We didn’t really plan to go to Mexico City since it’s a bit off-topic for this trip. But a couple days earlier my cousin Hans texted saying that he needed to take a flight to maintain his frequent flyer status and was thinking of Mexico City and were we by chance in the area. Indeed we were! So we booked a cute B&B in city center to clean up from camping and meet up with Hans.
With only 1.2 days to enjoy the city, our experience was pretty limited. But we did see a Lucha Libre fight (Mexico version of WWF) and it was amazing. Nina was screaming and cheering, wearing her mask. Very fun thing to do. We also met up with my friend from grad school, Antonio, who showed us the Mercado San Juan which is noteworthy for selling everything from edible worms to fried scorpions to lion and tiger meat.
Ted absolutely hated Mexico City. He was so sketched out from all the traffic, honking, and skateboarders (the kid is TERRIFIED of skateboards) that he refused to even pee. He tucked his tail between his legs and held his pee for 36 hours. Poor guy. Nina came down with a fever on the second day due to playing with a sick kid at our B&B on the first day, and was at maximum grumpy.
Next up we were headed for Oaxaca beaches. We would need to stop twice between Mexico City and the beaches. We were debating where to spend the first night, and navigating our way out of Mexico City traffic when Dmitri noticed a low tire warning light was on. I kept an eye on it out the passenger side mirror while we drove and it was getting quite bad. We were only about 10km outside central Mexico City when we pulled into a Pemex station and had the tire refilled – the attendant told us we needed to find a llantera (tire shop) and fast. I (Google) found a Bridgestone shop nearby and we coasted into it with almost no air in the tire. It took about 20 minutes for the people there to inform us that they don’t repair tires, they only sell them (you’re dead to me, Bridgestone!) and we needed to go about a block and a half to another llantera. By this time the leak was loud and obvious, and we knew we didn’t have much time. Although though they filled the tire at Bridgestone, we were totally flat after a block and a half to the llantera. The shop was on siesta and closed up, but when I grew impatient and started fiddling with their air hose, the proprietor miraculously appeared. He repaired a gnarly tear on the inside of the tire and we were on our way.
By then we were hungry, and we’d spotted a Chili’s by the Bridgestone. Nina was also out of children’s ibuprofen, so Dmitri went into a nearby supermarket to procure more, we dosed her, gave her enough time to morph into a human fit for a restaurant environment, and then ate the hell out of that Chili’s! It was so great to eat some “homey” food! While at Chili’s we accepted that we were only making it to Puebla for the night and booked an Airbnb, at another cold hacienda. We also realized we would have to make still 2 more stops before Oaxaca beaches. The first would be Oaxaca City, and for the second I stumbled across a universally adored mountain cabin retreat called Refugio Terraza de la Tierra that serves organic vegetarian food grown onsite and offers yoga daily. I was a definite YES on this and Dmitri required no convincing.
After spending the night in Puebla, we were pulling away from the hacienda when the same low tire light came on! We stopped immediately at another llantera and learned that the same tire had a different hole in it. Repair. Move along.
Our one night outside of Oaxaca City was eventful because we walked from our cabaña to the town in search of a particular restaurant the cabaña owner recommended. We wanted exercise and welcomed the long uphill hike. Well, it must have been some Saint’s day because the locals were setting off fireworks like mad. Just the ones that make loud noises – not the ones that make pretty sparkles. Ted was on edge the whole walk and Nina screamed every time a new one went off. The street dogs were on edge too and were extra territorial. We were so distracted that we walked right past the restaurant costing us an extra ~45 minutes and making us very late to eat by the time we arrived. Nina’s ibuprofen had worn off by then too. Upon arrival we discovered they had an extremely limited menu – you can order anything you can make out of tortillas, cheese, and pork. We were wildly confused as to why the cabaña owner talked the place up so much. Nina escalated her meltdown further and we had to take the food to go and get in a taxi back to the cabaña.
The next day, enroute to Terraza de la Tierra we hit up the San Sebastian rock climbing area and really loved it. Everyone had a blast!
Loco Dirty Familia 
How great is that rock climbing pic?!?!
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