We drove on to Oaxaca on a shiny new toll road (we didn't appreciate it at the time, but later on realised just how great it was!) On the way we saw the tallest mountain in Mexico - Pico de Orizaba, which was snowy, but didn't seem like a 5000m+ peak!
We arrived in Oaxaca in the afternoon and found that the hostel where we had booked a room was fully booked and didn't have space for us, despite having made the booking a month in advance. The owner told us about a cheap hotel nearby so we headed over to it. It was actually a really great hotel - spacious, clean, TV - so we decided that despite spending a little more money we were actually quite lucky to get it!
We went for a walk into town as soon as we got settled, but it was much busier than we had expected. It seemed to be very popular with American tourists and the main square was packed. We wanted to buy mole, chocolate and mezcal while we were there, so we went for a walk down to a market which was really busy and the air was filled with smoke from all the food cooking in there, we didn't stay long as it was a bit claustrophobic, and went looking round some smaller shops instead. We filled up on elotes before going back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before dinner.
We wanted a quiet (And cheap) dinner, but we didn't have much luck finding anything. In the end we found ourselves back in the main square and although it was busy and overpriced we sat down in a restaurant on the square, which was great for people watching and the food wasn't bad either.
The next day we had an early start so that we could go to Monte Alban before it got too busy. And it was 100% worth it. Monte Alban was a beautiful, spectacular site on the top of a mountain overlooking the city of Oaxaca way down below. In some ways i found it a more magical place than Teotihuacan, maybe because it was so quiet and there seemed to be so much space without all the people and the sellers. We spend several hours there, climbing pyramids,admiring views and just generally taking in the atmosphere. It was a big site and there was a lot to see.
In the afternoon we went back to Oaxaca city and shopped for mole, chocolate and mezcal with plenty of testing along the way!!! We also hunted down the little alebrijes (decorated wooden animal ornaments) in the artesan market, and had a much more enjoyable afternoon on our second day than our first. Despite being crowded and crazy Oaxaca grew on us.
In the evening we were determined to get a cheap feed, and this time found a much better street with several restaurants (still fairly pricy) but also the odd street food stall, and we had a good meal sitting on a wall with elotes and pizza and chips. On the way back we found a little bakery and bought some dessert and breakfast for the next day, when we'd be heading to Puerto Escondido and the beautiful Oaxaca coast!
