Jon: Well arriving in Veracruz, our ever gracious host picked us up at the bus station at 11:45pm, with a huge grin, no complaining about our late arrival, and proceeded to take us to a late night taco stand! Woohoo, tacos con carne y queso (tacos with meat and cheese) ad salsa and hot peppers and a touch of guacamole, and I am smiling huge :). Our friend brought us to his ranch out in the country, near Veracruz, and what a cute little Pueblo. Almost all the surrounding houses are relatives of some description, and they all do something to contribute to the family. One raises cattle for milk and beef, another uses the milk to make delicious cheese, another has a tiny little corner store, another raises chickens for eggs and meat ... and yet another grows beans and other vegetables ... if they chose, they could be almost entirely self sufficient, except for purified water ... anyway, so we were awakened to a delicious breakfast of juevos, papas, y frijoles, con tortillas y pan tostada, and for me, some pickled jalapenos :). The house doesn't have hot water, it is too hot to use hot water in the shower, so with a bucket of water and a yogurt container, I showered myself in pleasant cold water, a great escape from the balmy morning.
We enjoyed an escape to the old Spanish jail in Veracruz. Veracruz is the city where the Spanish first settled, and established a fort/jail to protect ther colony. Apparently they used to execute prisoners by having water drip on their heads, drop by drop until a hole was bored into their skull. What a horrible way to die. The spanish were rather cruel to the indigenous people. Sunday night we returned to the country to another ranch, for an early start monday morning. We started the day off with the farmers to go and milk the cows! Not as easy as it looks, milking a cow! You develop very strong hands! I was rather proud when I managed to get two streams of milk going! .. but you have to be careful, because the cows can start peeing without any warning!! And when a cow pees ... well, lets just say that it is a lot! I have finally drunk fresh milk straight out of the cow! Hmm, interesting, possibly a bit rich, and no refrigerator on the cow! Then our friends made us a drink called ponche, which is essentially a bit of rum mixed in with milk and sugar. The alcohol purifies the milk. The milk is also very frothy, as it sprays out of the teat into the bucket! So kind of like a lukewarm latte with a hint of rum.
After a very chill day, we had a bit of an adventure getting back to our host house for the night, its a bit difficult when you leave the addresses and phone numbers back at the house where your stuff is ... but anyway, we finished up with a delicious meal of bistec and chorizo tacos! Off to Oaxaca next!
Michelle: Another genuine Mexican experience. Life on a ranch, so peaceful, so simple - what a sweet little community. We were welcomed like royalty, everyone wants to meet us and talk with us and have us for a meal, but there are only so many hours in the day and only so much room in our stomachs- even Jon has been filled to the brim and unable to eat any more- and that's a rare thing! :) A breakfast made entirely from farm produce of one brother or another- absolutely delicious. A sombrero and one borrowed skirt later, time for a ride on Senor Caballo (the ranch horse, but I nicknamed him Volvo- coz he wasn't very fast, poor guy carrying me uphill in the heat, I don't blame him for plodding along). We visited the cows and donkeys and met half the town. It's a very unusual experience to have people soo excited to meet you and have your company- in today's world in the western countries, it's so impersonal, so self centered that to have people genuinely reach out and just about trip over themselves in graciousness to give you something or to help you; it's very bizarre. Today I feel very removed from the western culture- and it's a great feeling. There's no insincerity, no selfish means of greed, no political correctness or beating around the bush- I love it!
Away from the ranch, the city is bustling, the holiday week here is a crazy time, the beaches are crammed beyond capacity with people partying. A stage every few hundred meters on the boulevard with music blasting and girls in yellow bikinis dancing. It didn't make it very appealing for a peaceful day at the beach so we only took a drive and avoided the hoards of people. We had come to Veracruz to spend quaility time with our friends so doing the tourist trail was not on our list. Seeing the fort was kinda neat but it was definitely the 2 nights at the ranch with the tranquility and the loving community that was the highlight for me. Milking cows was great, but hard work! What Jon didn't mention was that on the first attempt with the first cow, he got one measly little spray and that and a whole lot of frustrated mutterings, a furrowed brow in concentration and some attempts at sweet talking the cow was all the action there was. It was pretty funny, the pros make it look so easy but in actual fact you need quite a lot of strength in your fingers to get the right kind of squeeze. I'm not sure that I could make a living out of it, sure was a slow process to fill one bucket....
It's hot and muggy here and the mosquitoes are persistant, I think we'd almost keel over if we didn't sleep with a fan on full blast through the night... Unfortunately this Aussie has been softened a little from 3 years in Canada- I still love the warmth and hate the cold but the humidity is still something I'd need to get used to. Without acclimatizing it just wipes me and I feel rather lathargic 24/7. We've met some wonderful people and managed to communicate sparingly with my virtually non-existant Spanish and Jon's limited Spanish. Lots of hand gestures and fill the gap Spanish and (thankfully) some who speak a little English. This is the kind of exposure we need to the language where it would force us try to communicate, and eventually little by little you learn. Instead we normally spend almost every waking hour forced to speak English and so no time to learn any Spanish. I understand a fair bit of what I hear when they speak slowly, but have no reply or response that I can give. I know a word here and there and absolutely no connecting words, so that's where Jon acts as my interpreter and gives my answer, he did really well and I'm sure glad he was around.
A couple of cafes, lots of friends, many different types of tortillas, some awkward language moments, a few genuine mexican experiences, a job offer, an interesting ordeal being lost, cold showers and many mozzie bites later, it's time to wave goodbye to all our new friends promising to one day visit Veracruz again!
Photos from Veracruz
Jon: Off to Oaxaca (photos), we keep hearing about how beautiful it is, and most likely a pleasant departure from the humidity of Veracruz. Our bus left late from Veracruz, and took longer to arrive in Oaxaca, where our friends were meeting us, but once again, ever so gracious, they were not bothered by the fact that we were an hour later than planned. What an interesting trip through the mountains, we crossed some very high mountains, with long drops to the valley below. Fortunately the buses have controlled velocity, so the drivers can only drive so fast. Coming into Oaxaca, there is a great view of historic downtown, which not surprisingly, centres around a church. 
After seeing a bit of downtown Oaxaca, we took a taxi back to Mitla. These taxi drivers believe all road markings and signs are suggestions and only apply to taxis when traffic is so heavy that they can't break them. So screaming along at 140km/h making a third lane where there is only two lanes, crossing double solid yellow lines, we zoomed off to Mitla. The next day, our friends decided they wanted to accompany us to Monte Alban (photos). This is one of the most important historical sites in the state of Oaxaca, and very interesting ruins to see. We spent our morning exploring pyramids and strolling through the site. We were glad we arrived early, as the tour buses start arriving around 11 or 12, around the time we were ready to leave.
The next day, we spent our mornig strolling through the ruins of Mitla (photos). Very interesting. Not big, but interesting, very intricate stonework. Those nasty spanish tore down a lot of the structures to erect Catholic churches. But from what is left, it is quite interesting. Especially going into the tombs! The Zapotec people were obviously not very tall.
After our time at the ruins, we took a trip to a place called Hierve El Agua. Driving through 18km of high, windy, dusty mountain roads in the back of a truck, we wondered if this place existed. Through dusty little towns with ramshackle houses, seeing these little towns, I was realizing just how rich Canada is. There are a few pictures of these places. Some funny experiences, such as a runaway burro (donkey) in front of our truck! For some strange reason, I find these donkeys kind of cute and endearing, in their stubborn sometimes disobedient ways. They sure work hard when they are forced to. They can carry huge loads! And then there's the villagers who are akin to bandits, setting up a roadblock and deciding they will charge to drive through their town to get to Hierve El Agua (photos).
Anyway, we finally arrived in this high mountain Oasis, overlooking the valley, and the view is incredible. I can only imagine what it would have been like to discover this place for the first time. These incredible amazing petrified waterfalls hanging off cliffs, with bubbling pools of mineral water for swimming in. I have to admit, I felt a little nervous standing on the edge of one of these cliffs, it was a long way down and no safety barricades, and rather windy. I was definitely out of my comfort zone. But this gem is incredible and definitely worth visiting!
