In which Layla and Roz eat guacamole, hike, and realize the Mexican mountains are chilly

By Layla 

We touched down in Mexico City not quite sure what to expect. I'd been there ten years ago, and Roz never had - but it doesn't get the best of press. So we were delighted to find the city looked charming as we whizzed through it (or rather crawled - the traffic is unpleasant) en route to our hotel in the pretty Condesa District. We dropped our stuff and took another taxi, this one to Frida Kahlo's blue house, where she lived and worked. The queue was crazy but eventually we got in for a cup of tea, a stroll round the pretty gardens, and then a walk through the house itself, complete with furniture, wheelchair, and her actual paints. It was all quite cool. Then we walked a few blocks away to Trotsky's house, which we admired from the outside. A stroll down to the Coyocan area's main square was atmospheric and a bit frantic, but it did not produce guacamole, so we took a taxi back to Condesa and indulged in a pre-prandial guac and chips and some pretentious locally brewed craft beer, before later heading to a fancy and pleasant restaurant for mohitos, cheese and salad. 

Up very bright and early, we headed back to the airport, bound for Oaxaca (we'd planned to go straight after arrival but flights only go in the mornings) and we arrived there in time for lunch - a far cry from the last time I got there on a million-hour long distance bus. Oaxaca is sunny and charming in an Antigua, Guatemala sort of way. Pretty cathedrals and art galleries abound. After checking in and sorting out a bike trip for later in the week, we fought our way through the stressfully busy zocalo market (zocalo is a town square here), onto an attractive pedestrian street, and had lunch in a cute little courtyard attached to a bookshop. 

Onwards after lunch to the contemporary art museum which was okay but not thrilling, then I took Roz on this big walk up a thousand very steep steps for no particular reason... The view from the top was pretty... And then, having climbed down again, we wandered around a very attractive cobbled area with pastel colored buildings, before returning to the zocalo in search of a beer. We failed and Roz fell over something and whacked her knee. We limped back to our hotel, dripping blood, and spent the rest of the afternoon having drinks and reading our books on the hotel patio amid a hundred tweeting birds in a vast array of cages. 

That night I rather failed to find a good, open restaurant in what's known as a foodie town. We went to La Catedral and had Oaxacan fare. The cheese was delicious. The corn tamale was to my taste - all the more for me. But then we had 'mole amarillo', a famous type of sauce usually served over beef, apparently. We said we were vegetarian. This resulted in us being given a plate of sauce with nothing in it, save a single tiny potato... And we were charged the same price as for the beef version! Huffily we returned to the zocalo where everyone seemed to be out, watching boys do crazy tricks on BMX bikes and that sort of thing. And then headed home to sleep, to the tones of cheering crowds below. 

Up early again (5:30 every day, inexplicably), we got breakfast in the same place as lunch the previous day, our new local. Then we headed to a tour office for instructions, trekked to an obscure bus station, and caught a shared car to Llano Grande, holding more people than cars are designed to hold... There are a collection of little villages in the Sierra Norte, the mountains near Oaxaca, who have banded together to offer ecotourism experiences. We had decided to do a trek between them. We were assigned a cabin in the woods, and then set off with our guide on a 3 hour hike. It turned out to be quite a tricky hike, uphill with the altitude making me wheeze (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) but it was fun going through the pine forest, and there were some cool views. 

Afterwards we went to a little restaurant for quite a nice lunch involving eggs and avocado. And then, having acquired some beer, ventured to our cabin. It is truly in a crazy, secluded, off the beaten path location but we finally made it and lounged in hammock chairs overlooking the woods... Til it started to get cold. To be aware: the temperature in Oaxaca is not similar to the temperature in the mountains. We retired inside to sit on our bed. Then under the covers. Then to go out for dinner, donned every single clothing item we'd brought with us, including pajamas. Brrrrrr. Luckily one of the guides came to make a fire for us and we followed him in the pitch blackness through the woods to dinner in the same restaurant. Which was rather disappointing as well as deserted and freezing. But we had a cheery dinner of cheese quesadillas and hot chocolate anyway! Before holding hands and gripping the torch function of my iPhone and setting off in the pitch black wood to our cabin. We reached it just as the fire was dying. But then as I've been writing this blog, Roz has magically made it come to life again and it is roaring merrily now. Hooray! I'm still planning to wear every item of clothing to bed but I'm not fearing hypothermia. Tomorrow: hiking to the next village.