Mexico Part II

In perfect symmetry with the first half of my travels through Mexico, the second half begins with a not-so-wonderful bus tale:

In the bus terminal in Puebla while waiting to board a bus to Oaxaca, I innocently began to eat my breakfast and, naturally, drank some water to stay hydrated--which unfortunately makes me have to pee. Generro, a fellow traveler who is on the same bus as us, assures us that ours will certainly have a toilet on it because “all first (primero) class buses have them” and that I can save my fifty cents (yeah, I'm that cheap when I travel) if I can hold it long enough to avoid using the pay toilets in the terminal.

But of course the bus that we are hurriedly herded into isn't equipped with one. And the bus is, surprisingly, almost on time so it’s leaving really soon and my Spanish is too terrible for me to make a good excuse for a quick escape to the pay toilets inside. So I hunker down into my seat, resigned to the fact that I have to hold it.

For the next 5 hours.

Finally, after managing to relax a bit and when I finally stop concentrating on my bladder, I notice a sharp pain emanating from my knees. As it turns out, it’s being caused by the seat in front of me being jammed into my knees. If you thought coach seats in airplanes were cramped, you should try the ones on economy class Mexican buses when they are reclined forcefully into your unsuspecting body. Then, to add to my enjoyment, the child behind me starts to kick my seat. And, finally--to top it all off--as the bus departs from the station and bumps it's way down a road that might as well not be paved, jarring my bladder with every pothole and dip, the child in front of me begins crying. Trish, who has witnessed all of this, is absolutely no help at all and is giggling at my obvious discomfort every time the bus jolted, and chides me for being so cheap as to not pay 50 cents. Next time I'll be sure to pay. It's not worth the torture.

Fortunately, there were no further incidents and Oaxaca turned out to be a really, really good place visit and worth the 5 hours of “fun” that I endured to get there. Oaxaca is home to a variety of interesting things, such as mole sauce (made from chocolate), mezcal (made from God knows what) and a truly wonderful Day of The Dead celebration. We had great timing and managed to get there just as the festivities were really getting started. It’s hard to describe in full but it’s something of a cross between a New Orleans funeral and Halloween—that goes on for four solid days. During the days, the town is festooned with decorations like during Halloween, except in addition there are these elaborate stalls set up in memory of the dearly departed (after all, The Day of the Dead was originally intended to honor/celebrate/mourn the dead). The stalls come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from the truly grand, complete with symbolic pictures drawn with multi-colored sand surrounded by the dearly departed’s favorite food and booze for their trip to the afterlife, to stalls created by the Boy Scouts of America that are surrounded by skulls that look strikingly realistic. I must have missed the skull collecting merit badge when I was a scout.

In the street every night near the central park there were bands marching through the streets playing New Orleans style, Dixie-themed marches, crossed with traditional Mexican tunes (they actually sounded pretty good). Costumed revellers followed shortly behind the musicians and behind them children spread out like ants at a picnic asking for candy from everyone that happened to be watching the parade. And then there were fireworks and free shots of mezcal and food. It was a carnival atmosphere early in the evening and if we wished to join in, the bars and clubs were packed by costumed partiers late into the night. All of which started to blur together after a few too many shots of free mezcal.

Also, when we travelled out into the smaller outlying towns, the traditions were even more interesting. Some locals spent literally the entire year making their costumes which could be extremely elaborate and in some cases topped off with torches, open flames or intestines. And then the townspeople would march behind a local band (much like the ones in downtown Oaxaca) to all the cemeteries--stopping inside to dance until the revellers were too tired to stand. Then, after a few moments of rest they would get up and parade to the next cemetery while another group would poor into the recently emptied graveyard. I wish American Halloween would last for four days. It’s sad that we only get one evening, but I was certainly tired after all the parties and events.

After thoroughly enjoying the Day of the Dead Celebration in Oaxaca, there were only a few more traditions to partake of before we left Mexico: seeing some Mayan ruins, trying the local brew and, of course, getting sick. Trish was more than happy to help out with the second of those three when she found a local street vendor in some nearby town that was selling home-made mezcal bottled in used coke bottles and flavored with some plant that we never quite identified. As we both took shots straight from the bottle praying that we didn't go blind, Trish, proud of her find, exclaimed, "It may smell like paint thinner but it tastes slightly better!" Yum!

The ruins were also easy to find, since it was a short bus ride to a mountain overlooking the Oaxcan valley, and they were quite worth the time to get there. This was my first run in with Mayan Ruins so I had fun scrambling up and down the temples while chasing down the local lizards. It also made for some fun photo opportunities.

That left only my favorite part of every trip to Mexico: a run in with a local parasite. Hooray for projectile vomit and liquefied bowels for the evening! (I'll spare you all the gory details--it wasn't fun) And after that I was pretty much done with Mexico.

I came, saw everything that I was interested in seeing and was still alive in the end. Not a bad first couple of weeks!

Now on to Guatemala for volcano climbing and cheap Spanish lessons. Stay tuned!