Oaxaca

The overnight bus ride from Cuautla to Oaxaca was sure uncomfortable, but I must have slept well enough because I sure don’t remember much of it. But at 6:30 in the morning sharp we pulled into the Oaxaca bus station and were rousted out, pulling our bags out from underneath the bus before blearily wandering out into the morning sunshine.

Petra had written down a couple of possible hotels, and we grabbed a taxi to take us to the Santa Isabel Hostel (doubles 190/night, shared bath and kitchen area, cheap breakfasts). The room was simple, but didn’t have a plug. In fact, we only found one working outlet in the entire hostel and it was in the laundry area. Shows what a different mindset we are in from when we were traveling in Laos, where we tried to go places that didn’t have electricity. Anyhow, we found a couple of other hotels nearby all a few blocks from the zocalo for 150, but wound up not staying long enough to bother switching rooms.

I had heard about a mineral spring and waterfall nearby that was supposed to be neat. I noticed another couple who had a guide book so went over to ask if I could look at it for a moment. I told them I was looking up information about a waterfall, which they hadn’t heard about and were interested in too. Petra came over and we exchanged introductions with Alex and Maureen, both from Vale, Colorado, who were just wrapping up a vacation in Mexico. A bottle of mescal was produced, along with a packet of salt, chili, and ground up worm for flavoring. A couple of English guys named Rich and Ian checked into the hostel and came over to swap information, and stayed for a couple of beers. We were blocking the walkways and so moved to the hostel’s bar, where we were joined by other guests from Germany and Quebec, and an American Peace Corps volunteer just getting back from the Honduran jungle who had a whole Dennis Hopper vibe about him.

So, we fell in with a fun group at the beginning and had fun hanging out with the other guests at the hostel. And it was nice because Alex and Maureen had rented a car and invited us out to see the spring the next afternoon. Then the next day we basically applied the Dirk Gently Driving Method (pick someone who looks like they know where they’re going and follow them) on Rich and Ian the next day, following them down to Puerto Escondido.