Back in Oaxaca! Absolutely happy to be back too. It was a great time hanging out with the sis Susannah in Peru but I was pretty sick most of the time and I just feel so much more comfortable in Mexico. It just feels like home here now. I love walking around and exploring the street markets and sitting at a taco stand and saying, “buen provecho” to the chubby dude next to me and then inevitably chatting in Spanish.
I woke up around 10 at “Casa de Don Pablo,” and ran into two other travelers who said they were going to Hierve el Agua. A couchsurfer I met the night before had also said they were going.
Since I dragged my damn feet, after breakfast I was left at the hostel by myself thinking too hard about life, so I figured I’d go get the motorcycle. Upon doing so I figured why not drive out to Hierve el Agua and hang out with the other hostel goers as it was on my list to do as well. So, I drove out to Hierve el Agua, which was really my first dirt-roading experience so far on the trip.
The road gets quite steep and the brittle rock slides under the bike. Dogs are absolutely bastards here and despise the sound of my motorcycle. They swarm me and try to bite my heels. Fortunately I have good boots and also fortunately usually I am way faster.
But on the sketchy roads going downhill there is nothing I can do to go faster, I will simply fly off a cliff. So, this was the first time I got swarmed and couldn’t race away. The immense anger of the dogs popped my heart right out of my throat and I vividly remember the dog’s face as he lunged with his teeth at me. I pulled my leg as far as I could back and drove my hard boot heel as hard as I could into his stupid streetdog nose. The effect was amazing, the dog simply did not care. Something had to have broken or popped but these mutant dogs that spend all day and night eating pieces of each other I am certain are the ideal candidates on studies of Masochism. This moment marked the beginning of countless daydreams where I discussed with myself the positives and negatives of strapping a machete to the front fork of the bike. But so far the negatives have outweighed the positives and dogs are free to bite my heels.
Hierve el Agua
Hierve el Agua
Hierve el Agua
Upon arrival at Hierve el Agua the overwhelming thought of, “oh, I just haven’t seen the nice part yet” echoed through my head each time I walked by piles of trash and fat Mexican men splashing michelada all over their faces as they tried to get some small amount down their throat before chucking the trash in whatever direction they were then facing.
While trying to find, “the nice part,” I ran into the hostelgoers and after a hike we jumped in one of the natural pools that looked like it had the least amount of kid pee. The pools were pretty nasty from all the people, but while there we met some really cool old Mexican ladies from Mexico city that were quite drunk and wanted to take photos with us. She said it was her birthday the next day.
I then drove back and made a couple of stops on the way back. I saw a really cool looking Mezcaleria where they still make mezcal by crushing it using live horses that walk around and around in a circle carrying an enormous rock circle.
I tried a couple of different Mezcals which were all rough to get down. As I sat there and talked to the guy who kept pouring me more samples it dawned on me how awful it is that they still use horses. The magic and charm of it evaporated as I watched that poor thing get whipped as he walked in a circle over and over. I felt the stress and tension coming from the poor dude. It’s easy to look at things like that and say, “aww that’s so cool and romantic and blah blah,” but in the end their lives are miserable and . I tipsily reached in my pocket for some pesos and bought the smallest bottle they had for 200 pesos. A bit steep. I tipsily walked to the bike and tipsily drove the rest of the way back to Oaxaca.
We were all supposed to go out salsa dancing at night but pretty much everyone flaked and I went out with Yala and Lisa just to get some drinks at La Popular. It was a little disappointing as I would like to try to get better at salsa or dancing in general. Hopefully I will have some opportunities in the future.
