I got to my house from the Mexico City airport around 3:30 pm on Friday the 2nd and left at 4:30 back for Mexico City, to the bus station, to visit my friend Brandon in Acapulco… I got there around 12:30 and went directly to a restaurant where Brandon was with a few friends… we were out until pretty late (or really early, depending).
The next day we spent by the beach, checking out bus tickets for our next destination, Puerto Escondido, another beach getaway in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, about 7 hours south of Acapulco. We boarded that bus at 3:30 the next morning, arriving in Puerto Escondido around 11. We figured out that arriving to our ideal destination to visit our friend Peter, San Cristóbal de las Casas in the southernmost state of Chiapas would be impossible, unfortunately, so we decided to head back up into central Mexico to Oaxaca City… another 8 or so hours, leaving at 11 that night. Confusing, I know. Us too. That was not our favorite bus ride; unfortunately the bus driver felt the need to drive as if he were driving in a video game… but oh well. We got to Oaxaca City safe and sound, if a bit sleep-deprived, and found ourselves a hostel in which we spent a few good hours napping.
When we woke up, we found ourselves joined in the hostel dorm room by 2 Germans and 1 Mexican, traveling together… Lizzy, Alonso and Anselm. They were super nice, and invited us to tour the city with them and go to Monte Albán the next day—we obviously took them up on it. :P They knew the city pretty well, and we had a blast hanging out with them. English was the lingua franca, which made it fun to listen to their idioms and communication styles…
Monte Albán was cool; it was a Zapotec/Mixtec site that also maintained strong ties with Teotihuacán... we didn't have a guide, but it was fun climbing the little pyramids and looking out over the whole site; the ball court was cool too...
Our favorite finds in Oaxaca City, apart from the gorgeous churches and beautiful handicrafts, were a gelato stand and a health food café called Guaraná. They had some incredible fruit juices and snacks…
Brandon and I both had to get back for some pre-school starting meetings, etc., so we said goodbye to Oaxaca and our new friends on Tuesday afternoon, and we headed back to Mexico City… we ended up staying with a fellow Fulbrighter that night, and heading back to our homes on Wednesday morning…
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