I was moving up further up the the mountain as time is working against me. I need to be in Cancun on the 27th to finally meet up with my girlfriend. The wait has been long and I am stoked. So as I didn’t like Puerto Escondido as this is the place to be for these pseudo hipsters again. So you can enjoy your vegan poke bowl at the beach. I am here to eat tacos. So It’s good that I leave for the mountains. For that I have to get a bus to Pochutla. From there I have to get another bus to San José del Pacifico. The road is winding up the mountain. It was very difficult and I had to close my eyes several times to not get nauseous. A kid was throwing up in the bus as we were all struggling and going higher into the curving roads to the mountains. It almost feels like a rollercoaster. When I get off the bus I ask some people what’s the best place to stay at. One guy is saying he is going to a special hostel on top of the mountain. Sounds great! So I join him as we embark into a motor taxi. We head up the mountain as we feel the elevation for the first time. We walk up for maybe 20 meters and we are completely out of breath. But the view is stunning! The hostel has the perfect room and in addition to that also only private rooms. What a score.

The nature is stunning and out of this world. The big pine forest have some interesting plant life beneath. Big agave plants, a lot of blooming plants, big succulents and hummingbirds just to name a few. It is a place that doesn’t even feel like Mexico again. When the sun goes down the temperature drops to 6°C. This is giving me proper vibes for Christmas. At night it get’s really cold. As you can see the hostel is mostly carved onto the mountain. The rooms are not heated. So to sleep properly you take on your sweatshirt, you add another sweatshirt, wear two kinds of pants and then hide below the 6 big blankets they give you. It’s cozy then!

I decided to do the Temazcal ceremony. As it is so cold it is the perfect place to do it as it is comparable to a rural sauna. The ceremony takes an hour and is hold into these clay huts. The stones are heated in a fire and then shoved into the middle of the hut – the Temazcal. It is supposed to be a rebirth and an orientation back into the universe as the hut should resemble the mothers woumb. As we go into the Temazcal it is at room temperature. Carlos the guy who is doing the ceremony today is starting with the first round.

He uses different local herbs such as eucalyptus. Yes I know eucalyptus also grows in the Mexican forest crazy right? Each round there are beautiful songs sung about the moon, the sun, the people and some other stuff I didn’t understand. Each round more hot stones get loaded into the hole in the middle of the Temazcal. A bucket with different herbs is brought in and the process is repeated. So imagine you start to go to the sauna, but instead of doing 15 minutes you go in at a very low temperature heat it up and do an infusion sauna every 5 minutes. For an hour long as the whole thing heats up. After that hour you jump into a cold bucket of water with a lot of flours inside to cool off. Your rebirth is done and like after going to the sauna you feel amazing and reborn. I was fighting a cold at the time and my nose was running 24/7. After this is my nose was free and not running for at least another hour.

The village itself is beautiful as well. You can walk around, but remember to be out of breath every five minutes if you are not acclimatized like me. You find some very special cafés and get really good hot chocolate. Another part that is finally giving me Christmas vibes. Most of the cafés and restaurants are colored in these vibrant colors.

Even if you do nothing you can stick your head through the clouds let your thoughts spin and relax with a beautiful view. As I was fighting a cold at the time I had difficulty. But I also have a lot of difficulty sitting still. I don’t know why but even when I am sick I can’t relax. I need to see this beautiful planet so I joined a beautiful hike up the mountain. I need to see how big this planet is and how much nature there still is. This is at least what I tell myself. I can’t stress enough how crazy the nature is. It reminds me of the jungle, just with pine trees.

After three magnificent days it is time to drive to Oaxaca City. The ride down is nice as the pressure in my ears finally pops. Can you imagine the joy of hearing properly after three days? Also pretty crazy is how fast the landscape changed from this green forest to the drylands of the inland of Mexico. For me it is just mind boggling how many different climates Mexico has. And in a time frame of one hour you change it. I join this small hostel outside of the city. The hostel is actually a villa and it has been transformed into a hostel. It is a super awesome place as it has a a really beautiful yoga studio located in it. The hostel itself has a big community feeling because there are just 15 people chilling in a house. We start to prepare a Christmas dinner.

The group is becoming a fun little family to spend Christmas with. Everyone was cracking jokes or a cold beer while preparing for the dinner. On the 24th of December we decide to go out in the evening. We head into the city center to have some drinks. The city center is really colonial and very beautiful. Unfortunately I haven’t seen much of it as we were busy with the Christmas dinner. The Christmas lights even give it the extra touch. Meanwhile a Mexican is riding a trike in a Santa Costume around town. Oh Mexico you never disappoint.

On the 25th we have our Christmas dinner. The mood is high we have mulled wine, coffee with Mezcal a few beers and white wine. This huge feast of a Christmas dinner is also finally taking place. Even though I miss my family and friends especially on Christmas, I still enjoy the vibe and hanging out with the other travelers. To top it off we decide to watch the sunset on top of a mountain. You can see all of Oaxaca City from there and it is just stunning. Until things turned sour.

As it got dark we wanted to go down. A guy dressed in a ski mask approaches us. As Elliott, one of the guys, is saying to the person “Hola amigo, feliz navidad – Hello friend, merry Christmas” We hear a loaded gun sound. Fuck this is not happening! As the guy comes closer he tells us to sit down. He goes over to Elliott and ask for his valuables. Elliott is promptly responding that he only is having white wine and proceeds to offer it to the robber. What a legend. Then he goes to the next person which is promptly responding that he has no money. I’m thinking damn he is going to be pissed because he got nothing as of now. He points at my left pocket which bulges out because I have my film camera and my smart phone in that pocket. I am trying to figure out a way to keep my phone. So I reach into my other pocket and pull out my wallet. I give him some 500mxn Banknotes. He asks if that is all and I tell that this is all. However there were clearly banknotes left in my wallet. Why he didn’t take the whole wallet is still a riddle to me to this day. But good for me no extra hustling and doing all the paperwork to get a new card. He seems to be satisfied and leaves for the others which are still a little further up. Phew that was close with my phone!

I tell the other guys that we should leave immediately. The others say no since one of the wives are up there. Understandable… In this time I put my phone, my camera and my wallet into the backpack. Apparently the other haven’t had any money and he didn’t find any of the phones from the rest of the group so he comes back. I promptly drop my backpack on the mountain. My heartrate is at a crazy rate and I can’t feel my feet. He proceeds to feel the pockets of us. Shit he found Elliotts phone, which was hidden in the underpants. He gets to the next person and finds another phone as well. Since I have dropped the backpack and it is dark enough I just step up three steps to him with my arms at the side. He feels my pockets and then my private parts. I just act a little upset as he touches my private parts which in return is supposed to distract him more from my backpack lying around. He is shouting at us to get out of here as quickly as possible as he finally seems happy with what he got. Now as we walk I can’t feel my body properly which makes walking down a little harder… The shock and the adrenaline is still ravaging inside me. I am just glad that I managed to fool him and just gave him money and not my phone.

We head down of the mountain. The feeling is terrible but at least we are in a group. Imagine going through this alone! We go down and every barking dog, every car and every person seems distrustful in that time. This is a sad feeling and the complete opposite of what I was feeling beforehand. The people I met before were all very helpful, super friendly and often even inviting for a beer or some food. Now when a motorcycle drives by you get afraid and distrustful. It passes us and I see that it is just a food delivery. This feeling is so sad because these guys are trying to make an honest living by delivering food and you are now totally distrusting them.

Being very open has given so much more in the past so I won’t let this one guy destroy the trust to the 999 strangers that have helped me, invited me or just talked to me in a curious humane and interested way. You can’t take it personally because then the distrust and racist thoughts will win. Imagine doing an armed robbery on a few tourist on Christmas. Your life must be completely miserable to do something like this! I just wish him the best and hope he finds happiness himself and isn’t plagued by feelings of envy, jealousy, hate and money. Maybe he has a family he needs to feed. Whatever it is. His life must be far worse than mine. So I won’t let it get to me personally. This was a wakeup call. That I am still in Mexico. That these things can happen and you should think about what you are doing. In the end it is just about the money. What are a few 100€ and a few lost phones in comparison to the grand picture. Nothing! So it was an unpleasant experience, but an eye-opening one to be a little bit more careful in rural areas. We all had a bit of trouble sleeping the night. Every dog and every sound made you awake. A Christmas I will remember for sure…

The next day I meet Felix. One of the Mexicans I met in Compostela. He is taking some vacation in Oaxaca as well. Life works in funny ways sometimes. We meet up for some hot chocolate and some sweets. It’s nice seeing him again. This is exactly what I mean. I said yes to this one thing to drive to Compostela it maade waves through Mexico City and now Oaxaca City. I got some Mexican friends and an inside into the local life again. For free. Just because I said yes one time. So please say yes sometimes and don’t let the bad players ruin the fun for everybody else! Then those people will win!

Until next time!