Sylvie's Travels Home

November 3 2022

This was our last full day in Oaxaca before going back home. I spent the whole night coughing so I was pretty tired when we went to meet Max and Hernan at their hotel for breakfast. Max was looking for Hernan, to find out that he had gone to get me some cough syrup and lozenges which was very sweet. I also did a COVID test and was relieved that it was negative.
The owner of the house we rented had agree to reimburse Max at least 60% of the rental plus the 3 nights we had stayed at the hotel for a total of 30,000 pesos ($1500). She also needed to give her back her 5000 pesos ($250) deposit. She was supposed to meet us at 9:30am at Max’s hotel. Finally, closer to 10am, her employee showed up with just the deposit. I think we might not get any reimbursement. She accused Max of extortion, etc but Max has every conversation recorded and took tons of videos and pictures of everything that was wrong with the place.
When Hernan’s zoom meeting was over, we drove to Azompta and first went to a pottery studio up in the mountain, well know for pottery with facial designs. Max bought a mask to add to her collection.
We then stopped at a cemetery and oh my goodness was it colorful! I’m so glad we stopped during the day. The cemetery was empty of people and all the flowers brought there for the Day of the Dead were still gorgeous. Walking through it made me very emotional. Seeing all the graves decorated with flowers and candles but also with candies and toys for lost little babies was hard to see. It also made me miss my parents even more. I still think it is one of the most beautiful traditions.
Our next stop was Monte Alban, a wonderful archeological site. Only 5% has been excavated so far and it is immense! Max has been so many times that she was our official tour guide. I still don’t understand how such short people as Zapotecs or Mayans made pyramids with such steep and high steps. I needed help from both Pogo and Max to climb any of those steps. Worst part was getting down!
We stopped for Portuguese style chicken for a late lunch, on our way back to town. The kids dropped us off at the hotel so we could rest and start packing.
15 minutes later, we got a message from Max that they were in a car accident. They were fine but the kids driving the motorcycle that hit them, were hurt. The kids, 17 and 18 had been drinking and tried passing the car, got too close, hit the car and went flying off the bike. It just happened that 2 policemen were standing right where it happened and saw everything. I know all that because someone living on that street somehow videoed the whole thing and gave a copy to Hernan and Max. They had to wait almost an hour for the insurance company employee to arrive. Meanwhile the parents of the kids showed up, blaming Hernan’s driving until he showed them the video. Long story short, the insurance told them it would cost $175 to fix the car and the parents of the kids paid for it.
Max and Hernan arrived at our hotel around 7pm, shaken but not hurt, thank goodness.
We had a drink in our room then went for dinner. I ate a shrimp risotto with powdered ants mixed in it. Apparently dried ants are the Mexican caviar. It was actually really good.
We had a marquesita for dessert. It is a crepe that is cooked a little longer to make it crispy. We added banana, strawberries and Nutella to ours. The 11 year old kid tending the food cart rolled it into a tube and served it in a paper bag. It was great!

We said our good nights, sad that it was our last night all together..