Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Back by happy hour!

A bit of a long day for me yesterday. I was up at 3:30am to get to the bus station in Oaxaca City in time for my 5:00am departure to Puebla.

Our campground host Del, was nice enough to get up at silly o'clock with me to drive me into the bus station.

There was no traffic at all at that hour... good thing I didn't have to wait down at the main road for a taxi or collectivo because I might have been waiting a while!

We arrived with lots of time to spare and I still had a 40 minute wait for the bus. Better too early that too late!

My view at 4:50am!

The bus to Puebla loaded. I had bought my ticket online, so just showed them my phone and they scanned it. The guy handed me a small plastic bag for any trash, and a bottle of water.

The ticket price was 555 pesos ($29 USD, $39 CAD) for the four hour and forty minute ride.

Long distance buses are very comfortable in Mexico. Greyhound could learn a thing or two. 

I managed to sleep for a couple of hours on the bus, so time went by quickly. Arrived at Puebla bus terminal only 7 or 8 minutes behind schedule!

Puebla bus terminal is huge! What a zoo outside, with taxis and vendors everywhere. I walked about 10 minutes down the road to get to a quieter spot to request an Uber. I put in my order, and the system said the driver was five minutes away. I waited 10 minutes and the system never changed, always saying five minutes away! For those of you who have never used Uber, they show you a live map on your phone showing where your driver is and how long it takes for him to get to you. But this time, the driver never moved. Some kind of glitch, I suppose. Anyhow, the only way I could get out of it was to cancel the ride with a 25 peso charge, and order a new one.

The new one arrived quickly, and I was able to request and receive a credit of the 25 pesos cancelled ride.

Back at Trailer Park las Americas in Cholula, I met up with Roy and Sue and hopped in the drivers seat of their Class B Motorhome for the drive back to Oaxaca.

They are doing much better, still a bit of a cough, but otherwise feeling pretty much back to normal.

We made a quick fuel stop, and a quick stop for tacos for lunch, and arrived back at Oaxaca Campground at exactly 4:34pm... only four minutes late for happy hour! So nice to have them back with us!

While I was gone, the group had a free day. Ruth went for a hike with Bob and Denise and Scarlet the dog.

Bob, Scarlet, and Denise.

Scenery along the way.

A wall made of empty plastic bottles.


View of the valley.

Bob is king of the castle!

Another view.

Today, we have our van and driver coming back at 9:00am to take us to the big Tlacolula market. This is where many indigenous people living in the surrounding hills come down to Tlacolula every Sunday to sell their goods. It's a really interesting market! Then, off to see the petrified waterfalls at Hierve el Agua.

Should be a great day!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The popular Cosori Glass Electric Kettle is on sale today!

And in Canada...







19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, me too! Even more glad that Roy and Sue are home too!

      Delete
  2. Nice of you to escort them back to the RV group.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It just the type of people we are. We are just so happy to have Roy and Susan back with the "family" and to have them both feeling a better. :-)

      Delete
  3. Glad you were able to get some sleep on the bus!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kevin was happy he got some sleep on the bus too! :-)

      Delete
  4. I'm glad to read about the bus trip - so many of my friends are apprehensive about public transport in a different country - despite our reassurances. Getting handed a water and bag for trash shows how great these facilities are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ADO buses in Mexico are amazing, even just the regular old first-class ones (not gl or platinum) are nicer than any other buses I've ever been on. We traveled from city to city in Mexico on the ADO line in 2012 and again in 2015 (shorter trip) and couldn't have been more pleased. We even got to see some interesting movies in Spanish -- the children's cartoon movies are especially fun to watch, even if you don't speak much Spanish!

      Delete
    2. We totally agree with Emily, taking the bus in Mexico or just about any other country is so much better than taking a bus in Canada or the US, especially if you are taking one of the better quality buses for a long distance. Even taking the chicken bus is fine and fun but not for a long distance like Kevin just did. And they are so much cheaper! Our bus systems north of the border could learn a thing or two.

      Delete
    3. The best option on ADO in my opinion is their "GL" line. It's a little more luxurious with more leg room, and they give you a headset along with your beverage so listening to those cartoons in Spanish is optional. ;-)

      I have just completed a border to border trip through Mexico (started in Texas, now on the Guatemalan border) as a solo female traveler...all via the Mexican bus. It's a great way to see the country!

      Delete
  5. You are one extra special tour guide, going the extra mile(s) to ensure your tour members are well taken care of. Something not seen too much today. :c)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is just who we are! :-) We want to make sure everyone is enjoying their trip and it is part of our service to make sure they are all well taken care of.

      Delete
  6. If you have an extra day, we recommend the cooking class with Seasons of the Heart, with Susanna Trilling. Hope you enjoy all the different miles. One restaurant we went to prepared a free sampler plate of all the moles so we could choose our favorite. There are lots of foods unique to Oaxaca, which I'm sure you know. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately we don't have an extra day unless people want to go and do that on their own. We try to plan free days for people to either relax or go off on their own and explore. We haven't even made it into the city of Oaxaca itself, which we will do tomorrow, some people are even going to go in there today. Our problem here is there is just too much to do and we even gave ourselves six nights here!

      Yes, we know that Oaxaca has some great food that is unique to the state and we are going to get the group trying out as much as we can. :-)

      Delete
  7. Uber is banned from many places in Mexico including some bus stations and some airports. Uber may be able to take you in to those places but not pick you up. Even then, taking you in, the Uber driver may risk getting stopped after dropping a passenger off.

    In some places, the driver may call you and let you know saying that you can walk outside the airport or bus station and he can pick you up there.

    Not 100% sure that is the case in the Puebla bus station but it sounds like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Kevin is also very aware of that! Even just trying to flag a regular taxi down outside of a bus station can be a be no no. We found that out years ago in Mazatlan because the taxis at the bus station were charging too much, so we flagged down a regular taxi and one of the bus station taxi driver's came over and blasted the regular taxi for trying to pick us up. We now know to just walk a few blocks away before either getting an Uber or a regular taxi.

      Delete
  8. Always a good journey when you are back by happy hour:)

    ReplyDelete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.