Colour, Cocktails, Carpet and Cute Mexican Boys

Well here I am writing from Oaxaca... pronounced wa-ha-ka

As my journey continues east It gets hotter and more humid, after todays adventure I am certainly a little pink, only a little tho.

We arrived In Oaxaca yesterday at around midday, after a five hour bus ride from puebla, I finally feel as if I am in the mexico I have always dreamed of. we walked through the colourful cobbled streets with our heavy packs to the casa... and what a nice surprise.. although all of the pre-arranged accomodation falls into the basic catagorie this place CASA ARNEL, is amazing. it has levels of roof tops complete with views of the colourful city & hammocks, the central courtyard is delightful with native birds and great amounts of natural light.

enough about that, there is a whole beautiful city to describe.
the markets in the Zacolo are amazing.. I have a local woman recognising me from a mile away we have a deal: if I buy her expencive hand made dress that I have been drooling over.. she will allow me to Photograph her and her wares.

I did the neccesary tasting of a chilli Grasshoper - to me it just tasted like a spicey rice cracker. And after a tour of Oaxaca lead by our delightful guide Milton,
It was 4 of us off to get lost in this town... which of course ended up at a very cool small local Bar sipping on 50 peso litre margharitas... yumm. Being 4 aussies the local boys in the bar put on quite a show for us, one of whom - Alfonzo, has asked me out tonight. haha

Todays adventure was the best yet... starting with a bumpy bus journey through some mountain towns littered with working goats and ox and mexicans wearing white Cow boy hats to keep the hot sun off them.. the journey led us to the petrified waterfalls that Milton had said were amazing, and they were... after some serious rock climbing around the area in the hot sun, we all dived into the natural mineral pools that sat like a shelf overlooking the lush Mexican landscape. Refreshed, we headed for a local market, had a wander around and got very involved in the making of traditional Qusadillas. yumm and so so cheap.





We then whent to the Mescal factory.. tasted the product at each stage of the process.. very cool. The Mexicans do everything so slowly and Organically the pulp of what is called the Pineapple of the agave cactus is even pulped by a horse dragging a very heavy wheel. We tasted a few to many of the products ( I note... it is funny, before leaving for a trip like this all I heard about were all of the things to avoid eating - it seems that most of the things I experience are going straight into my mouth... including the sweet fermented pre-pulped agave cactus)

Now the absolute highlight of today... going to the Zapotec old town to see the colourful handmade carpets being made. We were graciously shown each step of the process by a beautiful older man, who let me have a go at brushing the newly shared wool (said I could stay and work for him, given how much I love Oaxaca I probably would consider) He showed us the natural dying process encorporating, indigo, marigold and a fungus that grows on the cactus to create cochineal, also the adding of lemon (acid) or bicarb (alcoline) to increase or change the intensities of th reds. Then the weaving process aswell. It truly was a great experoince to see what goes into a rug. I was so swept up in the experience that I purchased a colourful Mat for $1500 peso... the kind of money that can get me through 10 days in mexico. I love the mat though.. My guess is that my local market woman would be dissapointed to know that this means I will not be buying her dress. And the truth is that i snuck a shot of her with my zoom lens when she was un-aware.