July 26 - Oaxaca

Eating our final breakfast at Mezcalito, we packed our things and checked out. Lugging all our bags, we had lunch at a small joint on Independencia. This was followed by more sitting and reading in the Zocalo, after which we hailed a taxi on Independencia. The driver was a gem; we had an easy Spanish conversation and he knew exactly where to find our next hostel (we had heard that some drivers have trouble finding it as it's a bit out of the way). He also pointed out some difficult to find places on our map, like the stupid Juarez thingy.

At the new hostel, the Villada Inn, we were escorted to a nicer room than we had reserved and were quickly left alone. After sitting in the hammocks and staring at the majestic mountains behind the hostel, we wandered the mostly abandoned grounds, stopping for an hour in the vacant upstairs bar to watch some English TV. we then made for the kitchen to try to get some information about this place. Luckily one of the owners, a friendly young guy, was there and gave us the 411. The rest of the chilly night found us hanging out around the reasonably clean pool by candlelight.