The weekend started off with me doing the regular mission into the city. The square is just such an interesting place to go.. I walk down a different street each time, especially when I have my camera because I take photos of ev.ery.thing. This time I was in luck because I stumbled across a book store... a BIG bookstore.. probably the size of Whitcoulls which for here, is big! I was so excited because I have only seen a few pokey bookstores in PV (mainly with learn to speak english, Religious and cooking books) or else stalls with books in the bus stations.
Anyways, I went upstairs where there was a GLORIOUS SALE (Note; my fave things to buy are books and bargains so there is no better combo)... the books they were trying to get rid of were mostly either crappy, damaged or from the 80s BUT, what do book stores here have that no one here wants? Learning-Spanish-books! The prices started from 40c, 90c-~1.40.
For like ~$4·80 I walked away with 7 Spanish learning books and a Lonely Planet for the Eastern states of Mexico. Awesome.
I wandered the streets again that night, the markets were full swing! I also found a nice English and Spanish book shop where I bought a small Spanish book in English - finally I will knoe what is going on!
I found a second-hand jewellery and silver shop which is my new favourite place. I am getting old pendents which I plan to make into earrings and necklaces. Silver is really goof here, because it is from here and the other state nextdoor is famous fro it, and apparently it is really cheap there. It is all by the gram.
On Saturday, you may recall, I was planning on heading to the Monte Alban, but in the morning it was raining... so instead I looked over the exam information (I am supposed to take an exam in November for Spanish but it is looking more and more unrealistic everyday...), then I headed for the North of town just to walk around and discover. I walked past 3 ´vegetarian´restauarants, either advertising carne, aka meat, or had a photo in the window with a huge beefy burger. I couldn´t understand why they weren´t understanding the name Vege but now I think they have to sell meat dishes just to survive... vegetarians are scarce here, I think they were just jumping on a tourist trend. Instead I got an incredible juice - these Oaxacans know their juices and smoothies, and the lady took all the fruit right of the display andjuiced it all infront of me.
I was walking in what I thought was the right direction, until I found myself on the highway, but the wrong part... I didn´t recognise anything around me. Turns out I had memorised the picture of the map in my head the wrong way, because the map is different ... what normally would be shown as north is actually east.. it is hard to explain but afterwards when I was studied the map, my confidence in my skill of always taking the right direction was restored.
But alas, i ended up in the south of the map, when I do live in the South, but on the map I live in the East.... confusing.
I walked on the highway for a while, on what I knew was the right direction, those cars go fast! I thought it was dificult to cross the roads in the crossroads near my house (which it is because they don´t have 4 roads, they have 8 plus!!), but crossing the highway is near impossible. I stumbled across a crosswalk at last, but it didn´t light up for a good 5 mins.. and I am not stepping out onto these highways... the cars here speed till the last second then slam on the breaks - I am suprised I haven´t seen any crashes.
Anyways when it started to rain I found shelter (well, it was more that I am really wanting Chickpeas, my staple food in PV.. and can´t find them anywere) in the BIGGEST and MOST CROWDED supermarket I have ever regretted stepping in - but it was actually an experience.. with so many people (odd i thought, for 8.30pm Saturday) it reminded me of the Warehouse on Boxing Day circa 2003, back before they were classy and you were just walkingg on clothes that were strewn on the ground... this wasn´t quite as bad but I did see flying rice, kids just eating the bakery products, nappies drop from the sky... wait - I saw something I have never seen in my life.. the Supermarket was selling clothes and baby products as well, and right next to the helmets - rifles. RIFLES! I couldn´t believe it.
Side note: The scariest thing to not happen in real life and not in my dreams (for a straight week I have had awful dreams, where people are getting murdered, buried alive and one where I was shot and stabbed twice... don´t ask me what this means for dream readers), was on my last night in PV - I don´t know if I wrote this in another blog but I was walking home from my teachers house and there was a truck with Policemen with guns in the back and one raised his gun directly at me : fright number one. That creeped me out, and then when I walked next to it (keeping my distance), the truck made a noise similar to a backfire.. i almost dropped to the ground.. I did experience what ¨Weak at the knees¨means.
On leaving the supermarket experience (while I was inside the light rain turned to POUR), I went to a bus ticket office and asked if the guy had a map of the area.. he didn´t. I asked if he knew my street - he didn´t (no suprise, no one does). I said it is near a Graveyard, he asked which one, I didn´t know. Both were far... we went on this way for about 10 mins until I realised that he had no idea where we are in comparison with anything!
I continued in the rain and got there eventually, after passing the craziest intersection of all times with all the crazy flooding and pitch blackness... I was so cold...
That is okay, because Sunday was adventure day... we started off with The Famous Arbol, in Santa MARIA, over 2000 years old and apparently has the widest trunk in the world... they thought it was the oldest in the world until some Californians ruined that for them, the French guy on the trip went Í bet they have older and bigger in NZ¨.. I think bigger is definately possible, I didn´t realise what we were looking at coz the tree looked pretty normal to me... it wasn´t tall but it is abnormally shaped. Next stop was a indigenous house/factory where they make traditionally weaved cloths.. .it is VERY cool, because they still use natural dyes, which I thouht HAD to be fake because of the bright colours but alas, todo natural!
The oranges come from flowers and the reds from the insides of bugs that feed on the cactus.. it was all so interesting! The wool comes from a plant that they rub with water and then work on these large brushes (Similar to Patsi´s cat brushes) to make it into wool (similiar to Patsi´s hair on the brushes) Increble! Then it is spun on an ol´spinner, so old I never learnt the word for it coz I think I have only seen one in Broadgreen house or Founder´s park, and they follow a pattern on the large ´machine´made from string and wood and controlled with their feet.
Next stop was a Mezcal ´factory´which was very different to the high-class Jose Cuervo plant in Tequila, this was where they burned the Agave plant in a hangi really, as opposed to the advanced ovens in Tequila. It was very small and local, I don´t know how they even managed to make all the Mezcal they were trying to sell... (Side note: Tequila is technically a type of Tequila, but is only produced in Tequila, and uses a different type of Agave plant to Tequila, ´Sword Agave´, as opposed to ´Blue Agave´... it also has a higher alcohol content to Tequila... Unlike Tequila, only made in one town, there are 4 or 5 states that produce Mezcal but Oaxaca makes 40%) You didn´t expect education did you? Back to the interesting information, like how I attempted to eat another bug. So, in Mezcal bottles it is tradition to but a live bug... don´t know what type.. they offered them for us to try, I guess it was a joke as they were creeped out when I was game, but they are impossible to chew. Similar to a liquid capusual of medicine that has punctured and the liquid has drained out. Very plasticy, nothing inside.
The weird thing about this whole tour is that their were LOTS of different tours at the same time, ALL going to the same places.. I thought it was ridiculous whn there were a lot of factories showing doing the weaving and lots of Mezcal factories.. and then couldn´t believe when all these same tourists showed up at the same restaurant.. all a big conspiracy... it must be the same company, and that restaurant must be the richest in Oaxaca because it´s the most expensive I´ve been to, and we didn´t have a choice! I couldn´t believe it - the tour guide said he ´recommends it´but I think that he gets to eat free and the company gets commission. But the buffet was fabulous...... I tried all the Moles and discovered my fave, although I can´t recall the name.. It must be the only one not named after colour!
After eating we headed to the beautiful town of Mitla. This has some ruins which were nice, but I´ve been to Cambodia so I don´t think I can me amazed again.. it is wise to leave Angkor to the Grand Finale in life... I don´t know if I want to visit new places now that I´ve been there... I only want to go back. What I like here, is that they don´t charge the huge prices that Angkor gets away with (I wonder where that money is spent... but don´t let me start on Cambodia). Anyways, Mitla was neat, the ruins were small but intricate.. what is interesting is that they have had a lot of earthquakes over time and the ruins have always sustained because they had information about building buildings to sustain that have only just come to light for engineers recently... about how the pieces of stone fit together, in the right direction with about 2 mm apart without glue (or other holding materials).
There is a few underground parts where people were buried but they were raided a long time ago because as the guide explained, the town was built right around the ruins so they have never been abandoned.
At this stage it awas about 4pm, I thought we were finished and heading home, but we stopped at a market. The market was very neat, they shut oen this whole other town for it each sunday, where people come from the mountains, villages and other towns to sell there goods. It was so neat and very interesting.. especially with the many different indigenous clothing that they wear. Althought I wish i I could take photos, it is hard to from afar (!) and I didn´t want to make anyone angry. Our guide said some people may think a photo of them takes their spirit... I wasn´t about to be the one with that on my shoulders!!!
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