Mexico : Oaxaca & Chiapas
- ionaweir
- Apr 8, 2025
- 14 min read
Updated: Apr 15, 2025
After the festival it was time to move on again. We had a seven hour (luxury) bus to Oaxaca which was exciting as I was starting to feel a bit stagnant having been needing to stay close to Mexico city up until the festival. It kinda felt like we could now start travelling properly. Our first impressions of Oaxaca involved me almost toppling over because my bags were so heavy, and then Calla actually toppling over, probably because her shoes were falling to pieces.
We spent the first day in Oaxaca de Juarez doing the usual wandering around, getting to grips with the city. Calla and I went to a plant garden thing which was cool as it was this big area full of only plants from the Oaxaca region, separated into their natural climates and stuff. A minor issue was that the tour was completely in Spanish and my Spanish botanical vocabulary is rather limited unfortunately, but I think I still got the gist of some bits here and there. Oaxaca's renowned for its cuisine so we stopped by a big food market - where Calla treated herself to some tripe soup. Yummy. I think she may have quite quickly regretted her decision but who am I to judge. It was really hot in Oaxaca so we stopped for a refreshment and I got an Ojo Rojo which is now my favourite thing. It’s literally a beer with tomato juice, hot sauce, soy sauce, Worcester sauce, lime juice and some more spices and it’s so so good. Potentially better than a bloody mary which is a bold statement… We hadn’t done a huge amount of hiking yet so the next day we found a nearby viewpoint and decided to do that. Turns out it was a forty minute walk along a high way and then an almost vertical (or at least it felt like it) walk up this very grey dirty road. This could have also been down to my poor navigating but we did get there in the end. This may have been a challenge for Calla as she’s not a fan of mine and Helena’s map reading but I don’t think we’re too bad. I’m not anyway. The view was fine. My cheese sandwich on arrival was great. Our hostel was also quite sociable and had evening games like loteria and beer pong. It was really nice to talk to other travellers as we hadn’t really done much of that yet, either because were antisocial or maybe a bit intimidating as a group of three. A shock to no one – I am awful at beer pong, and Calla and Helena are not that much better.
Oaxaca also has these big Zapotec ruins which we got the bus to and ended up having a tour of. It was a bit of a rip off to be honest as we organised it through the hostel for 400 pesos and then saw that entry was only 100. The tour was interesting but it’s quite hard to pay attention in the heat. All the ruins in Mexico are really cool and it’s fun to imagine all the people who used to live there but I can’t lie I’m not in a rush to go to anymore. I went to so many last time I was travelling and they are brilliant but to the untrained eye (such as mine) it’s a struggle to differentiate between all of them. The history behind it all is massively interesting however. I also finally got my laundry done in Oaxaca which was nice as I’d previously been handwashing my knickers in the sink.
Our final day was my favourite I think. We booked a tour of Hierve El Agua which was around two hours away and means boiling water. They’re essentially these pools of water on top of a “petrified waterfall”, which are ironically very cold and not boiling at all. The waterfalls are ‘petrified’ because they’re not actually waterfalls anymore but the marks in the rocks make them look like frozen waterfalls. So basically nothing there is as it seems. Spooky. The tour included loads of things. We went to a weaving workshop, they showed us how to make these amazing candles, went to a buffet (although sadly we’d already brought our homemade sandwiches), some more ruins, and we finally went to a mezcal distillery after nearly three weeks in Mexico. This was really cool until I realised I was eating salt made from worms. There's also a mezcal which literally has worms sitting inside it. And snake heads. I was not a fan. Our last stop of the day was a visit to a tree. It’s called el Árbol del Tule and it’s known for having the “stoutest tree trunk in the world”. It was rather girthy to be fair. Apparently it was planted over 2000 years ago by an Aztec priest, and it even has a birthday in November which is the only day you’re allowed to touch it. I’ve never met a tree with a birthday party before.
Our next stop was San Jose del Pacifico, a tiny forest town in the mountains of Oaxaca, of which the bus journey was absolutely terrifying. Lots of winding roads, lots of cliff edges and lots of speeding drivers. The town has only 800 inhabitants and is famous for its magic mushroom cultivation. They have mushroom posters and merch everywhere and you can just about go to any doorstop and buy shrooms right there and then. Our hostel was absolutely beautiful and felt like a nice little cabin – we even had a fire pit ! The weather was a bit cooler there too so it felt very cosy.
We of course had to partake in the local culture, so bought some of the local produce and had a very funny following day. We went on a little walk and sat in the hammocks for a bit. Helena also nearly fell backwards down a cliff due to some rather unstable plastic chairs. We sat in a restaurant in the town centre for a bit which had a lovely view, then got a mototaxi back to the hostel after I started speaking to god. But the less said about that the better. Overall, a very good day.
My next stop was a beach town called Mazunte on the coast of Oaxaca. The other girls were going straight to Puerto Escondido but I’d heard a lot about Mazunte and really wanted to go so decided to spend a few days there first, which I’m so glad I did. The people at my hostel were so friendly and told me that everyone there kept on extending their stay. The hostel itself was a bit of a joke, in both a positive and negative respect. It was an ecohostel, but like SO so eco. The rooms were mostly outside with kinda just a roof cover, an outdoor kitchen and communal area, and toilets and showers. There were also quite a few cockroaches and scorpions (and lots of barefoot guests which doesn’t bode well…) and the owner was literally drunk the entire three days I was there. I would definitely go back. The online reviews were both amazing and awful and I kinda agree with both of them, but once you just accepted the ridiculousness of the hostel it was so fun and friendly. It also has a bit of a cult following for ecstacic dance… which slightly terrifies me (both the idea of it and the people that go) but I like the concept. It was also quite high up on a hill so had the most amazing views of the beach and both the sunrise and sunset. I spent my first afternoon at the beach (for the first time since arriving in Mexico !) and went for dinner with some people at the hostel at this really cool Indian place, then spent the evening drinking spicy mezcalitas at the hostel. The next day was spent at the beach again of course, although the humidity in this region was something else. As were the waves – I went in once and decided that was enough for me… my bikini’s not strong enough for that intensity of wave I don’t think. I had my first tlayuda -a Oaxacan variation of the same tortilla, beans and cheese - and then went to Punta Cometa for sunset, which is a popular mirador in Mazunte, then had a very sociable evening at the hostel (minus the mezcalitas this time… probably for the best).
I was up early the following morning to go to Puerto Escondido. I wasn’t meeting up with the other girls as I had actually quite last minute booked a yoga retreat ! I had to walk up a massive hill with all my bags until I found a taxi to take me to San Antonio, and then take a colectivo to Puerto from there. I arrived at Barbarenas (an eco retreat hostel/hotel kinda place) fairly early so I had a lot of the day to explore. I was staying in La Punta, which is probably the nicest part of Puerto to stay as the city centre doesn’t have as nice a vibe (although it does have a massive supermarket with vegan taco meat so choose your priorities wisely). Included in what you pay, Barbarenas provide a healthy vegan breakfast and lunch, three yoga classes a day, holistic activities, free fruit, tea coffee etc, and I also decided to do Spanish classes there as well. They had really nice outdoor spaces to relax in, a swimming pool (with fish in be warned) and a really nice dorms (and private rooms but since a yoga retreat was already not in the budget I figured that would not be the best idea). The dorm room was really nice and is obviously a way easier way of meeting people as you're forced to talk to people
I ate so well during my stay in Barbarenas, as a lot of the other people at the retreat were only there for a holiday, so after the delightful free breakfast and lunch and a day of yoga and beach they all wanted to go out for dinner, and it would have been rude for me not to join I think. My favourite thing I tried was at a Peruvian restaurant where I had mushroom ceviche, which I’m aware does not sound appealing in the slightest but genuinely ended up being the best thing I’ve tried since travelling. Except for maybe all the mango with chamoy and tajin.
We had one rather scary experience at the beach one afternoon. I'd gone to sunbathe with some of the girls from the retreat and we all thought the waves were WAY too big and scary to even attempt to swim in so decided to just lie in our own sweat instead. Then two people quite far out in the sea starting screaming shouting for help as I think the tide was too strong for them to swim back in. There weren't any lifeguards about or any form of help so everyone on the beach just kinda watched helplessly as we obvioulsy couldn't go in. I can only just swim on my own in a swimming pool. I really really thought I was about to watch these people drown in was very scary, but luckily they slowly managed to come in and then just lay on the beach exhausted for like an hour. Put me off EVER swimming even in a mild wave.
It was also really nice to be able to go to so many different types of yoga classes at Barbarenas. Most of my yoga experience has just been at home watching online videos so doing multiple 90 minute classes a day was a big change but they actually went so quick surprisingly, and forced me to attempt things I probably would have just skipped the video for at home. It was nice having smaller classes and I loved how the instructors would burn incense and use different water spray things and then help you with your alignment at the end. My body definitely needed it after carrying my massive rucksack around so much. My favourite teacher was Valentina, who was also my Spanish teacher. I was having 90 minute classes everyday which was really useful and she was so friendly and such a great teacher. I also absolutely must give a mention to all the dogs and cats at Barbarenas bc they were my faves by far.
My next stop was San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, for which I met back up with Calla in Puerto to get a night bus. Mexico is so big that getting from one region to another takes a long time, so we ended up taking lots of night buses, which were mostly fine. This one went so quick as I was asleep by around 9pm and we arrived at like 6am. Only problem was that it had so many stops so people kept on coming to sit next to me even though there were double seats available grr. Helena was one day ahead of us so had already arrived at the hostel in San Cris. We were staying at Puerta Vieja which so many people had recommended to us as it was only around £9 a night with breakfast and dinner included. I was unsure at first as San Cristobal is so cheap there were so many hostels for literally £4 a night, but I’m really glad we stayed there in the end. The communal breakfast and dinner made it really sociable without forcing people to drink, and I felt we got to know people quite well by the end of our stay there. We stayed for a whole week as we’d decided to do Spanish School for 5 days at Tu Mundo Spanish School. This gave us a nice balance of having something to do each morning and then we could either chill at the hostel or do some sort of activity in the afternoon. Since we were there for so long it was nice as there was no immediate pressure to do something everyday which I think you can sometimes get when you’re travelling.
Our first day we went on a walking tour in the afternoon which was good, although a man flashed his penis at us without us even noticing… clearly need to work on being aware of our surroundings. We learnt a lot about Chiapas and San Cristobal and the Zapotistas, who are a far-left political group who control a substantial amount of territory in the region. The tour was decent but a lottt of talking and I did struggle to pay attention at certain points. We got given a pox tasting at the end which was interesting to say the least - pox is a Mayan fermented alcholic drink made from maiz and it's rather strong. There’s also quite a lot of nature surrounding San Cristobal so we did a few excursions, although I can’t lie none of them overly wowed me. One was an overpriced boat tour of el Cañon del Sumidero, which was still quite cool and we saw a (probably real) crocodile and then the guide said he was going to take us to the rubbish tip and then turn around. I thought I’d mistranslated but nope he really did show us a rubbish tip. We also went on a horse tour of San Juan de Chamula, which I’d been quite excited for purely just to ride a horse. When we arrived at the meeting point we were a bit unsure as the horses seemed a bit skinny but still well cared for, and then most of the trip was the horses walking down a paved road to San Juan de Chamula, which is a very strange but interesting town. It has its own autonomous governance, as its tied to the Zapotista army, and the law is enforced by the local residents, the Tzotzil people, and honestly just feels very strange and slightly unsettling. It was very interesting to visit and see but not somewhere I’d want to stay longer than twenty minutes. Our tour guide was also very insistent on us having photos everywhere which we felt a bit awkward about, and eventually had to draw the line when he kept on asking us if we wanted photos in the local cemetery. Although once you’re actually in the town I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to take photos and you can be fined ! They also have a very strange chicken sacrifice ritual involving coca cola, a sacred drink. Genuinely. They believe that the burping of the drink releases evil spirits from the body. Maybe for this reason, or maybe for the lack of good drinking water in the region, Chiapas consumes the most coca cola in the world, at 821.25 litres per person a year, or over 2 litres per day. Mad. We were approached by quite a few drunk men in our short twenty minutes there which made us feel a bit awks, as we do stand out quite a lot given there’s three of us and we’re all quite blonde. Very clearly not locals. Overall, very very interesting place that I’m in no rush to return to.
I really enjoyed San Cristobal and it was nice to have a full week there, and I think doing the Spanish classes gave an extra depth to my time there as I spent so much time talking to our local teachers and their experiences of the city and recommendations. The climate was also much cooler which was SUCH a nice change to the Oaxacan coast as I was just about able to wear long trousers in the day - which slightly helped my fits (something that I'm struggling with after 2 months of the same clothes). I’m getting incredibly sick of my clothes, especially the ones for hot hot weather. That being said, our next stop was Yucatan ! A tourist trap for some but I absolutely loved it. Always a big up for the Caribbean <3
Comments