D.F. El Segundo

Here's the view from our hotel room in San Agustinillo. Well I actually wouldn't call it a hotel room, more like a wooden shack. But we were on the second floor. As I think I said before it was a nice relaxing town with an almost empty beach with good waves. Only one road through town and maybe 10 restaurants. From there to Puerto Escondido then to Acapulco. On the way to Acapulco we had a blow out (pictured below) and had to sit on the side of the road and wait for the next bus to pass through. Then we had to go through a military checkpoint and get searched by guys with really big guns.



Acapulco was a little different. (see below) big everything and not really that nice in my opinion. I think we might have accidentally gone to a Wal-Mart. oops. But we had ice cream and some other good foods. Still really hot and sticky though. I guess not too much to talk about here.

So we left and got right on a bus to Mexico (city). Only 5 hours and 3 bad movies later. And we got to ride the ultra-fancy Estrella de Oro (star of gold) bus line withflod down tv screens, free drinks and a velocity detector that has a really loud alarm and flashes red lights when the driver goes over the speed limit. Now we're staying in a different part of the city in an old, old building that has crooked floors. But we have a giant room with a king sized bed. and it's the cheapest place we've stayed yet. about $15 a night for the two of us. And last night we discovered the Churro restaurant which only serves churros and hot chocolate and is open 24 hours. I think I might have to go every night.

It's starting to feel like the trip is nearing its end. Which I guess is ok since I have no more money. less than 3 weeks.! That's about all I have to say except that I really like Mexico City! I'm sure Kira's blog will fill in all the details.

Puerto Escondido!

Arrived in Puerto Escondido yesterday. This is definitely the party beach. I'm guessing the vacation spot of the whole state of Oaxaca. There's even a giant inflatable bucket of ice and Coronas perched up on the rocks. I'll try to get a picture of it. There are tons of people in the water swimming and food and stuff vendors everywhere. Even stands selling food in the surf with the water crashing under their carts. A big jump from San Agustinillo where there are about 15 people on the beach at a time and almost everything is closed after 6pm. I think only about 200 people live there.

Yes it's HOT here!!! HOT HOT HOT!!! almost too much. but then we jump in the ocean or in the pool or take a cold shower before bed. Thanksgiving was uneventful, we ate a big lunch of spaghetti, salad, french fries, huevos rancheros and tortillas. and a huge pitcher of lemonade.

Tomorrow, assuming we can get bus tickets, we're off to Acupulco then back to Mexico City. Where internet will be cheap again and I'll be able to post some photos.
Now maybe go down to the beach to ride the big banana.

San Agustinillo

At the beach now. very slow internet I type a sentence and then wait for 2 minutes as I watch the words slowly appear. Have to go now. Time to go swimming.

Hasta la vista, Oaxaca!

We just bought our tickets for the beach. Puerto Ángel, San Agustinillo or somewhere like that. Apparently it's REALLY hot there, at least that's what everyone says. At least there's water. It's kind of weird to be leaving Oaxaca since we've definitely made ourselves at home here. We have all our usual places we go and all the usual things we do. Like the market 20 de Noviembre where we eat at least 3 times a week at our favorite puesto (pictured below). But it's also very exciting since I almost forgot that we're travelling and not just living here. Although because of that I think our once light weight packs are now a good 10 pounds heavier. oh well.

Yesterday I was talking to 3 Mexican guys about the US. They told me that it's dangerous to go there because everyone will try to sell you drugs. And you can't even buy a new TV, stereo and camera at the store and walk home without being mugged and probably killed by drug addicts. I laughed and said people in the US thought the same about Mexico. It's funny the ideas people have about places they've never been to. Then they asked me if I could bring them some stuff from the US if I come back. The things requested were a video camera, laptop, digital projector and motorcycle. I said that I would be a little nervous trying to bring all those things across the border. Customs might want to ask me what I was going to do with all that brand new stuff in Mexico. I also told them that I probably wouldn't make it to the safety of Mexico before I got mugged and probably killed by drug addicts.

Schooooooool's out for ever!

Well our stay in Oaxaca is nearing its end. Just got out of my last spanish class. Now I can say my head is about as full as it can get with spanish grammar and I need some time at the beach for it all to soak in. It's exciting to learn a new word or phrase that you thought you never heard before and then after you learn it, hear it everywhere. It's like the whole unintelligible mess you hear everyday on the streets starts to finally make some sense. It's funny to think that I've been hearing some of the same things everyday but never was able to pick out certain words. But mouch of it's still unintelligible. Apparently in Mexico it's customary for police to remove the license plates off of cars that are illegaly parked and wait on the street corner for the owner to come reclaim his or her plates for a fine, or maybe a "fine". I've seen several police standing around holding license plates and one crouched down removing a plate from someones car. I've asked some locals here about it and they say it's normal practice. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera at the time so all I have is a picture of part of the market (top) and all the food we bought (left)

The view

This is pretty much what it looks like every day. Pretty boring huh? Sometimes I wish we could just get some rain!

¡¡FALSO!!

When I tried to pay for my pancito with a $50 bill the woman looked at the bill and said "Falso". She called over a couple others, they each took it and held it up to the light and also said "Falso". Then they got out one of those special pens and marked on it which apparently means falso. They looked like they felt bad for me since I'm just a poor tourist who doesn't know any better when accepting bills from people. Oh well, it will just be another addition to my collection of counterfeit currency. I only have two specimens as of yet but I hope to find more in the future. It was also a learning experience as now I'm slightly more educated in the science of detecting counterfeit currency. http://www.banamex.com.mx/eng/articulos/billetes_falsos.html

I haven't written anything in a while because it seems like there's hardly a free minute in each day to use the internet. Usually I wake up, eat breakfast, study and do homework, take the bus into town, every other day we go to the University to talk with English classes, eat lunch, go to Spanish class, take the bus home, eat some food, walk to Crisóforo's house to talk with him in English and Spanish, walk home, try to read the newspaper and go to bed.

But the weekends are a little more relaxed. Sunday we took a bus to the town of Tlacolula which is about an hour East of Oaxaca. It was market day so the streets were packed with vendors and shoppers. From there we took a taxi to the town of Santa Anna Del Valle in hopes of seeing some textiles. However, the town was pretty much deserted. All we really found was a mutant dog that must have been a mix of 30 different varieties, a drunk guy wandering the streets and two men passed out in the gutter. So it was a brief visit.

That's about it for now. Just over a week more here in Oaxaca before we head to the coast for a break from the city life.

Dia de Muertos

Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) was yesterday (and the day before too) which means that the Gringo count went through the roof! Thursday night we went to a womans house with some others from the school and she described to us all the details of her altar.Then she fed us hot chocolate, squash cooked in some way that made it black and really sweet, some kind of apple thing that was also really sweet, arroz con leche (rice with milk, but it sounds much more appetizing in spanish) and something called micuatole which looked like some kind of cheese but was made of corn and other stuff and didn´t really taste like much, except a barbeque. Then we went to the Panteon General (Main Cemetary) to visit the parents of Flor, the woman who runs the spanish school. The cemetary was full of people and music. Everyone was there to put flowers and candles on the graves of loved ones and to celebrate their lives. It was quite a facinating experience, I´ve never seen so many people in a cemetary before. I actually don´t think I´ve seen more than maybe five people in a cemetary at the same time except during funerals.



On the walk back we ran into a couple street parties full of people in costumes and bands (of course) playing music and dancing in the streets. They were going to peoples houses and it seemed like they wouldn´t leave until they got some food or drinks. Then they would go down the street to the next place. Some guy was walking around giving people shots of Mezcal, so I got my first taste of the famous drink. Kind of like Tequila but with an aftertaste of barbeque.
The music was my favorite part, and my favorite part of all the parties and parades we see in the street almost every day. There´s always a tuba, a big drum, a smaller snair drum, cymballs, trumpets and I think trombones. maybe clarinets too, my horn identification isn´t the best.
It was good for us to stay up past 9:30. Although it meant the busses stopped running. so we took a taxi and the driver didn´t rip us off! Although I had to give him directions since he was fairly new.
Here is a picture of the altar we made at our home. We went to the big market and bought flowers, peanuts, pecans, candles, bread and a plaster mariachi. We set it up on top of our refridgerator since we had no other space. There is also a glass of water and some salt. We didn´t have any pictures of our deceased family members so we drew pictures of things that they liked or things that reminded us of them. For my Grandpa Larry I drew a picture of a weird looking gadget that he would have invented with all sorts of knobs and dials and antennas coming of of it. For my Grandma Lu I drew a picture of an apple pie since I know she baked the best pies even though I don´t remember her very well. For my Grandpa Don I drew a train, a Canadian flag and a big bolt since he always used to put bolts in our necks. For my Grandma Jane I drew a big margarita since I always remember her saying she liked margaritas and a lei since she used to go to Hawaii a lot.

So hopefully all our Muertos were able to find our altar and enjoy it. I like the idea of a holiday where you celebrate and remember loved ones. Building the altar seems a lot like putting up a christmas tree where all the family is involved and it´s a big event. Maybe this should be celebrated more around the world.