This was a very intense day, and again it’s late, so I will try to resume this with dignity. This morning, we arrived at San Cristóbal de las Casas at 8 in the morning. The nightbus was much less terrible than expected and we all (some of us with a little help from drugs) slept well and didn’t suffer. We stopped a few times, there were curves and narrow streets but there were no robberies nor controls by the police and the seats were big and comfy. San Cristóbal is a small city in the state of Chiapas at 1200 meters with a rather cool mountainish climate. We checked into…

This morning started very quiet and the hole day went on like that. I got up late and had breakfast at the terrace with Jon. Everyone left afterwards and we stayed there for a little longer, both a little tired of rushing around and feeling the necessity not to be too exhausted for the nightbus this evening. We checked out at 11 and started walking through the streets and visited a bookshop, the museum of contemporary art and the museum of Oaxacan painters. All three things were very interesting and beautiful – the beauty including not only the pieces of art but also the buildings and spaces. After this, we…

This morning we took the bus at 9:30 to Monte Albán, a mountain and archeological site not far from Oaxaca. It took 25 minutes of shaking and bumping and curves to get there and when we arrived, it was still pretty empty and not too hot. The grass was still a little wet from the night and it was quite quiet and peaceful as we walked into the big square full of pyramidal temples. This had been the old capital of the Zapotecas, the indigenous people of Oaxaca. Most of the pyramids had been graves or temples, but people had also lived around this impressive complex. The energy the space…

Our day started relatively early as we met at 8 to take a bus to Mitla. We walked through the city for a while and being 8:30 at the station turned into getting the bus at 9:30. We made the first hour of the way in a normal public “2nd class” bus to Mitla. There, we changed into a car with a deck that would take us to Hierve el Agua. The road was very curvy and mountainous and full of holes and we could feel every one of them in our bones as the whole deck and the wooden benches shaked and bumped like crazy. We enjoyed the 1-hour-long…

The black clounds and thunder that we had seen in the afternoon yesterday, turned into a big thunderstorm at 4 am this morning. Rain fell on the roof made of palm trees like crazy and thunder and lighting broke over the village that made the earth shake (literally!). I enjoyed it for a while and then put in my earplugs again and slept until 6:30. Our van left at 8 for Oaxaca, our next stop. We arrived there 7 hours of extremely curvy mountain roads and 120 Mexican love songs later, at 15:30. We had to drive up the southern crest of Mexico which is 3000 m high and down…

This morning, we went to the beach at 8, where our dolphin-turtle tour started. In a little boat that moved quite a lot with the waves, we went out on the ocean, looking for dolphins and turtles. It was hot already but with the sea-wind everything was okay. At first, 3 or 4 dolphins turned up, jumping not far from us, then we could see a couple of turtles making love. The captain of the boat explained us that turtle-sex normally lasts 3-5 hours and that the bigger female turtle is on the bottom in the water, while the male holds on firmly to its armor. Therefore, the male is…

The exotic birds everywhere around me hadn’t stopped singing during the whole night. Roosters joined them around 4. Earplugs are a marvellous invention – I slept like a baby and I even didn’t have any mosquitoes under my net. A complete win. I stood up at 8:30 and finally took a shower. There was just one type of water and no boiler but the temperature was just right to wake up and de-gross my body. Of course the feeling of cleanliness didn’t last long because I had to get myself a load of new Relec anti-mosquito as soon as I got out of the shower. I organized my stuff and…

We left at half past 9 this morning and walked to the Casa Azul (the blue house), the house where Frida Kahlo lived with Diego Rivera which is now a museum. The way took us through our neighborhood and again we found it to be extremely beautiful. Being in Frida’s house was maybe the most emotional experience yet. Seeing where they lived, reading about her life, seeing where she painted and with which colours, strolling around the absolutely amazing garden-patio and the different rooms, where many famous artists and other personalities (like Trotzky) have lived over the years, felt very special. Unfortunately, we had to hurry a little as we…

Today was our painting day and we left for the autists’ school at 8:30. To get there, we tried out a new means of public transportation: the Trolebus, which was very shaky and fun. Mixing colours, discussing, painting, correcting, experimenting, we spent the morning until 1:30, when we went to have lunch close by. After this, the sun had turned and there was now no more shade on our wall. Hot and exhausted, we did the finishing touches and corrections until we decided the painting was finished at 4. After cleaning up and saying goodbye, part of the group decided to go home to relax and me and two others…

This day was the first one to start in a very relaxed manner. We had breakfast and sat there for a while before any action started. While the majority of the group went to see Mexican Free Wrestling, me and two others took an Uber to the center and went to visit the museum of popular culture / museum of “alebrijes”.Alebrijes are very colorful, magical creatures that are supposed to accompany you after your death. The museum presented many designs of alebrijes in different sizes and styles as well as other popular items of the different Mexican cultures and tribes. The alebrijes were absolutely stunning and super inspiring and my…