Mexico Uno

After hearing a few bad stories about Mexico City we weren´t expecting much when we arrived. Flying into the city at night was pretty spectacular, a sea of lights going for miles in each direction. The city and surrounding sprawl is just massive. Anna´s friend from University, Charlotte had kindly invited us to stay at her lovely apartment in Mexico City. It was so good to be out of a hostel for a few nights and great to catch up with someone from home. We spent the first few days looking around Mexico City which contrary to what we were told was a really cool place, as long as you stayed in the right parts of town. We took a ride on the Turibus (tourist bus), which as touristy as it is was actually a really good way to see the main sites around the central city and get your bearings. So many impressive tree filled parks, beautiful old buildings and lots of sculptures. The city has got it´s traffic and pollution problems but all in all we really liked the place.

After spending a few days in Mexico City we headed out to Oaxaca City. The old part of town is really beautiful, lots of old white stone churches, one of which has an interior decorated with the most ridiculous amount of gold. The city had a really friendly vibe, lots of people out and about in the plaza´s and markets. We visited a few of the touristy sites around town and the surrounding valleys. The most impressive was Monte Alban, an ancient hilltop Zapotec city.

Oaxaca is pretty famous for its food, which we felt obligated to sample our share of. We had lunch with the locals in a smoky bbq hall where this entertaining little kid cooked us meat, chillies and spring onions on the bbq. Once you get your meat and greens, they give you a selection of salsa´s and guacamole then wrap it all up in some Tortilla´s which these old lady's were fighting to sell us. So tasty. We also tried other local specialties like sweet buns dipped in hot chocolate for breakfast and chicken with a chocolate sauce for dinner. No need for desert after that meal. Anna did a cooking course there so hopefully we will get to eat some more Oaxacan cuisine. Browsing through the Oaxaca markets was a real eye opener and explained a lot about why so many tourists get sick over here. The butchers just cut up the meat and hang it up in the open air, no refrigeration required. Seeing all the chicken lined up incubating in the Oaxacan heat put me off eating anything resembling Poultry for the entirety of our stay in Oaxaca.

We stayed in Oaxaca for a couple of really enjoyable days then headed out to the Pacific coast. We found our way to a really beautiful beach that also had amazing waves. The town was tiny and only really got onto the map after a world tour surfing event was run there a couple of years ago. The perfect waves breaking along the sand point have turned the once sleepy little village into a very popular destination for visiting surfers. The locals seem happy as it brings in much needed money for them but hopefully it doesn´t get too crowded as it´s a beautiful spot that is already starting to suffer from the influx. We spent 4 days here surfing, relaxing at the beautiful white sand beach then relaxing some more in the hammock outside out rustic little cabin when it got too hot at the beach. It´s pretty crazy here, the water is so warm that during the hottest part of the you have to get out and seek shade otherwise you get fried and dehydrated pretty quick.

Our next stop along the coast was Puerto Escondido, which is pretty famous for it´s big, heavy and hollow waves. The day we arrived the surf was pretty big, heavy and messy. We had lunch on the beach and watched the few surfers who went out get smashed and break a couple of boards. Puerto is famous for breaking boards. The mornings were the best time to surf and I got some good waves before the wind came up an wrecked it. Also got quite a few beating but managed to leave town with my body and boards all in tact.

After Puerto we spent a couple of days at a little place called Mazunte. It´s a tiny little town with a beautiful beach which if you go there at the right time of year is a big turtle nesting ground. The rest of the year it´s home to a few locals and chilled out tourists. Not much to do here except relax on the beach and eat tasty Mexican food.

We made our way back to Mexico City where we spent a few more days looking around the city. We visited the Anthropology Museum which was the most amazing place. Absolutely huge, even by Mexican standards and full of really interesting exhibits. Mexico has a lot of history and this was a great place to learn a little about it. We were there a few hours and only manged to see about a quater of what was on offer. Definitely recommend a visit here and to the big Castle in the park about a 5 minute walk away.