day 10

february 4, 2014

5 pm:

so, we finally went into town today to try to find out about spanish classes. we drove downtown and parked, and walked to the nearest school. it sounds like nowhere is going to have a place we can park and camp - parking is quite a commodity here it would seem.

the guy we talked to at the school seemed really alarmed that we had left the defiant parked on the street, and said it was only a matter of time before it got broken into, and that he'd recommend moving it asap. eep!

so, we decided to find the oaxaca trailer park and park the defiant there, then venture out on foot. sigh. this whole GPS coordinate issue is becoming problematic. in the end, gina took us within a km of the place, and we found it based on a map that we had taken a picture of in a book that toby and chloe have. mind you, this was not until we'd spent about 3 hours driving in circles and backing out of dead-end streets (at one point gina tried to convince us to drive down a staircase. thanks, girl.)

the stairs

the defiant, clearly not cut out for stairs!

so finally we arrived, but it was already 3 pm. we are about 3 km from downtown, so the plan is to leave the defiant here all week, and walk to school. as such, we needed provisions (beer, water, fruit, etc). we opted to take a cab, and leave the truck here, so we paid for 1 night, then went to the street corner to wave one down. it took a few minutes, but we got a cab with no issue. i told the guy we want to go to walmart. he didn't understand walmart. i was thinking "wtf, it's the same in spanish dude, WALMART". i said it a few times, his face did not register recognition. so i grabbed my dictionary, opened up a page and wrote "Wal-mart". he was all "OHHHH, WALMART!". derp. what was i not getting there?

anyway, we went to walmart, restocked our supplies and took a cab back. altogether the round trip cost us $150 pesos ($13 CAD). the cabbie on the way back spoke great english, and even though he got lost and honked like a maniac at everyone, he got us home and that's what matters.

we're currently drinking rum smoothies and planning to walk into town tonight to get the lay of the land, and maybe visit some more schools (if they are still open) and probably get some dinner.

we're parked next to "skyhorse", they are friends of toby and chloe. we haven't seen them yet, but their rig is wicked, i'll post a pic when i get wifi access. it's some sort of huge truck (fire truck maybe) in the front, with an ambulance back, and a cessna on the roof, and it's painted beautifully. mike is quite jealous. oh yeah, they also have a motorcycle strapped to the back. clearly. (!!!)

skyhorse

 

see their blog here

9 pm update:

so, we met the skyhorse folks, sarah and hani, they were nice and friendly and have 2 dogs (win!). hani built their rig himself, and said it took 3 years. craziness, considering we planned this trip for all of a month before coming!!

we left the trailer park too late to go see about schools, but we walked downtown and tried to find 2 vegetarian restaurants that our (15 year old) lonely planet guide said existed. of course, neither does anymore, but we saw a pretty old church, and walked through a pedestrian street where a few vendors were selling bags and jewellery and stuff.

we also went to a scotiabank, which they apparently have in mexico, and got out some pesos. i got the vague idea that the transaction will cost me about $10 CAD to take out $3000 pesos ($270ish CAD) which is not great, but not terrible either. it's better than walking around with thousands of dollars, anyway.

we ended up going out for sushi (big surprise), and it was really good. we got deep fried tofu (in a weird sauce that i thought at first was made of some stringy pork-like meat, but turned out to be ginger and onions), and tempura and edamame and two different veggie rolls. it was all really good, and with 3 beers and a tip was about $30. not something we'll do every day, but it was nice :)

then we walked back home. now we're enjoying some weird "bud light with lime" style beer that tastes like bitchpop and advertises that it has 33% less sodium (??). we're planning to get up early tomorrow and walk to town for spanish classes. but... plans are always fluid. ;P