VACATION.
ohhh, vacation.
dear, OAXACA, MEXICO, you're amazing.
here was our vacation spot.
after 4 1/2 hours of riding on the ADO bus,
we arrived at the lovely city of oaxaca.
so so so *SO* much happened on this trip,
i'm not sure where to begin. forgive me if this blog is a big scattered!
there are so many stories to tell.
overall - we had a LOVELY time in oaxaca and are planning another trip back!
so, mexico celebrates independence on september 15th. this year, the 15th fell on a thursday. our school originally gave us that wednesday and thursday off work (meaning we had to work on friday - WHO does that?) but, eventually, the word was passed that we also had friday off work.
the reason being - this year was the 200th year of mexican independence. sort of a HUGE deal in mexico. needless to say, we were PUMPED about a 5 day weekend and immediately planned our vacation. colleen, a 3rd grade teacher at my school, and i planned the trip in about an hour. we picked out our bus & hostel and booked them both. then began planning what kinds of things we wanted to see in oaxaca.
so, we left on Tuesday after school. our bus left at 6pm and we arrived in oaxaca at about 11:00pm. our hostel was about 5 blocks away from the bus station so colleen and i got off the bus, got our luggage, and began walking to our hostel using the directions she found online. we found a few of the first streets we were looking for but could NOT find one of the streets. we walked up one street and back down, then up again and back down again. just-a walkin.
(story #1) then, out of NO WHERE this woman appears with what seemed to be her son. literally, out of NO WHERE. like she just popped up. she said to us "hablan espanol?" (do you speak spanish?) and our reply probably sounded a bit jumbled and unsure because we were a bit startled but we got the point across that yes, we speak spanish. she proceeded to ask us what we were looking for and what streets we needed. she gave us perfect directions directly to our hostel and then told us that it is not safe for 2 girls to be walking around alone in that area of town. colleen and i then turned to each other and had the same reaction "was that an angel!?"
so, we find our hostel and check-in with the sweetest, loveliest, most hilarious little mexican man. our hostel was called "hostel don nino" and we immediately named our sweet landlord "don nino" (by the end of our trip, we were real close to good ole don. we had a secret handshake and even took some pictures with him)
us. with our buddy, don.
so, we are all checked in and we are in our BALLIN' hostel room. i just get so excited about how wonderful this trip is going to be that i locked my keys to my locker inside my locker. oops. but it ended up great, good ole' DON helped me out.
we just slept that night & miss kami burns came and met us in the wee hours of the morning. and our other friends adriana and genevieve came and met us later in the week. needless to say, we had a great time exploring the city. we went to tule tree, monte alban, mitla and lots of other fun places. here are some pictures from our explorations around the city!
with the founder of monte alban.
me, genevieve, adriana, colleen.
tule tree
huuuuuuuuuge.
(story #2) at the GRITO (or the huge celebration in the zocolo of the city, on the night of the independence celebration) someone stole my wallet. SUPER sad. it had a substantial about of moolah in it and my working visa as well as my mexican debit card. SO, my lovely friends and i spent the grito in the bathroom of a resturant on the phone cancelling my debit card. it ended up being a good night but in those moments i was not a happy camper. VIVA MEXICO, no?
we met up with our friend Vero who is from oaxaca. she is such a WONDERFUL tour guide and so incredibly hospitable. her family picked us up one night for dinner. her mother looked super familiar but i couldn't figure out where i would have met her. (story #3) HER MOTHER was our beloved street angel. her MOM was the woman who helped us find our hostel on our first night in oaxaca. can you believe it? it's such a small world. her sweet, helpful mother not only helped us find our hostel on our first night but she also bought us 3 meals and drove us all around oaxaca, showing us things we should see and telling us all about the history/culture/and food of oaxaca. we were truly blessed by this ANGEL! :)
so the week consisted of lots of naps. free breakfast every morning at the hostel. and lots of other small funny stories in between. we laughed so much. and danced a lot. we also ate a LOT. we walked around the city a ton & shared lots of good memories together. it was a wonderful, wonderful vacation.
(story #4) one day while walking near the zocolo, we witnessed a sight that we hope to never see again. a straight up naked mexi man walking down the street. well, he wasn't completely naked. he was wearing a cut off sleeveless shirt. and that's all. we called him the naked caveman.
(story #5) one afternoon we sat in the park across the street from our hostel and people watched. we also ate quesadillas. probably the best i've had. they were mushroom and spinach quesadillas. oh, and children played in the fountains. it was cute.
OH YEAH.
and the tuesday before we got out for vacations, we had an independence celebration at our school. the children dressed up in traditional clothing and we had tamales and esquites outside on the patio. there was also a celebration outside with dancing and horses and a flag ceremony. it was a fun morning! the children really enjoyed it.
some of my LOCO homeroom class :)
dressed up in their traditional mexico gear.
had to let my camera charge but here's a glimpse of some of the cuties in my 2nd class.
they loveeee taking pictures.
now back to el mundo real. the real world.
responsibility hits again.
time to go back to being a teacher :)
to the "praying for megan in mexico" prayer warriors :)
pray for:
-patience with children
-patience with children
-and..patience with children
-financial stuff (stolen wallet doesn't help that, huh?)
*psalm 33:4*
for the word of the Lord is right and true;
He is faithful is ALL that He does.
loving you bunches!!!
-meggie
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