Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Oaxaca City

I got into Oaxaca via overnight bus at 6am, and even though I slept the whole ride, I was exhausted, so I took a cab straight to a Lonely Planet hotel and slept for 2 more hours. When I woke up, I was sick with a cold, which sucks. Oh well, it happens, and plus it's not like a cold is going to stop me from doing anything I want to do. Tyler Rapp's itinerary does not accomodate sickness or injury. I walked to the bus station, which was in a really dusty, industrial, ugly part of town. I caught a shared taxi to the town of San Pablo Etla for their Wednesday market day. The cab driver kept driving around and asking people about this so-called market, and no one had any idea of any such thing; somehow Lonely Planet knew of one that no locals did? So I just took the cab back to town, and decided to spend the day exploring the city, which was supposed to be very cultural and therefore touristy and indigenous, but I didn't really agree. I ate at a sizeable indoor market, a caldo beef stew and the Macho Oaxaca Plate, which was a slab of beef, cheese, 2 enchiladas, and 2 tamales, all covered in Oaxaca's famous mole sauce. Mole is supposed to be really good; I just find it's too sweet and tastes like chocolate, it reminds me of Persian fesenjoon (I realize that probably won't help anyone reading this relate it). It was cloudy and drab outside, just like my health. The center was colonial and honestly I'm kind of over these colonial towns by now; I've seen like one every day for the past week and I like watching people, not 17th century European buildings. There was of course a central plaza, with music, couples making out, guys selling balloons and toys, and Indian women selling souvenirs. I had to buy some chapulines (grasshoppers), which actually weren't that bad. I was so tired so I took a nap at the hotel and then went back out, hoping the town would get more interesting the second time around... nope. I just had a chile de nogada (special for the 200th Anniversary of Mexico) for dinner and came back and did what I love doing best when traveling; planning a flexible itinerary of all the stuff I want to do. I decided to forego the beaches of Oaxaca (Puerto Escondidto, Puerto Angel/Zipolite, Huatulco) because you can't even swim there because of the undertoe, I've already been to the Mexican Pacific at Puerto Vallarta, from what I've seen the Caribbean waters looks prettier, and I'm already spending like a week in the Yucatan beaches.