Ay Caramba guey, has a week really passed since my last update?!

Let me therefore crack on with a brief update.

Rounding off my significantly lengthier than intended stay in Mexico city with a visit to the National Museum of Anthropology, the Botanical Gardens and Frida Kahlo`s house, I finally felt like I had had my fill of the city`s offerings and so caught the very civilised and comfortable bus six hours south to Oaxaca.

Oaxaca

Having travelled half the world round visiting many and various friends along the way, I am now starting to receive donations of friends. And so the house wot I stayed in in Oaxaca belonged to, get this, the mother of a friend of a friend of my mother, and her extensive family. Tenuous? Me? Never!!
And so it was that I spent a very happy few days losing track of time in Oaxaca, a beautiful and brightly coloured little hillside town halfway down Mexico, being entertained by everyone from niece, to grandson, to grandmother, to the actual friend himself, to friends of friends. It was marvellously random in a very latin way! And I was told that I could stay the year if I fancied. Options always good.

On the bus down I met Skip, an Australian guy who I`m now travelling on down Mexico with. The three days or so were spent ambling round town, visiting the beautiful sandy yellow churches and museums, trying out their revolting lethal liquor `mezcal` at a local fair, dancing salsa in clubs, dodging through markets, and recovering from late nights out. As seems to be my way in Mexico, I stayed longer than intended, and Skip and I then caught the night bus down to my current location...

San Cristobal de las Casas

Backpacker central, heaving with dopey types decked out in all the Latin American gear, but nevertheless a rainbow coloured little town, with half a dozen main streets to navigate and a cracking little crafts market. Skip and I are now set to travel to Guatemala, however, and so any potential purchases will be postponed until then, where apparently you can buy exactly the same brightly coloured threads for a tenth of the price. Fear not, I will not be returning to London decked out from head to toe in traveller gear, but the colours are pretty nice it has to be said.

SCdlC has been a mooching destination, the perfect stopover and recuperation place to allow us to get over our nights out in Oaxaca, buy up tickets to Guatemala and generally sort things out.

Food Fiend - Mexico continues to delight with scrumptious nibbles and cooked concoctions...here are a few I ate earlier.

• Tortillas con higado - flour pancakes served with fried liver and onions, topped with frijoles (black beans) and served with a piquant thin avocado sauce. Lip smackingly good.
• Tequila de bandera - three shots the colour of the Mexican flag, spicy red tomato, clear potent tequila and tart green lime. Your choice which order you down the flag in, but a great alternative to the normal salt and lime
• Chapulines - large fried grasshoppers, red in colour. To quote Skip`s perfect summary - "like salty chewy raisins". It is said that, once eaten, the diner will be back Oaxaca-wards again. I may be returning to Oaxaca, but let`s say I`ve had quite enough of these critters to last me a while...
• Gusanos - admittedly this was more of a dare, but dried salted worms. BLEH. Bleh bleh bleh, yik. Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh - a Magnum icecream was required to cleanse my mouth of the dessicated worm which tastes akin to a pork crackling, that just refuses to be swallowed. Almost but not quite as bad as the sea urchin.
• Tlacuya - enormously large tortilla covered pizza like with beans, avocado, chicken, tomato and cheese. Very tasty but vastly overestimated how large this was going to be and only managed a quarter. Guilty at having surplus food with so many beggars around, I took it away, to give to someone more needy than me. Trust me to find the only blind beggar who asks "has it got butter in it, I`m allergic".
• Pollo con mole negro - roast chicken with black spicy sauce. Oaxaca being home of moles, this was a must-try, and well worth it!