Travel report #6
Mexico - Los Mochis, Oaxaca and Mexico City
November 25-29, 2000
After beeing in the cold high mountains of Copper Canyon, we got on a bus from Los Mochis to Mazatlan. Found a nice and cheap hotel here in Mazatlan.
Mazatlan is a relaxed nice little city with plenty of nice beaches. We had a nice time here, not doing much. Walked to the worlds second highest lighthouse and got a nice view of the city. Also saw some magnificient sun sets!
Thursday-Friday November 30-December 1, 2000
Time to move on. One very long busride from Mazatlan, leaving at 2pm, arriving in Mexico City at 5am, then on a new bus from 7am to Oaxaca.
Arrived in Oaxaca at 2pm, checked into the Magic Hostel. Our "home" for a week! The ride into Oaxaca was magnificent - down through mountains filled with cacti!
Had a first taste of the Zócalo before we hit the bed early.
Saturday December 2, 2000
Our hostel was a nice place. We had our own room, showers were outdoor, at night we could look at the stars while getting washed!
We used the day to arrange a language course, time to learn some Spanish. The new president was in town (Fox), so the strees were busy! We did not meet him though...
Later in the evening we met Mango (what we call him in Norway) or Israel (his name here in Mexico) and Gabriel, his 1 1/2 year old son, and Israel's brother Nahum. Israel lives in Kaupanger most of the time, visiting family in Oaxaca during the winter :-)
Knowing a local changes a lot, we got properly introduced to Oaxaca and the Zócalo!
Sunday December 3, 2000
Time to start seeing some of what Oaxaca have - Israel and Gabriel showed us to El Tule. We got to see the world biggest biomass, an enourmoes tree! Had a nice local lunch at the marked, Isreal helped us get something really local stuff! Got to see a local wedding parade, with lots of fireworks.
We then traveled further (I&G had to go home) to Tlacolula to see a big local marked. It was warm... Then on to Mitla where we saw some impressive ruins from the pre-Hispanic times (Zapotec, Mixtec & Aztek). Interessting.
Monday December 4, 2000
Our first day with Spanish at the Centro de Idiomas. Had a teacher that spoke only spanish (Ana), but we got started... After 2 hours of teaching we were really tired. Did some homework in the evening and had a nice walk on the Zócalo.
Tuesday December 5, 2000
More Spanish lessons (with Ana and Ivan instructing), 4 hours! In the afternoon we went on a marathon walk, all the way up to Monte Alban.
Monte Alban is just fantastic. It is an old ruin city on top of a mountain next to the current Oaxaca city. A very big ruin, with lots of temples and other buildings. Fantastic view of the Oaxaca Valleys and the city!
We also walked half way back before getting on a bus... A fantastic day!
Wednesday December 6, 2000
More Spanish, first with Ivan, then with Beatriz, our favorite instructor. Finally someone who spoke Ingles :-)
Did our homework and met up with Israel, Gabriel and Nahum at the Zócalo :-)
Thursday December 7, 2000
Spanish class as usual (Ivan and Beatriz), then in the afternoon we visited the big Museum and the Santo Domingo cathedral. The museum was really good, and big, but unfortunately all in spanish. But we got a lot out of it anyway.
The cathedral was amazing, shining gold all over. Strange how there can be this much gold there and so much poverty around it...
Met up with Israel&Co again, and now even talking some Spanish! Again at the Zócalo, again a lot of things happening. A really nice place just to hang around!
Friday December 8, 2000
Time to be sick, Inger-Ann with a bad stomack. Not the worst place to be sick...
Bjarte went to school and had 2 hours with Ivan.
Postponed the last to hours to Saturday. IA was recovering, but wanted to relax. B went to visit Israel&Co in their house. Interesting to see a Mexican home, very different from what we are used to from Norway (or the US).
It was a nice house, with 2 generations and 3 brothers on the same property.
Saturday December 9, 2000
IA was better and we went to school to get our 2 last hours of Spanish with Beatriz.
After lunch we got on the bus and headed for Mexico City.
Arrived in MC late in the evening and after a lot of trouble, finally got a hotel in the center of town (the center was blocked and too busy for taxis because of some happening...).
Sunday December 10, 2000
Birthday of Inger-Ann! We had a nice walk around the city, and relaxed in the park (Alameda). Read books and enjoyed life after a week of spanish!
Went to the cinema in the evening - saw the follow up to the 6th sence with Bruce Willis.
Monday December 11, 2000
Went to Teotihuacan and got to see one of the worlds biggest pyramids. Amazing place. Two enormous pyramids next to each other with tons of smaller temples and ruins around it. We spent the whole day walking around there, climbing both the pyramids. Amazing views!
After a hot and swetty day, we stopped in Guadalupe on our way back to the hotel. The virgin of Guadalupe is a really big thing in all of Mexico, and here in Guadalupe itself it was packed with people coming from all over the country. People everywhere, lots of them staying over in the streets and at the plaza, amazing!
Tuesday December 12, 2000
Visited the Leon Trotsky museum. Got to learn some about him, the former 2nd to Lenin. He lived his last years here in MC before Stalin eventually killed him.
Later we visited the big museum (Museo Nacional de Antropologia). Lots of stuff on the pre-hispanic cultures, really interessting. And explanations in English:-) Got to see how MC looked like before the Spanish people ruined it...
Wednesday December 13, 2000
Our last day in Mexico. Walked in the city and visited the Presidential Palace at the Zócalo. Saw some amazing murals on the mexican history.
Made it to the airport well in time for our flight and flew out of Mexcio at 9pm.