Tourist Street

More back-dating. My access to internet is not really on a set schedule.

Met a girl from Holland, named Honica, who arrived Saturday. She's going to a different language school, Oaxaca International, and has only studied Spanish for the past two days! She speaks accented English (studied it six years in school). That seems much more avdenturous than my situation!

I met her at a tour company. The woman at the info desk there told me about the tours in Spanish, and there were only two things that I needed her to repeat. :) I took some pictures of the building's courtyard (I love this sneaky-courtyard architecture!), then went back to the woman to ask how to say "courtyard." She didn't know! She knew what I meant, but when she asked her coworker, "¿Cómo se dice la parte del edificio que no está cubierta?" he wasn't quick with an answer, either. Patio is what he came up with, and she thought maybe terraza. Weird.

I've since checked with WordReference, and it agrees with the guy: patio it is. Terraza is "terrace" or "balcony," so I don't know what the woman was on.

Entretejado might be "woven;" also cruzado, says the woman at the traditional Mexican clothing store.

Okay, seriously, me encanta la arquitectura mexicana. Yes, the streetfronts look pretty bad, but inside! So... strawbale courtyard? :P And the word for rug is el tapete.

Vincente runs the store Cuchillos Alcalá. Talkative guy, nice and willing to repeat or simplify or explain until I understood. He has sword canes for US$55, and curved swords, flamigeros, named after flames. Apparently some angel in the Bible fought with a sword of flame, and the curves represent that. He also sells throwing stars, keychain "swords," penknifes, and a belt with a zippered compartment and a knife-buckle. And I am Señorita Catarín [rojɛɹs]

Seems that I like at least a few songs by Belinda, who was playing over the radio at La Crepa, a crepe restaurant! Their ham and cheese crepes were excellent. I know I'm in Mexico, not France, but still... Mmm, crepes. I'll almost certainly be returning for their strawberry crepes. Also, they have Oaxaca hot chocolate; will have to try that sometime. Cute mesero, too. ;)

I need to practice my restaurant-chilling skills. I feel anti-rushed here, like I think I should have been given the check already so I can hurry up and pay and leave, but they expect me to relax a bit. But it's nice here in the shade, sitting at a little café table on a balcony, listening to Spanish pop and people-watching those walking below on the "tourists' street." What's so wrong with just chilling and enjoying myself? I am on vacation, and there really isn't any great pressing need to be elsewhere right now...