18th December

There isn't a lot to do in Puebla. Most of the girls went to the pottery factory, I chose the food and internet option. True to form the network crashed after about 15 mins so I consoled myself with a mexican panini and cafe con leche.

Today we were off to Oaxaca (pronounced "wahaka") - "ruin central" for the Zapotecs. Oaxaca is 5 hours away from Puebla but the journey was made all the more comfortable by a mistake by Leslie (she had booked tickets for the previous day) so she had to hire our own coach. Happy Days!

I worked out we had about 5 seats each but as is normally the case with me the more room I have the more difficult I find it to get comfortable so I chose a seat near the back far away from the Oirish and read the local papers which are every bit as depressing as any other Latin America paper I have read.

We arrived in Oaxaca at about 8 and went for a meal in the Zócalo square (which I have learned is the equivalent of "Plaza de Armas" in South America and "Plaza Mayor" in Spain). Food was nothing special (Enchiladas de pollo) and the margarita small. We went for a stroll around the square after dinner and to finish off we (Victoria, Shahela, Mikey and I) enjoyed a bottle of wine at Mikey's expense. He bought another bottle to go and then we headed home. Got as far as the nearest bar playing banging music which our Lithuanian traveller found too irrestistible so we made our excuses and left for the hostel.