Monumento de la Revolucion y el Castillo de Chapultopec

Brand new park opened up with crazy cool fountains and statues.

They love their disco lights here.  Every bar, every park...just everywhere!

View from the top of the monument of the revolution.

In Chapultopec park--its massive, you could spend a week there alone.  There are like 10 museums, the zoo, a little lake you can go paddling in and lots and lots of trees.

The castle of Chapultopec used to belong the Spanish royalty.  When they went back to Europe, it became the residence for the president of the country.  In the 1930s the president donated it to be turned into a national history museum and moved the official residence.

There are a ton of balconies and gardens and fountains and turrets and courtyards, and it sits quite high up so you can overlook the city.

Teotihuacan, Templo Meyor, Casa de Trotsky

Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacan.

Temple of the Moon

Sculls uncovered at Templo Meyor.

Cool skull art underneath a bridge in Coyoucan.

Pyramids at Teotihuacan were amazing.  Today we checked out the ruins that the Catherdral on the main Zocalo was built on top of, and then we went to Coyoucan to see Trotsky´s house, the market, and the Zocalo de Coyoucan.

Oaxaca Day Trip

 I went on a tour to the world´s biggest tree, and then we saw how artisan goods were made, were taken to a Mezcal factory to see the process and sample all the flavours, went to petrified waterfalls which were really cool because the sulfur content and limestone deposits in the water are so high, the water solidifies before getting to the bottom.  Finally we went to Mitla, wandered around the market, and the tour group tried to con us into having an expensive buffet dinner by taking us to a restuarant in the middle of fucking nowhere, but Sam and I just wandered along the highway and found a local soccer match going on that we watched while the others ate.  When we got back into the city, a bunch of us went back to the cool tapas bar\microbrewery and had a delicious dinner with some great beers.

The biggest tree in the world.

Demonstration on how they make artisanal goods, from spinning the wool, to dying the fabric, to making the products on the loom.

 Mezcal factory.

Petrified water falls.

Soccer match with a stunning backdrop.

Oaxaca City (cont'd)

Thursday I met up with Sam again for breakfast in the market.  Zsuzsa had told us about this delicious corn and chocolate drink, but we had forgotten the name of it, and ordered the wrong thing...it was this kind of sweet, starchy watery beverage that we each had about 3 sips of before calling it quits haha.  We had some delicious tamales, and then found out the actual drink was called champurrado and ordered that.  If you ever have a chance to try it, I would definitely recommend.  Then we wandered about the city for a bit and saw a few churches and gardens and then went to this massive ex-convent which has been converted into a historical Museum.

Both the architecture and the content of the museum were really interesting.  There were like 3 courtytards, and if I could have lived there, I may have decided to be a nun back in the day.

After this, we went to this really cool tapas bar/microbrewery.  We had already eaten a pretty lack-lustre meal (should the fact that the restaurant had been empty have been a sign?), so we didn't try the food, but the beers were really yum.  I tried a mango beer, and Sam had a red ale called Catalina, which had a really cool Day of the Dead label.

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!