A Night Bus That Can Make Or Break You - Jan 22
16 hours is definitely enough hours to break your spirit if you had any going into a night bus of that length. Despite not feeling like I got much sleep I seemed to be feeling the best out of the group so I tried, only a little bit, not to complain about anything. So, 7am comes by and we stop in Oaxaca, we said goodbye to Leonardo, the guy we met at the Palenque ADO, and he hands me a list of places to visit while in Baja California. Righteous, people are so nice.
Check in to Check Out - Jan 23
It’s cold man. But for real though, it’s like first night of spring in Canada cold in the mornings. I don’t think I’m too prepared for that. After we checked into the Don Nino hotel, we took a well deserved break. After our break, Jan was feeling a little ill from the bus ride so Leif and I set out to explore the city. As with other towns, I find, this one had plenty of character and tonnes of people. The towns seem more dense in Mexico than Canada, at least in the city centres.
Despite our search, Leif and I couldn’t quite locate the bus stop for an optimally timed bus that wanted to take for Orizaba. Not big deal. Having been around with my two backpacks for quite some time now I realized that my day bag is a little large. It’s a 28L Deuter bag and it does not pack up into a nice ball that I can thrown into my other bag. So, with that in mind, I bought a Pinzon bag, or at least what appears to be one. I’m sure it’s real. I mean, a 90 peso backpack? Come on, for sure.
Once back at the hostel we met an interesting gentleman with some pretty intricate theories about the world, important historic events, and things that have happened to him during his travels. Put it this way, he told me that he once heard some shocking truth about America’s involvement in whatever from an ex-special forces man in Guatemala, but, the gentleman’s unimpressed look made the ex-officer make a phone call which resulted in a 10-year old Guetemalan boy running over to their table with a briefcase full of classified American government documents. That’s not even the best of them, he talked our ears of individually throughout our stay.
Here’s a church, surprise.
What to Do When You’ve Got Too Much Time - Jan 24
Since the early bus was a no-go for us on that morning we had decided to go for another night bus, though this one would only be 4 or 5 hours. When you’ve got a lot of time on your hands, I’m not exactly sure what you should. Go out? That’s what we did. So, we walked the city again, but this time with Jan who was feeling much better. We walked up to the amphitheatre, saw some stuff, and ran into a woman who was just leaving the city after living in Oaxaca for four months, so cool. Maybe I should do something like that. We walked and walked, and sat in the main square for a while where I practiced a little harmonica and continued my struggle with the children’s book El Principito. I think I’ll have to read this book a few times before I’ve got the hang of it.
Here’s a photo of Leif kissing what I can only assume is a well respected wooden statue placed on the side of the huge staircase leading up to the amphitheatre.
We eventually settled on this Irish pub that Leif and I found the day before for some beer and food. Lucky for us the Colorado/Denver game was on and there were tonnes of people in the bar. The security guard, an older woman asked me if she could check our bags to which, understanding perfectly, I obliged willingly. Next she asked us if she could check our espaldas. which made me double take. That word means back, as in where my spine calls home. You want to check my back? OK… Now, I’m not sure if it’s slang or lingo or jargon but she basically just gave us a pat down.
We sat down, grabbed a Guiness, as you should in an Irish pub, and then started on with the Mexican beer promotion, a common place deal where Mexican beers are two for one. Yes please. I taught the guys a few more phrases in Spanish, which they immediately used. Eres bonita does the trick it seems. It was at this bar that I actually started toying with the idea of staying in a town for a long period of time, maybe taking some lessons for Spanish, photography, and maybe piano. Why not, right? After some spicy wings that would chap my lips for days, we left, hung out at the hostel, and finally grabbed our bus for Orizaba.
Efficient Travel - Jan 25
This night bus was pretty much fine, either we’re getting used to it or the buses are getting more comfortable which is completely possible because the seats in this bus were far more cushiony than before. Upon arrival at 4am, we slowly found our way to the hotel where were greeted with a man that speaks quick Spanish, though I’m sure it’s quite average for Mexico. Anyway, after getting through that with a tired and struggling brain, I realize that I never ask people to slow down or even if they speak English. I feel like that might come in handy for next time I’m having a tough go of it.
The hotel was nice, we slept until about 10am when I woke up and took a walk to the ADO station to get tickets for Mexico City. I managed, pretty easily this time to get tickets for that night but quickly realized that our trip to the volcano in Pico de Orizaba might take long enough for us to stay another night. I called Jan and that was the case, so I exchanged our tickets for the next morning.
After not being able to figure out how to easily get to the volcano we went to the tourist office where we met Marcela, probably the most helpful person in Orizaba. She helped us realize that the volcano is not only far away, but quite a trek, and also expensive if you get a group to guide you along the way. We had one person call a company for a quote who said it would be 4000 pesos for the three of us. After saying no, the company immediately dropped the price to 2000, what a joke. Anyway, we weren’t going to be able to climb this thing because it’s the biggest mountain in Mexico so instead we got a million suggestions from Marcela.
On advice from Marcela, we checked out the park, then took the cable car up the mountain nearest the town centre, checked out the views, got some more looks from locals and headed back down. We got a recommendation for a place that serves mariscos and I actually managed to understand the directions. Yay! After that, we did the river walk. Along this river they have placed a whole whack of cages filled with exotic animals ranging from falcons, jaguars, bears, lions, zebras, and others. It was pretty cool but also tiring so once we got back to the hotel we relaxed for a few hours.
Here’s the best view of all.
8pm rolled around and, realizing that we need to eat dinner, we sent a message to Marcela asking for a recommendation for a restaurant. Thanks Jan, for asking for her number at the tourist office. A little later, Marcela showed up at our hotel with her friend Anna in her car and they took us out to one of their favourite restaurants. After the restaurant we were driven around the city, stopping at some of Marcela’s recommendations that we didn’t get to during the day. These included the lagoon, where Leif and Jan took a icy dip. I almost did but quite, these goofballs are starting to influence my decision making I think. We also drove by a few notable buildings and explored the park again. Last, we went into a park that had in it one of those small theatres with weird acoustics. You stand in the middle, speak, and you can hear strange reverberations and echoes, pretty neat. After that we were driven back to the hotel where we bid farewell to the girls. Thanks so much for everything Marcela and Anna!
Here’s the lovely group photo!
Tomorrow we are going to try out some memelitas and then catch our bus for the huge Mexico City where we’re going to meet up with Gonzalo again and, clearly, have the time of our lives. See you then.