Small town visits

After eating pastries for breakfast, caught a cab to the ADO bus station to buy tickets to la Ciudad de Mexico. Then we set out to try and catch a colectivo: a small bus that would take us to Tlacolula, the weaving town. Of course nothing is that easy and we walked for a while before getting lost and having to ask for directions. We caught the bus and rode out of the city. The view out the window looked a bit like the outskirts of Cusco, lots of green and occasional small houses. Tlacolula seemed to not have many people until we got into the market and there was barely any breathing room. People were selling all sorts of things from live chickens and turkeys to clothes. We walked around the markets for a while just taking everything in. We ate lunch at a restaurant because although the market food smelled amazing, it probably wouldn't have gone over so well. After wandering for a bit longer we caught a taxi to Teotitlan. Once in Teotitlan we walked around looking at all the tapestries that many vendors were selling. We walked up to the main square where a funeral was coming out of the church led by trumpets and trombones. The church was filled with flowers from the funeral and it was absolutely beautiful. I forgot how much patience and energy go into every single detail of churches in Latin America and it's breathtaking.

We went to a restaurant to order drinks and played cards for a bit before getting on another bus to go see the biggest tree in the world. I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but the tree was enormous. There was a fence around it so we couldn't go up and touch it but it was still impressive to see. We ate some ice cream in the park and I got tamarind and chile. Mexicans don't mess around with their chile, by the time I finished my ice cream, my mouth was burning. We caught a taxi back into Oaxaca and ate dinner on the plaza watching the Gold Cup final on TV. The restaurant/bar was super crowded and there were people standing on the street so they could watch. Mexico won 3-1 and everyone was thrilled.