Driving out of Puebla, today we headed to Oaxaca. To give you an idea, you can buy the following items on the road in Mexico as you are lining up for traffic lights, accidents, road works or police checks.
- Tortillas (of course!)
- Tacos (with special sauces)
- Cookies (for the sugar rush)
- Newspapers (for off-line information junkies)
- Nuts and crisps (always a popular item!)
- Water, coke or any other drink (for after your salty snacks)
- Toilet paper (clever!)
- Anti-stress ball (for dealing with Mexican traffic)
- Obleas (not sure what this is, looks like a purse)
- Mobile phone holder (useful!)
- Model airplanes (not so useful!)
- Model of covered wagon (not quite sure about this)
We drove past the ‘Pico de Orizaba‘, which is 5,636m tall and the highest mountain in Mexico. We couldn’t get a good picture of it from the highway unfortunately. The route took us through desert landscapes and we resorted again to playing word games to keep ourselves entertained.
The target of today was the ‘Monte Alban‘ site, just outside of Oaxaca. The site is located on a hill and provides great views over the city and surrounding mountains.
Monte Alban is one of the earliest cities and they sure picked a nice site to start from. They built themselves a ball court to play their favourite ball game (where the loser gets decapitated – no joke), a palace with private doors that block the view from outside and a number of temples around a large plaza.
At the end of our visit it started raining and we headed to our campsite for tonight in Santa Maria del Tule, home of a very big tree aptly named ‘El Arbol del Tule‘. This tree apparently has the biggest trunk in the world (9,38m). As there was a fair in town, we had a fried banana from a local food stand.
Tonight we are sleeping in a little oasis with warm water, clean toilet with seat and very nice people! If you are ever around, make sure to stay at the ‘Overlander Oasis‘!
People ask me why I never
Find a place to settle down (down down)
But I never wanted all those things
People need to justify their life (life life)
Keep Calm and Drive South 
Patrick & Marijke, bedankt voor het delen van de info van jullie avontuur. Je zit wel in Mexico maar ik wil het op zijn Gents doen: het is echt de max, vree wijs.
Prachtige foto’s geven een mooi beeld wat jullie daar meemaken. Spijtig gaat niet alles eeuwig op het netvlies geprojecteerd blijven.
Ik blijf alleszins fan tot het einde van de reis.
grts
Jo Verfaillie