Day six: A good day today though we did nothing

exceptional. Amby ran an hour plus in the morning, with cold hands for the first 20 minutes. I've never experienced better running weather. Sunny and very dry. When I finish runs, I'm not sweating, shirt is just the slightest bit damp. Cristina got in something like three miles herself. After breakfast, we both worked on writing projects at the Library's terrace, where the weekly bridge games were going on.

For dinner, we went to

a new place (of course!) It was a very nice little tapas and wine restaurant that filled up shortly after we arrived. Following dinner, Jackie and John led us down to a concert of Mozart music played by several string quartets. It was held in a rather spectacular arts and music complex that we hadn't seen before.

Day 5: Amby headed to the gym early for a workout, then returned to the room with coffee for Cristina, our daily ritual, home and away. The gym is half a block away and worthy of photos another day. There are three coffee shops within a half block also, but only one that opens early. It is directly across from our hotel. Couldn't possibly be easier, more convenient. Cristina headed out for a short run and gym workout, then we had the free breakfast that comes with our room charge. The menu is very limited; every day we have the same thing: coffee, fruit cup, scrambled eggs with a little refried beans and cheese. The fruit cup is the highlight.

In late morning, we attended a "Oaxaca Orientation" talk at the English Library. The speaker was the local hiking and mountain biking 
guy, friendly, but very dry of presentation. We learned that Mexico has a higher bus density than any other place on earth, and that no one understands the Oaxaca bus system. There are something like 10 or 12 private bus companies plying the same basic routes. The good news is that if you can figure out where you want to go and find the right bus, it will only cost you 7 pesos, about 30 cents. Also Larry the speaker said that most Americans living full time in Oaxaca are here not because they are rich, but because they can't afford to live in the U.S. on their meager retirements. We had lunch at a very nice 100% Natural restaurant (according to their own publicity) overlooking the Llano park two blocks from our hotel.

There's a rather colorful bus parked next to the park. The story is that the couple who own it have been driving North from Patagonia since 2008. They're headed for Alaska. I guess they're taking their time.

We had dinner at our fifth restaurant in five evenings. This time, at last, a "dive." Taco Roy's, "the best since 1965."  How can you beat that? On the way home, we bought chocolate, which Oaxaca is famous for, but we had been sadly lacking. Now we've got a room full.

Day 4: The morning started with an early (7:30 am) walk up

to the observatory with Jackie and John Hastings. At the top, we somehow made friends with a group of happy Mexican walkers-runners, who were posing for photos. It didn't take long for them to invite us into one of their shots. Jackie is upper left, and John lower right.

After the hike, we had breakfast at Las Mariposas (the buttlerflies), J & J's hotel. Several
indigenous women from a hill town came to Las Mariposas to prepare steaming cups of Mexican hot chocolate, whipped to a froth before serving with some wooden whisk-like implement.

We also had quesadillas with beans, cheese, and
squash flowers. Hot off the griddle, they were yummy.

Breakfast

We had dinner at Las Quinze Letras (The Fifteen Letters, count em), another very nice place. Amby is starting to buck for a hole-in-the-wall joint, and John insists we can start doing that soon. He'd like to begin tomorrow with Taco Roy, which doesn't exactly qualify, since it has a neon sign outside. But it doesn't attract gringos, so at least it's a step in the right direction. We're also going to attempt having dinner at a different restaurant every night. Should be a fun challenge.

A Oaxacan family enjoys dinner at Las Quinze Letras

Day 3: Just a couple of photos today. First, this is the hill Amby ran up yesterday. It's a lot longer and steeper than it looks in the photo, taken from our hotel terrace.





Here's what the central courtyard of our hotel looks like, again from our terrace on the third floor. Which we might be forced to give up in a week, but we're hoping not.




Tonight after dinner--guacamole, salad and mescal--prepared by our friends Jackie and John at their very nearby hotel, we went to a little music club. John played blues harmonica along with a really good blues band. Cristina and I even got in West Coast Swing dance.

Oaxaca's downtown pedestrian street, the Alcala.

Day 2: Amby got up early for a 70 minute run-walk. All uphill on the way out, up the escalaras (stairs) to the Observatory atop a nearby mount. Once there, he found a nice gravel road, but it continued climbing when he thought it might wind more or less flat along the hillside ridges. 40 minutes out, 30 back.

After breakfast, we both joined a gym a block from our hotel. It's a weird but expansive place that looks like it was once a garage-auto shop. Has just enough equipment to be useful to us, especially several recumbent bikes where Amby will be spending a lot of time.

Then we went to the English Library to sign up and get reservations to the 5 pm movie, The Girl. After a brief tour of the local market, Amby returned to the Terrace of the Library to work on a book proposal. Cristina stayed in the market to buy a few things--a shirt, a purse, a wallet.

The movie at 5 pm was quite good, with lots of quiet desperation and sadness. A major theme was timely--Mexicans paying for often tragic border crossing attempts. It ended happily when a young Mexican girl was returned to her grandmother's house in the hills outside Oaxaca.

We had another lovely Mexican restaurant meal with Jackie and John Hastings, this evening at a slightly upscale place near the Santo Domingo cathedral. Dinner for two, with three drinks, was about $25.

One of three cafes less than a half
block from our hotel. 

Day 1: Sleety drive to Hartford. Thank you, Gary. Tasty dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Our favorite pre-early morning flight restaurant.

Jan 25: And we’re off. Up at 4. Shuttle at 4:20. Arrive airport 4:30. Back to hotel via shuttle to retrieve Ab backpack left in hotel room 4:35. Flight to Atlanta 6:00. Mexico City transfer a tad nutty but ultimately fine.

Arrive cute little Oaxaca airport and warm Mexican sun. Juan at hotel is neutral but Pablo has a huge never ceasing smile. We get dungeon room on first floor. Pablo upgrades us to third. Promised a week. Later acquire a second key. Walk to/around Llano Park. Malteados at cafe across the street. Cta collapse in room. Ab to Zocolo. Retrieves Tlayupa for Cta. Muy sabrosa.

Jan 26: First full day. Hotel breakfast (incluido). Scrambled eggs, bad coffee, tasty fruit cup, refried beans, bread. Visit from John Hastings. Jog around Llano, then to Sports facility via unpleasant trafficky streets. Too much health club and distance for Cta. Ab continues on. Cta visits “garage gym” up the street. Eli (“Ellie”) shows facility. Pole dancing. For mujeres viejas? Si, even gorditas. Cta visits tiny cafe across the street. Room for 6 people.

Temp drops, wind picks up. Meet John and Jackie at Mariposas. Place is a charming enclave.

Dinner near Zocolo. Margaritas all around, great food. John has brought with him a backpack full of 26 harmonicas (he plays blues harp). Tells Cta he can teach. Just one hole, blow in, blow out. 

Pozole soup (verde). Burritos with shrimp. Tlayupas. John totally gets The Classics Slacker. We love John. Jackie runs three miles every day. John wakes her up at 7:15 for her run. Cta’s husband waits until she wakes up and brings her coffee. He also moves first margarita that arrives on the table to her. It’s good to be married to a gentleman. Jackie loves everything about Mexico--the food, the culture, the weather, the people, the low-cost living. They come every year to Mariposas, get same room, even leave clothes here.