After arriving at the train station, I went to the bus stop for the airport bus, planning to take the city bus that would stop outside the airport vs the expensive 3 EUR special airport bus. I managed to miss the first one, the second one just drove past because it was full, and then Marion had already arrived but was still queueing for passport control. So it got late! I checked InDrive and tried a bit less than the recommended price – to which at least one guy replied with a much higher price.. I decided to go on waiting 😉 And then remembered that the app also offers motorbike rides! For cheaper than the airport bus.. soooo I went to the airport on the back of a scooter, without helmet 😀 ..and then still had to wait for an hour or so until Marion actually got out.
We took a car to the city center (we had to walk out of the airport for that, because he refused to drive into the airport because of the taxis,..), walked to the hostel, and then had dinner in the square. The vegetable Tajine was surprisingly cheap… but then also surprisingly tiny 😉 Later, we found my senegalese, jewelry selling friend with the flat dreadlocks in the one main street, and that was it.
We had breakfast on our rooftop terrasse, then walked around in the medina, had coffee in a random little (local – so men only!) place, saw the leather working area (and had to pay for it ;( ), walked around more, and looked at – and for – ashtrays and carpets. Then we saw a man carrying a tajine around.. and shortly after found the little restaurant he had come from.. so we ate there – with only men except us.. and then had a break back at the hostel.. While Marion stayed there, I went to buy Raieb, but the people from may weren’t there ;( And I found a carpet shop that looked like wholesale and not very tourist oriented 😉
We had dinner just next to Jmaa el Fnaa in a place we had seen earlier, saw Ousseynou – not selling t-shirts anymore, but holding a menu trying to get people into a restaurant, changed some money (the Al Barid ATM didn’t work), bought a carpet, and then had tea at the corner of the square….
Monday morning, we packed, ordered a car through InDrive (which kind of refused to actually pick us up at our location, because of the taxis there) and then picked up our car for the week.
We had planned in June already to go to Morocco together, and booked our flights. I wanted to use the public holiday and Marion was going to arrive in Marrakech on Saturday evening. Because flights were cheapest/the timing was best, I flew to Rabat and spent two days there.
I had nothing special to do there, so decided to try couchsurfing there.. I stayed with a Senegalese guy who seemed quite disappointed when I didn’t fall in love with him at first sight 😀 I learnt that InDrive is illegal there, but everyone still uses it, and only taxi drivers actually mind. So it’s hard to get a car come to the airport for pickup, or a very touristy place that’s full of taxis. Rabat was very calm and peaceful, especially comparing it to Marrakech. When I considered buying shoes, and asked about the price and the quality, a shop owner took me to the (closed for prayer!) shop next to his and told me those shoes are better.. then showed me his own again and how bad they are.. 🙂
We went to some kind of shopping mall where my CS host’s friend had a shop – actually two.. got some chili and special rice to cook, and then had Senegalese beignets and coffee in some park. At every bench there, different people sold different stuff.. our beignets were in one corner, the coffee in another, and then there were also shoes and phones available.
The next day, I took the bus to the centre, then walked around the touristy fake medina area, saw the sea from above, and Sale on the other side of the river. Then I walked through the small streets of the ‘medina’, had pomegranate juice, looked at more shoes, then got a fish sandwich from a stall where lots of people were queueing.
The train ride to Marrakech was funny, my seat was in a compartment for 8 people, and a woman sat on my seat.. she pointed at some other seat which is actually hers, but a man was sitting there. The compartment was almost full.. and from then on, at every station, someone would enter with a seat in there, find it occupied, and everyone would start to state their original seat.. until none was left, and finally they figured out that that one man who had just ignored all discussions was, in fact, sitting in the wrong compartment.. A man told me in French (and wouldn’t react to any of my tries speaking Arabic!) that it’s great that German people read so much.. Moroccan people don’t.. the woman next to me joined the conversation.. And his brother writes books – he showed me videos of his brother,… then another guy got in, who worked in Jmaa el Fnaa a few years ago and told me where to buy shoes and where to find cheap tajine there 😉 One woman was on the way to the airport to fly to Zaragoza, was wearing a sweater and coat, while I was dying in just a t-shirt, she hated wearing shoes on the train (yes, she did take off her boots), was wondering how to get to the airport from the train station, had never heard of InDrive, and was wondering if her backpack was too big.. Another woman who had been on the train since the beginning was going on a women-only trip for a few days and showed me photos of some previous such trips she had taken.. And I got a link for an Instagram restaurant-review page for Marrakech from her 😉
I had offered to host Lobna from Algeria.. And while looking at stuff to do, I found a Tomatina event on couchsurfing.. I told her about it.. she said, she absolutely wants to go,.. and because it seemed rather hard to get there on time by train, I booked a bus tour.
So we took the bus at about 5:30 from Madrid,.. We got a totally new bus (funny choice, going to SUCH an event!), they showed us a very loud video about the history of Tomatina, first in English and then again in Spanish.. Then our tour guide started walking through the bus, handing out tshirts, and selling locker, food and drink vouchers to everybody.. Then she just kept talking to random people, still very loudly.. And then we stopped at a restaurant for half an hour.. It reminded me why I don’t like such tours 🙂
Obviously, we arrived much later than I had expected.. The bus parked and we walked to our ‘fun zone’, put our belongings into the lockers (a fenced off area with empty, open plastic boxes where only the people working had access) and then walked down to the center on our own – we didn’t find our dear guide anymore 🙂
We quite accidentally ended up right in the middle, and realized only when we saw the famous pole with the ham 🙂 We had a bar right next to us.. I managed to get a drink.. and then the whole thing started! We were perfectly prepared with a waterproof bag for the phone, old clothes, a shower cap and diving goggles 🙂 And we were standing at the side of the road, so we were only getting pushed into one direction.
The tomato fight took exactly an hour – it passed really fast 🙂 Then we got to take some photos sitting in there.. and then people already started to clean their city again!
We took a shower, walked back up to the fun zone, changed, got some paella (that was now a lot more expensive than in the morning) and then went back to the bus 😉
Because it’s so close and easy to go to.. and because it’s too hot in Madrid anyways, I got a train ticket to Valencia. The fast train takes around 2 hours! So I got to go to the beach again.
When I arrived at the hostel, I got a key card for the room.. Upon asking if I can choose any bed I want in that dorm, the guy looked at me strange.. I had to ask again.. and then he said I got a private room! With my own bathroom! haha Only, the AC was set to ‘freezer’ and if you wanted it to change, you had to tell reception. By whatsapp. So I told them I want it less cold.. and again.. Then they actually turned the cold storm almost off and all was good.
The bus to Porto was a nice 1-night ride, hostels there seem to have much better reviews and are much cheaper than Valencia. So I went to Porto for a long weekend.
My bus arrived early in the morning, earlier than it should, even. And because the tram wasn’t running yet, I walked to the hostel. I had a code to get in, had a break there, left my bag, asked google for breakfast places that open early, and walked about 10 minutes to the center. I found a cafe, the door was unlocked, and I opened it – just to be told it’s not open yet.. Portugal is in a different time zone than Spain! So I walked around the empty city a bit more.. then finally got my Pastel de Nata for breakfast, charged my phone, and went to join the free walking tour.
When I got back to the hostel and tried to open the dorm room with my actual key… the key didn’t work haha. Luckily a couple with a working key just came back, and they let me in. As there is no real reception, I wrote to the hostel people on whatsapp and after telling me a few times that I’m just too stupid to use the key… someone showed up to give me a different key. And finally believed me that there really is a problem with the key.
People speak English here! Everyone! 😉 And the city is incredibly full of tourists! It feels so much more crowded than Madrid, or Lucerne!
I did a Port Wine tour as Conny told me.. got to unexpectedly swim in the river 😉 had Francesinha, Bacalhao and, because I walked past a Brazilian restaurant, also finally ate Fejoada. And a Brigadeiro. And then I found a cup of Acai in the supermarket! 🙂
I joined a tile painting workshop. That ended up being surprisingly easy and at the same time complicated 😉 I may need to practise a bit more..
There were quite a few craft beer places, and a market at every corner. Most of them selling exactly the same stuff. And a lot of people with dreadlocks! Interesting 😉
I bought my entry ticket, then a train ticket to Sarinena. And because I volunteered to help, I got to enter early and they picked me up from the train station. On the train, I met two other guys obviously heading there.. As we were in the official car, we got to take the shortcut to the site. The guy who had driven brought me to the Olive Odyssey.. They were still setting up tents, I joined and then everyone went to sleep.
Then we built our camp, I volunteered a bit, painted toilet signs, helped to check in people at the entrance, helped cooking, and decorated our tent. There were lots of more or less crazy ‘workshops’, during the day it was very hot, and at night I was happy to have two sleeping bags 😉
And then it was already time to take the camp apart again. And we left on sunday evening, arriving back in Madrid at maybe 3am.
Bea said we could go to Sevilla together.. Then she had a car problem, so she went back earlier to fix it. And I went with a guy through blablacar. He works for the police, and nicely drove more than the allowed speed all the time 🙂 So we did arrive at an ok time.
The next day, I had said I want to go to the beach. We had breakfast at home, then packed our stuff and went to the sea 🙂 It was a beautiful beach, it was hot, but not too hot. We swam and then went to a little restaurant there for lunch and drinks.
On Sunday we walked around Sevilla, nicely always in the shade if at all possible.. met a weird friend of theirs 😀
and then tried to pick up our rental car from the airport. And that took over an hour – some people were in front of us, and their card payment machine didn’t work,.. In the end, we were back in Madrid at 2 am or so..
I booked my ticket to the Alhambra months in advance, a bus right after that, and finally the time came 🙂
Bea recommended some places to see and bars with good tapas, and then I tried a few on my own. I saw the city, and Alhambra, from above from a few viewpoints, walked around in the hills, following google maps directions to the Sacromonte Cave museum passing by the real, still inhabited caves in the hill, and had some beers to get those tapas.
For the Alhambra, I chose a timeslot quite early in the morning hoping it might still be rather empty.. and it was – in the beginning at least. Inside, due to their amazing way of building, it was really cold!
I took the bus from the city center, going kind of near that terrible, new, far-away-from-the-center bus and taxi station.. and then walked the last km or so.. I found a taxi, got the last seat, and off we went. It wasn’t terribly comfortable, but direct and therefore kind of fast.
Upon arrival, I bought a bus ticket to go back. On the bus that doesn’t go to this terminal, but has it’s own station near the train station. Because I wanted to be sure that I’d get back.
I sat down in a square and had breakfast, then found the old town and walked around a bit before sitting down at a cafe and having coffee. Kids in the square were just getting ready, preparing the paint to colour the houses blue!
Then I walked around some more.. and found the main street with all the Moroccan (!) tourists! Being weekend, it was very crowded. But, vendors left me completely in peace, only focusing on the Moroccans. Nice!
I walked up the hill to the mosque to see the town from above.. then met a couchsurfer, and we had some fresh fruit.
Dinner was local cheese from a little shop, bread from a woman in front of the market, and mulberries – because the bread lady wanted to sell me those, too 🙂
And then I already had to take my bus back. It went through Tetouan, also stopping there.. Next time, I guess, I’d also take the taxi back as it was just so much faster! I was told, in summer you can definitely still find a taxi when it’s dark. Worst case, you need to go to Tetouan and change there.
Towards the end of the week, weather was getting better in the north, so I decided to hangout there for a bit. And go to casa barata 🙂
I found Aicha in exactly the same place as last time and talked to her a bit..
And I decided that I’ll go to Chefchaouen on a day trip! A couchsurfing guy wanted to join and we decided to go by shared taxi. He didn’t come in the end, but so I had my plan.
Beyond this, I spent quite some time sitting on the hostel roof top..
From the train station, I took the bus to the city center and then walked to the hostel. On the way I passed a little restaurant place with an arabic sign saying they have Raieb. So I decided to go back there later.. I didn’t understand the second line on the sign, but that seemed to be the only food they had, and so I got some kind of potato sandwich. With harissa. They had a lot of fun when I asked for more harissa. There were some other people eating, and one man started talking to me in German – he’s a tourist guide, and a farmer. Among other stuff, he said I shouldn’t buy the walnuts in the street as they’re not fresh! They’re from last year 🙂 So I didn’t buy any!
The main square was full of people, at night more than during the day. But the henna women were surprisingly peaceful. Mostly, they didn’t even try to talk to me. People from the restaurants did, though. One man said the name of the sandwich I had just eaten – that was interesting, and I wanted to know how much it would cost here,.. but, no, they didn’t offer it. But he had just been at the same little restaurant as me and kind of had that sandwich with me.
Walking a few more steps, a guy from Senegal tried to sell me tshirts.. I told him no.. and he just kept walking along with me,.. I repeated that I wouldn’t buy or pay anything.. and we kept walking through the medina. After a while, he said his friend has a shop, and we should go there to drink tea.. I said again that I wouldn’t buy anything and imagined the typical moroccan carpet shop. The friend turned out to be from Senegal, too, and making the clothes they all sold in the square! While sitting there and drinking tea, different guys would stop buy, have a break, or pick up more tshirts.
The next day, I had Senegalese food with them, sharing a big plate on the ground 🙂 And then I mentioned I might want braids,.. but not now.. but I’d like to know the price.. they called a girl.. who said it’s 150 MAD, I think.. and I told them the next day, or so. When I went back the next day, they called the girl to come.. I got my braids.. I paid what we had said, giving her 200 and waiting for change 😀 And suddenly I was told I should pay 300 – twice as much as we had said – I took back the second 100 she was still holding.. and gave her 50. And walked away. 20 minutes of braiding may definitely not cost 30 EUR in Morocco 😛 I guess we’re not friends after all 🙂 But I’d love to see who of THEM would pay THAT amount of money. They had said a tshirt is 6 EUR – and to make that, he needs a tshirt plus the fabric and then the time to make it.
Everything was more expensive in Marrakech than in Casablanca! So no souvenir or carpet shopping here.
My next challenge was to find ‘fripe’. Internet said that’s joutya, but that didn’t lead to anything. Whoever I asked told me a different direction and there ended up being nothing. Joutya may just be any used stuff in general.. and the clothes markets might be called ‘el bal’ – which does kind of make sense. I finally read about the Souk Al Khemis where there should also be clothes.. and there were. But it was quite a bit more expensive than Tunisia. A shirt would be easily 4 EUR! And I realized that I don’t even understand them when they say numbers!
I discovered that both May 1st and May 2nd are public holidays here and booked a flight.. quite randomly to Tangier. I planned to go to Chefchaouen, Fes/Meknes, and maybe Rabat. But then the weather forecast said it would be rainy and cold in that area for the whole week, so I changed my plan, paid an incredible 6 EUR for the first night in Chefchaouen because I couldn’t cancel it for free anymore, and decided I’d just take the fast train south to Casablanca as early as possible.
From the airport of Tangier, I already knew how to walk to the bus station and get to the city. When I got out of the airport it was sunny and surprisingly hot, then some clouds showed up, it started raining just a little, then a bit more, and when I got to the bus stop, it just started pouring. When a bus came. Luckily it was the right one, but I would have gotten on any 😉 When it arrived at my stop in the city, it had stopped raining again. I bought something to eat, then a simcard, and tried to withdraw money. But all ATMs wanted a fee. And I remembered that only the post bank does not. The simcard guy told me I can pay my trainticket by card, and that’s what I did. The train was nice, but I got a stupid place in a 4-seat with table corner, and thus had feet across from me 😉
In Casablanca, I took the tram to my hostel, no, no taxi, found the hostel (there was no sign with the name, just a different name,..), had a break, and then went out again to meet some couchsurfing guy who took me on a city tour by scooter. We saw the big mosque, the lighthouse, the cathedral, a square with ‘Casablanca’ letters, and then went to eat cheap Tajine 🙂 It was good, and cost 25 mad each. And then it was time to pay, and he told me ‘it’s 50’ – obviously assuming that I’m paying for his food. That’s not very moroccan,.. right? 😀
The next day, I spent with a girl from the hostel, going to the tourist market, buying olives and break, and some cookies, and having a picnic in the park. We walked past much of the stuff I saw yesterday again, and suddenly the city made a lot more sense. In the evening we went to the same Tajine place again, with another guy from the hostel, then had an ice cream in the street back, and that was it.
In the morning, on the way to the train station I walked through the mostly closed market, bought a coffee in a tiny place, and then it started raining again! lol There was a long queue of people, again, waiting to buy train tickets. So I tried to buy mine online and it didn’t work. Probably because the train was sold out :/ so, while queueing, I bought a ticket for the next train online, then went back out of the queue, and had more than an hour to spend. Note: buy train tickets in advance!
The last trip within Switzerland. On Marion’s Mitfahrtageskarte. First we went to Lausanne and up to the Hermitage Museum, then walking back down we had brunch in possibly the one open place. From outside it looked dead, we entered totally wrong, but once inside, there it was surprisingly nice and there were a lot of people 🙂
The next stop was Montreux, I bought two Caneles, we found a market along the river, saw some flowers and had a drink outside.
And then we decided to go back home a different way than we came, and took the train via Visp. In Bern I had my last Swiss Roesti 😉 and then we went back to Lucerne.
I took the plane from Basel on Wednesday evening to be at the old airport at 8am. They still had Covid ‘don’t sit here’ signs on every second chair in the entrance area, and, just in case it was some kind of test, I nicely obeyed. The others did, too! The questions were very different than I had expected, I really wouldn’t have had to prepare for a normal job interview. Also, nobody cared the least bit about my bag – it stayed in the waiting room anyways, while I had to go to answer questions. And there was more waiting than actually talking to the interviewers. They had water, coffee, sandwiches and snacks, and it was quite nice. I was the second one in the list, so got out kind of early and the holiday started 🙂
The next morning, I met Mo, we had Arabic breakfast, walked around his quarter and then I took the bus for some sightseeing and shopping. In the evening we met again for Korean food.
Because it is so close, and because Germany is kind of boring, I went to Szczecin the next day. Part of the train line is under construction and there was a replacement bus ;( Upon arrival – the city seemed dead. There were no people outside. I had some food, walked around, had more food, did a bit of shopping, walked around some more, and then went back to the train station because I was cold.
Back in Berlin, I had Vietnamese pho and went back to the hostel. And then Mo wanted to meet again, because he wouldn’t have time tomorrow. So he came.
On my last day, I went to some fleamarket (boring) walked past that Jewish ‘blocks’ monument, Brandenburger Tor, had a pretzel, took a photo of the Bundestag from outside at least (yes, I’m very interested in politics,…), sat in the park, had coffee and cake, and then read that there’s another market in Mauerpark. I guess that’s my kind of place. I took photos of stuff I will make myself, had a currywurst, and bought some Greek (or German-Greek…) food for the next days.
The steward on the plane said the airport is a big construction site at the moment and then told me I can definitely leave the airport, get some food, and make it back on time. He recommended Culver’s for the best burger, and said I should take the train inside the airport to the car rental/parking station and from there call an Uber. So that’s what I did without questioning it.
Upon arrival at the airport, I just had to walk through immigration (no questions asked) and right after, there was the place to check in my bag again. I put it on that
The restaurant turned out to be a chain, the burger was nice, and at least I made it out of the airport 😉 When I was standing in front of the restaurant, wondering if I could walk back to the airport (google said 30 minutes, so easy!) an employee started talking to me and then mentioned there’s a bus! It was about to leave soon – it only goes once an hour or so! – and I decided that’s perfect. Nobody told me that whatever money I throw into that box in the bus will be gone, and I won’t get any change. And all I had was a 5 USD note. Great. But, I guess, still cheaper than Uber.
I arrived too early in the morning, took the empty enough metro to the center, found my hostel, and left my bag there. I’m staying right around the corner from the main square. I walked around the just awakening city, bought a.. milk rice kind of drink, and sat in the sun. When it opened I went into the Museo del Templo Mayor and was quite alone there so early. Then I went to a coffeeshop Ricardo had recommended, had a cappuccino and tried not to fall asleep 😉 There were quite a few children with their parents just practising riding a bicycle. Kind of big children. Funny.
My fancy hostel bed – 1.40 wide, with 3 wooden walls around it, and a curtain at the foot of the bed – was in kind of a basement room with no windows, but a crazy loud fan/AC system. It all looked very nice and new, just the window/fan situation made it feel like walking into a dark cave 😉 Note: I want to have a window in my bedroom. Always.
In the evening, I met a couchsurfer for some Pulque – that was still on my todo list. It was ok, not the best, not the worst. I would definitely drink it again 😉 and the next day I wanted to go to Lagunilla fleamarket and found a girl who was going with her friends. It was a crazy market, with lots of music, food, and alcohol 🙂 We also ate there, and bought a dangerous looking vivid blue drink because it was on offer. And then we had to finish that drink kind of at a corner because it’s not allowed to drink in the street outside the market. They invented the amazing drinking game of tossing a coin, and then head means the boys have to drink.. and the number means the girls drink,.. Then we walked to Amellalli’s old flat, which the other two guys are going to live in. She and her partner moved out because they were afraid of the earthquake situation!
On the way back to the city center, I found a supermarket – my first real mexican big supermarket! So I managed to buy some stuff to take home, then I walked through the market around Palacio de Bellas Artes again, had weird ‘chips’, bought a sandwich for tomorrow, and finally went to bed quite early 🙂
Because the metro starts running kind of late in the morning, and people told me I should be at the airport 3 hours before departure, I got up early and then planned to use uber. I went out in the street, opened the app.. and had no internet lol So I rang the bell again, woke up the poor door guy, just to use the hostel wifi, and booked my car from inside. And then I was at the airport much too early! Also, at that time, there are none of the funny little food stalls and random people selling stuff. Only shops inside the airport were open already.
Fun fact: there is NO passport control at the airport! I left my bag at check-in, went through security, and nobody ever checked my passport!!
The Selina hostel seems to be a big chain and rather expensive – but I got it as a special offer 😉 They offer some free stuff like morning yoga classes (too early, and not early enough as I have other stuff to do 😉 ) or workshops. However, the wood carving workshop didn’t happen on the day I would have wanted to do it, so I found out where they did it and went there myself.
On my first day, I met Ricardo from CDMX for breakfast – to then go to Teotitlan del Valle. We took the bus – and it was kind of hard to find the right one. We just had to ask each of them haha.. On the way, we more or less accidentally ended up at the giant ‘Arbol del Tule’, so we saw that…
and then took the next bus, and finally a shared taxi from the highway to the village itself. It was dead. So empty! But there were tons of carpet weaving shops. Even Ricardo bought a tiny woven mug rug kind of thing 😉 And I managed to buy some yarn! Hardly any had colourful wool scarves, only the standard white/beige/gray stuff. I found one shop, though, that had one, and tried to remember it for later, and then we walked around some more, the village was still dead, the market was, too, and then we went to a restaurant that was recommended by one of the shopkeepers. I had my mole negro, the place felt very touristy and not touristy at all at the same time, and the food was really good. Then we tried to find that one shop again, that had the scarf.. and it took us several tries – they just all looked exactly the same!
Then we went back to Oaxaca. First the shared taxi to the main road, then bus. In Oaxaca, I went ‘home’ to leave my stuff and then back to the center, where we accidentally met again 🙂 There was a tiny ‘piedras’ something stall, and he said that’s some kind of famous snack there: a hard (old?) bun soaked in vinegary pickle sauce, with some pickles,.. I guess it’s edible. Better than the stuff in Istanbul. I also tried whatever buttery drink in the street, and realized the whole city is full of markets all selling more or less the same handicrafts.
The next day, we went to the archgeological site of Monte Alban. By bus 🙂 Which worked just great. With a cute little coffee shop on the way there, and some breakfast on the bus. We spent some hours walking around there, taking photos, and sitting in the shade, then went back – he was going to meet friends.
The wood carving workshop was fun! The place was a bit hard to find, but I walked into another lady looking for it, and we wondered together, where it might be 🙂 I carved my very mexican design, and bought a ‘carving tool’ and got a piece of wood, to go on at home 🙂 Getting ready for my own tshirt printing! Everyone in the city seems to be doing those wood-carving prints, be it on walls of buildings, postcards or tshirts. I bought a tshirt from a girl in the street. And I bought a leather thingie to tie back my hair, from a weird guy, also in the street 😉
And then I accidentally walked into some neighbourhood party: I was just walking along the street when a girl came out of a courtyard carrying a tlayuda on a plate.. I looked in there curiously.. and a woman who was standing outside with a man grabbed me and told me I should go in with them, it’s their party, and the food is free. I wasn’t very convinced, so they kind of pushed me inside, to the food area first, got me a tlayuda, then a meter to the right for a tequila. I felt very wrong there, obviously not belonging to this group of neighbours, but was happy about my food 😉 And then some guy, my wild guess is that he’s some kind of politician as there are posters around and stuff seems to be going on, wanted to take a photo with me, in front of the bar. No idea what is going to happen to those photos, but it was a funny situation. And I got a photo of us, too 😉
Finding the bus station back to CDMX was kind of hard, as google maps showed several ones and comments weren’t clear at all, as to which is the correct one. So I walked to the wrong one. There was nothing at all. It was around 11:40 at night, and I asked the first ‘safe’ people – a couple – if they know.. they asked a shopkeeper, who didn’t know, and then they said they’d walk there with me. It was maybe 5 minutes further north, and the man was worried I was missing my bus, he wanted to stop one outside in the street, but no, I still had quite some time to wait 🙂 The bus terminal was small and not too nice, just outdoors, under a roof, but it was ok. The bus did show up, they cleaned it (haha) and we left.
Everyone I asked – and the Internet – said only the Ado bus company is good enough to take. And one should absolutely never ever take anything else. But Ado is about twice as expensive as the others. And I didn’t want to take it only because everyone does 🙂 So I found a different company where the better bus (3 seats across instead of the standard 4) is close to the Ado price. I took it to Puerto Escondido overnight. Arrival was not in the city center, but at some weird ugly bus terminal a bit outside, but it was easy and close enough to walk. And it’s HOT here! From the other, more central, bus station, I bought a bus ticket to San Antonio. There, I found another tourist asking taxis about prices to go to Mazunte.. and we waited together about 2 minutes for a Colectivo in direction Mazunte. It was almost empty, do we had lots of space with our bags. It wasn’t very clear where to get off in Mazunte, but the place was tiny, anyways.
I went to the hostel, left my bag in the kitchen and went to the beach 🙂 There’s a shady corner, in the very west, from around noon. I had icecream, and eventually went back to put my stuff in my room and lie in a hammock. It’s more of a place to walk around barefoot than Vama.. else, it’s somewhat similar. There’s a little road where people set up stalls and sell stuff. One offers hairwraps. Another guy offered to repair my dreads. I told him ‘later’ and wanted to do it in a few days, but couldn’t find him anymore then.
I met a german guy through couchsurfing who showed up late, after I had left the meeting point, but found me anyways, and we then went to some other beach, several kms to the west, by scooter. There’s a famous sunset viewpoint on top of a hill just west of Mazunte. I went with a girl from the hostel. We were there kind of early, sat in the front, and tried to ignore all the people behind us. It was extremely crowded! And the icre cream vendors who are at the beach during the day set up their carts on that path in the evening. You also had to pay to use that trail – but only a donation of at least 20 cent or so 😉 it will certainly become more in the next years.
Another day (on the 31st, I think), I met the other guy again, and we went past Zipolite to another tiny beach, for some ceviche and pina loca with spicy mango gummi bear thingies. After that, he left me in Zipolite, I checked out that beach, had some more snacks, and finally managed to find a colectivo back.
In the evening, the hostel organised a dinner for everyone, people were preparing and sharing food, we had drinks, and then went to the beach party on the other side of town. It was nice, very relaxed 🙂
Getting bus tickets from Pochutla on to Oaxaca was harder than expected: There’s a bus station (a wooden shack) in Zipolite, but on the 31st, the bus from Zipolite to Oaxaca on the 2nd was already sold out. However, they gave me a phone number to call to buy tickets. I asked people in the hostel to call for me, but nobody ever answered. The American girl was going to Pochutla to withdraw money, and offered to buy me a ticket. However, she was told, she cannot and I need to buy it myself. All the time, everyone kept telling me I could easily just show up at the station in the morning, and buy a ticket for the next bus. So that’s what I did. I got up early, packed, and took a colectivo. Hanging outside first, then being told I need to be inside. In Pochutla, a bit after 10 am, at the Lineas Unidas office, there was a long queue till out into the street. A mexican couple in the line, just behind me, talked about sharing a taxi with others to be faster. People said the first available bus was around 2pm. The taxi was said to be.. more than I wanted to pay 🙂 So I just kept queueing. When I made it to the front, I said I want seat 4 – the german guy had told me that’s the best one: In the front, on the side opposite the driver. A single seat, with lots of legroom. And on the minibus at 1:30 there was still exactly one free place: seat 4! Yay. I left my bag there in the office (and had to pay for that! ;( ) and then googled ‘cafe’ and went to the first nice-looking place I saw. After all, I had a few hours to wait.
It seemed to be the tourist place, and an older dutch lady, Doti, joined me at my table soon. She was visiting her son who lived there. And she said, like I had heard before, that I absolutely had to take some pill to not get sick on the bus to Oaxaca, because of those crazy turns. I had an ice coffee 😉 and was then told that their toilet didn’t work!
I walked around the town some more, bought some food – deciding maybe not to go for fried fish but something lighter, for that crazy bus ride. I randomly saw the german guy with his scooter, then sat on some (cold-ish!) stairs in the market, waiting for the time to take the bus.
I arrived in Oaxaca in the evening, it was already dark, and the city seemed dead. I found the hostel (not bar,.. haha, that was complicated) entrance door, and then went out again to find something to eat.
There’s a metro and metrobus going from the airport to the city center. The internet is convinced that no traveller with any luggage – or just all their belongings – should ever take the metro. The metrobus is said to be safer, but also 6times so expensive 🙂 I had kind of decided on the metrobus.. when I got a ‘welcome’ brochure from my hostel explaining how to get there by metro. And thus it was decided. Internet also says, if you change or withdraw money at the airport, someone might watch and then rob you outside. I guess I’ll risk it – changing just a bit to make it to the city center.
I prepared and packed a fake wallet and discovered that my old phone doesn’t start up anymore. So, no fake phone.
Changing planes in NYC worked with quite some time to spare. Then, upon arrival in CDMX, I used the automatic immigration gates: I was hoping I’d make it to the hostel before their check-in closes (and I’d have to call them to open the door for me). Too bad I didn’t get a stamp in my passport that way.. but it was very fast!
The metro station is outside the airport, but just a few metres, and easy to find. I bought a metro card, and took the first train towards the city. I had to change in La Raza – and managed to go in the wrong direction! Note: be careful if there are stairs and an underpass where an arrow shows. Don’t just walk around the corner without using stairs 🙂 The first carriage of the metro is for women only and usually less crowded than the rest.
I started my first whole day in Mexico with an archeological walking tour with a couchsurfing guy. It was great, and among lots of other interesting facts,.. he told me he drinks the tap water in the city. It’s good, the only problem could be the pipes inside the house, if it’s old. Great to know 😀
All over the city center, there are markets and people selling stuff in the street just about everywhere. So I looked what they’re selling 🙂 Surprisingly few people, even in a very touristy traditional handicrafts market speak english!
On December 25th I had decided to go to Teotihuacan – I was afraid everything in the city would be closed because people are celebrating christmas, so touristy stuff seemed to be a perfect choice. It was easy to go by public bus and when I arrived around 10:30am – later than I had planned! – it was still very empty there and even all the sellers weren’t there yet or just started to arrive!
Unfortunately it’s now really not allowed anymore to walk up any of the pyramids..
Back in CDMX, after some fruit, I took the cablecar across the city, seeing it from above.
