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Our first full day in Mexico City was filled with street food - tacos and Mexican beers. This was wonderful at the time. Neza met us in Mexico City and the three of us ate, drank, and played pool. But I literally spent the entire next day in the hostel vomiting. Oh, how lovely. I havent had street food or a beer since - I will work back up to both but perhaps not both together. I was glad to have someone there to take care of me - my entire body was achy and I was shaky and almost passed out. I am not sure what the hell I ate but it was evil and my body was quite angry about it. I do not remember the last time I felt so horrible. Anyhow, we have left the thick polluted air (I can feel it in my lungs, it is impossible to take a deep breath) of Mexico City prematurely and are now in the relatively tranquil streets of Oaxaca. The six and a half hour bus ride was actually quite nice. The fog was incredible outside and we could see nothing but what looked like a huge pool of clouds off the edge of mountains we were driving on.

Last night in Oaxaca we basically wandered the streets and got to know the feel of the city. You can walk everywhere - it is quite small. In the zocalo - which is the center of the city - there were children dancing in very elaborate costumes. It was pretty amazing and awesome to see. We stood outside watching for quite some time. We spent most of that afternoon in a museum here. It was a mix of history, art, and science. It had lots of little activities to do as well just interesting things to look at. We learned to play an old game used to settle disputes and played with a worker there for over an hour - to explain, the game was basically, well, Trouble, haha. But with beans and corn and such and interesting pictures.

Last night Rachel and I ran down to a couple corner stores and managed to collect eggs, jalepenos, and tortillas to add to the beans and salsa we had already bought. This morning Neza made us breakfast which was absolutely fantastic - rather simple but it was nice to make our own food rather than always go out in restuarants. It is one of the things I love about backpacking - being able to buy and cook our own food and sort of hang out at the hostel a bit. There is a terrace up top and we played some Chinese Checkers after breakfast. (They call it Damas here.). It felt really nice to be on the terrace in the sun in the early afternoon. It has been so cold! Especially at night. Sure, it is Mexico but Oaxaca and Mexico City are so elevated it stays pretty chilly.

We just spent the afternoon today at Monte Alban. I will hopefully be able to post a foto or two soon. It is an absolutely beautiful day outside today and a perfect day to spend at Monte Alban. I probably walked up and down a thousand steps!