Pick Pocketers and an Altitude — Oaxaca, Mexico

  Oaxaca, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Monday, December 13, 2010

Woke up this morning at around 9:30am. I was tired, by back ached and really all my bones ached. I had that “I'm way too exhausted to do anything” feeling. I just wanted to stay in bed, it was warm and cozy. But I was only in Oaxaca for 3 days so I had to make the most of it. So I forced myself up and about 15 minutes later I felt better.

So I took a shower but only had hot water coming out of both faucets. So I tried to make due with what I had. Plus there was no bar of soap, but there was liquid soap on the counter which I what I think the hotel wanted us to use since there is a sign on the counter saying they are trying to help the environment. So I used that in the shower. It was really tough taking a shower with only hot water, but luckily it wasn't searing hot. I thought about notifying the hotel manager but the sink water had the same issue the night before, so I thought that maybe the issue was that the pipes are long and water hats up and it takes a while for the cold water to get through

. When I did come back in the afternoon the cold water was cold; so all was good.

The first order of business was finding breakfast for surely I had missed the hotel's breakfast time. I found a church while walking around, one of many and it had a large front gathering ground. It looked like the zocalo, but didn't remember it looking that way. So I kept walking and found this nice place to have some comida at around lunch time out somewhere. Don't really remember what I ordered, but it was another spin the wheel game. And had a fun little conversation with the waitress.

This town is pretty much the same as all the other Mexican towns except the architecture was drstically different. Like I had said before, all the roads are very straight and they all crisscross at a 90 degree angle. Found some really nice things to buy for Christmas for a few people. I had bought something big enough that I had to drop it off at the hotel which was 5 minutes away.

On the way back into town I found the zocalo. It was large, it was full of vendors selling everything from balloons, to crafts to peanuts, etc. Went around browsing some more until I found Mayordomo a major chocolate manufacturer in Oaxaca

. After I had bought what I wanted I saw several Mayordomo stores all over town, they are everywhere. And they all have someone making fresh warm chocolate.

In the store they make the chocolate in some kind of miniaturized cement mixer. While I was there the cook, I guess, dropped a new batch of fresh chocolate onto the counter which must have weighed about a good 30 pounds. The sales woman took a small sampling spoon and let me have a taste. The stuff was really warm and tasted really good, almost like cake batter, but better. Needless to say I bought a whole bunch. Mayordomo chocolate is supposed to be used to make hot chocolate over the stove, melted in a pot of milk or water. But a lot of people seem to buy it just to eat. I sampled other flavors and the stuff is really good. Their chocolate only has 3 ingredients. Walking around the block I saw their competitor La Soledad. Their chocolate is a bit more gritty, but still bought some there as well.

After all this I walked around a bit more and started getting tired and felt like I was getting sunburned. I head back to the hotel where I stayed until early evening. My stomach was churning a bit and I was getting a headache and really felt like I was burning out. So I posted a message about my trip on the Lonely Planet website and within a few minutes had a few answers already

. Something I knew before I left and had totally forgotten is that I was travelling to Mexico City which has an altitude of 2240 meters compared to Montreal's 200 meter elevation. Taxco, my next stop, has an elevation of about 1700 meters. I was fine in those two places until I hit Acapulco which is essentially at sea level. In Acapulco I was just a little tired and sleep helped with that.

But the issue started when I arrived in Oaxaca which where I am is at an altitude of 1600 meters. So it seems the rapid change in elevation caused the way I feel. Some of the people who had replied said that they experienced altitude sickness for a couple of days upon arriving in Mexico. So I'm not looking forward to my experience heading back to Montreal which is going to be the third change of elevation in a week.

Anyway, around 7pm I started to get a tiny bit hungry and wanted to get something somewhere because it got too late. I opened the door of my room and felt the chilly air from outside. The temperature changes drastically here. Only a few hours ago it was about 20 degrees Celsius outside. So put on my jacked and headed back out to the zocalo.

In the zocalo I think I ran into some pick pocketers

. I had never met one before, and really didn't think about it until later that night. This one girl all chippy asked me if I spoke English. So yeah! So she wanted me to buy a lolly pop for $5. This is nothing new, Mexico is full of people buying boxes of gum, peanuts, and lollypop and trying to make some money. And she was carrying one of those boxes store owners usually have on display by the cash register.

So she was face to face with me trying to get me to buy a lollypop. This was a quick exchange that lasted less than a few seconds. She was with a guy which I had seen, but never registered who was just beyond my peripheral vision. As she walked away she said, “They're healthy for you.” Probably trying to distract me so I wouldn't think of checking my pockets. Lucky for me I keep everything in my front pockets, wallet, passport, money, keys, etc. They took nothing.

So yes, I bought a few more things to finish off my Christmas shopping. Yeah, it seems I shop a lot eh. And went walking around looking for a nice restaurant to eat at. In the end I wound up eating a couple of hot dogs Mexican style and then grabbing a pizza at Domino's Pizza. I'm getting tired of Mexican food. I'm not sure if it's because I feel sick or just had enough of the spiced foods. Not hot spicy, but more flavourful than Canadian food.

During the day I also checked out a couple of touring places that offer tours to Monte Alban. I didn't really care if I felt sick the next day, this is what I had come to Oaxaca for, so damn it I was going.

It was eleven when I had eaten half the pizza and went to bed. Nothing like good old cold pizza for breakfast.