Oaxaca and stuff

Last night I found myself in a random cantina in Oaxaca City. It was one of those settings that I crave. Dive bar, raucous, quality live music, fun locals, cheap beer and I was the only tourist. It is making me wonder about my status as a traveler. Traveling alone is great, but can be lonely. Traveling with people removes that loneliless, yet can make things far more complicated if everyone is not on the same wavelength. Plus, one is much less likely to wander into such a dive due to the yearning for human contact.

For the past few days I have been with these Isreali travelers that I spoke of already. Shloamee (turns out it is spelled Shlomo) is awesome. Total go with the whatever is going on kind of guy. Because of his kosher diet, he has been eating very poorly, but doesn't let it get him down. Maya...her vegetarian, pure life, all natural BS, on the other hand...well, let's just say that I hate being the responsible for communicating to the cook in the tiny little eatery in Spanish that she doesn't want any cheese or that if the vegetables are cooked on the same grill as the meat, then we don't want them cooked, etc. I mean, come on, I am a carnivore, but if there are some surprise onions in my tacos I'm not going to send it back or pout about it. I have eaten way more onions, peppers and whatever than I normally would, but that's part of the experience, right? I hate this to be negative, but I need to vent somewhere. And one more thing Maya, if we agree to be out of the hotel at nine, and you're not ready until after eleven, don't insist on taking a taxi when we are three metro stops away from the bus station because you have two suitcases of epic proportions. And DON'T complain to the person that called the taxi that it is too small.

So yeah, in the last few days, there has not been too much adventure, but I did see a new world wonder. The pyramids at the ancient Aztec city of Teotihuacan. The pyramid of the sun is the third biggest in the world after one in Egypt and one in Cholula (yep, apparently they make more than just hot sauce), just southeast of Mexico City.

I also tried to see a lucha libre fight, but to my disappointment, I went to the wrong stadium. No worries, because I was told that it does not start for another 3 hours. After heading to the other place, I found that I had been at the wrong place, but at the right time. Well, I guess this gives me reason to go back there some day, which is a good sign. Say, if anybody wants to keep an eye on tickets to Mexico City for the weekend over the next year, they get really cheap from Seattle. I saw as low as $260 once.

All in all, Mexico City was a really amazing place, but I wish I would have gotten out of there a day earlier. It was not nearly as polluted as it is famed to be. It doesn't hold a candle to the haze of Kolkata. And the warnings of crime there, well, it seemed about as safe as most US cities I've been to. But then again I never made an effort to get too far away from the downtown area, which is quite posh. Mexico (well Mexico City at least) is the most affectionate place I've ever been. At some point during every metro ride, you are bound to see several googly-eyed couples shamelessly sucking face...any wonder why it is one of the most populated places in the world?...but using that logic, India would have like 12 people instead of a billion.

I was in an irritable state the morning we left Mexico City. That is, until we finally boarded our bus to Oaxaca. It felt right to be on the road...and the girl sitting next to Maya puking all over the place was just icing on the cake. After a beautiful six hour drive through mountains and saguaro forests that put Tucson to shame (sorry Jen, but these were rocking) we arrived in the quaint, medium-sized city of Oaxaca.

Oaxaca's cool, but pretty touristy. It has a great vibe to it though. Mad hippie travelers in my hostel (Banana Magic Hostel) but they seem pretty cool. And all five from San Francisco showered this morning. I didn't even do that!

Oaxaca is known for its food, and it has not disappointed yet. A mole tamal upon arrival was a good sign. Today I explored a market stuffed with food stalls dishing up sizzling carne asada, enchiladas and huge tlayudas (a Oaxacan specialty consisting of huge fried tortillas covered with beans, cheese, salsa, vegetables and some sort of meat. There was huge aisle of stalls with stacks of beef and sausage. It was family style eating. First, someone would come up to you with a basket of peppers and onions and you would buy what you wanted. Then take them to the meat stall of your choice and pick your meat, give them the vegetables and they would cook it up for you. Looked great, but it seemed pricey if you were just one person (another disadvantage of the solo traveling.)

It is interesting to see the population change when moving about a place. Oaxaca has a very prominent indigenous population, and the handicrafts to prove it. The people are great, but jeez, for last time I don't want a blanket or a letter opener, just let me eat my grapefruit.

The city is really alive right now as Three Kings Day draws closer. In Mexico, the gift-giving part of Christmas does not happen until the sixth of January, when the three wise men arrived to give Jesus his gold frankincense and myrrh (does anyone else think that these gifts for a child must have been like the argyle socks of biblical times?) Anyways, lots of streetmarketing, selling things...oh! I bought some Oaxacan cheese today! It's like a really strong mozzarella that looks like a ball of inch wide yarn and peels like string cheese. It's no yak cheese, but its pretty bomb. I probably smell really bad from eating it all day.

So today I was sitting outside of some jewelry store, waiting for Shlomo and Maya, and some filthy (I am not being insensitive, this guy was really dirty) homeless guy came and sat down next to me. Then I noticed something start to drizzle down the sidewalk toward me. My eye followed the stream right up to the guys pants. Yep, he just really had to go I guess. I'm pretty comfortable with public urination and all, but jeez, do you have to leave your pants on and put your sidewalk companero in grave danger of the yellow river? I felt that this man was an insensitive drunk, so I didn't stay long to chat.

Oh, and by the way, Shlomo has a very similar phrase to Borat's wow wow woo wah! Makes me laugh every time.

So I left the bar last night after realizing that women out of my age range on both sides were getting a little too friendly with me. They all seemed nice, but after the (supposedly) 18 year old girl asked me if I came to Mexico for the women (I think that is what she said, my Spanish is still shaky) I decided that it was just that time to retreat to my dorm bed. Too bad, I heard the band does a great cover of Chop Suey.

I need to move, beaches are calling me. Crazy Crazy.