We woke up in the old amusement park, having a quick breakfast, and getting ready for another long drive. We couldn't find the man who we suspect wanted to overcharge us for staying the night, but we figured he'd probably resigned himself to knowing that we'd cottoned on to the price difference to what we know other folks had been charged, and was fine with our 100 pesos for not having to do much.
We drove from the state of Puebla into the state of Oaxaca, where we saw thousands of cacti lining the hills around us. The views were spectacular! Our plan was to stop in the city of Oaxaca for lunch, as this whole region is known for its rich, diverse cuisine with its pre-Hispanic roots, featuring corn, beans, and chiles, moles, stringy Oaxaca cheese, crispy grasshoppers (chapulines), chocolate, smoky mezcal, and much more! One of Michael's friends, Ian, lives in Oaxaca (but on the coastal side not near us), and had recommended a restaurant near where we'd be stopping. The city was hectic and not very fun to drive through, so we were relieved to exit the city center, stopping behind a couple of trucks to eat at Caldo de Piedra, Ian's recommendation.
A Traditional Oaxacan Stone Soup
The signature dish is the same name as the restaurant: Caldo de Piedra (literally “stone soup”) is pre-Hispanic, traditional fish or shrimp-based soup that includes water, tomatoes, onions, lime, and cilantro. These are placed into bowls made of hollowed dried gourds (jicaras). To cook the soup, a fire heats small river rocks until they’re scorching hot (traditionally for a couple of hours). The stones are then transferred into the bowls, where the intense heat cooks the soup in a matter of minutes.
We went into the restaurant, which was decorated beautifully, and ordered a couple of soups that had both fish and shrimp, and were given some tortilla chips and dip as a bit of a starter, plus fresh, handmade tortillas on the side to eat with our main dish. Apparently not a lot of restaurants make this dish, so it was a fun experience to see the cook adding the hot rock to our soups! We had to peel the shrimp as they were thrown in, full head and tail, into the soup that was cooked. It was a hot day so we normally wouldn't have ordered soup, but we were excited to because it was such a special and unique experience!
Lisette needed to go to the restroom which was outside of the restaurant, but instead of a silhouette of a man and woman, there was a sun and moon denoting male and female. There was nobody else eating at the restaurant, so Lisette just used the one with the moon. We asked the waiter and it turns out that she chose correctly: traditionally, the woman is symbolized as a moon!
An RV Park for the Night
We were a stone's throw (pun intended!) from the restaurant to El Rancho, the RV park that we were going to stay in for the night. Before we went we realized we were near the widest tree in the world, so Michael thought we'd try to drive down a side street to see it--only for us to realize the street to turn into after that was too narrow for our RV! Lisette had to get out and help guide us out as then a police car came down the street, which meant Michael had to reverse all the way out. It was a tricky maneuver, but we eventually made it out of there!
We could make out El Rancho before we got to the gate, seeing the tops of RVs from behind a fence. A caretaker was outside, and after chatting to him in Spanish, he let us in and we paid US$20 for the night (they charge in pesos, but also are okay if you pay in USD or Euros, based on current conversion rates). There were quite a few other RVs and campers there, and all spots have full hookups, which is great!
The RV campground has everything we needed and more--a swimming pool, communal cooking area that also includes shelves with board games and a library, a separate bar area, and restrooms. It's clean and well-maintained, and would also be great for Sheila to feel safe and able to walk around.
We went swimming in the pool (or should I saw Michael did--the water was icy cold, and by the time we went for a dip in the afternoon, the sun was starting to set...Lisette couldn't brave taking more than a dip!). We met a few folks also camping, including our neighbors next to us who had been traveling in an RV across the US and Canada for 5 years (mom/dad and 2 young kids), and who had recently crossed into Mexico and were staying at the RV park for a couple of months. We also met a German couple who own an expedition vehicle, and were also in Mexico for a long stint, but had traveled extensively around the world, including around the Middle East and Asia. Great to meet fellow travelers again!
In the evening, Michael unfortunately got some kind of stomach bug, and wasn't feeling well. Food poisoning? It was odd because we had eaten exactly the same things today, so it could have been from him not washing his hands before digging into the Oaxacan soup to peel the prawns? Or maybe the stone wasn't exactly clean. Or from his Coke can (Lisette had a fresh juice for lunch)? At least we were staying in a really nice RV park while he was feeling ill in the evening and overnight!
Exchanging Dinero and Bottoming Out
Michael was still feeling dreadful in the morning, so Lisette went out by herself to exchange more US dollars into Mexican pesos, because these cuotas are adding up! Fortunately she was able to talk to the caretaker at the RV park in Spanish, who guided her to a small mom & pop store nearby that exchanged money. She would never have figured out that they offered exchange services here on her own!
Michael, the trooper that he is, was determined to push ahead with driving in his state, and we left the RV park after 10.30am to get back on the road. The one thing we haven't mentioned until now is that Mexican roads are littered with "topes"--massive speed bumps that are possibly installed to slow down traffic, but are ridiculously high and not necessarily helpful. There aren't always signs noting that there is a tope ahead (and they're not always painted), so we've had times when we've hit a speed bump without even realizing it!
We weren't far from El Rancho when we came up to a tope that was enormous, and our self-leveling system whacked into it. As soon as we heard it scrape, an incessant beeping started in our RV, and we couldn't turn it off--clearly it was damaged further. Michael got out and looked underneath and it was leaking fluid, so he had to unscrew the alert system inside to just get it to stop. We haven't used the self-leveler since the first month or so of our trip (after which it was hit and damaged), and never paid to fix it. So in a way, at least the damage isn't to something we use and would have needed to stop and sort out.
A Lot of Agave, and A Ton of Windmills
Okay, now we're back on the road again. Oaxaca is the heartland of mezcal, the traditional, smoky Mexican spirit distilled from the fermented heart of various agave plants, unlike tequila which uses only blue agave. Made from over 30 agave types, Oaxaca produces over 85% of mezcal. As we were driving through, we passed countless fields and hills where agave plants were growing in abundance, as well as distilleries where these were being transformed into mezcal. We didn't have time on this trip, but it would've been awesome to visit one as a type of agritourism experience, and see the process in more detail! We vowed to return to Oaxaca in the future to see and do more in this region.
There was a part of a road in Oaxaca (the 185D) that's known for being very windy--we saw signs warning drivers of this, with pictures of trucks being pushed by the wind! We could definitely feel it beating the vehicle, and Michael needed to have a firm grip on the wheel to keep us steady. Mexico has taken advantage of this by installing a ton of windmills in this area, going on for miles. While we drove for a long time today (Oaxaca is a long state), we were only stopped 4 times to pay the tolls (equalling our second day). We paid 650 pesos (US$36).
At the end of the day, we arrived in a more rural part of Oaxaca, and stopped at a gas station for the night. Unfortunately, here we noticed that people were burning trash to dispose of it, which made the air terribly smoky and full of toxic fumes. We had lunch at a restaurant within walking distance of the gas station, a lovely family-run place where Lisette ordered tlayudas (Oaxacan large crispy tortillas), that they were able to make vegetarian, with mushrooms instead of meat, as well as cheese and vegetables. Fortunately Michael was feeling a bit better and had some chicken.
We were no longer in the mountainous north of Mexico, so it was a rather warm evening and night! Sheila at one point had her face right up to the fan to keep cool. Tomorrow, we'll be crossing the border into Guatemala!