Skeletons, grasshoppers and crushed up worms: 3 days in sunny Oaxaca

So the beginning of the halloween period in Mexico saw me taking the 6 and a half hour bus journey through the winding mountains and beautiful scenery to Oaxaca, the state known here in Mexico for incredible food and pretty colonial buildings.

The Mexicans were not wrong. Arriving at 5pm alone, the others not due in until later that evening, I decided to stroll along in search of the hostel which wasn't far away on the map. Being sent out of the station in the apparently right direction I set off on my way. However, seeing that I couldn't recognise any of the roads when I whipped out my giant guide book, I decided to ask a random passer-by the way to the centre. The man was so typically friendly and helpful and walked me to the road my hostel was on, chatting along the way and very excited about my being English and here in Mexico. So despite the consequent news that the others had broken down en route and had no idea when they would arrive, leaving me in Oaxaca alone, I was in a rather happy mood and wandered off into the centre after ditching my heavy backpack in the hostel. The city really is beautiful: the buildings very colonial and very colourful; the zócalo full of green and with bustling cafés and restaurants all around it; markets selling a huge variety of goods from sugared skulls to chilli grasshoppers. I picked a random café in the main square and contentedly sat and had a hot chocolate - made here using proper oaxacan chocolate and milk. Very good. Saw a few parades and chatted to a nice Oaxacan lady who was selling me some things (Christmas secrets) then headed back to the hostel for fear of not being able to find it again in the dark. So I started moping around on facebook waiting for the others but then came the news that they wouldn't be back until ridiculously late so, not wanting to waste away one of the only two nights in Oaxaca, I joined the little tour the hostel had organised with other touristy organisations and headed with a nice lady I met in my dorm to the dinner. The lady gave us a nice little talk about the Day of the Dead and the different traditions they had and how things changed when the Spaniards arrived and then we had hot chocolate and pan de muerto (very traditional of this time of the year - a bit like brioche) followed by tamales, the traditional corn cake things cooked in maize leaf or banana leaf. We were then each handed an item so that we could contribute to their offering to the spirits - I got given some weird ornament showing a skeleton in surgery...

After this, we were given a bunch of flowers and a candle (in order to help adorn the graves in the graveyards we were going to visit) and we were taken to the cemeteries and fed very strong mezcal. Inside the cemeteries there were bands playing and people sat eating and drinking with their dead relatives, some adorning the graves with flowers and candles and laying out food for when the spirit arrives, others just sitting and waiting. As this was the night of the innocent souls (children), there were many children's toys and sweets around. It was really a sight to see, and even though at one point I was wandering around alone in an ancient graveyard past midnight, I wasn't scared because the atmosphere was one of peace; people here have a totally different attitude to the dead than the sombre and fearful one us Brits have - they celebrate the lives of the deceased and rejoice this one day in which their relatives return to visit them. On one grave, there was a big sign that said: "Life, you don't deserve me!" in big bold colours.

The following day after meeting up with everyone for breakfast atole, we went to the Iglesia de Santo Domingo - apparently the most beautiful church in Latin America. The outisde was pretty but as soon as you step inside you're hit by walls upon walls of gold, and stunning carvings and statues of religious figures. Every wall had some sort of gold on it and the building almost appeared to glow. I literally gasped when I saw it.

Following this, we went on to explore several markets, in which we all spent a lot of money and came away with many souvenirs and presents, and also a little scarred from the many phallic objects for sale (which I have sent to many of you and one of which is on facebook if you care to check it out). Outside the market there was a stall selling grasshoppers. Seeing as I'm currently in teh mindset that I have to try EVERYTHING I can, since I'm missing out on a lot of things from not being able to eat meat, and judging that insects fall into the same category as fish (sketchy reasoning, I know), I went for it. The first one I tried wasn't that nice - a bit salty to be honest, but determined to like it, I chose a slightly bigger one, this time chilli flavoured, and I actually quite liked it! Score.

In the evening, Lewis and his friend who lives in Oaxaca took us to eat 'the best tlayudas in Oaxaca' for dinner. This was a little street stall ran by a lady and her assistant Betty - yes, a Mexican called Betty! Tlayudas are massive crispy tortillas that are filled with refried beans, stringy, salty Oaxacan cheese, avocado and tomato, folded in half and cooked a bit like a quesadilla. They are absolutely one of the best things I have ever had in Mexico. And only the equivalent of £1.50. So you don't get to sit at a fancy table with a knife and fork, but a doorway step and multiple napkins works for me (it is a verrrry messy meal). Post-tlayuda drinks in the Casa de Mezcal were interesting. After echar-ing sal y limón to my beer, as is the norm here in Mexico, I wondered why my lips were tingling... Turns out that the salt I had liberally added to my drink contained not only chilli but crushed up worm, for it is customary to drink mezcal with orange and this special salt... OH WELL. For those that don't know, mezcal is a drink made from the same plant that tequila is made from, but tastes a lot stronger. It is also the one they put the worm in. The worm in the tequila is a myth. We then wandered round the main square, saw a few parades and spent the rest of the night in some random bar playing drinking games...

Wednesday morning, the Day of the Dead, we woke up early and headed to El Árbol del Tule - the biggest tree in the world, and at over 2,000 years old, I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the oldest as well. It really was huuge. I was upset we couldn't link hands and form a chain around it as it was surrounded by a fence but to be honest I don't think there would have been enough of us to even get around it. The trunk was huge and not even just a big circle but all oddly shaped and knarly. It was really cool. However, there wasn't much to see one we'd walked around it, and the taxi driver had arranged to wait 45 minutes for us, so we spent the rest of the time sunbathing as it was already really hot.

The taxi driver then took us to the cemetery in Xoxo (no, not hugs and kisses but pronounced [hoho]). It was nice to see the contrast between day and night, because, although beautiful at night with the candlelight, the daytime really was something else. All around were orange flowers (special for the Day of the Dead) and practically every grave was decorated. People were cleaning graves, decorating them, or sprinkling what appeared to be holy water over them. Some were even singing and playing guitar all huddled around the graves of their loved ones.

 

In the evening, we went to the food market for more tlayudas - not as good as the day before and for desert I had the best ice lolly I've ever had - I'm sure it was made of mango purée and had actual pieces of mango in it. Ahh delicious. Since it was the Day of the Dead, there were loads of parades everywhere and lots of street acts, including a clown stand up comedian, indigenous dancing and a danzón (traditional waltz type dancing) competition where people were dressed up. True Mexican style, whilst I was watching the indigenous dancing, a random dude handed me a bit of sugar cane and proceeded to fill it with some leafy mezcal. Seeing as all around me were swiftly emptying their triple shot of free alcohol (the sugar cane was HUGE), I threw away my 'don't take drinks from strangers' moral in favour of participating in Mexican culture and downed it. Wasn't that bad. Also what made me laugh was the number of seemingly group organised parades. It seems that people just got together and thought, yeah let's dance around Oaxaca dressed up, that'll be fun. There was no structure to some of the parades, which consisted of basically echando desmadre por todos lados and going absolutely mental. It looked so fun I wanted to join in, and did once the parade reached the central bandstand, but then, unfortunately, I had to leave to catch my night bus back home. Horrible horrible journey. Arrived back to the sound of cockrels crowing but it was such a good 3 days. I love Oaxaca and am determined to go back again soon - there is just too much to see in one trip!