After exploring the pyramid at Cholula, Dave and I decided to head into the city to explore the gorgeous city of Puebla. A colonial city with roots dating back to the 1500s, it is home to some seriously impressive sites. We started with the famous Cathedral which is probably the most attractive we have seen to date. Its bell towers are Mexico’s tallest and the interior houses beautiful frescoes and no less than three organs.

We followed this up with a stop at the Casa de la Cultura. A former bishop’s palace, this building contained a number of modern art galleries including one that was devoted to Japanese kites.

The real draw of the Casa de la Cultura, however, was the 1646 Biblioteca Palafoxiana. Any book lover would be in awe of this unbelievable space. It is the first public library in the Americas and it was a treat to wander through and look at the ancient books lining the shelves.

Our morning took a serious turn for the worse when we returned from our wandering, though. They say that bad luck comes in threes… I’m not sure if this is true (or even who “they” are, for that matter) but, if it is, I am hoping we are out of the woods now.

We returned to our parking spot to find that the truck had been broken into. (Dave and I referring to this as unfortunate event #1).The driver side door lock was punched out and most everything in the cab was cleaned out. Among the things we lost were:

• our Samsung Tablet,
• our InReach emergency locator and communicator;
• Dave’s iPod;
• the cover plate for the truck stereo;
• the box containing our tent and camping gear;
• the box containing nearly all of our English language books; and
• the box containing extra oil, tire pump and random spare parts for the truck.

We felt sick but we were relieved to find that the camper itself had not been touched and that Chester was okay. Chester had been in the camper at the time of the robbery and we suspect that he may have started barking and deterred them from going in the back. This is the first truly negative thing that has happened to us since we left and the ride back to the campground was a tough one. We may have drank excessively that night…and did manage to find a small silver lining; Chester is enjoying the extra space in the back seat.

We decided to set out the next morning for Oaxaca. Earlier that week we had contacted a spanish school where we were hoping to take classes and the school had lined up an apartment for us that would allow Chester. After negotiating some crazy traffic getting out of Puebla, we were relieved to pull up in front of our prospective apartment an hour ahead of schedule. I contacted the owner to see if he would be able to meet up with us early but was floored to discover that the apartment had been rented the day before. As it was Saturday, we couldn’t get hold of the school by phone so we sent them an email. There we sat in downtown Oaxaca with no place to stay and feeling rather dejected (unfortunate event #2). We considered attempting to try to find a place on our own but between our lack of knowledge about the city and our minimal Spanish,this seemed like a daunting task. We decided it would be best to get a hotel and try to regroup.

I managed to find a nice pet friendly hotel (thank you Trip Advisor) and we decided to check in for two nights so that we’d have some time to figure out a plan. We were relieved when the school contacted us later that evening about another apartment. We arranged to meet the landlady at the foot of the Escaleras del Fortin, a tree-lined avenue of stairs leading to the large amphitheater, at 12:00 noon the next day. Perhaps things were looking up.

The apartment was less than 30 minutes away by foot. We set out early so we could scout out the neighbourhood. Our route took us past the Zocalo (central plaza) where most of the City seemed to have gathered to cheer on Mexico vs. Brazil (World Cup) in front of a huge screen. It was tempting to join the crowd but we really needed to sort out our living situation. As we neared the meeting spot, we could see that the neighbourhood seemed great – very central and close to a huge park space. However, we were both apprehensive when the only “se renta” sign we saw was in front of a little place that looked sketchy (complete with corrugated metal walls) at best. All the same, it was the only lead we had so we went to the foot of the stairs to meet Clemencia. She was incredibly friendly and we both liked her immediately. We were even more charmed when she led us to a cute little upstairs apartment in a pretty little red building. It only took one quick glance at Dave to know that he was as eager to take it as I was. As she showed us the suite, we understood that there was an issue with the fridge not working but she assured us that this would be taken care of shortly (at least that was what we thought she said).

We agreed to rent it for one month and left rent money with her before rushing off to catch the rest of the game. We made it to the Zocalo to see that Mexico was up 1-0 with only five minutes remaining. It was looking good and everyone in the square was in good spirits. Then, the unthinkable happened – Brazil scored to tie up the game. The square became quiet and tense… and then bad turned to worse. Mexico took a questionable penalty and Brazil scored again on a penalty shot with only a minute left on the clock. Their hopes were crushed as the clock ran down and the space that had been filled with laughter and merriment just a few hours earlier took on an air of collective sadness. This was definitely unfortunate event #3 – it was really tough to see the disappointment on everyone’s faces.

Since we got through strike three, however, things have been on a definite upswing. We unloaded most of our stuff at the apartment and checked out the huge local market (absolutely incredible!) before heading back for our last night at the hotel.

During our break on our first day of classes we got officially moved in and picked up our keys. The refrigerator issue was resolved in a couple of days when Clemencia came to tell us they were bringing a new one up. Dave hurried down to try to help as Clemencia’s husband hefted the fridge on his back with their son helping from the bottom. Dave tried to help from the top as they navigated the narrow twisting stairs up to the apartment. As the fridge was set in place everyone shared in the accomplishment and smiled for a photo.

Clemencia has shown herself to be the sweetest landlady one could ask for. She has brought us apple pies and apricots and manages to smile through all our silly questions and poor grasp of the Spanish language.

School has also been great but we will wait till next time to tell you all about it and the wonderful city of Qaxaca.