Full Update on Mexico Thus Far

Alright, I finally got some time to do give a full update on what has been going on. My tour group is made uo of 14 people plus one tour leader. There are 2 Aussies, 5 Germans, 3 Irish, 3 Brits, and me the lone American. The tour leader, Sarah is from Canada. As I said before, we met up in Mexico City at our somewhat shady hotel (I will tell you more about the hotels later) and headed out to Teoteucan to visit the sun and moon pyramids. The sun pyramid is the second tallest in the world. The climb to the top was quite challenging, but I somehow made it. I felt every cigarette I ever smoked along the way though. The view from the top was amazing. Next stop was to the Basilica de Guadelupe. Home to the cloak that the picture of the Virgin Mary suddenly appeared. This was significant because it solidified Christianity in Mexico. The basilica was teaming with people no one over 5'5 so I had a birds eye view of everything. The worst part was the viewing area for the cloak. I almost was trampled but hundreds of Mexicans as I rode on a moving walkway.
My time in Mexico City was very short and I really didn't scratch the surface of the massive city. But we had alot of country to see in very little time so the next morning we boarded a bus to Puebla. Puebla is a beautiful city the architecture was incredible a much greater Spanish influence. It reminded me a little of the French Quarter. Our hotel was a block or so away from the Zocolo (Main Square) there happened to be a a music festival going on. I saw several interested band that ranged from new age jazz to mariachi to heavy metal. It was a great time. We only had a day and a half in Puebla next stop was Oaxca. Oaxca is known for its chocolates and moles, fried crickets and Mezcal. The first night I went off on my own and tried some of the local street food and stopped off at the famous La Casa de Mezcal. If you have never tried mezcal, don't it is evil fire water. The next day was a full tour of the two most significant archaeological site in Oaxca with a few stops in between. Our first stop was Monte Alban. The site was home to 30,000 inhabitants at it height. The ruins are absolutely incredible. They sit on top ov a large hill that boasts 360 degree views of the Oaxca valley. It was unbelievable. Our next was a meeting with a rug making family in Teotitlan. The family used traditional method to create beautiful wool rugs. Then we were off to Mitlan to see the ruins there. They were built about 400 years after Monte Alban so the attention to detail was much greater and the ruins were covered in intricate geometric stone decorations. Our last stop on the tour was to a mezcal factory where we were given tastes of several different types of mezcal... I was still not a fan.
Our third day in Oaxaca was on our own. I visited the market and walked around town for a few hours in the morning. At around noon I went to the Oaxaca Anthropological Museum which is house next to the main Cathedral in an amazing former Monastery. The museum was ok but I was pretty sick of seeing old stuff at that point. I met up with a couple of people in the group and we went to my favorite restaurant thus far. It is called La Bizanga. It sit in the middle of a courtyard. Tough to describe, but it was the perfect place to be at that time. The food was excellent I had a chicken breast that was pounded flat, stuffed with cheese, poblanos, and squash blossoms. I was all covered in a creamy avocado poblano mole. The sauce was so good that I considered licking the plate. To top it all off I had one of the best margaritas I have ever had.
The plan for the group was to take a 9 oclock over night bus to San Cristobal. We finished lunch and toured around a little while longer. Then decided to return to Casa de Mezcal to loosen up for the long bus ride. Two hour in to our extravaganza we were singing song with the locals taking pictures together and having a great time. But we had to catch our bus so we had to bid adou to our new friends and meet up with the rest of the group for a thirteen hour bus ride. I took several benadril and slept pretty much the whole way. I'll get into San Cristobal next time.

The entire time that I have been in Mexico I have been saddened to the fact that so few people from the US actually come down here to experience all of the culture. We only think of the fact that people are swimming across our border to come to America that there is nothing that Mexico can offer aside from the beach towns. Everyone should see this place it is beautiful, the people are amazing and the food is fantastic.

I head to the jungle to the town of Palenque tomorrow I don't think I'll be posting again until I get to Playa Del Carmen in four days. If the next several days are as action packed as the first I am sure it will be another long post. Only next time I will be sitting on the beach.,

VagaBond