Oaxca City

I arrived in Oaxaca City on Wednesday, and it is much smaller than I had expected, but it´s a cute city.  There are a lot of artists and young people here and it seems like it has a lot of cool little cafes and bars with great terrasses and courtyards.  The Zocalo is always packed; there are a ton of little stalls, buskers, and people walking around selling goods (including a few 10 year olds selling gum and cigarettes).  On the bus ride in, we passed by a volcano that is always fuming; one of 2 active volcanoes along the route.

They also played Glee on the bus, dubbed into spanish, but with the original english song tracks.  Very bizarre... The buses tend to put on a lot of kids shows, even though the majority of the passengers are adults.

The first day I got in, I walked around the city a bit by myself and then met up with Sam for dinner, and a couple people he met at his hostel.  They were on exchange in Guadelajara from Australia and (Switzerland?) and were really cool.  We went to the market for dinner which was pretty awesome; there's a ton of different stalls that will make fresh Oaxacan food right in front of you.  One of the traditional dishes here is called Mole and is a sauce made of chocolate and chilli and is delicious.

Also, one of the delicacies here is grasshoppers, which I dutifully tried.  It just tastes like all the spices that are put on it, but it was a surprisingly good accompaniment to beer.

After dinner we went to a bar and tried Mezcal for the first time!