Oaxaca - Mexico

Naomi at Huerve al Agua Petrified Waterfall

So having survived our first ADO bus journey, a mere 6 hours to Oaxaca, we are glad that we bought some travel sickness pills!

We were picked up in a Red VW Beetle (Jason just like your old one!) and as we saw it pull up and then looked down at our luggage we thought 'there's no way...' ... but as we approached the car and the hostel guy threw open the door we realised he had done this before... he'd removed the front passenger seat... of course, thats what you think to do when you have too much stuff for your car!

The hostel is lovely, bit out of town but is right up in the hills and has stunning views!
Only thing not lovely... have spotted 2 spiders! One, just as we arrived and Brett went with the hostel man to sort something, and I literally just froze until he came back and whimpered 'spider' which meant that a serious spider hunt ensued once that one had been disposed of - Brett with his torch searched every nook and cranny. This morning, however, as I made the bed and moved the pillow... yep you got it.

Day trip today consisted of visiting a petrified waterfall, stunning views and 2 natural pools that have formed due to a natural spring which we swam in, overlooking stunning mountains. We also went to the cutest town which has a huge Cyprus tree thats 2000 years old- the oldest tree of ts kind... we paid 5 pesos to go in the garden to walk around it... funny the things you do isn't it! As our guide was telling us, its not the oldest tree, its not the tallest tree, but it is the fattest tree... i thought to myself, what are we doing here? but then i saw it...

We also visited Teotitlan where we went to a Zapotec family home and they showed us how they weave the bright Mexican rugs, shawls etc. Crazy how they spin the wool and then use all different natural ingredients to dye it, like Pecan nut shells, Coccineal bugalugs, Turneric etc. It was facinating at one point he crushed one of the coccineal beetles into his hand and it made a bright reddish/brown colour, he said it depends on the ph of your skin as to what colour it comes out... then he added a few drops of fresh lime juice and it turned browny yellow - so from each of the natural ingredients they use they can sometimes get up to 45 shades of a colour to dye the wool.

Mital was a small village that houses some Zapotec ruins (flat top pyramids) incredible the detail of the patterns they created in the stone, and the way that they structured them. There is also a huge Catholic church next to the site which is built on part of the ruins, introduced by the Spanish.

Mezcal - was our last stop, where they make the drink Mezcal! This is a 100% from the Agave plant which you see growing everywhere in the Mexican countryside. Tequila is a type of Mezcal, although its blended so is not 100% Agarve. We were shown the process of making it - basically a Mexican family home with a workshop out back... it amazes us to see these people completely opening up their homes for us to see, even using the bathrooms you're standing in their family kitchen!

Tomorrow we'll explore more of Oaxaca town and then in the evening we'll brace ourselves for a 10 hour overnight bus ride to Puerto Escondido which we're so excited about, not just because of the beach but also to get to know the local brothers and go to our first meeting here in Mexico!

Team Manning signing out, where we're hating the spiders and putting the toilet paper in a bin by the loo.
Goodnight from me and goodnight from him x