From Mexico City we headed southwest to Oaxaca, a six hour bus ride. Oaxaca is a colonial town that oozes charm. The historic centre of town with its cobblestone streets, shaded squares and markets has a really arty feel to it. For us Oaxaca, above all other things, was a gastronomic destination.

El restaurante at Casa Oaxaca was the best mexican food either of us have ever tried. With a really pretty courtyard setting (not captured at all in our photo) this place put modern twists to mexican classics. As an additional bonus our waiter, Alejandro, had very good wine knowledge and he helped us sample a number of mexican vinos that pleased the palate. Carignan was a new varietal than neither Em or I had heard of let alone tried. Adding a bit of theatre to the night, our chef came out and made our salsa at our table which was really cool. He used a mortar and pestle and added with nuance green and red tomatoes, garlic, onion, coriander, and a touch of water, then he added chilli and salt to taste (which he did 4 or 5 times by licking small samples off the back of his hand). Our experience at Casa Oaxaca was a memorable one.

In mexico when you sit down at a restaurant (at least the nicer ones) the wait staff bring over your own small (table height) hat and coat stand. It's one of those little quirks that mexico does differently to the rest of the world. I love these idiosyncracies.

Another thing mexican's do differently is the drivers acknowledge one another as they pass each other on the road. In Australia, we have the index finger wave as a sign of acknowledgement and in very exuberant moments we might even take a hand of the wheel to give a small wave. Well, in mexico they go to the extreme. At times our bus driver would take both hands off the wheel (true) and with full arm extension start flailing wildly. It is most peculiar.

For one of our days in Oaxaca we headed out to a ruins site called Monte Alban which dates from as early as 600 BC (if memory serves me correctly). It was quite interesting, as most of these places tend to be and impressive in its scale. But I enjoyed the bird life and the flowers most, being the manly man that i am. I spent quite a while trying to capture a hummingbird feeding on trumpet shaped flowers, but they were just to swift for me to snag a photo of.

That'll do for Oaxaca. Off to the coast for a bit of beach and R&R now.