Morenita leaves Mexico Town!

As you can probably guess, Morenita became my nickname in Mexico. Everywhere I went that´s what people started calling me! Its factually inaccurate given that morena means dark skinned but definitely not black, but who cares, a cute nickname is a cute nickname!

I am currently in Quito, Ecuador (moving fast now aren´t I?) but I shall summarise my last week in Mexico before I get onto that!

So Oaxaca (/wahaka/ Mexico has some of the most unpronouncable names I´ve ever come across!), one of the nicest places I have ever been to. It is absolutely stunning, a lovely little city surrounded on all sides by amazing hills and mountains. I managed to do another tour while staying in the city which took me to see the fattest tree in the world, its only 2000 years old but it takes about 40 people holding hands to go all the way around it. Then we went to see a weaving community project where they use centuries old traditions of making natural dyes and making blankets, carpets and mats. That was quite interesting, but maybe that´s the geek in me again! The high point of the trip was the trip to go and eat in a traditional Oaxacan restaurant. Top of the menu were ant eggs, worms and grasshoppers.

So quess what Lola did? Yes, I tried all of them! You can´t come to these places and not try out local delicacies now can you! So, I´d recommend worms, they don´t taste of much but its a nice texture when they´re fried. Ant eggs taste like corn with a twist, the first taste isn´t so bad, but consecutive helpings may make you feel a lil sick! Grasshoppers well, I´m still not sure to be honest. The only thing I could taste was the chilli and salt seasoning (which Mexicans put on everything!) and a bit of a crunch. These were very small grasshoppers and I had it on good information the bigger ones taste much nicer but I figured I´d leave that till Thailand.

I have to say Mexicans put salt and chilli or chilli sauce on everything. When buying fruit on the street, they´ll peel and cut it for you, but if you don´t catch them on time, you´ll have salt and chilli all over your fresh orange or melon or apple or mango....you name it, they put salt and chilli on it! Trust me, salt and chilli does not go with everything....!

Final stop on the trip was a visit to a mezcal factory. Mezcal is a strong spirit made from a cactus; Tequila is a type of mezcal made in a place called Tequila in Mexico (go figure!). Some of these come at 80% alcohol which is nuts! There are some smoother ones which come as liquieurs with passion fruit (Maracuya) top of my list, but the fact is, going on a trip where you taste 10-13 different types of mezcal in about 5 minutes (their shot glasses are a lil bigger than ours as well!) really isn´t good for you!

I have to say at this point of my trip, kinda halfway through, I´m feeling a little homesick and quite tired from the long list of things that you "absolutely have to do" everytime you get somewhere, so I decided to give myself a holiday. I booked a couple nights in a small hostel up in the hills outside Oaxaca city called La Villada Inn. Talk about 5* experience on a no star budget. I paid $13 a night to be treated like a member of a family (I needed some mummy love), amazing views of the city from up the hill, a swimming pool (a proper one!) and amazing food. I couldn´t have asked for a better place to spend lazy days! It was perfect! I even got to spend some time with their new born grandson who was only a day old! It kinda made me miss my family a little bit more (don´t let that get to your heads folks....you´re just alright! ;-) but it was very nice to be in a family atmosphere for a bit and from the reviews I saw on Hostelworld.com they´re like that all the time!

So, I arrived in Ecuador on Monday and talk about depressing. I landed in 12 degrees and rain rain rain, I felt like I´d gone back to England. They´ve had loads of rain and floods here recently, but yesterday the sun came out! Lets hope it stays around for my week here! I´m staying in another family hostel which is great. Yesterday they threw a party for their first year anniversary of being open and the 23rd birthday of their son and it was fabulous. Great way to meet all the other people staying here and the free pizza and dancing was well received by all! lol!

I have no real niggles this week (hoorah) but I do have some praise to give to ......Miami Airport Immigration. I never thought it possible! Basically although it´s quite silly, I had to fly from Mexico to Miami then catch another flight to Ecuador as there are no direct flights from Mexico City. I expected the worst, only a 2 hour stopover and my last experience 3 years ago of 3 hours of queues to pass immigration in Miami was still fresh in my mind!

So I prepared to have my bags lost (flying American Airlines), I wore very comfortable shoes and was prepared to miss my connection. But to my surprise, flights were on time and after managing to clear immigration AND customs in just 20 minutes I had a whole hour and a half to myself. Plus, on arrival in Quito, my bag was just there waiting for me! Well credit where credit is due folks, I have one more transfer through the US (Dallas), I won´t get complacent, but I won´t expect the worst either!

So I´m off to visit the equator today, a volcano tomorrow and I´m gonna be here for the Easter processions which are a big deal round here, should be good!