After packing and re-packing the rucksacks again, we checked out then had some breakfast. After breakfast we took a taxi to the bus station. This gave us brief glimpses of the spectacular volcano, Popocatepetl. We arrived at the bus station aiming to catch the 12:50pm bus to Oaxaca.

We arrived at 12:30pm and headed straight to the ticket desk where we were told that the bus we wanted was fully booked, to compound our misery the one after that was also full leaving the next available one at 7:45pm!! Fortunately there we were told that there was another bus company that served the Oaxaca route so we rushed over to their desk where we were told their next departure had spaces but was not until 3:45pm. This would mean 3 hours to hang around the bus terminal.

There was not much to do in the bus terminal, we found a seat and dumped our rucksacks. We spent the next 3 hours reading, wandering around the few shops and generally watching the world go by.

At 3:30pm we headed to the gate to board the bus, and as we boarded the heavens opened and a torrential downpour commenced. The bus was very comfortable considering it was second class, and would take, we guessed, about 4 hours to reach Oaxaca. We left Puebla and climbed into the mountains, the scenery was breathtaking, just as we imagined Mexico to be; mountains covered in forests of cactus.

At one of the toll booths along the way there were several people wandering among the queues of vehicles holding small puppies in their arms trying to sell them to the drivers. At another of the toll booths a woman boarded carrying two baskets, she then proceeded down the aisle of the bus selling tacos, filled with either meat or rice garnished with a green sauce, which she made to order and sold to the passengers on the bus.

After a couple of hours, to our surprise, we left the motorway and headed through a town to reach a bus station. As it turned out this was the one and only stop on the route at Tehuacan, we where there for about 15 minutes, and before we left about 20 extra people boarded the bus, which was surprising as there were only a couple of seats free, therefore many of them ended up standing for the next 3 hours!

At about 9pm we eventually reached Oaxaca and were dropped outside the town centre at the companies bus terminal where we fortunately managed to get a taxi to take us to the Zocalo. We were dropped in an area where there were several hotels, we looked around a few and eventually found a reasonably priced but nice one, called the Hotel Francia for 250 MXP a night.

After checking in we wandered into the Zocalo and sat outside a restaurant on the square and had a very nice meal. During the meal there were numerous approaches to our table by people, from young children to old women, with all manner of goods for sale!

Oaxaca is one of the main tourist orientated cities in Mexico. It is a colourful, charming city, and in 1987 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by the Spanish in 1521 on a Zapotec/Mixtec settlement.

After breakfast in the Zocalo we headed to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca (Museum of Contemporary Oaxacan Art). The Museum was quite interesting, there were some good black pen cartoons and a display of textiles. However there was also the usual selection of obscure pieces which probably mean something to somebody somewhere!

Next up was another museum, this time the Museo Rufino Tamayo, a private collection of pre-Hispanic art which is now on display to the public.

This was a lot more interesting, there was an excellent collection of Olmec objects, with their signature strange shaped bodies and heads which we found out were caused by deliberate deformation when young. We wandered around for a while before spending some time using the Internet.

We then walked around town and wandered into the market where amongst other delicacies there are edible spicy crickets for sale. They sell them by weight, they look almost like red powder, it is only when you look close up can you make out the crickets' features!

Dinner was at a small Mexican place where we both tried soup, followed by chile relleno (a large pepper filled with minced meat, also available in Peru) which was very good. It then started to pour down again as we headed back to the hotel.

Oaxaca 2