I can't help it... I feel bad posting these when I know you all are having such awful weather!  But, here you go... 

Here's the beach. This is where I hung out yesterday.

 Most of the beach is pretty empty.

 

 

That is a big glass of tequilla on the left and a huge glass of fresh orange juice mixed with fresh carrot juice.

Where I had dinner last night.  I love eating with my bare feet in the sand.

To Puerto Escondido!  Up at 5 AM to get to the airport by 6:00.  Plane was supposed to leave at 7:00 but we actually left earlier.  We just got in, put on our seatbelts and off we went.  The picture I have is blurry but it'll give you an idea of how small the plane was.  Sunrise over the sierra.  Really gorgeous.

Luis, who owns the place where I'm staying, picked me up at the airport and took me on a little tour of the area.  After he showed me my room his wife and he made me an amazing breakfast of papaya with yogurt, fresh OJ, eggs with tortillas and red sauce, and coffee.

 Leaving Oaxaca

 Puerto Escondido

 To the left of Puerto Escondido

There was one row behind me.  A guy was sitting back there who was coming to a yoga retreat from Pittsburg.  He looked terrified. 

It's 5:00 AM and I'm about to go to the airport to fly to Puerto Escondido.  Here are three photos as a sample of my day yesterday.  More later.

 Monte Alban.

 Santo Domingo monastery in Oaxaca.  There's a museum there with pre-columbian items and everday items from the colonial period.

As I walked home last night.

I'm sitting outside on the terrace and just finished some work for the office.  I had a margarita while I did it, so hopefully it will make sense!

I had a wonderful lunch in the market today.  First a tamale with chicken and a very sweet black mole then a chile relleno, stuffed with chicken.  So so good.  While I ate the tamale, I sat next to a couple from South Korea and helped them order some vegetable soup. 

I bought some chiles to bring home and some gorgeous panela, which is a block of brown sugar. 

I found out that it will take me 9 hours on the bus to get to Puerto Escondido, where the beach is.  After speaking to the old guy at the coffee shop today I decided to fly there instead.  He said it's a small plane that goes up over the sierra then down down down to the beach.  That will be "fun."  I'm going there on Wednesday and will be back here on Friday so it just doesn't make sense to drive. 

Tomorrow I'm going to Monte Alban, a Zapotec city from about 100 BC.  Here's some more info about it, if you're interested. 

Here are the photos from the market today. 

 This is the first place I ate.  I had a tamale.  You can see them stacked there next to the big tostadas.

Here's the guy I bought chiles from.  He even put a label in each bag because I had never heard of these types.  He told me one type was really good to blend with balsamic vinegar then with olive oil to make a salad dressing.  Yum!

Had breakfast at the hotel - fresh fruit, fresh juice (pineapple with celery and parsley!), eggs and beans, then walked down into town.  I went to the market where they sell homemade art.  I can't think how to say that in English but it's artesania.  After buying some goodies I poked into the big food market.  I'm going to go back there for lunch in a bit and to look for some chiles to bring back. 

Walking home I stopped at a coffee shop near my hotel to refuel.  I talked with an older man from Toronto who spends the winters here.  

Here are some photos I took on the street.  I'm a bit shy about taking out my camera and capturing the people and the place.  (It feels so colonialistic to me, like I'm fetishizing them as beautiful objects for our consumption.)  But, I do hope to get some shots in the market because it's so amazing and full of beautiful food. 

 This means "deep wells."

 Here's my hotel. 

 Lots of great street art here.

 The roof terrace near my room

Oh, I just realized that I didn't post most of my photos from San Miguel.  The ones with the beautiful art I saw there.  Here they are.  PS:  Sorry to hear you are getting more snow.  It looks utterly beastly there!! 

 

I was told no photos but I took one when no one was in the room.  Then, a guy walked in and got mad but then he smiled when I said I was sorry!  Glad I got the pic, though!  

I'm in Oaxaca but I don't have any photos to post yet.  I spent last night in Puebla which was halfway from San Miguel to Oaxaca.  In the bus station in Queretaro, I talked with a man who recommended a hotel for me in Puebla called San Agostino.  So, I went there straight from the bus station.  But, when I asked the man at the window if they had anything he said no.  Oh oh!  I asked him if he could recommend anything else and he noticed my consternation so he said he did have one room left and gave me the key so I could go look at it.  Well, it was pretty crummy but I didn't think I had a choice so I took it.  It cost less than $20.  At least it was clean. 

The town was packed with tourists from other parts of Mexico coming to Puebla for a three day weekend and some sort of religious thing.  There were women holding fake babies which seemed to have something to do with it.  I walked into town and asked at other hotels but all of them were booked up.  So, I felt lucky that I had found something.

Puebla is very pretty but a bit gritty.  It reminded me of Lisbon.  Lots of tiled buildings that are slightly faded.  It obvioulsy was a very grand city at one point.  Here's what it looked like:

(I stole these photos from someone else.)

So, I sat in the zocalo for a while trying to figure out what do to.  I had a margarita and goofed around on my computer looking for restaurants.  Here are a couple of pics I took while sitting there:

It felt like a major party.  Tons of families walking around and mimes and comics doing skits in the park in the middle of the zocalo.

I couldn't figure out where to eat so I just walked around.  I ended up going into a little place called Grandma's Kitchen and had a delicious dinner of cream of chayote soup, rice and pork in adobo with a lovely lemon tea.  It was so good and it only cost about $4.00.

I straggled back to my hovel and bought a little bottle on wine on the way.  I got into the room and had some wine and read a bit them went to bed early on my very hard bed.  As I was reading the electricity went out.

I woke up at about 6:00 and took a shower.  Or, tried to take a shower.  The bathroom had a spigot on the wall and that was the shower.  I turned on what I thought might be the hot water but it was cold.  I let it flow for a few minutes but it was still cold.  I tried the other one and it was even colder.  So, I went back to the first one.  After about 5 minutes it felt warm-ish.  I thought I could get wet but it was still sooo cold.  I waited and brushed my teeth standing there.  After another 5 minutes it felt warmer so I plunged in.  It got warmer.  Ah. 

I packed up and got a taxi to the bus station.  I was able to get a seat on a bus to Oaxaca leaving at 8:30.  Meanwhile, I had some breakfast in the bus station of delicious chicken enchiladas with green sauce.  Even food in the bus station is good.  It's crazy!

The ride took 4 hours.  Huge mountains in the distance the entire way.  One with snow on top, although it's not visible in the photo.

 

The closer to Oaxaca we got the greener and more fertile it looked.  We crossed over the sierra and headed down into the valley where Oaxaca is.  The bus broke down on the way but we got on another one that had parked behind us on the road and arrived in Oaxaca at 1 pm.  

My hotel is adorable and just perfect.  I went out for a coffee at a cool little coffee shop and came back to my room to chill for a bit.  Going out in a bit to explore and find somewhere for dinner.  Oaxaca has a wonderful vibe.  I'm in a normal neighborhood about 6 blocks from the center of town and it's very beautiful.  The houses are painted in bright colors and the people are friendly.  I love it here already.