I wake up early to strangers walking past my new bed, the couch in the outside patio. We mumble something to each other. Cold shower, no thanks, not yet anyway. Get some breakfast, Orange juice and a Quesadilla. Yosef goes to work. I walk around town all day, trying to figure out how to read their maps properly, I get a cheap feed, go to the tourist centre and get information on how to get to all the archaeological sites. Have a few beers then get on the net.

Talk to austin about troubles at home and about scoring with american chicks, we have a laugh, i send him a foto of me and my new guitar. Im wasting too much money on internet cafes. we make plans to meet online tomorrow same time. I go back to Yosefs.





The gang is sitting around, I meet Josue, a dredded dude wearing a bandana who is into all sorts of music and cool to get along with, his friend 'El Dracula' is a bit more reserved but just as rasta, Rene, the friendly guy that suddenly picks fights with walls, Penal, the guy who looks like Snarf from the thundercats, Clay, etc. They play mexican songs till really late. I pass out and get my bed upgraded to the top of Josues bunk, its a big platform with a small window that faces the street. In the morning I get woken by the hustle and bustle. I go out and get some cheap fruit from the markets, then go to a rembrandt exhibition, also to the library, where i enjoy the thick musky scent of old books, i smell them as I flick through their yellow pages and waste a few hours there, head back to the house, we play with the bongos, we have a good jam, im pumped, I go to the net cafe/restaurant to meet Austin on time.



At the cafe the guys who I live with are playing, a happy surprise, there's a gringo girl whose eyes are sparkling, standing in the corner and digging the vibe, she's blonde and beautiful, she starts to talk to the barmaid who sits down next to her for a shot of Mezcal, its the same barmaid who had flashed me a smile on my first day here as I drank beers and waited to meet Yosef. I want to be part of that party, so i buy some smokes and a beer and ask if i can sit with them, the barmaid is Isabel, she works on audio visual presentations, her specialty is plant remedies, the blonde girl is Megan, she works at the uni, they turn out to both be friends with the band, and after the band collects some pesos we all go back to their pad to continue the party. Mezcal (a strong traditional alcohol) and Churros (joints) are passed around as everyone finds something to play on or bang a beat, guitars, jaranas, bongos, coke cans. Everyone's dancing, Isabel's dancing, to the MexiRaggae grooves. Joel the boy from Veracruz with the gigantic voice sings about love and getting high. 'If you like the marijauana put your hands in the air', we all raise our hands, everyone's having a great time, more people show up with looks of surprise as they are taken away by the spectacle. The patio turns into a dance floor, I play hyperactive beats on the back of my guitar and look around in wonder while the music plays us on through the night.

I pass out, when i wake up the previous night is but a blur, too good to be ever be remembered properly. A nasty cough is getting around, i help clean and find and old jar of cough syrup that i drink down. My clothes and money are in Yosefs room and he's gone to work, so i eat a banana and count the few pesos in my pocket. The gang sits around discussing the quality of the party last night, Lobo shows up with a fat smile and an after sex glow, he met a gringo girl who put him up in a hotel room for a night in exchange for some Mexico love. We all laugh and give him hi-5's.

More music is played, Dracula sets up a projector and we watch old school rock videos. Jimi Hendrix, Reggae Sunsplash, Free Tibet. We smoke and smoke..
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I lie on the bunk looking out the small window to the Pueblo. It's a Sunday and everyone's beat. I havent seen Yosef for a while, i find out he came back late and with a girl, I have to wait for them to come out so I can get some money.

I read a book and wait for the 8:00 movie, free and just 5 minutes away.

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The next few days were spent getting to know the town better, I visited Monte Alban the Zapotec capital of the prehispanic times. Pyramids strategically perched on the peak of a mountain overlooking every a every bit of dirt in the surrounding area. They were breathtaking, but the most impressive thing was the nature of the site, the thick ominous clouds and the infinite view. I realized then that nothing man ever makes, regardless of its splendor, can ever compete with Nature.





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I made my way to San Jose, a pueblo in the peak of Oaxacas surrounding mountains, where the earth literally touches the sky and a place famous for being the birthplace of some very strong hallucinogenic mushrooms.



The ride up was long, I soon learnt that in Mexico, when someone says 3 hours, it means 5, if they say 5 it means 9, and if they say 9, they mean 14.

Getting to San Jose, I stopped to take a photo of a donkey grazing by the road. The pueblo was cold and a fog was quickly descending.



I found a cabin and asked about the mushrooms, the owner got some for me, showed me my cabin and sat down to talk to me.
"Once you have them you're never the same! Speak to them, let them know your problems and don't get too lost"
I took his advice, had a quiet word with the mushrooms before ingesting and then waited.






I have never spoken to a tree before, or hung out with Brahman and Kali. I've never seen the universe turn into an atom, then divide and turn into a living cell, then explode and dissappear down a black hole. I have never laughed with God or gotten lost in the woods while hallucinating, or seen the history of the world and the universe.

I mean I HAD never.

All in all the trip lasted six hours, afterwards I was shook up, but happily so, on a piece of paper I scribbled...

"The issues are:

God is everywhere

I'd like to add,
he's funny."

I cannot remember much, though I know the night ended with me on my knees, peeing into the bin in the cabin, which at the time represented a yin yang, the tao, and a black hole.


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I am lost in Huatulco.

Huatulco is a really snobby up itself town, the sort of place rich boring old american tourists go to because there's no hippies and the views are nice.



I had met a guy from texas and a girl from New York in San Jose, they were travelling together and passing through, I was sat by the mountain when we me and the mushrooms had not affected me yet., we started talking, they were going to the beach, I said I might go too. I asked if they had some weed. The texan said he didnt but he'd get some for me.

They left and when they got back I was talking to the mountains, I had to pretend to be straight to hold a conversation with them. I thought they'd stick around, but the dude just gave me two fat joints, a lighter, and dissappeared.

I made plans to catch a bus to the coast with them the next day, they said we'd see each other on the street, its a small town so I didnt doubt it.
I waited for 2 hours and they didnt show, so I got up and walked.

Walking was stupid, the next town was 15 hours walking away, but I did it anyway. A car passes and stops next to me with three dudes in it, they ask if ive got some weed, I say I only have a joint, you'll have to smoke it with me, and they say, where are you going, I say the coast, they say "get in we'll give you a ride!".

They were going to Huatulco, they said it was better than Puerto Angel, where I was headed, so I decided to join them. The two passengers were boyfriend and girlfriend, artisans that travel on the holliday season to the coast to make some dough, I joined them and that night we set up stalls, I helped sell some bracelets, and played the drums. They had 10 pesos when we got there but within two hours they'd made 300. They shouted me a burger, which i really needed.

We slept on some hammocks that night for free, the owner of the hammock place let us because it was his last day in business, leaving us with nowhere to sleep after that night, Huatuloc is EXPENSIVE, but I had to keep moving anyway so I left that crew.

I decided to go to Zipolite, a nudist beach about 3 hours away, where I heard I could get a cheap hammock to sleep on. I went to the bus terminal, and caught a bus and two wagons.



The wagons are like utes, you sit on the back with the wind rushing past you making you feel like youre on an african safari, and theyre cheap, then it suddenly stops, I was the only one on. The driver says, you have to get out, there's another wagon coming for you.

The next wagon comes and i get on it, there's two guys finishing off a spliff. I say, shit, im too late. They say, no man, we'll make some more. I smile and smile.

We smoke and talk, their names are Torta and Flavian, they come from San Jose, and work in a skate shop in Juarez, a city in the North of the country, bordering the United States.

Juarez the city is famous for the ammount of random murders of indigenous women -

Over 2000 women have been killed and mutilated, there's cases where burning hot coals are placed inside their vaginas, their breasts are cut off, their eyes burnt and gouged out etc.. some people suspect that it's Snuff, others Narcos, either way, nothing has been done, or is being done about it.

We got to Zipolite, rented some hammocks, got some beers, and dropped the few mushrooms we had left.

The next twenty four hours I am not inclined to dicuss, suffice to say they could have been the most interesting and out of this world hours of my life, and having nothing to do with the mushrooms but with a series of events involving a stolen wallet, a dealer from Monterrey called Jesus, a shooting star, and a jar of the delicious caramel Cajeta.

I lost my wallet, but I slept happy that night.
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I was lent a hundred pesos by Flavian to catch a bus back to Oaxaca city where most of my money is. We made a deal to meet on Sunday so I could pay him back. The bus trip was long, curvy, and sickly. By the time I got to Oaxaca I was ready to vomit and pass out. I went to a party however, then passed out.
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Today is Sunday,

The orchestra wasnt great, but it was Penas idea, Lobo was out of his mind on mushrooms I'd brought back for him. We stayed for some songs then we went to an art exhibition. The artist was a called Dr.Lakra, 50's asthetic mixed with a very perverse tattooists mind, I think the most philosophical piece was one that said "Its not about how much you piss, its about how much foam you make".

We left the expo and went to the centre of town where they were setting up fireworks, we stuck around, I was pretty excited. Before the fireworks there was a procession of a giant cross, with Jesus on it, and a group of old people singing while they walked him around a few blocks. When they got back the fireworks started.

First these crazy guys get a wooden bull, loaded him up with fireworks, stuck him on their head, turned it on, and ran around shooting fireworks out at everyone, tourists run away screaming, it was loud, scary, exciting and wild. I was on the floor laughing, when not shielding myself from the oncoming explosions. After they do that three or four times, they light up the real thing, which is a huge tower made out of wood, covered in fireworks, its got wheels sticking it of it that spin and shit and shoot everywhere. They are the best fireworks i have ever seen in my life.

As each part lights up, it paints a picture, the first pictures are circles, then a cup, that turns into a dove that turns into a flower. Then up the top is Jesus on the cross and he burns up to a cacophony of whistles and screams, its was so bright i dont think ive ever seen anything brighter, when the fireworks start up its total chaos. Its like watching the big bang.

I simply can not explain how impressive this light show was.

BANG! The whole thing shoots up 200 metres into the air end EXPLODES! BOOM! Fireworks, oohs and aahs, then a band starts playing and everyone cheers. Then the church (it was the churches anniversary we were celebrating) lights up too, and fireworks, more like sparks that fall, cover the churchs and everyone goes home or stays to dance.

I meet Flavian and Torta to return the lent money, then go back to the house, drink some beers, play some music, pass out.

Joe is annoyed because I didnt bring him back anything from San Jose.
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Im settled and everything is in a state of perfection. Its raining.
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Mitla is not that exciting, and not worth 30 pesos. I wish I hadnt gone, the bus trip was long and uncomfortable, it was raining, the vendors weren't nice.





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There's a couple sleeping under my bunk now, Topi and Diana, they're from Finland and Italy and they're nice. Today we went walking in the forest, we made friends with a dog who acted as our guide. We got some beers. I went back home, I was beat.





At home I was the only one there, I was brushing my teeth and a couple walked in, from France, and looking for a guy who lived in the house 2 years ago. I tell them I dont know, but they can stick around, we make plans to meet later.
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