It was still raining as we made our way to Puerto Escondido. The roads were flooded and there were small landslides throwing mud, trees and debris onto them blocking the way. The bus stopped at a town near Puerto Escondido but would not go any further because of the blocked roads, but other buses were running so we were changed onto one of those and carried on our way for the next hour or so until we arrived.
Eventually we made it in one piece to find the hostel we had booked was flooded too! They moved us into a dorm room which had remained dry as all the private rooms were being cleaned and dried out. We got some food and chilled out at the hostel for a while before heading into town for dinner. We found a really good restaurant which served the best prawn tacos and cocktails and stayed there for the evening before heading back as it was still raining! We were debating whether to leave the following day, but decided to see what the weather did first.
The next morning the rain had stopped! We had breakfast and headed to the beach, even though it was not really sunny, but at least it was hot. We found a beach shack with good sun beds and chilled out there for the day watching the surfers riding the mexican pipeline as it is known.
The mexican pipeline!
That evening we headed back into town, back to the lovely restaurant we enjoyed so much the night before. However, to our dismay the service was terrible, the staff were different and they got our drinks wrong, then they got the food wrong, which when finally arrived as the correct items was just not the same quality as the night before. We were really disappointed. We made the best of it though and carried on drinking in Barfly, next door. Apparently this is the place to go! It took a while to liven up, but by midnight it started to get busy, and we spent the evening trying out various cocktails on the list, including some made with yogurt which just tasted like a smoothie! We kept complaining to the barman that the drinks were not strong enough and he kept giving us more shots and top ups and leftovers of other peoples drinks as he was making them, and by the end of the night we were both pretty worse for wear and to top it all the rain was back, but that did not stop us dancing out in it on the rooftop terrace!
Yogurt cocktails!!!
Our friendly barman!
Scorpion tequila
Even the dog was dancing!
We dragged ourselves back to the hostel around 4am and I just hit the sack! We had to check out by 12pm the next day and make our way to Oaxaca! The saving grace was we had the front seat on the shuttle bus which was fairly luxurious and we just chilled out for the day and enjoyed the scenery, as this was another 6 hour ride!
local town!
We arrived at Hostel Don Nino, in Oaxaca, around 9pm as it took us a while to get a taxi! It was like a ghost town!!! Well, it was sunday, and a bit late, so maybe that was why, but it seemed very quiet nonetheless. I struggled to even find somewhere to get some dinner, and eventually just ate some street food off of a stall in the park near the hostel, which I have to say was very good and cheap too. We were both struggling now after our big night last night and went straight to bed. The hostel was really nice, described as, like a hotel at hostel prices, which was exactly how it was. It was so clean and new, and the shower was the best I have had in the last year!! I could get used to this again!
In the morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast and then headed out for the day to do some shopping for gifts and see the city. It was a really nice place, with a cathedral, plazas, markets, the usual trappings of the colonial cities. Our hostel was right next to the park, with fountains and statues and beautiful foliage, the perfect location. Nothing was really too far away and we could walk to everywhere from there.
We enjoyed lunch in the main plaza and then went in search of the markets to find our souvenirs. The market was full of all sorts of things from a wide range of chillies, bugs, meat, vegetables and local handicrafts.
After an eventful day shopping we went back to the hostel to chill out and enjoyed a bottle of wine and some more local food from the stall in the park for dinner, while admiring the gifts we had bought.
The following morning I was booked in for some horse riding just outside of town and made my way there by 9am after a quick breakfast. There were 2 other girls riding as well. One from Africa and one from Mexico City. We got chatting and swapped stories and before long we arrived and got ourselves ready for the ride. The african girl was going out for the day so she left with anther lady while the mexican girl and I were just doing the 2 hour ride throughout the cactus gardens. I was paired off with the stallion, Chocolatte. I have never ridden a stallion before so this would be a first!
The views were awesome as we rode up from the ranch, through the cactus in the morning sun. It was gloriously hot, however there were also a lot of mosquitoes too, which found the only spot I did not put repellant, on my face!
Chocolatte had just had his feet trimmed up and felt sore, and the ground was very stoney. I could feel he was sensitive to it and felt a bit bad about putting him through this. Then he decided to eat the poop that the horse in front had just made, and he was not budging! I tried to get him to walk on, but he just threw his head in the air and would not move! He ate the whole lot!!! In the end the lady taking us out had to come back and get him! He had enough by then and walked on. A bit later on he did it again! But this time I got him to move on a bit quicker. We had a canter back which was fun, but he did feel really slow and stiff, not what I was expecting at all. I think this was all due to his feet causing him discomfort and felt guilty pushing him on, but the lady insisted he had to toughen up!
We made it back to the ranch and enjoyed a cold drink before heading back into town, where Nicola and I were due to catch the 2pm bus to Mexico City!
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