Oaxaca, Oaxaca...días 1 y 2

On Friday, the bus ride to Oaxaca from Puebla took about 4 ½ hours. I drank most of a bottle of water before getting on the bus because I was thirsty and I figured the bus would have a bathroom. Wrong. Luckily we stopped after about 3 hours for a bathroom break.
Scenery along the way:

We ended up getting dropped off at a “bus station” southwest of town. When I say “bus station,” I mean a driveway off of a road that is big enough to fit one bus. We then realized that our plan of finding tickets to our next destination was not going to work. We waited around trying to find a taxi, which was a much different experience than I’ve had in any other city. Everyone was staring at us, and I was very uncomfortable. The taxi driver we ended up getting was super friendly though, and we went to our hostel. It wasn't as nice as the one in Puebla, but I can’t really complain. We started to walk towards el centro, both of us feeling a little uneasy. This feeling soon went away. We walked to Santo Domingo (a church) that had a little kid choir concert going on. Obviously this brightened my day immediately.
Their Spanish song, directed towards their moms and dads:

Sunset:

Then we walked through a nearby market, where I pretty much wanted to buy everything. We walked back and listened to the children sing two more songs, a medley from Mary Poppins and Octopus’s Garden by The Beatles. Adorable.
Part of their medley of Mary Poppins songs:

We walked through another market and then down to the zócalo. There was a lot of activity going on, people playing music, people dancing, and lots of glow in the dark toys.

Then we stumbled upon a tour operator, and booked ourselves a tour for the next day.
Saturday we woke up and ate breakfast at our hostel, which included fruit, beans, bread, and a ham and cheese omelet. We walked to the zócalo, took a few pictures, and went to the tour place. We rode in a 12 passenger van to Monte Alban, a very important archeological site. It was one of the first cities in Mesoamerica and it’s surrounded by valleys and is over 6,000 feet above sea level. We took the tour in Spanish, and I think I understood pretty much everything.
The game court:

Katharine and I on the Southern Platform:

Monte Albon (the view from the the northern platform) is on the 20 peso bill:

Two little kids asked us how to get to the exit, as their parents were in the museum that’s right next to it. Later, when we were back in Oaxaca, they came up to us in a market to say hi. They were really cute.
On the ride back, we talked with 2 couples who were from Vancouver. They’re spending three weeks in Mexico, and had just come in from Puerto Escondido, which is our next destination.
When we got back to Oaxaca, we found some food and then walked around some markets. I tried some chocolate, which Oaxaca is known for. It’s not really chocolate that you eat plain, it’s chocolate that you make hot chocolate with. Either way, it’s delicious. We were too tired to really think about buying stuff, so we went back to the hostel for a little rest time.
A cathedral on the way back to our hostel:

We went back out later, to the same market we went to the first night, and bought some stuff.
Here’s a video of a hammock maker in the market…it looks like it’s in fast motion because he's just that good.

We met up with Laurel and her friend, Frank. They are staying in Oaxaca for the week. We all walked through the markets a bit, but mostly just talked.
Sunset:

Fountain near the market:

Facebook album for first two days: Oaxaca