So now, about a week later, we're in Puerto Escondido. We spent a handful of days at San Augustinillo and now we´ve found a nice little place here at the south end of Zicatela beach. However, I am posting this from a crappy internet cafe computer, so I won´t make any promises at this point about the length and/or quality of the post. This keyboard is terribly annyoing to type on, but I´ll do my best.
Back in Oaxaca, Liz and I took a quick daytrip up into the mountains to visit a park. I believe it´s actually in a separate town called San Felipe, but don´t quote me on that.
It was colorful, but cloudy, up there.
The clouds were bad news because I heard there were some decent basketball courts up there.
Still, I played through the rain and dominated. Still got it.
Actually the hoops were terrible and I was the only one there. The rims were about 7 feet tall and lacking nets, of course. I´m standing flat footed in that picture.
It did end up raining quite a bit, so it wasn´t long before we were on our way back down the hill to our apartment. This is our deceptively shitty-looking front door.
Another day trip, this time up to Hierve el Agua. That means "boiling water," roughly, but the water that naturally "boils" out of the ground here isn´t warm at all.
It forms several air-temperature pools near the edge of a cliff with spectacular views.
The minerals in the water create this kind of melted wax look as it cascades over the edge.
We actually planned on spending the night in a cabana up here, but were told that they were all full. Then, about thirty seconds before we were going to leave, after we had already boarded the truck, we were told differently. It was too late... we refuse to commit to a room unless we´ve seen it, and if we left the truck at that point we would have lost our ride. So we went back home.
A few more pics.
I think this is actually a blue agave cactus. I posted a pic of one before that I now believe was a different variety. This is (probably) the real deal.
No idea what variety this one is, unless "big ass" is a variety of cactus.
Yet another day trip, to the rug-weaving village of Teotitlan. Here the proprietors of a mom and pop outfit show us how the red dye for their rugs is actually made out of a type of fungus that grows on cactii.
Ok, here´s the story behind this shot. This guy is basically a mascot for the pharmacy a few doors down from our apartment. He gets paid to dance out on the street corner all day long. To promote the pharmacy. Obviously. Walgreens, are you paying attention?
Probably the fanciest restaurant in Oaxaca, Los Danzantes.
We went overbudget to check this place out one night. Great atmosphere, highly professional service, but the food was just OK. I mean, I had a steak for $17 that was about half the size and almost, but not quite as good as the ones we got for $9 in Argentina. Meanwhile, Liz had a lasagna that was advertised to come with spinach, but instead came with peas. She became violently ill the next day. Make of that what you will.
Happier times, before the peas arrived.
Our friend Jenny finally showed up and jumped straightaway into Mexican culture.
Another day trip up to hike in the San Felipe area. Foiled by rain, unfortunately. Everyone we spoke to advised us against taking the actual trail once we got there. So we just walked around a bit, took a few pictures, and headed back to town.
Few shots around town.
Liz and Jenny ran into some kind of bizarre parade with giant statues one evening.
Mayan ruins up at Monte Alban.
They had a monument to some guy who was important to the excavation of the park, or something. The important thing here is that he looked exactly like Kim Jong Il.
Mutant love.
All right, I can´t stand being in this internet cafe another minute, so that´s all for this update. I may post one more time in Mexico City. And then, when we get back home, I´ll add one last batch of photos, a video and some final thoughts. Until then!
