Wonders of Oaxaca, Mexico

On Our Way to Oaxaca

It was an early morning flight and we stood outside at 1:30 AM waiting for our ride to the Tijuana airport. I had offered our driver an extra time $20 to arrive on time, but 1:30 came and went and he hadn’t arrived yet.  After a few frantic texts, he finally arrived 30 minutes later. It was a very fast ride to the airport where he dropped us off in front of the CBX (entrance on the American side that then leads to the Mexican side.)

We passed through security and customs, but AeroMexico Airlines was closed. We were then sidetracked by an airport person into the wrong bag check. After we had checked all our bags, they told us this was only for carry-on luggage and we needed to go to the next terminal to check our bags through Aeromexico.  It was confusing because we had to go outside and pass a construction site and then go into the next terminal,  Luckily a very nice construction guy led us to the terminal and to the Aeromexico drop-off where we were second in line.  We waited there an hour, checked our bags, and walked through the tunnel to the other side to wait at our gate (which we were told was our gate, but found out it was not the right one.)  Oh, what fun! Our flight was on time and we boarded our plane.  We had economy plus so we had seats right in the front. This was an important advantage as we only had a 50-minute layover in Mexico City.

We arrived in Mexico City and it was a mad dash all the way to the gate and then onto a bus that took us to our plane. We were right up front again with no one else in our row.  The flight was only an hour. We landed, got our luggage, and headed outside.  We were met by the driver who was organized by the hotel.

The hotel is about 7 blocks from the center of the city.  We have a suite with two bedrooms, a kitchenette,  a small living area, and a patio.  Most of all, Shawn and I are enjoying our own bedrooms.

We settled into our hotel and around 5 PM decided to venture out to the town center and look for a restaurant called La Casa Oaxaca El Restaurant.  Shawn was the phone navigator and we made it with a bit of help from a lady who was passing by and was kind enough to guide us to the restaurant. The restaurant was upstairs on the rooftop. We enjoyed cocktails and the crispy tostada with cheese and salsa. Shawn and I shared an appetizer that was a little unusual – sweet potato with squash blossoms and banana puree. I then had a cerviche in a pepper shell and Shawn had short ribs.

We enjoyed our first Oaxacan dinner and then walked back to our hotel.  It had been a very busy day arriving and getting settled in our hotel.  We were looking forward to learning more about Oaxaca City the next day on our street walking tour.

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