Long Overdue. last year's ('06) spring break to Mexico with peter and neal
Mexico
March 2, 2006, Thursday
Awoke at 3:45am on 3 hours sleep and 5 hours sleep th previous nights. Paid $22 for a taxi to the airport, everything went fine. Travelling with only a backpack is so nice! No checking luggage or any bullshit like that. Plane left at 6am and i slept the entire time until i got to Detroit, where I met up with Neal. We went to the World Perks Club loung (because Neal is a platinum member of Northwest Airlines) and got free muffins and yogurt and juice, and then we caught our flight to Mexico City at 9:23am. Arrived in DF at around 2pm and we went to the subway (which is huge) and walked six blocks to the zocolo where there is a huge church and huge Mexican flag in the middle, and buildings that supposedly house Vincente Fox and other politicians. The weather is so nice and comfortable, around 65 and sunny, I would guess. Then we went down 5 de Mayo street to Hotel Rioja and got a 3-person, 2-bed room for 295 pesos ($29.50). We left our stuff and went to walk around the city a bit more before we went to get Peter at the airport at 8pm. We walked through a nice park, to the main post office, to the Mexican opera house, and we got on the subway at Hidalgo (the pick-pocket station). Got back to the airport around 5 or 5:30. It was pretty boring waiting for Peter. I fell asleep on the floor and 20 minutes later Neal told this Mexican cop to wake me up. The cop thought I was drunk and passed out because there was a water bottle next to me and I was drooling. I was so surprised to wake up to a man speaking Spanish in my face and looking mean. Neal is an asshole. Then we wasted time by spinning peso coins. We met up with Peter at 8:30 and went to the hotel. Before we got there we went out to dinner and ate ham, chicken, beef, eyeball and tongue tacos. It was crazy...the tacos de ojos were actually very good! Then we went to the hotel and tentatively planned our trip. March 3rd to Tlaxcala, 4th climb La Malinche, 5th take a bus to Oaxaca, etc.
March 3, Friday
What a wacky day! So much happened. We woke up in the hotel at 8am, even though it was still dark because there was no windows, and took showers and left by 8:45. We ate breakfast at a sweet bakery - good and cheap - and took the subway to the bus station. Got tickets to Tlaxcala for 89 pesos a piece. The busride was cool because we got to see the slumier side of Mexico City. Then we went up and through a mountain pass (next to Popo and Ixta) and we could see the mega-pollution and smog in the valley over the insanely large metropolitan area. We arrived in Tlaxcala at around 11am...and we didn't stay long...only enough for Neal to get his backpack re-sewn and for Peter and I to heck our email. Then we took a combi-bus to Contla. This was rather interesting - by the time we got to Contla, there were 17 people in the taxi! Not including the driver. It was a 30-minute ride for 5 pesos a piece ($1.50 total!). The point in going to this town was to find Neal's Mexican friends who he knows from Saratoga. All we had was his name, not a correct address. So there was basically no chance in hell that we could go to a small city in Mexico and look for some random Mexicans with the last name Vasquez. So, we asked around, and some police officer told us to go to the gov't office. SO we did, which was hilarious. LANGUAGE BARRIER. It was so funny, gringos never go to this town, so it must have been entertaining for the secretaries. Finally we figured it out, and one secretary tried calling Neal's friend (which was still a long shot). She said she talked to him and that he would be here in 20 minutes. We thought some random Mexican would show up, thinking we would take him back to the US for work or something. We walked around town for a bit, asking if it was possible to climb La Malinche directly from this town, rather than having to go the normal way through Apizaco, and we finally found out that we could. We also went out to lunch across the zocalo and had tortas. They were so good. We must have been the sale of the week for the old guy...we got 5 drinks and 5 tortas. Back to the zocalo and government office. low and behold, the guy actually was the right one, or one of the right ones. It was crazy. So, we went with him while he continued his errands and eventually to go back to his house to stay. He was out getting food because his family was having a huge party the next day. First stop - getting chicken for the party. This was NUTS. We saw them gather chickens, weigh them, smack them on the head to knock them out, put them upside-down in a funnel so they couldnt move their wings and so their heads hung out the bottom, then slit their throats (21 al lined up) so that their blood drips into a trough. then they are boiled, plucked and butchered, all within about 30 minutes. It is frustrating to not be able to talk to everyone and ask things you want to. It is motivation to learn Spanish. Then we hopped in Proculo's '92 truck (Neal, Peter and I and Proculo's son, Fernando) to get the giant tub of sauce for the party. Then we dropped off the food at the party house, where for some reason, i immediately began plucking a turkey (and subsequently getting blood all over myself). the house was crazy. It is like most houses here, but none at home. There is an outside wall, then an inner courtyard/yard that is all dirt, then doors that lead to rooms inside, which aren't connected on the inside. The "kitchen" was in the back where part of the courtyard was covered with a tarp. There were lots of vats of food (pork, sauce, lettuce, mole, etc.). It was insane how much food there was, all of which was for around 100 people. In the truck again and went to look for another of Neal's friends, Octavio, at his bread store. We met him, as well as Magnus, who was a Swedish giant guy that married a Mexican girl and moved there and said he likes to move around. I wonder if his wife knows that. Then to Neal's friend Misael's house, who is younger and speaks fairly good English. His house is right next to Proculo's daughter (16 yrs old). DAMN. She was gorgeous, it was sad that when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to be a manager in town. We all sat around and talked for a while and looked at the map and drank our very large Corona Familiars...and took a shot of very good tequila, thanks to Misael. Then Peter and I and Fernando played soccer for a while and hung out on the roof of the house and checked out the city of Tlaxcala below. To bed on strange matresses and many blankets.
March 4, Saturday
Woke and had good breakfast --> eggs and ham and Bimbo bread. We decided to hike Malinche on the next day instead of today because then Proculo and Fernando could hike with us. So we decided to go to Puebla and check out the Cholula ruins. We got a ride down to the bus stop from Misael and he told us how to get back. On the bus to Puebla for 5 pesos each, and 45 minutes later, after travelling down the valley which is a continuous city, we got to Capu, the huge bus station in one of the biggest cities in Mexico. We grabbed another bus to Cholula for 4 pesos each, and arrived at the museum at around 11am. Checked out the museum for a bit then got a great old guide who spoke pretty good broken English. The Aztec ruins were amazing. 5km of tunnels that archaeologists made when they discovered the buried pyramid in the early 1900s. A bulldozer hit the corner accidentally when roads were being made. When Cortez was invading Mexico between 1519 and 1521, he was destroying all of the Aztec temples and building churches in their place. So the Cholultecs buried the entire pyramid so it looked like a big hill so it wouldn't get destroyed. That is pretty special. When the Spanish came, they build a church on top of the hill because they figured it was a high, prominent location. It is a nice church, too, but the Spanish are giant douches regardless. After the tour we ate at Taco Tony, some sort of weird chain that had good food. Took a bus to the church of Santa Maria, in Tonantzintla, which was absolutely incredible. It looked like Auntie Ann's christmas tree. When we arrived at the church there was a wedding going on. It was neat to see the mariachi band and people throwing rice and flowers, and it was such a happy, nice, sunny day. Then we bought nuts and sunflower seeds and took a bus back to Capu and then back to Tlaxcala. When we got in, we took a cambi to seccione 9 in Contla, where we bought flowers and took them to a party as a thank you gift. We figured flowers would be a good present because it was something frivolous that they wouldnt normally buy, but it wasnt too extravagant and flaunting of our wealth. We got to the party, there were a bunch of people, and they all stopped what they were doing when we came in. We were seated and served food immediately, and it was SO good. There was rice, beans, nopales (cactus leaves), meat in paper sacks, fresh tortillas, fresh tomales, beer and tequilla. It was great food. By the end of the party, we were talking to a few people who could speak broken English and understood our broken, drunken Spanish. Hernando "The Wizard" was a kid I was talking to, and also Alejandro was a kid Peter was speaking with who worked illegally in NYC for 3 years. He is was 22, and we are going to go find him because he is going back to work there --> 14th st. between 5th and 6th ave. That will be cool. Overall an alright party, wish we couldve talked to more people our age, but the language barrier is such a thorn. it's also too bad that they hired a dj to play hilarious music and nobody was dancing. also, outside of the party we played toss-the-coin-close-to-the-wall with some kids. had a picture taken. Sleep at 11:30, I think, back at Misael's pad.
March 5, Sunday
Got up at 7 and ate chicken mole for breakfast, leftovers from the party. we wanted to leave to climb Malinche at 8, but we got a Mexican-time 8 o'clock start (9am). drove all the way to the campground at the base and started the hike at 10am. it's funny that we drove all the way to the normal trailhead...because we had asked if it was possible to hike directly towards the volcano from Contla and we were told yes, and that is where we thought we were being driven to that morning, but there must have been a misunderstanding. which is ok. it would have been difficult to climb up an alternate route. The hiking was beautiful, in this forest of pine trees in a dry climate, and lots of grass and flowers and dirt. dusty dirt. the trailhead started at 10,000 feet elevation, so it was heavy breathing all day. we were hiking with Misael and two friends...who maybe were his nephews, Proculo, Fernando and Misael's brother. We got above treeline around 11 or 11:15, and this was when we started the really slow pace. I broke away from the group and hiked up a steeper face to the left because I saw some other guys doing it and it looked fun and more direct. i got on top around 12:05, and Misael and his bro and 2 nephews were there already for 5 minutes. they gave me a strange sandwich that i probably shouldnt have eaten, but it was good. peter arrived a little later, then neal. the view on top was so awesome. could see pico de orizaba, popocateptl and ixtahuatl, along with other mountains and cities and huge plumes of smoke from a raging forest fire. there was also a makeshift shrine on top with a little picture of the virgin mary and some ornaments. we headed down around 1. ran down the top part which was all scree above treeline. it was so fun, it was like skiing because the rocks were so loose and deep. then i went down the rest of the way with neal who was strugglin with pain in his knees. we got to the cars at 2:30. 30 minutes later than neal predicted. we said good-bye to Proculo and his family for basically giving us free food and a place to stay and rides. we made friends in the middle of mexico. Misael took us to Santa Ana bus station (it took forever because it was Carnival and lots of the streets were blocked off randomly for dancers and what have you). we hopped a bus to Capu in Puebla again and got in at 5pm. tickets to Tihuacan because we couldnt make it all the way to Oaxaca without getting in very late. we went out to eat some food and XX, then we got on the bus. we were so dirty at this point, from the hike. we mustve looked like dirty bums. my legs were black with soot and dust up to my thighs...it was insane. the bus ride was long and i felt gross the entire way, mostly because my ass was chaffed and dirty. we got to Tihuacan at 9pm and booked a room at the hotel Soleil Inn. We showered and it was goood. we also washed our pants and various other dirty clothes in the sink, and organized 'the bank' once again and went to sleep.
March 6, Monday
Woke up early in Tihuacan and got out od there by 8 i think. we went to the zocalo and got o.j. and bakery goods on the way. once we figured it out and walked in a giant circle, we took a bus to the 'jardin botanicos de cactaceas', which was a exciting. there were over 250 species of cactus'. peter commented that it was like a mexican zen garden, and that we were absolutely surrounded by pain. then we hopped a 5 minute ride to Zepototlan de Salinas and got some beers, and then got a bus to Huajuapan. We arrived there at something like 2pm and got some comida corrida for the first time. it was one of the best meals of the trip. rice, apple juice, chicken and beans in a fresh tortilla. Then we took a long ride to Oaxaca in a van with the worst driver i have ever seen. he was passing cars going up hills and on top of hills, he ran red lights, drove very fast, drove in the middle of the road, floored it whenever possible...it sounded like the engine was dying a terrible death...he stopped to eat while we sat and waited, and he threw all of his garbage out the window, which doesnt make him a bad driver, but more of an ass. as soon as we got in we walked around looking for a cheap hotel. we checked in to one about 3 blocks from the zocalo, then proceeded to check out the market and got some good and watched a little live music in the zocalo, and we went back to the hotel. then we decided to go out to a discotec, which promptly turned into going to the pool hall, where we shot some pool and drank XX and Sol, and came back and went to sleep.
March 7, Tuesday
caughta bus to El Tule. this tree was a monster. locals claim that it is the largest biomass in the world. it was unbelievable. it took 5 minutes to walk around it. then we caught another bus to Tlacolulo and rode up to Santa Anna del Valle to look at some rugs, where they are famed. we hitch-hiked up the valley in some nice man's truck. got to the zocalo and neal got some tuna waterice (the fruit of a cactus) and it tasted really good. we looked about the small market at the home-made rugs and tapestries. the old guy thought peter stole one because he pulled out the rug he bought back at el tule to compare and the guy didnt see a pricetag on it. didnt get anything there because i wanted to look around. there was an awesome tesselation tapestry of a pattern of a guy on a horse. i kind of wish i bought it. we started walking around the town, and at one point we stopped to look at some puppies behind a fence and the owner came out and neal asked how much for a dog. BIG mistake to start a conversation with this guy. he was absolutely tanked. he came out and started talking to us. when we started to walk away, he came with us, and from then on he pretty much became out drunken tour guide to the small town (unwanted guide...). he could speak english because apparently he worked in a restaurant in california for 8 years. he said he could also speak Zapotec, the native language of the area. He ended up showing us this lady's house where she made rugs and tapestries, and she showed us how she made them and dyed the yarn. the loom is such an interesting tool. she was very quick and the whole process was fascinating. we left there, and the wasted guy was still following us, trying to get us to go to his cousin's house...probably to buy things. the only way we could lose him was to get on a bus. so we did. we boarded a bus that took us down a little ways out of town to an intersection, where we hitched once again to a town up the valley called Diaz Ordaz. Then we caught a bus to a town with a name i cant remember, which was the town in the mountains that neal read about and wanted to go to. we took the bus and got there around 2pm, so we ate lunch - pedro and i had beans and rice in tortillas, and neal had green sauce chicken. both were delicious comida corrida specials. as we were finishing, about 25 other tourists showed up on a huge coach bus, so we peaced. neal wanted to go further into the mountains on the road that continued onwards, which was a point of contention between him and I, for some reason. i regret it now. at any rate, we caught a taxi and ended up going on a scenic tour for 2 hours on this crazy winding road with landslides and missing pieces of pavement everywhere. we ended up going to the taxi driver's town and he showed us their water supply (which was a pool that gathered water from a natural spring above the town and fed it downwards by means of black pipes that went to each individual house) and also his house where his family also made hammocks. It was pretty crazy, the amount of work they did and the amount of money they made off of it seemed almost like slave labor. It is their entire life, making hammocks. The town is known for its hammocks. The town gets up in the morning, makes one hammock a day (per 2 people), and they sell it off for 50 - 150 pesos ($5 - $10). we happily bought a hammock for our apartment in Boston and turned around and came back in the same taxi with the same driver. caught a bus back down the valley to the same intersection and went back up to Santa Anna del Valle and bought 2 home-made bags from the lady with the loom (which i gave to renee). we hitched down to Tlalocula and neal and I stood on the truck bumper and held on to the canopy on the way down. We ate in town and listened to the mexican jukebox and ate tacos al pastor. the young kid tried to charge us double, no doubt because of how we appeared, so we called him out on it and didnt leave him a tip. gotta hand it to him, he tried. then we took a bus back to Oaxaca for the night and stayed at a cheap place where i showered. i also managed to cause their toilet to not function...
March 8, Wednesday
up and at 'em early to head up to Monte Alban, the ancient Aztec ruins. got some fresh bread at the bakery and fresh o.j. with strawberries and caught a shuttle bus up to the ruins at 8:30...early to miss the crowd and avoid the heat. The ruins were really big...it is interesting to see an entire mountaintop lopped off and made into a city. once in a while we would overhear glimpses of info from nearby touring groups. we also walked around with another kid, Riley, who was from northern Ontario. he was on some sort of paid vacation trip. he was funny. i enjoyed the ruins immensely. taxi back down to Oaxaca and started some shopping. we got many sorts of alcohol, and a acquired a new camera memory card (of which neal paid for, mostly...ver gracious). i then wanted to get a tapestry to round off my mental list of things to get. we ate some BBQ in the market, which was a crazy experience, and then we headed to the Marcado de Artisanias. This was a pretty cool market...not many people and cheaper prices...with quality and personal goods. i ended up getting a really nice rug for $100 depicting Indigenous life. I really love it. Once i got that and spent all of my money, and Peter got one too, we decided we were done shopping. to the bus station to finally head down to the beach. in the second class bus station I watched some Arsenal vs. Real Madrid on the t.v. we got on a bus at 4:30 for Pochutla...straight south. this was a crazy bus ride. through the mountains. we were in the back of the bus and were viciously getting whipped and bounced around. we stopped a couple of times, one time at this sketchy spot in the dark mountains where it looked like there could be a guerrila camp just over the hill. a poor old woman got off the bus here and pissed in the road, which must have been an effort. peter got some corn at another stop. we got in at 11pm and decided not to go to the beach until morning to avoid the many problems that can occur at night. i think this was an omen, because we ended up in a luxury resort. it was ten times worse than an Econo Lodge in Newark. there were salamanders on the walls, dirty sheets, etc. it was pretty awesome.
March 9, Thursday
up early and on a truck to Puerto Angel, another dirty place. then we got a taxi to Zipolite and got a hotel room at a sweet hotel with outside doors surrounding a courtyard of palm trees and hammocks. we ate breakfast on the beach and went for a walk. up and down the mile long beach. it was very refreshing to be on a very nice, peaceful, undeveloped beach for once. i think maybe it is just the Pacific in general. we ended up behind an alcove of rocks at the end of the beach where we went swimming and bodysurfing for a couple of hours and got mildly sunburned. we laid in the sun some more and I read about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony's First Movement. We went back and showered up and put more suntan lotion on. I think before we did that we ate at this place on the beach and I got a chicken torta and fruit salad and a beer. Our waiter was a huge beach bum who was definitely stoned. I took a nap in a hammock on the balcony of our second floor for about 2 1/2 hours, and I washed some of my clothes, too. Went and got dinner together for 20 pesos each - chicken and rice and beans in tortillas. It was ok, definitely not worth more than what we paid. I also drank a sketchy strawberry drink...we will see how that one pans out. Then we went for a night-time walk along the beach and we hung out at the end on some rocks for a while. The beach really is so peaceful. When we got back to our hotel Pedro and I took 2 humungous shots of tequila that cost fucking 140 pesos - about as much as our room. Then we hung out on the third floor roof for a bit and Pedro passed out in the hammock there. I thought that was a good idea so I went back to the hammock I had taken a nap in earlier and went to sleep in my swim suit and t-shirt. I woke up sometime later that night to a beautifully-starry sky. I just laid in my hammock by myself, feeling sunburnt, looking at the stars and hearing the Pacific's waves crash against the shorefor what must have been a half hour. Drifted back to sleep. I love Mexico.
March 10, Friday
I woke up at sunrise, which was an ok one. I would say that the sunrise was surpassed in quality by the breakfast I had on the beach at our hotel. It was probably the best meal of my entire life. I started off with a fruit salad of fresh canteloupe, watermelon and papaya covered in yogurt and granola. Then I moved on to a plate of las enfrijolitas con pollo, which was triangular, thick tomale-ish hunks of dough smothered in black bean sauce with cheese and chicken on top. Accompanying this dish was some fresh-squeezed orange juice. For desert Pedro and I ate chocolate crepes. It was simply amazing. We packed our crap once more and went swimming one last time at Zipolete. Then we took up an offer we had gotten the day before by this old guy, Spencer, and his 'side-kick', Antonio, who we kept bumping into the day before. They offered to drive us in their jeep up to Puerto Escondito. Spence was a character...Neal didn't really care for him... he kept talking about himself and how he adopted 11 children and this and that about adoption - which is good - but he was very happy about his achievments and sharing them with others in a very non-humble manner. When we got to Puerto Escondito we got a nice hotel room overlooking the ocean for 128 pesos. Me and Pedro then split up with Neal for the day. Tension was definitely building on both sides to get away from each other for a while. He went off to visit some friends and we went to Zicatela - the famed Mexican Pipeline beach. On our way walking there we ate lunch and drank Sol...and almost burned the soles off of our feet to get there. They had an eclectic mix tape playing over the speakers - Joss Stone to Led Zeppelin to Frank Sinatra. I had spaghetti and Pedro had some grilled meat. We are becoming broke at this point. Then we plopped ourselves on the beach and built a sand turtle and a sand crab. We couldnt go swimming and there were no surfers because the surf was dangerous. I built a sandy armchair and read more Beethoven. We watched and photgraphed the sunset and went back into town to meet up with Neal for dinner. I got shrimp soup and Neal got his usual seafood soup (sopa de mariscos) and Pedro ordered octopus but they never made it for him! Then we showered up and went to a 'super-dank' nightclub and drank beer and also a Cubanito and played foosball. Then we left at 11:30 and went to sleep after Neal and I talked about Denali on the balcony.
March 11, Saturday
Got breakfast and took a bus from Puerto Escondito to....someplace between there and Acapulco. There, as we were waiting for the next bus to leave, we met these older folks - John and Anne Lincoln, who offered us a ride to Acapulco, which was awesome. BUT, about 20 minutes into the ride, they told us they were with the Jehovah's Witnesses from Maine. OH BOY. But they actually weren't too bad with pushing beliefs on us at all (until the end when they gave us pamphlets, which we promptly threw away). They spoke of the Bible and the end of the world only a few times. They were quite down-to-earth, and we talked about why we are all discouraged about America (both culture and international image). They also said they worked for the American Embassy all over the world and it was top secret. That was kind of cool. They dropped us off in downtown Acapulco and we ate dinner at a restaurant on the beach and drank beer and watched Mexican League soccer on t.v., and then we went to the zocalo and then to the bus station to get tickets to Mexico City. We left at 9:30 and got in D. F. at 2am. The bus was really nice, surprisingly, and I slept the entire time. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, there was a really hot blonde New Zealand girl sitting next to me when I got on, but then she found out she was on the wrong bus and got off. saddd. We took a taxi upon arrival and dropped Pedro off at the airport at 3am because his flight was at 9am. Then Neal and I got a hotel room at the same place as before and slept and woke up and went to the same bakery and went to the Indian Museum downtown which ruled and then we went to the airport where I got plenty of duty free tequila and flew home first class, by accident.
March 2, 2006, Thursday
Awoke at 3:45am on 3 hours sleep and 5 hours sleep th previous nights. Paid $22 for a taxi to the airport, everything went fine. Travelling with only a backpack is so nice! No checking luggage or any bullshit like that. Plane left at 6am and i slept the entire time until i got to Detroit, where I met up with Neal. We went to the World Perks Club loung (because Neal is a platinum member of Northwest Airlines) and got free muffins and yogurt and juice, and then we caught our flight to Mexico City at 9:23am. Arrived in DF at around 2pm and we went to the subway (which is huge) and walked six blocks to the zocolo where there is a huge church and huge Mexican flag in the middle, and buildings that supposedly house Vincente Fox and other politicians. The weather is so nice and comfortable, around 65 and sunny, I would guess. Then we went down 5 de Mayo street to Hotel Rioja and got a 3-person, 2-bed room for 295 pesos ($29.50). We left our stuff and went to walk around the city a bit more before we went to get Peter at the airport at 8pm. We walked through a nice park, to the main post office, to the Mexican opera house, and we got on the subway at Hidalgo (the pick-pocket station). Got back to the airport around 5 or 5:30. It was pretty boring waiting for Peter. I fell asleep on the floor and 20 minutes later Neal told this Mexican cop to wake me up. The cop thought I was drunk and passed out because there was a water bottle next to me and I was drooling. I was so surprised to wake up to a man speaking Spanish in my face and looking mean. Neal is an asshole. Then we wasted time by spinning peso coins. We met up with Peter at 8:30 and went to the hotel. Before we got there we went out to dinner and ate ham, chicken, beef, eyeball and tongue tacos. It was crazy...the tacos de ojos were actually very good! Then we went to the hotel and tentatively planned our trip. March 3rd to Tlaxcala, 4th climb La Malinche, 5th take a bus to Oaxaca, etc.
March 3, Friday
What a wacky day! So much happened. We woke up in the hotel at 8am, even though it was still dark because there was no windows, and took showers and left by 8:45. We ate breakfast at a sweet bakery - good and cheap - and took the subway to the bus station. Got tickets to Tlaxcala for 89 pesos a piece. The busride was cool because we got to see the slumier side of Mexico City. Then we went up and through a mountain pass (next to Popo and Ixta) and we could see the mega-pollution and smog in the valley over the insanely large metropolitan area. We arrived in Tlaxcala at around 11am...and we didn't stay long...only enough for Neal to get his backpack re-sewn and for Peter and I to heck our email. Then we took a combi-bus to Contla. This was rather interesting - by the time we got to Contla, there were 17 people in the taxi! Not including the driver. It was a 30-minute ride for 5 pesos a piece ($1.50 total!). The point in going to this town was to find Neal's Mexican friends who he knows from Saratoga. All we had was his name, not a correct address. So there was basically no chance in hell that we could go to a small city in Mexico and look for some random Mexicans with the last name Vasquez. So, we asked around, and some police officer told us to go to the gov't office. SO we did, which was hilarious. LANGUAGE BARRIER. It was so funny, gringos never go to this town, so it must have been entertaining for the secretaries. Finally we figured it out, and one secretary tried calling Neal's friend (which was still a long shot). She said she talked to him and that he would be here in 20 minutes. We thought some random Mexican would show up, thinking we would take him back to the US for work or something. We walked around town for a bit, asking if it was possible to climb La Malinche directly from this town, rather than having to go the normal way through Apizaco, and we finally found out that we could. We also went out to lunch across the zocalo and had tortas. They were so good. We must have been the sale of the week for the old guy...we got 5 drinks and 5 tortas. Back to the zocalo and government office. low and behold, the guy actually was the right one, or one of the right ones. It was crazy. So, we went with him while he continued his errands and eventually to go back to his house to stay. He was out getting food because his family was having a huge party the next day. First stop - getting chicken for the party. This was NUTS. We saw them gather chickens, weigh them, smack them on the head to knock them out, put them upside-down in a funnel so they couldnt move their wings and so their heads hung out the bottom, then slit their throats (21 al lined up) so that their blood drips into a trough. then they are boiled, plucked and butchered, all within about 30 minutes. It is frustrating to not be able to talk to everyone and ask things you want to. It is motivation to learn Spanish. Then we hopped in Proculo's '92 truck (Neal, Peter and I and Proculo's son, Fernando) to get the giant tub of sauce for the party. Then we dropped off the food at the party house, where for some reason, i immediately began plucking a turkey (and subsequently getting blood all over myself). the house was crazy. It is like most houses here, but none at home. There is an outside wall, then an inner courtyard/yard that is all dirt, then doors that lead to rooms inside, which aren't connected on the inside. The "kitchen" was in the back where part of the courtyard was covered with a tarp. There were lots of vats of food (pork, sauce, lettuce, mole, etc.). It was insane how much food there was, all of which was for around 100 people. In the truck again and went to look for another of Neal's friends, Octavio, at his bread store. We met him, as well as Magnus, who was a Swedish giant guy that married a Mexican girl and moved there and said he likes to move around. I wonder if his wife knows that. Then to Neal's friend Misael's house, who is younger and speaks fairly good English. His house is right next to Proculo's daughter (16 yrs old). DAMN. She was gorgeous, it was sad that when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to be a manager in town. We all sat around and talked for a while and looked at the map and drank our very large Corona Familiars...and took a shot of very good tequila, thanks to Misael. Then Peter and I and Fernando played soccer for a while and hung out on the roof of the house and checked out the city of Tlaxcala below. To bed on strange matresses and many blankets.
March 4, Saturday
Woke and had good breakfast --> eggs and ham and Bimbo bread. We decided to hike Malinche on the next day instead of today because then Proculo and Fernando could hike with us. So we decided to go to Puebla and check out the Cholula ruins. We got a ride down to the bus stop from Misael and he told us how to get back. On the bus to Puebla for 5 pesos each, and 45 minutes later, after travelling down the valley which is a continuous city, we got to Capu, the huge bus station in one of the biggest cities in Mexico. We grabbed another bus to Cholula for 4 pesos each, and arrived at the museum at around 11am. Checked out the museum for a bit then got a great old guide who spoke pretty good broken English. The Aztec ruins were amazing. 5km of tunnels that archaeologists made when they discovered the buried pyramid in the early 1900s. A bulldozer hit the corner accidentally when roads were being made. When Cortez was invading Mexico between 1519 and 1521, he was destroying all of the Aztec temples and building churches in their place. So the Cholultecs buried the entire pyramid so it looked like a big hill so it wouldn't get destroyed. That is pretty special. When the Spanish came, they build a church on top of the hill because they figured it was a high, prominent location. It is a nice church, too, but the Spanish are giant douches regardless. After the tour we ate at Taco Tony, some sort of weird chain that had good food. Took a bus to the church of Santa Maria, in Tonantzintla, which was absolutely incredible. It looked like Auntie Ann's christmas tree. When we arrived at the church there was a wedding going on. It was neat to see the mariachi band and people throwing rice and flowers, and it was such a happy, nice, sunny day. Then we bought nuts and sunflower seeds and took a bus back to Capu and then back to Tlaxcala. When we got in, we took a cambi to seccione 9 in Contla, where we bought flowers and took them to a party as a thank you gift. We figured flowers would be a good present because it was something frivolous that they wouldnt normally buy, but it wasnt too extravagant and flaunting of our wealth. We got to the party, there were a bunch of people, and they all stopped what they were doing when we came in. We were seated and served food immediately, and it was SO good. There was rice, beans, nopales (cactus leaves), meat in paper sacks, fresh tortillas, fresh tomales, beer and tequilla. It was great food. By the end of the party, we were talking to a few people who could speak broken English and understood our broken, drunken Spanish. Hernando "The Wizard" was a kid I was talking to, and also Alejandro was a kid Peter was speaking with who worked illegally in NYC for 3 years. He is was 22, and we are going to go find him because he is going back to work there --> 14th st. between 5th and 6th ave. That will be cool. Overall an alright party, wish we couldve talked to more people our age, but the language barrier is such a thorn. it's also too bad that they hired a dj to play hilarious music and nobody was dancing. also, outside of the party we played toss-the-coin-close-to-the-wall with some kids. had a picture taken. Sleep at 11:30, I think, back at Misael's pad.
March 5, Sunday
Got up at 7 and ate chicken mole for breakfast, leftovers from the party. we wanted to leave to climb Malinche at 8, but we got a Mexican-time 8 o'clock start (9am). drove all the way to the campground at the base and started the hike at 10am. it's funny that we drove all the way to the normal trailhead...because we had asked if it was possible to hike directly towards the volcano from Contla and we were told yes, and that is where we thought we were being driven to that morning, but there must have been a misunderstanding. which is ok. it would have been difficult to climb up an alternate route. The hiking was beautiful, in this forest of pine trees in a dry climate, and lots of grass and flowers and dirt. dusty dirt. the trailhead started at 10,000 feet elevation, so it was heavy breathing all day. we were hiking with Misael and two friends...who maybe were his nephews, Proculo, Fernando and Misael's brother. We got above treeline around 11 or 11:15, and this was when we started the really slow pace. I broke away from the group and hiked up a steeper face to the left because I saw some other guys doing it and it looked fun and more direct. i got on top around 12:05, and Misael and his bro and 2 nephews were there already for 5 minutes. they gave me a strange sandwich that i probably shouldnt have eaten, but it was good. peter arrived a little later, then neal. the view on top was so awesome. could see pico de orizaba, popocateptl and ixtahuatl, along with other mountains and cities and huge plumes of smoke from a raging forest fire. there was also a makeshift shrine on top with a little picture of the virgin mary and some ornaments. we headed down around 1. ran down the top part which was all scree above treeline. it was so fun, it was like skiing because the rocks were so loose and deep. then i went down the rest of the way with neal who was strugglin with pain in his knees. we got to the cars at 2:30. 30 minutes later than neal predicted. we said good-bye to Proculo and his family for basically giving us free food and a place to stay and rides. we made friends in the middle of mexico. Misael took us to Santa Ana bus station (it took forever because it was Carnival and lots of the streets were blocked off randomly for dancers and what have you). we hopped a bus to Capu in Puebla again and got in at 5pm. tickets to Tihuacan because we couldnt make it all the way to Oaxaca without getting in very late. we went out to eat some food and XX, then we got on the bus. we were so dirty at this point, from the hike. we mustve looked like dirty bums. my legs were black with soot and dust up to my thighs...it was insane. the bus ride was long and i felt gross the entire way, mostly because my ass was chaffed and dirty. we got to Tihuacan at 9pm and booked a room at the hotel Soleil Inn. We showered and it was goood. we also washed our pants and various other dirty clothes in the sink, and organized 'the bank' once again and went to sleep.
March 6, Monday
Woke up early in Tihuacan and got out od there by 8 i think. we went to the zocalo and got o.j. and bakery goods on the way. once we figured it out and walked in a giant circle, we took a bus to the 'jardin botanicos de cactaceas', which was a exciting. there were over 250 species of cactus'. peter commented that it was like a mexican zen garden, and that we were absolutely surrounded by pain. then we hopped a 5 minute ride to Zepototlan de Salinas and got some beers, and then got a bus to Huajuapan. We arrived there at something like 2pm and got some comida corrida for the first time. it was one of the best meals of the trip. rice, apple juice, chicken and beans in a fresh tortilla. Then we took a long ride to Oaxaca in a van with the worst driver i have ever seen. he was passing cars going up hills and on top of hills, he ran red lights, drove very fast, drove in the middle of the road, floored it whenever possible...it sounded like the engine was dying a terrible death...he stopped to eat while we sat and waited, and he threw all of his garbage out the window, which doesnt make him a bad driver, but more of an ass. as soon as we got in we walked around looking for a cheap hotel. we checked in to one about 3 blocks from the zocalo, then proceeded to check out the market and got some good and watched a little live music in the zocalo, and we went back to the hotel. then we decided to go out to a discotec, which promptly turned into going to the pool hall, where we shot some pool and drank XX and Sol, and came back and went to sleep.
March 7, Tuesday
caughta bus to El Tule. this tree was a monster. locals claim that it is the largest biomass in the world. it was unbelievable. it took 5 minutes to walk around it. then we caught another bus to Tlacolulo and rode up to Santa Anna del Valle to look at some rugs, where they are famed. we hitch-hiked up the valley in some nice man's truck. got to the zocalo and neal got some tuna waterice (the fruit of a cactus) and it tasted really good. we looked about the small market at the home-made rugs and tapestries. the old guy thought peter stole one because he pulled out the rug he bought back at el tule to compare and the guy didnt see a pricetag on it. didnt get anything there because i wanted to look around. there was an awesome tesselation tapestry of a pattern of a guy on a horse. i kind of wish i bought it. we started walking around the town, and at one point we stopped to look at some puppies behind a fence and the owner came out and neal asked how much for a dog. BIG mistake to start a conversation with this guy. he was absolutely tanked. he came out and started talking to us. when we started to walk away, he came with us, and from then on he pretty much became out drunken tour guide to the small town (unwanted guide...). he could speak english because apparently he worked in a restaurant in california for 8 years. he said he could also speak Zapotec, the native language of the area. He ended up showing us this lady's house where she made rugs and tapestries, and she showed us how she made them and dyed the yarn. the loom is such an interesting tool. she was very quick and the whole process was fascinating. we left there, and the wasted guy was still following us, trying to get us to go to his cousin's house...probably to buy things. the only way we could lose him was to get on a bus. so we did. we boarded a bus that took us down a little ways out of town to an intersection, where we hitched once again to a town up the valley called Diaz Ordaz. Then we caught a bus to a town with a name i cant remember, which was the town in the mountains that neal read about and wanted to go to. we took the bus and got there around 2pm, so we ate lunch - pedro and i had beans and rice in tortillas, and neal had green sauce chicken. both were delicious comida corrida specials. as we were finishing, about 25 other tourists showed up on a huge coach bus, so we peaced. neal wanted to go further into the mountains on the road that continued onwards, which was a point of contention between him and I, for some reason. i regret it now. at any rate, we caught a taxi and ended up going on a scenic tour for 2 hours on this crazy winding road with landslides and missing pieces of pavement everywhere. we ended up going to the taxi driver's town and he showed us their water supply (which was a pool that gathered water from a natural spring above the town and fed it downwards by means of black pipes that went to each individual house) and also his house where his family also made hammocks. It was pretty crazy, the amount of work they did and the amount of money they made off of it seemed almost like slave labor. It is their entire life, making hammocks. The town is known for its hammocks. The town gets up in the morning, makes one hammock a day (per 2 people), and they sell it off for 50 - 150 pesos ($5 - $10). we happily bought a hammock for our apartment in Boston and turned around and came back in the same taxi with the same driver. caught a bus back down the valley to the same intersection and went back up to Santa Anna del Valle and bought 2 home-made bags from the lady with the loom (which i gave to renee). we hitched down to Tlalocula and neal and I stood on the truck bumper and held on to the canopy on the way down. We ate in town and listened to the mexican jukebox and ate tacos al pastor. the young kid tried to charge us double, no doubt because of how we appeared, so we called him out on it and didnt leave him a tip. gotta hand it to him, he tried. then we took a bus back to Oaxaca for the night and stayed at a cheap place where i showered. i also managed to cause their toilet to not function...
March 8, Wednesday
up and at 'em early to head up to Monte Alban, the ancient Aztec ruins. got some fresh bread at the bakery and fresh o.j. with strawberries and caught a shuttle bus up to the ruins at 8:30...early to miss the crowd and avoid the heat. The ruins were really big...it is interesting to see an entire mountaintop lopped off and made into a city. once in a while we would overhear glimpses of info from nearby touring groups. we also walked around with another kid, Riley, who was from northern Ontario. he was on some sort of paid vacation trip. he was funny. i enjoyed the ruins immensely. taxi back down to Oaxaca and started some shopping. we got many sorts of alcohol, and a acquired a new camera memory card (of which neal paid for, mostly...ver gracious). i then wanted to get a tapestry to round off my mental list of things to get. we ate some BBQ in the market, which was a crazy experience, and then we headed to the Marcado de Artisanias. This was a pretty cool market...not many people and cheaper prices...with quality and personal goods. i ended up getting a really nice rug for $100 depicting Indigenous life. I really love it. Once i got that and spent all of my money, and Peter got one too, we decided we were done shopping. to the bus station to finally head down to the beach. in the second class bus station I watched some Arsenal vs. Real Madrid on the t.v. we got on a bus at 4:30 for Pochutla...straight south. this was a crazy bus ride. through the mountains. we were in the back of the bus and were viciously getting whipped and bounced around. we stopped a couple of times, one time at this sketchy spot in the dark mountains where it looked like there could be a guerrila camp just over the hill. a poor old woman got off the bus here and pissed in the road, which must have been an effort. peter got some corn at another stop. we got in at 11pm and decided not to go to the beach until morning to avoid the many problems that can occur at night. i think this was an omen, because we ended up in a luxury resort. it was ten times worse than an Econo Lodge in Newark. there were salamanders on the walls, dirty sheets, etc. it was pretty awesome.
March 9, Thursday
up early and on a truck to Puerto Angel, another dirty place. then we got a taxi to Zipolite and got a hotel room at a sweet hotel with outside doors surrounding a courtyard of palm trees and hammocks. we ate breakfast on the beach and went for a walk. up and down the mile long beach. it was very refreshing to be on a very nice, peaceful, undeveloped beach for once. i think maybe it is just the Pacific in general. we ended up behind an alcove of rocks at the end of the beach where we went swimming and bodysurfing for a couple of hours and got mildly sunburned. we laid in the sun some more and I read about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony's First Movement. We went back and showered up and put more suntan lotion on. I think before we did that we ate at this place on the beach and I got a chicken torta and fruit salad and a beer. Our waiter was a huge beach bum who was definitely stoned. I took a nap in a hammock on the balcony of our second floor for about 2 1/2 hours, and I washed some of my clothes, too. Went and got dinner together for 20 pesos each - chicken and rice and beans in tortillas. It was ok, definitely not worth more than what we paid. I also drank a sketchy strawberry drink...we will see how that one pans out. Then we went for a night-time walk along the beach and we hung out at the end on some rocks for a while. The beach really is so peaceful. When we got back to our hotel Pedro and I took 2 humungous shots of tequila that cost fucking 140 pesos - about as much as our room. Then we hung out on the third floor roof for a bit and Pedro passed out in the hammock there. I thought that was a good idea so I went back to the hammock I had taken a nap in earlier and went to sleep in my swim suit and t-shirt. I woke up sometime later that night to a beautifully-starry sky. I just laid in my hammock by myself, feeling sunburnt, looking at the stars and hearing the Pacific's waves crash against the shorefor what must have been a half hour. Drifted back to sleep. I love Mexico.
March 10, Friday
I woke up at sunrise, which was an ok one. I would say that the sunrise was surpassed in quality by the breakfast I had on the beach at our hotel. It was probably the best meal of my entire life. I started off with a fruit salad of fresh canteloupe, watermelon and papaya covered in yogurt and granola. Then I moved on to a plate of las enfrijolitas con pollo, which was triangular, thick tomale-ish hunks of dough smothered in black bean sauce with cheese and chicken on top. Accompanying this dish was some fresh-squeezed orange juice. For desert Pedro and I ate chocolate crepes. It was simply amazing. We packed our crap once more and went swimming one last time at Zipolete. Then we took up an offer we had gotten the day before by this old guy, Spencer, and his 'side-kick', Antonio, who we kept bumping into the day before. They offered to drive us in their jeep up to Puerto Escondito. Spence was a character...Neal didn't really care for him... he kept talking about himself and how he adopted 11 children and this and that about adoption - which is good - but he was very happy about his achievments and sharing them with others in a very non-humble manner. When we got to Puerto Escondito we got a nice hotel room overlooking the ocean for 128 pesos. Me and Pedro then split up with Neal for the day. Tension was definitely building on both sides to get away from each other for a while. He went off to visit some friends and we went to Zicatela - the famed Mexican Pipeline beach. On our way walking there we ate lunch and drank Sol...and almost burned the soles off of our feet to get there. They had an eclectic mix tape playing over the speakers - Joss Stone to Led Zeppelin to Frank Sinatra. I had spaghetti and Pedro had some grilled meat. We are becoming broke at this point. Then we plopped ourselves on the beach and built a sand turtle and a sand crab. We couldnt go swimming and there were no surfers because the surf was dangerous. I built a sandy armchair and read more Beethoven. We watched and photgraphed the sunset and went back into town to meet up with Neal for dinner. I got shrimp soup and Neal got his usual seafood soup (sopa de mariscos) and Pedro ordered octopus but they never made it for him! Then we showered up and went to a 'super-dank' nightclub and drank beer and also a Cubanito and played foosball. Then we left at 11:30 and went to sleep after Neal and I talked about Denali on the balcony.
March 11, Saturday
Got breakfast and took a bus from Puerto Escondito to....someplace between there and Acapulco. There, as we were waiting for the next bus to leave, we met these older folks - John and Anne Lincoln, who offered us a ride to Acapulco, which was awesome. BUT, about 20 minutes into the ride, they told us they were with the Jehovah's Witnesses from Maine. OH BOY. But they actually weren't too bad with pushing beliefs on us at all (until the end when they gave us pamphlets, which we promptly threw away). They spoke of the Bible and the end of the world only a few times. They were quite down-to-earth, and we talked about why we are all discouraged about America (both culture and international image). They also said they worked for the American Embassy all over the world and it was top secret. That was kind of cool. They dropped us off in downtown Acapulco and we ate dinner at a restaurant on the beach and drank beer and watched Mexican League soccer on t.v., and then we went to the zocalo and then to the bus station to get tickets to Mexico City. We left at 9:30 and got in D. F. at 2am. The bus was really nice, surprisingly, and I slept the entire time. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, there was a really hot blonde New Zealand girl sitting next to me when I got on, but then she found out she was on the wrong bus and got off. saddd. We took a taxi upon arrival and dropped Pedro off at the airport at 3am because his flight was at 9am. Then Neal and I got a hotel room at the same place as before and slept and woke up and went to the same bakery and went to the Indian Museum downtown which ruled and then we went to the airport where I got plenty of duty free tequila and flew home first class, by accident.