Cerviche

Friday 11th December 1987

This place is already becoming a bit routine, so we decided to move on. Breakfast of huevos rancheros, swim, loll about, walk along the beach, repeat. We chatted with Eric over a Pepsi at midday and had showers despite the water shortage.

We chatted to Eric and the Australian girl over a farewell beer before boarding a taxi at 14:30 hrs. It was a long haul over a bumpy, dusty track to Ángel followed by a fast-downhill run along curving roads down to San Pedro Pochutla.

From here we quickly transferred to a tatty but rugged bus bound for Oaxaca which cost us 4,800 Mexican Pesos each. Our next destination was the city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or Oaxaca City, which is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Mexican state.

It is located in the Centro District in the Central Valleys region of the state, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the base of the Cerro del Fortín, extending to the banks of the Atoyac River. Heritage tourism makes up an important part of the city's economy, and it has numerous colonial-era structures as well as significant archeological sites and elements of the continuing native Zapotec and Mixtec cultures. The city, together with the nearby archeological site of Monte Albán, was designated in 1987 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city is also known as "la Verde Antequera" (the green Antequera) due to its prior Spanish name (Nueva Antequera) and the variety of structures built from a native green stone. The name Oaxaca is derived from the Nahuatl name for the place, Huaxyacac, which was Hispanicized to Guajaca, later spelled Oaxaca.

We were hauled slowly but surely up a tortuously winding road with one signposted “Curva Peligrosa” (dangerous curve) after another. For the first couple of hours there was no more than 50 metres of straight road. The green tree-covered mountains spread into the distance like a child’s drawing of a multipeaked mountain range.

We passed in and out of the clouds and eventually we must have reached a plateau. By now I had a dodgy stomach and was praying that I wouldn’t shit myself. The bus went on and on through various towns with squat single-story block house buildings and bumpy dirt tracks instead of roads.

New passengers came and went as I dozed and waited for a toilet stop. Eventually at 23:30 hrs. we pulled into Oaxaca Bus Station where expectant passengers huddled sleepily under blankets. The city was dead at this hour, but luckily, we quickly found the cheap Hotel Lupita charging 4,800 Mexican Pesos for a double room.

This was designed like an English prison with rooms around a range of balconies overlooking a central atrium or courtyard. Our own “cell” was simple and clean, and we immediately crashed out snoring. Only a couple of explosions, that were probably fireworks, disturbed the night.

There seems to be quite a few late-night festivals and processions at this time of the year. In July it is the site of the month-long cultural festival called the "Guelaguetza", which features Oaxacan dance from the seven regions, music, and a beauty pageant for indigenous women.