i am safe and well and warm in mexico.

flew in on thursday night, stayed in a hostel in mexico city my first night. my cab ride from the airport was pretty exciting - mexico city is surpisingly beautiful, with colorful houses and all these flowering trees everywhere, and people wandering down the middle of the streets selling balloons and snacks... an organ grinder near my hostel, but no monkey. the city is huge though, overwhelming incomprehensibly so. i left the next morning for oaxaca, not ready to tackle such a giant city yet with my terrible spanish and jet-lag. bused to oaxaca friday morning - the city just went on and on and on as far as i could see as we drove out of it. 19 million people!

the ride to oaxaca was beautiful. the outskirts of mexico city went from suburbia to farmland. and then once we hit the state of oaxaca we were up in the mountains with these amazing views, and the hills were covered in cacti as far as i could see...cactus forests i suppose. stunning stunning mountains everywhere. i was so tired but kept forcing myself to stay awake and look at the scenery.

fiona met me at the bus station. we wandered the streets of oaxaca, stopped for an elote - this delicious cob of corn covered in mayonnaise and chili and queso fresco and lime. had some coffee, watched some fireworks which are i suppose a regular event here. went to fiona and hector's friends' house for fondue and wine later. sat outside in a tank top. i can't even begin to describe how nice it is to be WARM. sigh.

the next morning when fiona went to work i wandered to streets of oaxaca. communication problems are becoming commonplace already. my spanish sucks. accidentally ordered an iced espresso. yuck. drank a few sips, ordered an "americano CALIENTE por favor." sigh. ate a taco in the market south of the zocalo. lots of meat. yuck. sigh. wandered some more, lots of art galleries here. a beautiful photography gallery in a beautiful old building. the zocalo was full of pointsettias for sale everywhere. the market was incredibly busy; the touristy part of town with the old colonial buildings is super calm and quiet, and then all of a sudden you wander a few blocks and it's just jam-packed with people. i don't feel as conspicuous here as i did in india. people don't stare at me, for the most part. i do definitely stick out here like a sore thumb but i'm not a freak. but my bad spanish is embarrassing. fortunately i can understand much better than i can speak. all of fiona's roommates of various north american and european backgrounds speak spanish with each other. perfectly, to my ears. i want to speak spanish. SIGHHHH.

but anyways. oaxaca is beautiful.

more later.