Oaxaca – A Festive Start

Flash Forward

Well, it’s been ~6 weeks, and I’ve come to realize that it’s going to be a lot more difficult to keep this up (particularly with photos) than I had originally thought! I’m still intending to do some catch-up posts on my U.S. road trip portion, but for the sake of not feeling overwhelmed, I’m going to start with the beginning of the international portion, and try to get up-to-date there first.

What Am I Doing In Mexico?

Well, the easy answer is that Mexico is the first country going south from the U.S., which seemed like a good place to start. The longer story is that towards the end of my road trip, while I was taking in some fine evening stars through the sheer ceiling of my tent in Zion NP, I was chatting with Sarah about how tired I was feeling, and as the weather started to get a bit chillier (early October), that I was craving some beach time. I thought I might spend my first couple weeks after my interlude in NYC on a small beach in Mexico somewhere. Thoughts of Andy Dufresne and Red came to mind (just watching that clip gives me feels). Anyway, Sarah suggested a yoga retreat, certainly that would be rejuvenating, but aren’t they super expensive?

Short answer: yes.

I spent an afternoon looking into this, and found a place in Mazunte, Mexico, where a friend of mine from HK / NYC, Christine, had actually spent some time a few years ago. The center, Hridaya Yoga, came up on a yoga retreat search engine, and it just seemed too good to be true. Not only was it in a quiet Pacific Coast beach town, but it was maybe 10x cheaper than comparable retreats, basically mirroring my budget for an entire month as-is. I asked Christine to confirm whether this was, in fact, a legit place (she did). A couple of days later, I was booked! For 23 days, at just under $600, I would be immersing myself in an intensive Hatha yoga and meditation retreat.

But Why Male Models?

Looking at how to get there, most suggested a 6-hr bus from Oaxaca, a great city south of Mexico City, and capital of Oaxaca state, that I’d stayed in for a few days on my last trip to Mexico in 2015. Amazing tacos, mezcal and chocolate? Those were enough reasons for me, so I booked my flight into Oaxaca, with the added bonus of getting to hopefully witness some of the renowned Dia de Los Muertos festivities at the end of October.

Packing Up

First some housekeeping, mostly to make me laugh in a few months when I try to cut this all in half to lighten the load. What did I bring?

• Essentials
  • Passport – even my old one, as it turns out you can use unexpired visas from an expired passport (thanks, Mom!)
  • Credit cards (only a couple!)
  • Charles Schwab debit (if you’re not using this, even in the U.S. you’re missing out)
  • Drivers license
  • MetroCard (mostly as a keepsake)
  • $100 cash scattered in different places of my bags
  • First aid kit (had to use it for a small cut our first day in Denali actually)
• Toiletries
  • First time I’ve had to pack a year’s supply of contacts
• Clothes
  • 7 t-shirts, 8 underwear, 5 socks, hiking pants, athletic shorts, casual shorts, bathing suit, thermal base layers (top and bottom), fleece shell, light puffer jacket, rain jacket, hat, gloves
• Sneakers, hiking boots, strap sandals
• Utilities
  • Leatherman multi-tool
  • Vacuum-seal deflatable bags (great for clothes)
  • Plastic bags of various sizes
  • Carabiners
  • Laundry line
  • Laptop + external HD
  • Kindle
  • Lots of chargers, converter, USB battery, surge protector, extra headphones
  • Camera, 11-18mm, 24-120mm lenses, extra battery
  • GoPro (lots of diving in my future!)
  • Journal (thanks, Damun!)
  • Duct tape
• Sundries
  • Sunscreen, bug spray, tea
  • 1L water bottle + 1L insulated thermos
  • Post-its, pens, sharpie
  • Water purification solution
  • PB squeeze packs (thanks, Jen!) and protein bars (I have a fear of being hungry)

This all fit in my ~60L hiking pack and 22L backpack. I didn’t weigh my day pack, but the hiking pack clocked in at just shy of 40 lb. This will need to go down over time, realistically, or I’ll just have really strong legs and shoulders. Not mad about either outcome.

Good To Be Back, Oaxaca

I left NYC on October 26, after 6+ years of residency and the site of my immediate post-college life. En route, I stopped in Mexico City, which was quite a treat on the way in (see photos). I had a quick bite and beverage at the AmEx lounge (yes, I’m continuing some of the credit card / points shenanigans as I travel, as necessary). Then, a short ~1-hr flight into the afternoon sun of Oaxaca.

It was pretty cool to be starting off (again, you could say) on this journey in a place I’ve been before. Ultimately, it was exactly what I needed – some down time in a city I sorta knew, see a couple friendly faces and then continue on towards Mazunte.

Christine’s sister Nicola, coincidentally, has lived in Oaxaca for a few years, and I spent some time with her here in 2015 – she basically showed me all the best taco and tlayuda places, for which I am forever grateful. This time around, I ended up staying with a friend of hers, Carolina (originally from Tijuana), who had an extra room for rent near their apartment. Cheaper than a dorm bed, private, and with access to a new friend? It was a no-brainer.

After I arrived, Carolina, Nicola, her partner Mariana, and I went out for tasty dinner. I had a new item for me called a tostada, which basically a different formation of the key Mexican ingredients – tortilla, beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa – with pollo guisado, which is just fabulous.

The next day, I spent the morning at Monte Albán, a historic set of ruins just outside the city from the Zapotec civilization, dating back to 500 BC. It was an easy 30-min bus ride from the city out, and I spent a couple hours perusing the grounds, and trying hard to translate the signs, as their English translations were often missing / mixing a lot. Despite the weather being quite comfortable in Oaxaca (sunny and 70s), the ruins always seem to be hotter, and with no shade. Even having seen several ruins of various cultures before, these were indeed quite impressive – well-preserved, huge, varied and quite a large area covered.

I spent most of the afternoon around Parque Llano, which apparently has a fiesta every Friday with food stalls, music, and even a bounce house. Lots of kids were out with their parents, and later in the afternoon a freestyle rap battle emerged behind the bench I was reading on. I noticed it mostly because of the beats that I recognized being played on repeat, and then turned to see some guys going at it. If only I could understand the jabs being thrown! Next time 🙂

I finished reading the tome of Seven Eves, which was the first sci-fi I’d read in a while, and would give it a solid thumbs-up. It was long, and although I feel like some of it was drawn out, the story was really fascinating and I definitely enjoyed the read. Hat tip to Nooch for the recommendation.

I lazed about until nighttime when I met up with Nicola, Mariana and some of their incoming friends for a 35p (~$2) mezcal on the delightful rooftop of La Mezcalerita. The night temps were perfect, right around 60, and we chatted for a bit before heading home, all of us quite tired.

Saturday I hung out at home with Carolina, watching her create some block-print (?) pillow cases for a local non-profit. Among many other artistic pursuits, she sells beautifully-embroidered, traditional-looking blouses with fun designs. I encourage you to check out her products, pretty sure she’d send internationally. In the afternoon, we went with her boyfriend to the main market – Mercado de Abastos – to buy some groceries and also some items for her Dia de los Muertos altar, which most homes have to honor their dead loved ones. They often include photos of the person, flowers (particularly marigolds), pan de muerto, and things the person enjoyed.

I always love to peruse a good market, and this was no exception. Plenty of fresh produce, a meat cart, lunchtime beers and chilis on chilis. We hung around most of the afternoon, and then had a nice little dinner that Carolina prepared of some quesadillas, while we chatted about the perils of English and Spanish grammar, and learned more about each other.

Sunday, I had a tasty breakfast at a cafe nearby and walked down to book my bus ticket to Mazunte for a reasonable 200p (~$10). I spent some time hanging out around the Zócalo (main square), one of my favorites – people-watching, eyeing some of the many teachers who have been tenting there in protest for what seems like years (they were also there when I visited in 2015). This is a very brief article on the subject from a year ago. Then, I took a stroll through the city’s Dia de Los Muertos market, which was super colorful and full of beautiful crafts.

Afterwards, I met up with Nicola and Mariana again to see a small artisan market inside of a bougie space called Estambul Social Club, saw some Muertos preparations at a church, got some lunch at a grouping of stalls called Cosecha, and then headed later on to the non-profit co-working space, where Nicola and Mariana both work, called Convivio, located around Parque Llano. They were hosting an awesome folk concert fundraiser including both local and foreign performers, plus a surprise mariachi set at the end! We capped off the night with street tacos and a crispy crepe-like dessert before saying goodbye.

I’m super grateful to both Nicola and Mariana for letting me leech onto them that weekend, and show me such a good time of food and culture, as always! Thank you!

Monday morning, October 30, I awoke before the sun rose to catch my van to Mazunte. I had my first real test with my bags, as the parking lot where we left from was about a mile away, but thankfully it was slightly downhill. I passed a couple of panaderias that had just opened where I snagged some treats for the road.

There were only 3 others in my van at the start, but as in normal fashion just about everywhere else in the world, we picked up a full load as we exited the city. This route, which took ~7 hours (the alternative was a 12-hr coach bus) was something I’d read about being super treacherous driving, vomit-inducing for some, and dizzying for the rest. I was in the front seat (sometimes squished with another passenger next to the driver), but honestly, it was all fine. I think maybe if you were very sensitive to carsickness and in the back of the van, you’d have some need for anti-nausea medicine, but I did just fine. Or maybe, I just had a great driver, who mostly respected the 30km speed limits around the curves in the mountains of Oaxaca. I spent most of the ride listening to Embedded, which recently put out these fascinating (schadenfreude perhaps?) stories about DT before he was president. I definitely suggest checking them out.

I arrived at Hridaya in the early afternoon, just before our orientation meeting, with enough time to get myself settled in my dorm and change out of my now-sweat-drenched pants and fleece.

My 23-day journey “into the heart” would begin just a couple of hours later.

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