Sitting on a bench of my favorite brewery and hydrating with beloved Postdoc Sunrise gives more reason to cherish the gorgeous spring time (when it was supposed to be rainy).
Ironically, I have been very tired (perhaps slightly depressed as well) since I’ve gotten back. I don’t think reverse cultural norm is appropriate, not that I jumped in all work grinding either. I can’t even blame on the weather.
From waking at dawn and all day outdoors and evening socializing hours, to now I sleep 12hr day on a weekend and still don’t feel like doing anything. I figure perhaps putting those energetic moments down would help me reconcile the loss. Thus here, I am, writing the remaining weeks of my Mexican trip.
Day 1
Woke up leisurely and took one last roof top photo of the hotel I stayed at. Chatted with a guest that happens to be from WA and who’s on his journey to look for a retirement home. It seems like the political climate has some influence in moving people outside the USA.
After a quick “break”fast (0-calories of course) I started my 1hr bus journey to my next destination Guanajuato
Some interesting thing was there was a lot of police checkpoints. They are for the bike race and of course there was going to be a 10k race in Guanajuato at that weekend as well.
After checking in to my hostal (I have a private room that oversees the valley), I started my afternoon stroll
It’s perhaps not too surprising that there were quite a few Chinese tourists.
I ended up in a supermarket to get some local ingredients to cook myself a soup at night. I do that not to save money, but just to appreciate the local fresh ingredients. How often can you buy poultries in the USA with same day butchering?
The kitchen was small but functional. Especially, it had an induction burner. How incredible!
At night we went out to see the famous “estudiantina”
Lots of Mexican jokes (which my Spanish wasn’t good enough to comprehend)
Post the show, we went to sip on some Pulques ($MXN 200)
Day 2
Breakfast is included and my hostal host is an amazing chef
After breakfast, I managed to join an American girl who’s on spring break to do a little mining tour
Later in the evening I joined a Tunnel tour done by a Spanish guy from Madrid
we ended up our evening at
Interestingly the other guest who did the night tunnel walk tour with me is also from Seattle. Though, she’s bulgarian by heritage and was shocked that I spoke very highly with my recent travel to her homeland.
Day 3
Waking up to the gourmet hostal breakfast. Healthy, homemade and all you can eat. What else can you ask for?
After breakfast, I decided to do a little morning walk to a Hacienda
Unsurprisingly, I bumped into the same Bulgarian girl again
went back to the hostal to chill a bit before the sunset hike
Other guests are from Texas. Interestingly, the husband speaks Spanish natively and he’s African American. That came as a surprise before I realized that he’s Puerto Rican.
Our guide actually took one of his friends with him for the hike for abundant of safety. He lived in Southern Oregon as his parents were on an exchanged program for a year, thus acquired his flawless English as a result.
It appeared the sun was shining strong. After chilling a bit at the top and played with our guide’s puppies. We soon started heading down. Sunset happened faster than I realized
Just like that, it’s gone
Not much happened at the hostal, I thought I’ve heard some Mandarin earlier I guess the guests never decided to stay?
Day 4
I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of the breakfast
Managed to find a Canadian to hang out with for the day
Randomly bumped into my guide from the Tunnel’s tour the night before and he helped us getting into the hotel which appeared to be interesting on the Maps
Of course, the small world was that we bumped into our guide again for food.
Decided to go for a sunset walk to down before dinner
Went for some gourmet food
We had a ton more Pulque before calling it a night
Day 5
Embarrassing day that I managed to miss my first flight in life. Purely due to my own stupidity. Not much happened but sorting out the mess, checked into a hotel. Got a few beers and slept early
Day 6
Got up before 4am to make sure I didn’t miss my flight again
Got to my hostal before mid day. Hung out for a bit before heading out for my food tour.
Oaxaca definitely feels way more like the typical backpacker’s destination. Lots of very young europeans kids traveling on a budget.
Don’t know what happened to the other food I’ve eaten. They were really good is what I remember
It was just small talks at night and I ate KFC for dinner. Not much worth mentioning to be honest. Conversations with the typical 19yo Germans get old very quickly. For the first time I’ve met some of the most rude during my entire time backpacking. Let’s just say, girls are difficult.
Day 7
Hiking day for the all famous waterfall
To be honest, nothing really impresses me that much. We have lots of those in the USA and China. The only thing is the “thermal” water is actually cold
The water was still and really dirty so I didn’t take swim. We did some hydration at a nearby shop before heading for a buffet lunch.
Of course, the all righteous europeans whim about not having vegetarian dishes. For some reasons I started to dislike those all German travel destinations. I love the French, in which later I will talk more.
Last stop was Mezcal tasting
Later at the hostal we had Drag show
Then we went out for late night drinks and dinner
Expenses
| Week 56 | Currency: | MXN | 19.9175414 | |||
| Day | Food&Drink | Lodging | Transportation | Other (tickets/tours etc) | Day total | Country |
| 1 | $36.05 | $28.04 | $16.14 | $22.59 | $102.82 | Mexico |
| 2 | $20.78 | $28.04 | $5.52 | $31.25 | $85.59 | Mexico |
| 3 | $21.39 | $28.04 | $0.00 | $19.74 | $69.17 | Mexico |
| 4 | $49.15 | $28.04 | $2.01 | $0.50 | $79.70 | Mexico |
| 5 | $30.63 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $30.63 | Mexico |
| 6 | $29.19 | $12.57 | $45.75 | $27.22 | $114.73 | Mexico |
| 7 | $56.76 | $12.57 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $69.34 | Mexico |
| $243.95 | $137.31 | $69.42 | $101.30 | |||
| Total | Grand Total: | $551.98 |
The adventures in Mexico all look lovely! The home cooked meals also look so amazing and healthy. Hopefully spring and Postdoc sunrises will help you feel better.