Monte Albán

The ruins of Monte Albán really were amazing to see. We went on a nice day that wasn´t too sunny or we would have roasted for sure! The ruins aren´t spectacular like those of Macchu Pichu, but they are pretty worthwhile. They overlook the city of Oaxaca, way up on a hill.

Monte Albán was an early moesoamerican city, and the Zapotec cultural, policitcal and economic center for close to a thousand years (around 500BC to 500AD). Water had to be carried up daily to the preists and higher class people who lived at this ancient site.





























Mike, resting in the shade of the ruins.

Marissa, posing on the top steps of a large staircase.

Oaxaca

Yes, this is Oaxaca, and it´s hot here, as well as full of very beautiful and artsy courtyards. We have seen great street markets and I´ll soon be off to buy a large brimmed hat so I don´t colapse on the ruins of Monte Alban which we are off to see in the morning.

The food has been wonderful so far in Mexico - and in Oaxaca, people say especially so. So it is with some hesitation that I admit to dragging Mike to a pizza place our first night in the city. What can I say...I was dehydrated and needed something a little ¨calmer¨on the stomach than usual. And I was craving a good slice of pizza, which is exactly what I got...it was great. Tonight is not my pick however :)

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So we have been in Oaxaca for some days now. It has been nice and we are taking our time a lot more than in Mexico City. Today is a special saints day so they are giving out free jamaica in front of the churches and in the zocalo--but I want to give you some updates first.

Yesterday we went to a huge market, Marcado Abastos and bought our hammocks for the jungle in Guatemala. You need hammocks to sleep so the bugs wont crawl on you as much. Anyway, these hammocks are beautiful and made with such detail. The market was a maze full of food and fruits, vegetables, shirts, dresses, textiles, baskets, batteries, shoes, anything you wanted. They even had cages of rabbits (with space, water and food) small song birds, puppies (sold for pets), roosters with little leashes on their feet so they wouldn´t fly away, huge turkeys laying down with their feet tied, all sorts of animals hanging around. They had the meat market section with raw meat hanging everywhere on large hooks, and the seafood section (rows and rows of booths) selling fresh shrimp, fish, dried fish, all sorts of seafood of which I can´t recall because I couldn´t really stand walking through that section the smell of fish was soo strong.



Then we caught a bus to Tule, where the worlds largest tree by volume is said to live. It is in front of a very cute and whimsical looking church and you have to pay $3 pesos to go inside the gates. I don´t know about this ¨by volume¨business. Outside of Puebla we went to Cholula to see the worlds largest pyramid ¨by volume¨and it was really ugly and so covered with weeds you couldn´t even see the pyramid. The Tule tree was nice though.




After the Tule tree, located in the small town of Tule. We went to eat in another small market and shared a leyuda. This picture is only half of one. It is large tortilla the size of a mdium pizza, with beans, cheese, avocado, tomato, salsa and carne asada (if you want it). It´s a really great item.

Mike also ordered a nieve which is simmilar to a snow cone. He ordered a leche quemado or burnt milk flavor. Man, it tasted just like burn milk on ice! Mike loved it - I thought it just tasted burnt.





Ohh, and the other night we went out to a very nice resteraunt that specializes in more alternative Oaxacan food (Mike´s choice-dont look at me). It was great though, we had a nopales salad, and then I had white fish on a bed of salsa de piña (pineapple) which was all on top of nopales (cactus leaves). -- Really nice.

Mike ordered a pollo gordito, which was a piece of chicken, stuffed with flor de calabaza, cheese, and jalapenos, covered in a green chili sauce. Awesome.







This is the courtyard of the hostel we are at, Luz de Luna. It has chairs all around to sit in. Hammocks to relax in and a zoo of animals to make you feel at home. There are, I think around 6 dogs, and two sister cats. They roam around the hostel and get fed well.


The one dog up here, Pancho, is old old and sometimes snaps when you feed him (because he can´t see well) and gets stuck on the roof. He also barks a lot when anyone new comes by. Blue is friendliest and best trained. He´s a black lab.



This is the Iglesia Santo Domingo. It is the main church near the zocalo in Oaxaca. I am headed here now to get some jamaica and meet Mike and a friend of his from Oaxaca,Olivia for lunch.


Tomorrow morning at 9 am we have arranged a van ride to Puerto Escondido (6 hrs) and then its just a quick drive from there to Mazunta. Yes, we changed our plans and we´re heading to the beach! Good idea :)
Hope everyone at home is well!

Puebla, Mexico

We made the 2 hour trip to Puebla the same night after we had visited Xochimilco.

Puebla is a large, colonial city that is affluent and full of culture. It has a beautiful fountain in front of large church in the heart of the zocalo.

Mike and I began our visit by trekking to the zocalo from our hostel for amazing tortas. We ended a nice evening being serenaded by Mexican ballads while eating churros and drinking hot chocolates.

More on this later!

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Ok, this is later, we´re now in Oaxaca-but let me tell you more about Puebla!


While there we had the chance to eat excellent cemitas, which is a larger, blown up and exploded with cheese version of a torta. It´s needless to say....excellent. The drink is mixture of milk and bananas which is pretty good. The juices here are my favorite however!





Also buenisimo was the Sopa Azteca, which comes with Avocado, torillas strips, cheese and chilies. MMMmmmm. Quite good, so far I am sticking to the vegetarian options. Check out Mike´s blog for the food with meat!



Ohh, and the best Quesadilla ever was made with Flor de Calabasas, chili, onions, mushrooms, cheese, cheese and more cheese. Wow - street food...I think it cost 14 pesos or about a dollar. So very very good.


On Sunday we went to the Casa de Cultura for a Ballet Folklorico production which was gratis (free) for the people. it was just beautiful and displayed music, costumes and dances from all the different regions of Mexico. It was really colorful and much of the community came out to sit and watch the show.


Marissa in front of the fountain in the zocalo. Balloons for sale in the background.

In Puebla we did a bit of resting and upodating blogs just for YOU! I admit, I think it´s fun to make and see the blogs. We left Puebla in the afternoon and took a 5 hour bus to Oaxaca city. And here we remain....for a couple days at least.

mexico d.f.

Mexican flag waving in the zocalo in d.f.

Mike and Marissa in a garden at Xochimilco

We have begun the adventure!! Mike and I made it Mexico City on February 20th and spent three, jam packed days trying to take in as much as we could of the life of the city. It was a wonderful time filled with museums, street venders, traditional dances, more museums, walking, metros, wonderful food and fresh juices, more walking, more museums, nice people and gallons of jamaica to keep us going in the heat of the day!

Adriana and Frank, our generous friends who Mike found on couchsurfing.com opened up their apartment to us and showed us newbies around. Frank is from France and Adriana from Chiapas, Mexico. This is from when they took us to lunch our first afternoon in Mexico.


Noteworthy places we visited:



The Palacio de Bellas Artes which houses wonderful murals and cultural artifacts.





Especially amazing was the Palacio National which houses Diegos Rivera´s murals and frescos as they gape down at you from every wall surrounding the open air courtyard. They are stunning visual histories and social commentaries on Mexico´s indigenous past, colonial conquest and complex political structure.

That same, exhausted night after the palacio National we were able to change tempos a bit and go to a Lucha Libre, or mexican wrestling match. Needless to say there was a lot of flying through the air and playing to the crowd. It was interesting, loud and full of families. The bouts inspired cheering, name calling and five year olds puttting any family member they could get their grubby little fingers on into headlocks.

One musuem that cannot be missed is the Museo Anthropologio or the Museum of Anthropology which houses an amazing collection of mesoamerican artifacts that I could not have imaged prior to seeing them. It is worth any amount of walking, metros during rush hour while you breath through some strangers armpit, or heatstroke that might result from the journey. It truly is.
Never fear, a leter of jamaica will pick you up.

Also in the zocalo was a beautiful church that was simply massive with a main center for masses and two huge wings that were the same size as the main hall. The churches inside are embellished with gold and have intricate statues and soaring vaulted ceiling.

Coyouacan

After the museo we jumped on the metro and then the light train to Coyouacan (about 45 min away). Public transportation is very efficient here, except for one hitch we found on the way back when the winds had blown a tree over the train tracks and we had to get off and take a micro (small shuttle bus-packed with people in every nook and cranny) back to the metro station.

Coyouacan is a very posh, affluent suburb of Mexico d.f. with expensive shops and resteraunts, ice cream parlors, street vendors and old men playing chess games in the town square. It sort of reminded me of Carmel or something ( not near the ocean of course) but full of specialty shops and book stores. It is also where the home of Frida Khaula resides.


Xochimilco

The next day we went to Xochimilco, which is where the canals of old Mexico still thrive with people living on little parcels of land surrounded by water. Foot bridges connect them to eachother and launchas or small boats take tourists and families come to picnic and party around the canals. It is an extensive and intricate maze which is full of music, dancing, eating, and life. On the banks the people grow flowers and plants to sell to visitors on the boats. The launchas will let you off at any garden or the main craft market to buy or look around. Smaller boats filled with men and women cooking and selling tacos, corn, candy apples, toys, roses, fruit, refreshments, and anything a person might want maneuver in and out of the larger boats in search of customers. Small boats with mariachis and other musicians will tie to your launcha and play for your boat as your boat man pushes along...what a beautiful place it really is.

Next...on to Puebla!