Tapachula, Oaxaca and Mexico city

After some confusion caused by another couchsurfer cancelling her arrival by sms and my host Oscar thinking I sent the text, he did eventually pick me up from the centre of Tapachula and took my to his home to meet the family. Besides the mum, three sisters and one brother I also met one of their little house guests. I asked mum what the note “Don't turn the light off because of the cuijas” in the kitchen means and she started rumbling around in the kitchen to find one. When she finally asked me to stick my head behind one of the kitchen shelves to see one and I did, expecting to see some sort of a small bug, finding myself eye to eye with about 15 cm long greenish reptile made me scream and jump and Oscars family to burst into laughter.

On Thursday I finally admitted that having an upset stomach for more than three weeks and feeling dizzy every morning is not normal even for a Finn in the tropics and payed a visit to the local pharmacy which offers a doctor's consultation for 25 pesos (1,5€). After talking with me for 10 minutes, feeling and, not kidding, listening to my stomach with a stethoscope, the doc prescribed me three types of pills to get rid of the severe stomach infection as soon as possible. No fruits or juices, but shitloads of pill popping. And so far it seems to work like a charm. But if you ever happen to need to doctor in Mexico and go to see one at Farmacia Similares, keep in mind that these dudes work for the pharmacy – they will prescribe you more stuff that you actually need. So ask the doc which ones are really necessary and which not. I think I also would've had more faith in his diagnosis if it was based on any tests, but maybe that's just the Scandinavian in me talking.

The 12 hour night bus from Tapachula to Oaxaca (380 pesos, 23€) almost left without me on it, 'cause I didn't know they had gone over to summer time the night before, but I made it and froze my ass off as usual. A traveller I met had once asked the bus driver why the air condition is so cold during the night and was told that the windows would get all steamy and they wouldn't be able to drive if the temperature in the bus was higher than outside. Please don't tell this to Finnish bus drivers 'cause a trip home for Christmas in a bus colder than -20 C might not be fun. But I have to say I enjoyed the bus stopping at 3am for 20 minutes, not to use the rest room or buy something to eat, but just to sit outside in the warm, before going back to the fridge for the next 6 hours.

In Oaxaca I was hosted by another busy CS host, Rodrigo. His profile caught my attention by stating fly fishing as one of his favourite hobbies. Unfortunately a sudden hangover after a night of rock concerts stopped us from catching some fishy devils and letting them go free again (Rogrigo has never eaten any of the fish he's caught here and is not sure how good for you that would be anyway), but listening to some proper music after all these latin tingelings was sure nice. I didn't even know I considered heavy to be the proper music before this trip, but hey, live and learn.

Rodrigo's mum was busy preparing to “small” dinner for about 80 locals to commemorate her dad who passed away a year ago; not to cry or mourn, but the celebrate the good memories they have of their loved one. What a wonderful tradition - please promise that if you're alive one year after I died, get some (hopefully very old) friends together and get drunk for me!

Local specialities like tlayudas, tejate and hot chocolate tasted a lot better in the company of Rodrigo's two other guests from Hungary and Germany and the Tule Tree with a trunk diameter of 11.62m gave us shelter from the pouring rain.

The ADO buses to Mexico city take only 6 hours but would've cost more than the 12 hours ride from Tapachula, and that was something I simply couldn't accept, so after some detective work I found a company called Fipsa, not mentioned on any of the guidebooks or travel websites with its terminal hidden on a backyard close to the city's largest market place. The bus was just as good as ADOs (except warmer, thank god), the ride took 20 minutes longer only because of couple of snack breaks and the cost was 230 pesos (14€).

Coming back to Mexico city was nice 'cause for the first time in 5 weeks I knew my way home. Carlos' and Adrian's flat mate Alex was there to open the door for me and we were soon joined by their American and Brazilian CS friends. After being locked inside in the morning 'cause Nate temporarily lost his set of keys I decided to take a taxi to the airport (60 pesos, 4€) to leave my baggage there, since I didn't know how much they charge from lockers (outrageous 100 pesos, 6€), before going out to see the city centre for the first time.

I took a stroll around the main tourist sites without entering any of them, only visiting a cool photograph exhibition by Sousa, and finally through away my old, very worn pair of sun glasses 'cause I found a new one for only 40 pesos (2,5€). And within an hour from that, I was robbed for the first time in Latin America – not of my camera, mobile or wallet, but of that pair inexpensive sun glasses! I put them down on a shelf at a small boutique while looking at some cool handmade earrings and a minute later they were gone. So I figured that they must look good enough for it to be worth it to walk back to the store to get another pair.

Finding the way to the Mexicana check-in at the airport wasn't easy but after that everything went smoothly. Surprisingly, here they don't even care if you carry liquids as hand luggage, in case you want to take a big bottle of water with you for some reason. In between a dinner served at midnight and a breakfast at 5pm I managed to catch a couple hours of sleep.


A few Latin American concepts I've picked up on the way so far:

“No hay agua”
There's no water - anyone who's travelled in Latin America knows all too well what this means: running water is not available. The officials have turn the taps off so people wouldn't waste water. Since water is extremely cheap, nobody bothers to save it and some can even leave it running (for a reason I haven't quite figured out yet). You can't take a shower, flush the toilet or wash your hands. Unless the place you're staying at has saved some water in buckets when it was still available or a hotel or restaurant has a deal with the water company and they'll come to fill your tanks on request.

“Hay agua caliente”
This is how some hotels advertise their services, 'cause having hot water is definitely not something you can take for granted. In Tapachula my host Oscar said that he doesn't know anyone who would have hot water at home. Why would they? The coldest temperature he has ever experienced in Tapachula is about 20 degrees Celsius when people put on their winter clothes, something with long sleeves. The 36-39 degrees we had during my stay was normal, not particularly hot. And I can tell you I didn't miss taking a hot shower.

“A Mexican heterosexual man”
A man who is married or in a relationship with a woman, but who perhaps sometimes has sex with other men. I'm not saying that all Mexican heterosexuals do this but apparently many of those who do, don't consider themselves gay or bi. Just perfectly straight guys fucking other guys. (This made me laugh almost as much as this Swedish video.)

Travelling is like making a puzzle
You see shitloads of strange things, different pieces that don't seem to make any sense. Then you realise that those two pieces belong together, one cultural difference is result of another, and little by little you start seeing the picture, how everything works and why. But making puzzles with this many pieces takes ages and completing the puzzle would require living in the location for years. Can you tell that I love making puzzles? A shame I don't have the patience to finish them.