So Shelly has been taking over the blog for a couple weeks since she is Mrs. Photog, and uploads all the photos. But Nolan is back.  I have  too much info in my head to share, so I will try to stay on track. First off, THE FOOD HAS BEEN UNREAL!  We realized we have been blowin it, and not shooting photos of our amazing grub we have been finding.  We get so excited when we find it, we just start inhaling it.  Tacos on average are 10 pesos, that's 75 cents U.S.  It is way cheaper for us to be eating off the street, then making food.  Now that we are in Oaxaca, it's like a whole new kitchen.  Mole, corn, chocolate, coffee.  We pulled in tonight at 8pm after our first night drive.  I hit the ATM quick, and grabbed 4 hot dogs, and three cups of corn topped with mayo, cotija cheese, and chile. All for $7. 
We were living off of chicken for about 2 weeks it seemed like.  Standard chicken prices is nuts. You get a whole pollo seasoned and grilled better then grandpa does it, with about 10 home made tortillas, slaw, salsa, and rice. The most we paid for that package was $7.50, the cheapest was a whopping $4.  I don't quite understand how they hit their margin, but that is for them to worry about not me.  My favorite so far..... either the shrimp tacos in Sayulita, or the spicy Mole enchiladas from the middle of nowhere in Oaxaca two days ago. OAXACA, OAXACA, OAXACA!

So yeah, we bought this amazing huge hand carved wooden unicorn that we are tempted to drill to the hood of the truck. It's the first souvenir we have dropped into, we couldn't resist.

We left the beach of San Augustin where we had our best room yet. Dead smack on the beach, right in front of huge surf, with the whole place empty, minus the 2 quiet Germans. We hit the Turtle Sanctuary, which used to be the Turtle Processing Plant, and then ate some Carne Asade Tacos, compliments of Shelly. We left in the A.M and drove straight up over the mountain for about 6 hours.  130 miles in 6 hours....... Yeah, slow, pouring rain, potholes, and switchbacks the whole way.  But hands down probably the most amazing drive I have ever been on.  We left 90 degree heat and got to 59 degrees I think.  We were so stoked we all put pants and long sleeves on. It started looking like Oregon and everything went from palm trees to pine trees. It was crazy.

 At the top, at 8,000 feet, was San Jose Del Pacifico.  The little town had psychedelic, hippie, stoner, mushroom art all over.  We considered getting a room, but decided to bomb for Oaxaca.  After a little research, the obvious became reality.  San Jose is known for it's Mushrooms!  So weird.  Just the placement of this town.  Just 5 miles before, and 5 miles after, there were the little Mexican Shanty villages selling coca colas and tacos. Then this place pops up selling psychedelic mushrooms. We didn't actually see any for sell, but I'm sure if I woulda parked, some little kid with a mondo dread and a backpack woulda popped outta no where with a whole bag of fungus. And chicklets. You gotta have a front.  The town has awesome little cabins, with the most amazing views descending 8,000 feet.  I told Stella we will be back when she's 15.


The rain stopped, and we then dropped down into Oaxaca as the sun dropped.  Stella was perfect all day, which helped to make the scenic wonderland of a drive awesome.  Now what?  Hostel Luna De Luz in the heart of downtown Oaxaca for two nights.  We had no idea what day of the week it is, cause it makes no difference when you have no where to be at a specific day or time. Really stressful.  Lucky us, we are here for the weekend, and it seems to be hopping.  Huge crowds line dancing, and clowns performing in the square as we pulled in.  We are so excited to explore the ruins, eat the food,  visit the  amazing architecture, eat more food, and eat more food.  We have been in Mexico for 60 days.  All of them on the beach until now.  Other then my Spanish, it just keeps getting better.  

We stayed in Oaxaca for 2 nights. The second night being Saturday, we were prepped for a night out with the new stroller we bought for Stella. She is way to big for it, but she was stoked, and it meant we could hit the town late. We ate at the craziest Market I have ever seen, watched clown acts, and Shelly got attacked by a Crazy Bum with a towel. He literally came out of nowhere and hit her surprisingly hard with a towel. We figured it was best to just keep walking. We ended up finishing the night sipping straight out of a bottle of vino, with Stella sleeping, right in the square in Downtown Oaxaca.

The next morning led to a short drive to the world famous town of Teotitlan. Known for their handcrafted wool rugs, made on custom handmade looms. We got demonstrations on how the use natural dyes and spin their own wool. Awesome experience. At the first stop, we were gifted a pillow cover after Stella hit it off with little Maria.

At the next two stops, we SCORED HUGE! we got an enormous rug for $75 that should be $300. Then we traded a pair of vans and a couple of Stellas clothing items for a poncho for both Stella and Shelly.  Then the deals kept getting sweeter.  I traded an ancient PowerBook g4 for a gigantic runner ( a long rug for a hallway), and another rug. We left this town with a car full of hand made crafts and met some awesome people. We spent so much time here, we were forced to drive all the way the mountain to the village of Benito Juarez. Look it up, WOW!  We scored a freezing cold cabin up in the clouds, the hot water didn't work, nor did the chimney causing us to be smoked out! Still an amazing evening, way, way off the beaten path!

Straight from there, we tried to get as close to Guatemala as possible. Ending up in Arriaga, eating awesome street burgers for close to nothing.  Slept for a couple hours, then blasted for the border.  Stressed, and prepped. Only to find out we weren't prepped.