying close to half my bodyweight in luggage. I better come back from this trip in the best shape of my life, otherwise I’ll be seriously unimpressed. I arrived at the hostel early enough to tag along on a trip to the Sunday market with two of the girls in my dorm which was a brilliant experience! It was very much a market for locals, with all kinds of random merchandise on offer (need socks? sponges? knives? a live turkey? a pet rabbit? Here’s where you can get it all at the same time!) The images above don’t really sum it up that well, especially considering the absence of a live turkey, but it was the best I could do. It also cemented my coping strategy for Mexico so far; align oneself with Spanish speakers. That way, you know for sure that you are on the right bus and what you are eating. #winning. As an added bonus, they happened to be lovely people too.

The immediate downside to Oaxaca, which the guidebook does not tell you about but which I was to find out my first night there, is the mosquitoes. They are freakin’ vicious! It didn’t take long before I could no longer see my legs for bites (they don’t give a shit about deet, apparently). And then I woke up the first morning only able to open my right eye half way. Oh yes, apparently in Oaxaca, the mosquitoes are not above biting you ON THE EYE. So for 3 days, I had very limited depth perception. Thankfully, it turns out I always close my right eye when I take photos so I’m hoping my pictures will shed some further light on what Oaxaca normally looks like – full depth of field and all. But please also note that, as a result, there is very limited photographic evidence that I was ever there. Because, damn, it did not look good.

But nonetheless, Oaxaca City is beautiful – colonial architecture, markets, churches, rich in colour, rich in traditions, rich in food. And in mezcal. Not that I drank any of that. At all.

The part of me that expected to be eating my way through kilos and kilos of guacamole during my time in Mexico has been very disappointed these last few weeks because I’ve barely had any. But I have eaten enough different types of tortilla to have lost track completely of how each type is actually different from the others. The first week here, I had a lovely page of notes of what each type was but now I have about 4 different types listed as ‘huge tortilla, sometimes toasted’ so really, I just shouldn’t bother writing things down. Food is important in Oaxaca though, no doubt about it. Los siete moles de Oaxaca are some kind of holy grail for food-enthusiasts and we did our best to sample as much from the local cuisine as possible. And it has been beyond good! I will, however, not recommend the chapulines. The fact that the women at the market will give them away for free to curious (read; crazy) tourists says something about how likely said tourists are to purchase this product. There are photographs of us trying these but not on my camera so I’ll just let people google what they are if they fancy. Maybe wait till you’ve fully digested your breakfast/lunch/dinner though, if you’re a little squeamish.

Day trips out of town from Oaxaca are easy and, aside from the Sunday market in Tlacolula the day I arrived, we visited Monte Albán (yay! Ruins! I love ruins. Even when they come with no explanation of what their actual purpose was), Mitla (more ruins! This time with bas-reliefs with explanations. Although please don’t test me on what they meant) and Hierve el Agua (literally nature’s infinity pool on the hillside an hour outside town). Who needs a luxury resort when 45 pesos will gain you access to this:

Aside from the mosquitoes, Oaxaca was good to me but all good things must come to an end, as they say. And after 5 days, so they did. But all the people I’ve met who have come from Chiapas say it’s beautiful, that 4 days are not enough, and that I should expect to want to stay at least a month. My plans don’t really allow for that and not even 2 weeks in, it seems a little early to go that far off the timescale for things. The same people have also pointed out that it’s colder (and as we all know, despite my viking heritage, I don’t like the cold) and that it rains all afternoon (and I most definitely don’t like rain). So I’m holding out to make up my own mind!

Today I’m listening to: Daughter – ‘Youth’