23 January 2010 - Those Damned Cucarachas...

Although Puerto Escondido provided a beautiful beach (an isolated cove down 140 steps from the headland) our accommodation there was not quite as salubrious. At first glance our room seemed excellent, almost like a small apartment with a separate living area, a fridge and our own bathroom. However whilst having a beer in the bar on our first evening, other guests were complaining of cockroaches and other creatures in the ceilings of their rooms. Sure enough, when we turned in for the night, we found that several large cockroaches (about the length of fun size Mars bars) had emerged from the wooden rafters above our bed. Having made our best attempts to deal with them (using bug spray) we then put together our mosquito net in order to prevent ourselves being rudely awakened by falling roaches in the night. What followed was a night of fitful, but thankfully 'roach free sleep.

We toughed it out for one more night (as we had paid up front) and then were very glad to get out of there. We caught a taxi to the small coastal village of San Augustinillo and as soon as we arrived the contrast couldn't have been more pronounced. We secured a nice beach front room looking out onto waves crashing onto a more or less deserted beach. It was a little slice of paradise and a place that felt like it wouldn't stay small and undiscovered for long.

We wiled away two days snoozing in hammocks, sun bathing and playing in the sea and generally having the sort of experience that I'd hoped for when we headed towards the coast. I've never been one for beach holidays, but San Augustinillo definitely brought home why so many people find them appealing.

19 January 2010 - More bus adventures...

Just a quick one to note another hair raising bus journey, this time through the mountains that separate Oaxaca from the coast. We drove for six hours on a large minibus and the vast majority of the time was spent on mountain roads perched over some very deep valleys. Add into the mix a bus driver happy to talk on his mobile phone whilst overtaking four vehicles and approaching the brow of a hill, leg room sufficient only for your average Mexican (who is generally smaller than 6' 3") and two hours sitting next to a sleeping old lady who nuzzled into me more at every bend in the road and you have the recipe for quite a fraught journey. We will need some time at the beach to recover.

18 January 2010 - I Don't Like Cricket...

Lisa's cold finally cleared up and allowed us to get on the road again to Palenque - the site of another set of Mayan ruins. Whilst the Chichen Itza ruins were impressive, Palenque was much more fun. Huge stone buildings rise from jungle covered mountain slopes and we were more or less free to explore as we chose, which meant lots of climbing of stone pyramids.

On leaving the ruins came the part of the journey that Lisa and I had been viewing with some trepidation for the last few days - the 15 hour night bus to Oaxaca. Despite the frequent stops, very bumpy and twisting roads (on which our driver decided frequent overtaking was necessary) and inspections of the bus by soldiers, I managed to secure a pretty healthy six or seven hours of sleep. Lisa fared less well. The journey for her consisted of a running battle with the portly Mexican gentleman in front who kept trying to recline his seat further and further in spite of the presence of Lisa's knees. I soundly slept through all of this. So it was that we arrived in Oaxaca with me feeling spritely and refreshed enough to keep Lisa from falling asleep in her breakfast.

We are currently on our third day in Oaxaca and are both enjoying it greatly - if there was a Mexican city built for us then this would be it: huge chaotic markets, lots of delicious street food (I had a tomatillo tamale which was incredible), hot chocolate like none I've ever tasted and a general feel of friendly bustle. We decided to be adventurous at the markets and tried some dried crickets (palatable but far from delicious - see picture) and cheese ice cream (not really very nice at all), but it was all fun voyage of discovery.

From here we're heading to the Oaxaca coast for some time at the beach - it's a hard life this traveling lark.

P.S.Last night, we went out to the cinema to see Avatar (which we've long been hunting for in English) and were blown away by the 3D and the incredible way the movie looked. We'd been kicking ourselves for missing it in the States, so it was really nice to have a night at the movies.