Oaxaca

We left at 4 am to go to the temple in Oaxaca. I didn't get much sleep before that because I was up late on Skype with John and Tyson. When we woke up we realized that it had been pouring rain all night which meant we had to ford several rivers in order to get the church. With all of our luggage that was no small task.

The bus ride was long (actually after this weekend a three hour bus ride is really not that long) and most everyone slept since it was so early. I read my book the whole way, the people around me were probably sick of my light being on but it was a great book, I couldn't put it down.

The temple was so beautiful and unique and although all of the ordinances were performed in Spanish I could feel the Sprit's presence just like any other time I've been to the temple. The work we do there is so important and I am grateful the Lord makes it easy for us. I always want to go back because of the way I feel when I go. There are things that have been weighing on my mind for quite some time that I have spent days pondering. I am so grateful that when we attend the temple we can receive personal revelation from our Father in Heaven. The answers I received were not what I expected but I cannot deny that it was the answer I was seeking.

The Oaxaca Temple

Kami, Chelsea, Brooke, Dusty, Ashley, Adri and I

After we finished at the temple Teo took us to the Monte Alban ruins. They were so neat. The fact that I was in the middle of reading a book all about Zarahemla when we went made it even more exciting to me. I can just easily picture the Nephites and Lamanites living in cities such as Monte Alban and it makes the scriptures that much more exciting to me. We had a lot of fun in the warm sun, spent some money on local artisan's work and then headed back to Oaxaca afer a couple of hours.

The Ball Court in Monte Alban (so neat!!)

The Girls!

The view over Oaxaca from Monte Alban which was up the mountain quite a ways

This was a calendar that they used

This beautiful moth was on the wall, it looked like it had been painted

These steps were each like at least a foot and a half high, it was quite the hike up to the top

The view from the top of the stairs

A giant caterpillar we found

Stone masks a local artisan was selling

Monte Alban

The rest of the day was spent shopping and site seeing around the city. We all had to carry our bags around the city and poor Adri had here suitcase rolling behind her on the small streets the entire time. We ate and I was the only one who had mole sauce. Oaxaca is the city which is famous for the seven different kinds of mole. I had 'mole negro' and it was delicious. I also had Manzana Lift which is probably one of my new favorite drinks. It is a carbonated apple drink but there isn't a lot of carbonation in it and it isn't really that sweet. It is so good! And by the way the Coca-Cola is much better down in Mexico than it is back home. After we finished eating and gave our poor backs a rest we went to the market and tried to barter the best we could. I am terrible at it, mostly because I don't speak their language. I did get some nice gifts for my family and a few things for myself which I am excited about. The market we went to took up an entire street block and was under a covering so that it continued through bad weather. It was so colorful and bright and a bit overwhelming because there are so many vendors so close together. But the nice thing was if you took your time and looked around you could usually find a cheaper price.

Manzana Sol... so good!!

Adri found another use for her suitcase

The pottery that Oaxaca is famous for

That evening the city came alive for Independence Day celebrations. The real parties will begin Tuesday night and go most of the day Wednesday with parades and stuff like that. Wednesday is the actual holiday. We watched dancing, singing as well as clowns and little children playing with neat balloons. There were tons of people selling all kinds of things throughout the square. It was so fun and we made sure to get lots of photos and videos. We went and visited some beautiful cathedrals also. The biggest one we saw was the the cathedral of Santo Domingo and was awe inspiring. Then after one of the longest days of my life we took a taxi to the bus station and hung out there for two hours until our bus left at midnight.

The dancers were beautiful and so talented.

The Cathedral of Santo Domingo