Mitla Christmas Lights

We have done all sorts over Christmas in Oaxaca: a mammoth baking session, tasty fish dinner at local posh restaurant, ten pin bowling, wine and cheese party at ours, pot luck Christmas Day lunch with lots of ex-pats at the library, bus tour (in Spanish!) of Oaxaca and lots of catch ups with friends. 

We thought we would treat ourselves to a few days away in Mitla which is a couple of hours away. We booked in to a friend’s Airbnb. It was gorgeous. The rooms were beautifully put together with lots of local backstories and the breakfast was yummy. Mitla has a population of 10,000 so it feels really local and small. Although it was fiesta time both nights with a ticketed centre full of people enjoying the Christmas lights and listening to the mexican bands. We had loads of fun and ate lots of street snacks: corn, tostas, tortas, punch, chocolate and a dubiously shaped waffle! We also looked round the small set of ruins with a palace and tombs. We are already planning to come back one weekend.

Routine is good!

Three weeks in and it really feels like we are living in Oaxaca. It’s a really lovely place with great people and we are already doing our usual thing of envisaging retiring here! We can add that to buying an RV in either America or Oz! Retirements going to be busy - Ha ha! Oaxaca though is a super place, we have landed on our feet. 

We already have quite a routine with Spanish classes on Mondays, cookery classes with our lovely cleaner Norma on Tuesdays, various swimming sessions throughout the week that are getting all of us into the pool, art classes on Thursdays and the regular set of play stuff for Olive in Llano Park on Sundays. We are gradually building up a bit of a network and I am constantly translating WhatsApp’s that I’m receiving then replying with translated Spanish messages. Olive is settled in to school and we have a daily lift share with a super nice family that gives me and Olive a giggle twice a day. And we are obviously eating lots of lovely food. It really is beginning to feel like home and we are starting to plan Christmas. 

Random set of photos of San Domingo church and cool street art we saw on a walking tour, Olive enjoying her favourite Jamaica juice, Olive’s art work with Vik and Boo’s first swimming lesson!

Getting to know Oaxaca

We have spent our first week getting to know Oaxaca. We are staying in San Felipe which is a lovely area, popular with expats. We’ve tried out the local Indian restaurant(!) and looked at the local church. 

On Sundays loads of fun activities come to the Parque Lleno in the neighbouring Reforma area. Olive loved it, painting, riding car, trampoline and sliding down a massive inflatable bouncy slide. 

The view from our apartment is lovely at sunset as is the view from Olive’s school. 

Adios Charl and Nev, Ola Oaxaca

We said our fairwells to Charl and Nev as they headed on to Costa Rica - thanks for setting us up brilliantly for our adventures. Then we flew across to stay in an apartment in Oaxaca and let Olive start in her school...

Chicken Pizza and Cenotes

We went on a day trip to the impressive Chichén Itzá which has been one of the new wonders of the world since 2007. There was a lot of stuff about human sacrifices which the Mayans regarded as an honour. The prize for the winners of the traditional ball game was to be beheaded and families aspired for their babies to be born on the equinoxes so that their child could be bought up and prepared to be sacrificed by having their heart ripped out and offered up to the gods. 

We also went swimming in a couple of Cenotes which are big pools of fresh water formed deep in rock caves, awesome! Olive swam in both Cenotes which was super brave. It was Charl’s birthday and she went on a zip-line course as well which looked too scary for me.

Valladolid

We then enjoyed a typical Mexican town in Valladolid with its square in the middle with a church and ornate buildings around. We stayed right on the square and savoured some tasty Mexican delights like Tacos, Huevos Rancheros and my favourite Salbutes, a puffed taco with battered pork.

Tulum ruinas

We carried on to Tulum which was better than the guidebooks said! The ruins were fun and there were some good bars and food in town.

Olive enjoyed having her hair cut stood up for 70 pesos (£2.50). 

Playa del Carmen

Selina’s sister Charl and partner Nev are travelling around on their sabbatical and joined us for our first week. We relaxed in an all inclusive in Playa del Carmen for a few days. The hotel and food were lovely. I loved the sunrise on the first morning and Olive was the envy of the other kids with her swim setup! We also had Japanese tempanyaki which was new to me - lots of knife throwing and rice being thrown into our mouths as the chef cooked up a treat in front of us.

Mexicanas adventuras

Having welcomed Baby Boo (aka Phoenix) into the Gibb clan back in June and Selina having agreed extended leave, But  we have been waiting for our moment to pounce and go on some more adventures, Covid restrictions dependent. 

First stop - Mexico. We went to Mexico 12 years ago and to be honest didn’t love it. However they were one of the countries who would take us and not on the red list when we booked flights, though the red list did go just before we left! We are still hoping to make it to New Zealand if they open their borders...

So the plan is to spend a week or so around Quintana Roo and Yucatan and then head for an extended spell in Oaxaca where we have lined up a Montessori school for Olive to attend for a couple of months.