Oaxaca is amazing. On Friday 13th September, I got a 7 hour bus from Mexico City. The journey took us through the mountains of central Mexico and the scenery was absolutely amazing. Surprisingly, the bus managed to get through the winding mountain roads and we arrived in Oaxaca at 4pm.
To give it it’s proper name, Oaxaca de Juarez is the capital city of the Oaxaca region. This is one of the more fascinating regions in Mexico. This is because it is the one most closely tied to the indigenous people. There are 16 different dialects spoken just within Oaxaca itself.
Day 1 in Oaxaca
As I arrived in the afternoon, I managed to have a little explore of the city in the evening. Immediately I had a better impression of Oaxaca than I did Mexico City. The houses are all painted different colours, there is constant music playing and there is just a much nicer atmosphere to the city.
Day 2 in Oaxaca
Today was a very chilled one as I wasn’t feeling the best. I just slowly wondered around town, went to a few markets and just took in the city a little bit. In the afternoon I was super tired so I just sat at the pool in the hostel and watched the mighty Chelsea play. The evening however was really cool. I sat around at the hostel bar meeting some of the other travellers. Weirdly there are loads of French people at this hostel. In fact I am the only non-French speaker in my dorm. Anyway, later in the night we actually went to a hidden speakeasy inside of a Church. It was for sure one of the coolest bars I’ve been to! It specialised in Mezcal (the better version of Tequila) and so we met loads of cool Mexican Mezcal enthusiasts which was super interesting.
Day 3 in Oaxaca
What a big day this was. Independence Day. In the morning, I went to Tlacolula market with 3 others from the hostel. Luckily one of the guys I met the day before is from Mexico and he has a car so essentially we had our very own tour guide. Tlacolula market is about 45 minutes from Oaxaca city and is definitely worth a visit. I think markets are all relatively similar across the world but each country has their own little spice to it. When we got back the celebrations began. It started off with a lil pool party at the hostel – everyone was in a really good mood, the sun was shining, the music was good so it was really good fun.
A few of us then made our way to a Mezcal exhibition which was being held by some of our Mezcal enthusiast friends. The night took a bit of a turn here as we must have tried about 12 Mezcal shots each. I don’t remember a huge amount after this but luckily I took loads of pictures and videos to jog my memory.
We left the exhibition and went back to the hostel for some more drinks but the real highlight of the night were the celebrations in the town square. There must have been 10,000 + people in the city. It was amazing. There was a light show, speeches by the Oaxaca governor, the Mexican president, a live concert and an amazing fireworks display. It felt like everyone in the city went to this one club after the party in the city was finished. I don’t remember a single thing from it except that it was JAM PACKED. Easily the best night of the trip so far …
Day 4
Not a fun morning. We were all festering in bed until about 12 and then finally gathered the energy to try and find some food. By this point we had a really nice group going. Nils from Germany and Johnny from Mexico, and also 2 German girls we had met the night before, Ellen and Lina. We went into town for the famous 20th November Market BBQ. It’s safe to say it did not disappoint. After a few hours if chilling and chatting in the town square, we all left Oaxaca and Johnny drove us down to the beach town, Puerto Escondido. Johnny is an absolute legend. This was the drive of nightmares.
It was absolutely chucking it down, lightning, thunder, you name it. Ohh, not the mention, the mountains that the road cut through were crumbling onto the road as we were driving. At one point we weren’t sure we were actually gonna make it to Puerto, But eventually, after a long and tiring journey (especially for Johnny) we did make it to the hostel. Because we all desperately needed some rest, we just grabbed a beer and went straight to bed.
Oaxaca Part 2
Before heading to Veracruz to meet Johnny’s family, we decided to stop over in Oaxaca again. There were a few reasons for this. We wanted to see the Monte Alban ruins, Nils and Johnny wanted to speak to a few Mezcal producers for their own business, and just because it is pretty much halfway between Puerto Escondido and Veracruz.
Day 1
We arrived in Oaxaca at about 3pm and went straight to the Monte Alban ruins. These were the first pre-hispanic ruins I had seen on my trip and I wasn’t disappointed. The ancient Zapotecas had somehow managed to flatten the top of the mountain and built a huge city on it. The sheer man hours and craftsmanship is staggering to even think about. Amazingly, the ruins are still in great condition and some of the temples almost look as if they were built 10 years ago, let alone 1000 years ago. If all of the ruins I see are going to be like this, then I’m in for a treat.
Day 2
The boys went off on their Mezcal tour and I chose to stay at the hostel as I needed a bit of a relaxed day. We had spent the last week or so doing all sorts and drinking every night so today I thought I would take a break. It doesn’t make for a very exciting read but I just caught up with my social media and wrote a few of these blog posts. It was definitely the right decision as I feel much more refreshed.