Naked ladies, an egg cure, and other Mexican curiosities

It's been a busy couple of days down here for us in Mexico. As Mike is getting ready to depart (boo!), getting our tourist to-do list complete has become all the more urgent. Our progress had been slowed a bit by a terrible stomach bug (parasite, bacteria, who knows) that attacked Mike pretty ferociously on Thursday night. He was laid up all day Friday and Saturday. Saturday afternoon, we decided it was time to call in the big guns...the egg cure. We had learned from our friends Ben and Nohemi that many locals (including Nohemi when Emilia is sick) will rub an egg on the patient. The egg is supposed to absorb all of the bad energy and help to cure the illness. We gave it a shot and well we aren't sure if it was the egg or not, but Sunday Mike was feeling like a champ.

To take advantage of Mike's wellness, we set out on one of the most jammed packed days in Mexican tourism history....

7 - 8:15 am - Palm Sunday mass at Santo Domingo church.

8:15 - 8:30 am - Joined Palm Sunday procession. We walked w/ the procession only a few blocks until hunger took over and we ducked into a restaurant.

8:30 - 9:15am - Breakfast at Restaurant Mayordomo.

9:15am - 9:45 am - Drive to Atzompla. The trip wasvery interesting near the Centro de Abastos when in the midst of the crazy bus/taxi traffic we saw a completely naked ~45 year old Mexican woman crossing the street. Very odd, but apparently after talking to Ben and his sister-in-law Edith last night we learned there are quite a few "mentalists" (that's what Ben calls crazy people) that wander around Oaxaca naked. Edith also informed us that the state gov'ts of Chiapas and Puebla drop off their mentalists on the streets of Oaxaca so they don't have to deal with them. Sounds like another crazy Mexican conspiracy theory to me...

9:45 - 10:10am - Browse the Mercado de Artesanias in Atzompla. We went to this town to buy pottery and left empty-handed. The green pottery there is beautiful and very inexpensive, but after the wedding windfall that we enjoyed in fall 2007, we really couldn't find anything we needed. Don't let this stop you from going, because the pottery is beautiful and I'm pretty sure that almost anyone else in the world would have bought something there!

10:10am - 1:00pm - Drive to and visit of Monte Alban. While Monte Alban doesn't get the fame of say Tikal, Chichen Itza, or Machu Picchu... these are beautiful ruins. This was my 3rd time visiting them, but I still saw a few things I hadn't seen before thanks to Mike's desire to see every square inch of the site and a really nice runner we met somewhere near tomb 104. This man who incidentally is a marathon runner from Xoxocotlan showed us one Priest's tomb that I had missed on my previous two visits. This guy runs up to Monte Alban everyday (11 km each way) and it is definitely uphill in a major way to stay in shape for races. Anyway, thanks mystery runner man for showing us the tomb! Our pictures don't really do the site justice, but we try. Side note to anyone who is planning on visiting...in my opinion this is one of the sunniest/hottest places in Oaxaca. Hats, sunblock, and water are a must!

1:00 - 2:30 pm - Drive to Arrazola to buy some alebrijes. We had a bit more shopping success in Arrazola. This town is famous for the painted wooden creatures they sell. These are kind of trippy, acid-flash back kinds of creatures painted in wild colors. For example, it wouldn't be unusual to see a pink/purple/green giraffe with wings and fangs. We picked up a very cool lizard for us, I got a small hummingbird, and our lucky sis Tami scored something sweet for her bday. (Sorry Tami you'll have to wait to find out what it is).

2:30 - 6:15pm - Drive to the mall/supermarket. We are still on our endless search for Ricotta cheese to make lasagna, but came up short yet again at the big supermarket at the mall. What gives? Looks like we'll just have to go with the bechamel sauce, sigh. Popped in a few stores at the mall but bought nothing. Went and saw Vantage Point (it's a rental, don't waste your dinero) and finally headed home to rest. Or so we thought.

6:15-6:45pm - Short rest, shower and change to head downtown to meet Ben for some drinks.

6:45 - 10:00pm - Met up with Ben at one of our favorite watering holes for a few drinks. This is the first time I have ever been in a bar with a guy that was carrying around diapers to bring home for his 4 month old. Please note, that the photo provided, is slightly staged. Yes there were beers, cigarettes, peanuts, and diapers around Ben but we did pose him for this shot.

We finally got home around 10:30 and collapsed. We definitely felt like we accomplished a lot but there's still a lot to be done before we head back north of the border.