Last Minute Backpacking, Learning Spanish, Cooking, and Forever Friends in Oaxaca, Mexico

The first morning in Oaxaca, a taxi from the bus terminal to Instituto Cultural Oaxaca, where we took month-long Spanish classes as the primary purpose of our trip to Mexico.

We, as the majority of millennials, we decided to book our accommodations with Airbnb, for its reasonable prices, cultural exposure, and the sense of “home.” Unfortunately, we got screwed over by our host; apparently, she lied to us, claiming that the house was 10 minutes away from our Spanish school when it turned out that the house was near the airport and almost an hour away by car!

After a long struggle with Airbnb, the host and us, alas, we were able to get a partial refund for the house. The school was nice enough to help us find a very close apartment on such short notice and a reasonable price.

Yes, we got lost trying to get to the house because, by the end of the day, we’re New Yorkers, and we need signs flashing everywhere to notice a street or a corner store. Honestly, it was a festival season; food carts, cultural vendors, and remotely shops were set up right in front of our apartment, so it was hard to find, but life had never been the same ever since.

So our first night was something like this.

discovering the real Mexican quesadilla con Oaxacan queso y calabaza flora (quesadilla: cornbread with a choice of protein and toppings with [local] oaxacanian cheese and pumpkin flowers)

and a little of this ;
Oaxaca’s favorite drink: homemade Oaxacan chocolate drink

Although people were quickly able to find out that were tourists (Mmmm, skin color, and language), they were the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

This is Gaby, her food stand (run by the whole family, even the grandma) was right in front of our house… Literally!
So that’s how we made our first Oaxacan friends: D and besides the whole family though my friend was cute LOL.
Of course, we weren’t always able to stay up late because we got to school in the mornings.

Who doesn’t like a school with this beautiful, authentically ancient water fountain in the garden?

or this view near the school’s cafeteria (like an enchanted garden from a fairy book, right!)
The school offered everything from daily Spanish classes, helping us with housing, cultural courses, private courses, Intercambio (language exchange with locals) and arranging tours & trips for incredible prices (mostly when Mexico was the last city on your world tour and you’re broke as hell)
And the fact that the Mexican Peso was 16 to 1 dollar was a bonus as well!
Although I tried to spend most of my times giving my full potential to learning Spanish and doing this

I had to have fun, enjoy myself, and explore!

This was one block away from our house. (Magnificent, right!)

But in the morning, the view is breathtaking on another level!

and our lunch was something like this:

Tacos con Horchata!!
Horchata is like the national drink there! Made of Almonds and cinnamon.

or this:

FYI: I MADE THIS!! In cooking class! YESS OMG! I, too, can’t believe it!

And once in a while, we go for something fancy like that!

And to make you even more jelly!

Enough with that delicious food for now, and let’s burn all those calories, shall we?

Like I mentioned before, it was festival’s season.. so dancing, food, shopping, and awesomeness never ended for us!

Oaxaca had that authentic feel to it that made me super happy and had that Europian feels to it when it comes to cafes and street alleys.

In pics, I hung out with a different group each time! (that’s how many people I got to meet in Oaxaca)

And they always made my day! Even better than the day before!

I wish I can put everyone’s pics here. Beautiful souls and minds were always by my side in Oaxaca.

I enjoyed my time so much that social media and phones were excluded from my life! As a Travel blogger, I tried to keep documenting as much as I was able too!

No wonder I wished never to leave Oaxaca, not just because of the life-long friendships that happened there, the food, culture, music, and lifestyle, but the Art and authentic feeling this city brought to my heart!

Cafes and live music are always a straight path to my heart!

To point out that Oaxaca was the last city on my world tour! I haven’t slept on my bed in 4 months.. and I was crazy jetlagged and emotionally destroyed from all the passport issues and fantastic unfortunate events that I had to go through to reach my goal of global trolling! Coffee and other jetlagged travelers had always been by my side… LOL, of course, my awesome Mexican friends as well! <3
With all that, I made the best of my Oaxaca trip towards the end of it (the first week.. I was mentally exhausted) and saying goodbye was and is always the worst part of every city I have ever been to.. but Oaxaca was something else!

Now that’s been said, let’s get back to more food!

La Creperie! ??

cooking class again 😀

Okay, fine, no more food!
How about some of the reasons I fell in love with this city!

Oops, more food!

it’s always great to chill with friends! With homemade Oaxaqueño chocolate drink! ☕️

Some Opera too!

Did I talk about Santo Domingo! OMG

All GOLD plated!!

And the Zocalo!

Have you ever had TLAYUDAS!

I’m having some severe withdrawals right now!!
No wonder I’m going back again.. see you in part two, Oaxaca 😀