Rode bus to Oaxaca. I wanted to go to Oaxaca because I knew about Monte Alban which is one of the oldest settlements in the Americas and I also heard the food was wonderful. Oaxaca is the home of the 7 moles which I like a lot. I´m writing this after being here for several days and I have to say this is probably my favorite city so far. The people are real friendly but still consider us an oddity as much as the Mexico City folks. It´s interesting to see the visual differences between the various Mexican people. I think they are more indian than spanish as their appearences change depending on which region you are in. Since I´ve been here I´ve been checking out the Mexi-nugget chicks and I have to say the women in Mexico City (aztec and mexica decendents) really aren´t that attractive. They have short squat noses and are phisically tiny. I think Jade and Piper are as tall as at least 10% of Mexico City residents.

The Oaxacan people though are a bit taller and have long slender noses and are very pretty. I´ve been wanting to take pictures of the people but haven´t found a way to do this politely. I asked to take a picture of an older lady working over a stove and she said no. I´ve heard that they think that taking pictures of them will keep them from entering the next world or something.

In short Oaxaca is a beautiful town. Every person I mentioned Oaxaca to in Mexico City said Oaxaca is beautiful so when I got there I was expecting paradise in a wonderful mountain atmosphere but the land around it has trees but isn´t that attractive. The first thing we saw was garbage in the street, broken down old taxis and graphitti everywhere just like Mexico City so I was a bit disapointed. After getting to our hotel which was very pretty we wandered downtown to the Zocolo. The zocolo here is very different from the one in Mexico City. The zocolo in the City is a large cold austere place where Indians dance and people sell things. Definately not a place where you sit and have a cup of chocolate caliente. The zocolo in Oaxaca though is a beautiful garden type of place lined with porticoed resteraunts, a large cathedral and many pathways lined with poinsetias, trees and grass. There are benches everywhere and a gazebo in the middle. We spent quite a lot of time here as it was nice. The main market was just south of the Zocolo and also there was an inside market as well that sold all kinds of artisan goods and foods. Around the zocolo within a block are many shops selling ice cream, food, bus tickets, clothing, jewelery and pottery. Two blocks south is the chocolate cafes that don´t sell coffee but rather cups of hot chocolate. I bought mole and chocolate at one. I was going to buy powdered chocolate here but I´d be the only one drinking it as Piper thinks it tastes weird as it isn´t very sweet.