Anyway. Got some tourist advice from the teacher today. I need to go to Montealban in the morning before it gets hot, apparently, but he says I can shift classes to the afternoon one day to do that in the week, and apparently it's easy to get there and back on some special bus.
El Tule may be easily visitable on my own too.
Hiervas del Agua is according to the teacher possible without a tour but the connections sound a stretch. However, that seems moot. Despite - and I believe him - the teacher saying Oaxaca is pretty safe and that incident 50 miles away was in the middle of nowhere (the roads there are apparently terrible and it takes 9 or 10 hours to get there), two of the three tour operators I approached (the first, rather surly one was the exception) told me they aren't going there just now as there was some problem with the road (I have some vague idea of robbery risk but I could not swear to it - the word 'dangerous' was used). So I guess I'm not going, either on a tour or independently.
I almost didn't want to eat now but I sort of felt I ought to. I don't know. Too late now anyway.
14:55. Stuffed. Not bad food but didn't really want it in hindsight. Was going to have a single beer after. Turns out it's MXN26 a beer and they have a four for 50 promotion on. Semi-sigh. I was maybe going to have two and I couldn't turn that down.
15:15. The pigeons are fucking confident here. I just had four of the buggers on a plate of salted peanuts I got free with the drinks. I waved my hands, I even prodded one (must be the first time in my life I've touched a wild bird) and the fucker still wouldn't go. What with the squabbling among them and stuff they made a right mess. They've just brought me another plate. I nearly anticipated this and said I didn't want any, but I figured I might change my mind later.
Waitress farted around enormously covering the peanut plate with a napkin.
It's amusing rather than anything else (they didn't knock my beers over...) but it was little bit freaky all the same. I am genuinely innocent of provoking it, I hadn't fed the buggers the odd peanut on the sly first or anything like that. (That isn't a joke. I really hadn't.)
15:45. They are playing instrumental recordings of classic songs which sound like there's a live if slightly cheesy guy with a keyboard. "Girl from Ipanema" now, we had "My Way" a few minutes ago.
Oh no, I just squinted round a bit more than before and I think there is a guy there playing.
16:15. Two and a half beers later, I feel bloated as hell - I was already stuffed after the meal - and slightly drunk. I think I will finish these, trying to take it a bit slowly, then go back to the hostel. One way or another I doubt I am going to see those murals today. I feel amazingly pushed for time even though I have at least three and probably around ten more days here. I need to fight against that.
I think tomorrow I will have a snack during one of the breaks - as I did today - and then not eat til the evening, unless I actually feel hungry. I can drop my stuff off at the hostel after the classes, maybe do the homework straight away, then go back out and do a bit of local sightseeing.
Did learn the word 'fresa' today to describe stuck-up places, which was nice and may save me pushing my nose up with one finger to signify the concept, a habit I picked up from one of the teachers in Cuernavaca back in 2007.
I must say the breeze from a fluttering pigeon is quite refreshing. If they could be trained to fly in circles around people that would be nice...
17:15. Just got back to hostel. Guy I take to be owner or manager was on the desk. I asked him about Hierva del Agua (sp?), he said there has been fighting round there for the last three weeks, something to do with local farmers. At least I now have a better idea why. I am a bit disappointed this isn't on the F&CO website though.
Vague plan is to sort myself out for a few minutes then take the laptop down onto the terrace and surf for an hour or two while I sober up/de-bloat. Then I will take a look at the homework. It's not much but I do want to approach it seriously and not just knock it off while slightly drunk. Whether I go out tonight remains to be seen, though knowing me I probably will unless I am strong.
21:05. Down some bar in Zocalo. Feeling a bit dissatisfied and ill at ease in general. Did the HW, surfed (other way round). Asked my mum to call re flight changes, I can (could) get a flight on 6th Jul for an extra GBP140. Bit late but doable. Not very clear if any other dates possible, except my first choice of Sun 4th isn't. I will have to call in person anyway because I have to pay with my card as they may ask to see it when I check in. Security no doubt.
Had quick look re hostels for rest of time here in Oaxaca but didn't book. I guess I haven't absolutely committed to an extra week yet. Have this horrible feeling I am not making the most of my time (nothing really to do with staying an extra week). My current hostel shows pretty good availability, I may just speak to reception tomorrow afternoon and see what they say.
Am accidentally at the bar next to Terrenovo and the guy is still playing the keyboard. I half don't want the fucking noise right now, it's more intrusive than it was sat a a table next door earlier. I may move after this one.
He's singing now, which may in part account for the increased distraction.
Oh, had a reply from (apparently) the rip off hotel at CI. They say the guy at the desk should have (as he did) explained about these Mexican taxes they are obliged to add and it was clearly shown on my reservation that would be the case.
I beg to differ on the latter, and if the former, how come nowhere else has been obliged to do this? Maybe - gasp - they include the obligatory taxes in the quoted price to avoid being DECEPTIVE CUNTS? I may or may not reply. Clearly no one gives a fuck. If I reply it will be because I decide the pleasure of being midly sarcastic will outweigh the satisfaction of letting it drop with a measure of dignity. I am not happy with hostelworld.com but they are too useful and appear to be the only game in town (hostels.com or something exists, but I strongly suspect it's the same site in a different guise) for me to decide (quite realistically) that their bookings and prices can't be completely trusted and avoid hem. Because they act as a middleman they will just disclaim any responsibility if a ho(s)tel rips me off.
22:50. Still feeling a bit, not exactly down, but ill at ease. Will have one more then go and try not to get to bed too late.
Didn't sleep brilliantly last night. As far as my untrustworthy memory goes, I woke up three or four times from about 4am onwards. Piecing things together in hindsight, I was clearly having some pseudo-nightmare in which I was (thank fuck) not being ridden by the midnight hag, but was reading a story which touched on it (that was clearly not true in hindsight, I was reading Les Miserables on my phone, even though in my hazy half-awake state I seemed to be reading something else on the phone) and kept waking up uneasily and glancing at the foot of the bed. It wasn't a nightmare, there was none of that cold sweat business, but clearly a bit disturbing. I almost don't like writing this in case it makes a recurrence more likely, but I doubt it.
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