February 9th 2024 – Oaxaca, México

Puebla turned out to be a real gem. We continually discovered new aspects of the city that made us like it better. The heart of the city is Zócalo de Puebla, the central square surrounded by the Cathedral, the Municipal Palace and other old colonial buildings. We’re used to imposing churches and cathedrals from Europe, but this one still managed to impress.

Every evening classical music flowed out across the park next to the cathedral while a light show played in tune on the buildings and fountains surrounding the park. It gave Katrine the feeling of being part of a Disney movie.

Behind the cathedral we found Biblioteca Palafoxiana – the first and oldest public library in the Americas founded in 1646. It has more than 45,000 books and manuscripts, ranging from the 15th to the 20th century.

A visit to the Church of Santo Domingo and the adjoining Chapel of the Virgen del Rosario left us dumbfounded. The amount of details and gold was overwhelming. For a long time the chapel was regarded by many as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Barrio de Xanenetla, known for its murals, offered a quite different artistic experience. Behind the painted walls the neighborhood was falling apart – literally.
Puebla was suffused with art. In the Artist Quarter (Barrio del Artista) small galleries lined the streets allowing you not only see the final products but also witness the creative process.
But more than anything it was the street life, the atmosphere and the people that made us fall in love with the city. 

Eventually it was time to move on.
Compared to CDMX it was a walk in the park to get out of Puebla. The morning was spent on curvy roads through rural settings sounded by mountains.
We stopped for lunch in a village where everyone gathered by the church carrying dolls while fireworks went off to celebrate Día de la Candelaria – the conclusion of the Christmas season.

The nice riding continued in the afternoon while the temperatures climbed
It was uncomfortably hot – for the first time in weeks – when we arrived in Huajuapan de León where we had booked a cabin for the night. 

We were down to our last change of clothes so it was time to do laundry. The place we stayed at offered to do it for 362 pesos. No thank you. A 2 kilometers hike on dirt roads, trails and steep streets brought us to downtown and the cleanest laundromat ever. 1 hour later and 67 pesos poorer, we set out to have a closer look at Huajuapan de León. The town was dressed up and Día de la Candelaria still in full swing. We returned to our cabin after a late dinner.

We slept late. The sun was high in the sky and we were greeted by a wave of hot air when we left the air conditioned interior of our cabin. With the bikes rolling the temperatures were manageable. We followed Hwy 190 all day. It connects the cities of Puebla and Oaxaca and offers scenic views of changing scenery as it meanders its way through the mountains. Traffic was light and the riding phenomenal!

We had booked 2 nights at an airbnb on the outskirts of Oaxaca. The place turned out to be nicer than expected. We contacted the landlord, negotiated a good price and extended our stay to a week.

The house is located on a hillside between the historic center and the trendy district Reforma. From our room on the top floor we have a nice panoramic view of the city with mountains as a backdrop. In the morning our room gets illuminated by the most spectacular sunrises.

Initially we shared the house with 3 other couples from Norway, France and Mexico. Everyone has their own room – ours with a private  ensuite bathroom. The shared areas, including 3 terrasses, are spacious enough for the house never to feel crowded. 
The ground floor towards the street is a spacious garage with a side area that provides perfect parking for the bikes.

With temperatures up towards 30°C everyday it’s easy to build up a sweat every time we leave the house. Inside it stays pleasantly cool all day despite no AC.
Some of the locals told us that it’s unusually warm for the season. The norm is below 20℃ during the day and fridge temperatures at night.
The high temperatures is a culmination to a year with the worst drought in more than a decade. Initially the farmers were hit the hardest. Subsequently it resulted in increased prices on essential food items, such as sugar, beans, corn, and meat, making it impact everyone. Now the general water supply is threatened in many areas. In Oaxaca it has reached a point where the town only can supply running water maybe 1 day a week. The house we stay at luckily has an underground cistern as a backup. A truck comes by with regular intervals to fill it with water. Many homes don’t have that option and a lot of people can’t afford this solution as water delivered by truck isn’t cheap. Imagine not being able to wash your hands, take a shower or even flush your toilet…

While the Mexicans are praying for rain, we hear reports from back home in Denmark about how 2023 has been the wettest year in recorded history. The whole country is saturated with water and some of our friends are struggling to keep water out of their houses.

Aside from the hill we stay at, the town is mostly level. It makes getting around on foot relatively effortless for a change. Oaxaca is a picturesque old town. We have a 20 minute walk to the historic center full of restaurants, art galleries and fancy shops. The other parts of town we have explored are also interesting.

A few days after we arrived in town Fin showed up. He is staying 10 minutes walk from our place. We invited him over for dinner on his first night in town.
We have met Fin 5 times in Mexico. It is never planned. We are taking different routes but as we are moving in the same general direction and seem to travel at about the same pace we have a tendency to cross paths from time to time.
During dinner we agreed to do a day ride together a couple of days later.

It ended up being a morning ride to avoid the worst of the day’s heat and beat the crowd at Monte Albán. Monte Alban was an important city for nearly a thousand years between 500 BC and 500 AD. It’s situated atop an artificially leveled ridge, at almost 2.000 meters elevation overlooking Oaxaca on the valley floor 400 meters below. 
Monte Albán offered a different experience than the other pre-Colombian cities we have visited. It was the first time Fin visited an archaeological site in Mexico. He was thoroughly impressed. The weather was really nice. It was pleasant in the shade but the sun was brutal at this altitude. Katrine had taken preventive measures to avoid sunburn to her lower legs.

It was late morning when we got back on the bikes. Fin had found a wriggly road to our next destination so he took the lead. Half an hour later we parked in the shade of a huge tree in downtown Santa María del Tule. Fin was starving so the first order of business was to get lunch. A shady food market across the street took care of that.
Well fed, it was time to have a look at the big brother of the tree we had parked the bikes under – Árbol del Tule – an enormous Montezuma cypress. It has the widest trunk of any tree in the world and was truly impressive.

One of the reasons we’ve been staying in Oaxaca for almost a week now is that I wanted to have a look at and prepare a bit  for the next leg of our journey, which will be coming up shortly  – Central America.

It’s a real pleasure to stay put for a while, when traveling long term like we are doing. It allows us to wind down and catch up on all the things we neglect when on the move. We answer emails, make calls, edit pictures, create and share our travelogues, do laundry, inspect and maintain our equipment etc etc…

As I’ve mentioned before I also enjoy visiting local gyms. Here in Mexico it’s like time travel. The gyms look like they did in Denmark 30 years ago with posters of bodybuilders on the walls and oldschool equipment. I’m usually welcomed with open arms at the local gyms. It was easy to pick a gym here in Oaxaca as the closest one  just down the street is called “Thor’s Gym”. When the owner, a charming hulk of a man, heard that I was from Denmark he put Metallica’s Black Album on the stereo as he knew that Lars Ulrich, the drummer, is Danish. I’ve been going every afternoon since we arrived in town and now receive fist bumps from the regulars when I enter.