update time. here i am writing from oaxaca city, mexico, and boy has it been an adventure to make it here. upon leaving san cristobal de las casas, the girls and i stopped at the arcotete on our way out. it’s a natural arch formed out of rock with caves at the top and a tranquil river flowing through it. it was worth the little detour, even though it took only 10 minutes to explore the place... it was isolated and very peaceful.
from there, my goal was to head towards tuxtla and get as close to mazunte (beach!!!) as possible, although i knew i probably wouldn’t make it that night due to the distance. well, upon arrival in tuxtla, i quickly found myself amidst huge protests and road blocks. a trip that should have been no more than 2 hours took me 6 hours to get through, mostly because i kept thinking i was lost, when really the road blocks were just throwing everything off. at one point, i was in a line of cars who-knows-how-many-hours-long and the protesters were letting people through one-by-one, inspecting each car and it’s passengers. although i’m not 100% clear what was going on or what they were looking for, some people they let pass with a smile and a nod and others got their windows bashed in with huge rocks (yes, while the people were still inside!!) and bright red spray paint sprayed all over their vehicle. luckily, gringos were no problem and i was let right through with a smile and lots of comments about my guatemalan license plates. it was terrifying, but ended up being okay.
when i finally got out of tuxtla i was frustrated and exhausted beyond belief, so i didn’t make it very far. i drove another 2 hours, just to cut down on the morning’s drive a bit, and pulled over at the first hotel i found. it was a dump, but at least i felt that the car was safe and the room was safe, so i slept as long as possible and packed up early to go. i don’t even know what town i was in.
the next morning, i drove straight to mazunte. the girls who owned the place i stayed in in san cristobal recommended that i stay here instead of puerto escondido because of the million reasons why it is better: less commercial, more authentically mexican, more beautiful beach, great food, etc. they ended up being right about everything. i really thought mazunte was a little-known slice of heaven. this day was my birthday, so i treated myself to a nice fish dinner, 2 x 1 mojitos, and an ice cream. that was the extent of my celebration- hah! much to my disappointment, the dogs hated the ocean. the waves (admittedly huge ones) terrified them and they kept trying to lick the sand off themselves. very different from the romantic vision i had in my head of them running free in the surf and playing in the water. oh well, we tried. i had planned to stay 2 nights, but only ended up staying one, mostly because i thought that it was just too hot for the dogs. even after the sun had set, they were panting and seemed really uncomfortable. so, we did as much walking around as we could and then set out early the next morning.
on the way to oaxaca, we stopped in puerto escondido (i had to at least see it!) for a coffee and some souvenirs (aka, a hammock for ME!) the girls were right again- puerto escondido was too big, busy and with high rise hotels and a dirtier beach. i much preferred mazunte - everything there seemed family-owned, locally-made, etc etc.
now is where disaster strikes in the lovely road-trip story thus far. i left puerto escondido with a 90% full tank of gas as i headed north towards oaxaca. always on road trips like this when i get below half of a tank, i start looking for gas stations... which is exactly what i did. i couldn't understand why each and every one i passed was closed. i was very confused, but kept thinking there would be another one close by. my gas got dangerously low and i started to get worried. usually, guys sell big plastic bottles of gas on the sides of the roads throughout guatemala and mexico, and i even started looking for that, but found nothing. when my gas light had been on for at least 20 miles, i pulled into the next (closed) gas station and asked around with the locals what the heck was going on. they told me that the protesters were blocking the distribution of gas throughout the country. yes, the same protesters in tuxtla! UGH, ok, i thought... but i didn’t quite process how serious that situation was for me. i was close to oaxaca, but i thought for sure, 100%, that my car would run out of gas before arriving. i assessed my options- wait in the gas station until there’s gas (who knows how long that would be), stop at the next hotel (in the middle of nowhere), try to make it to oaxaca with fingers crossed. i did a little bit of two options in the end- i drove to the entrance of oaxaca and stopped at the gas station there (it was about 5:15pm at this point). after talking to the attendants, they told me gas would arrive that night, although they had no idea at what time. i said okay, i have no choice... at that point, i had driven 65 miles with the gas light on, i was convinced i couldn’t push it any further. so i waited. 10pm rolls around and police officers come to my car to tell me i am not allowed to sleep in the gas station and that i need to move on. i explained my situation, they were very polite and understanding, but held strong that i needed to leave. he also told me that there would be no gas until monday. MONDAY?!! it was only FRIDAY! AHHH! so at that point, my only option was to go as far as i could, literally. i don’t know what kind of miracle brought me all the way into oaxaca (it only ended up being an additional 3 miles, but that was how little gas i had... i was just WAITING for the sputtering and dying of my engine).
anyways, i made it to oaxaca. another miracle was that somehow i found an awesome hostel right around the corner of where i randomly parked. i thanked my lucky stars about 25 times yesterday. and now i am here until monday, or whenever there is gas.
so today, we woke up and walked all around the city. oaxaca is a UNESCO world heritage site, so it really is not a horrible place to be stuck. the protests are continuing in the central square (i’m only 2 blocks away). there is so much good food to be eaten here, i am trying it all. today i had quesadillas de flor (huge toasted corn tortilla filled with cheese and roasted zucchini flowers) and a memelita (toasted corn tortilla with amazing secret tomato and onion sauce topped with dried cheese). the cheese here is out of this world... it’s so thick and salty and they use it in everything. i also had a leche quemada nieve (snow cone the flavor of burnt milk) ... so yummy! the girls and i hiked up to a look-out point over the city, saw some great street art, saw a live performance of traditional oaxacan dance and dress, walked through the markets, and enjoyed the food. there’s a lot going on here. tomorrow are the elections, people say it will be a lively day.
so come monday i will be buying myself some gas and heading to puebla. until next time!
areudirty
vaporwave
pixelskylines
stormborns
annaxmalina
baratheonpilled
tangentwithtanner
titsay