Zoë Bowyer

I think I’ve given myself enough time to get back into the flow of things and also to consider what were the best points of my recent holiday!

Our travels started in Belfast where we said farewell to Gracie and then caught a bus to Dublin airport. From Dublin we travelled to Madrid, then to Mexico City and finally to Oaxaca. We arrived early in the day and went to our hotel, the delightful Las Mariposas. After our long trip it was a relief to arrive at the hotel and, also, a relief to find that our hotel was very pleasant indeed. We started a new ritual: at every hotel we stayed in the first thing we would do was collapse on the bed.

We spent our first day getting to know our way around the city. We ate lunch at the Market on 20 de Noviembre (Mole Negro which was yummy and a not so tasty tamale). Our noses alerted us to the fact that we were passing by the chocolate shops. Tired from our journey we headed back to the hotel to have an afternoon nap; an hour and a half we thought would do us. We woke 4 hours later.

Another day was spent in the city, visiting museums and eating tasty food. We had the menu del dia at La Olla. Though truth be told, my main course of chicken curry was very tasty but with the addition of some pearl barley its flavours and ingredients would have been very close to chicken broth.

Then we went on the first of our hiking trips. Yves from Tierraventura picked us up at our hotel and drove us to Llano Grande, from where we headed out on a high altitude hike (our hearts raced trying to pump oxygen) through the pine forest. I could go on about how Llano Grande is one of a number of villages involved in an ecotourism project, but I am lazy so you can read about it here. After our hike we ate at one of the comedores in the village, delicious broccoli soup, cheese, rice, cactus salad and fresh strawberries.

The next day we went on a two day trip to Santiago Apoala, again with Tierraventura. It was amazing. The landscape was spectacular - canyons, crags, waterfalls and a lush green plateau. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Poor D, however, was suffering from a dodgy tummy during the trip and wasn’t able to savour the tasty foods on offer.