A cucaracha visit, Spanish lessons end, en route vers Mexico City

Tejate, a pre-hispanic drink, a specialty of Oaxaca, made from ground corn, maize, and mamey seed and the rosita cocoa flower. The ingredients are ground to form a paste, which is later mixed by hand in water until a foam forms on top. They say in order to prepare to perfection, takes years of practice! The drink is served in painted gourds :) Savoury, nutritious in a pretty presentation. 

Another week has passed, lots of Spanish learnt, ate a lot of fantastic food, all home made from the hands of my lovely homestay mother, Margarita, lots of Spanish & English conversations, and here ends the part of my own travel.

I would have never thought that I would start to feel sense of loneliness after a week of being away, but I did. However, that is mainly due to my intended seclusion to the "gringos" (a term used by Mexicans to refer to white americans) as I am staying with a real Mexican family vs. a hostel full of gringos. Since I only have contacts with Mexicans, the language barrier still does become a nuisance at times!

One of the evening, the inevitable happened. A cucaracha paid me a visit while i was in the shower. Good thing I wasn't wearing my glasses, so all i could see was this thumb sized cochroach roaming on the shower floor. My whole concentration was spent controling my fear and withholding my scream. I kept telling myself, "it is not dangerous" over and over, and with enough will, I may be able to flatten it with my slipper once im done showering. Once done showering, I muster enough strength to want to kill it. Put on my glasses, and ... saw it more clearly. At that point, I've lost all courage to kill it! Finally locked the nasty thing and asked Adolfo (homestay papa) to take care of it... This makes me realized no matter how clean a hostel/hotel is, my encounters with this radiation-proof multi-legged nasty bugger have just begun... *gulp* This is one fear that I'd like to conquer one day... I am not afraid of walking home alone at night, but yet i am afraid of a cochroach... how funny our mind plays tricks on us!!!

Below is a nice little video showing you how some of the vendors sharpen knives in the street markets in Oaxaca! :)

On another note, about a week and 2 days into my over-ambitious zeal to study Spanish, I finally realized that I am frustrated and cannot take the pressure I've put onto myself to learn Spanish. 4hrs a day + 3hrs of homework + Spanish language exchange is a bit much... I can't absorb as much as I want to. It finally came down to a small breakdown in class. This is yet, another lesson to be learned as I have come to realize that I am not a machine, and that I need to stop and smell the roses, after all that was whole purpose of this trip! Thankfully, I have an extremely understanding teacher and she comforted me that indeed, she has never given materials so fast in such a short frame of time, but because I was able to understand it, she adjusted to my speed. We both agreed in the end to reduce the time to 3hrs, so that I can actually regurgitate what I've learnt in speech and not only grammatically!!

Before leaving, Angélica, the assistant at the Spanish school which I attended in Oaxaca, gave me a parting gift. It's a metal tin, completely hand made from the shape to the colourful painting on it. A typical artesan craft from the area called "Alajero". Not only was it a thoughtful gift, but it was the perfect gift!! I was about to ask her for some old cardboard box in order to put the fragile jewelries that I've purchased, and voilá! What a beautiful and pleasant surprise :)

Metal tin gift from Angélica!

¡La vida me da sorpresas, Sorpresas me da la vida!
(Life gives me surprises, surprises give me life)

I've had to leave my wonderful homestay family in Oaxaca to come to Mexico City from an overnight bus. My 2 weeks of spanish lessons have ended, and now is the start of another journey, as I am about to go pick up my mommy from the airport. Another rhythm, another journey.