I think the best way to view this week is to imagine it as a way of getting used to life after our fast approaching homecoming. Everything happens for a reason and the pieces of the puzzle always fit eventually. Our sudden change of plans have been followed by a proposition that was hard to pass up; accompany our friends Dennis and Liz in their caravan journey to Oaxaca and spend the week together discovering this amazing area. This U-turn in plans was action packed: a caravan journey spent lying on the sofa, tasting the culinary art of Oaxaca together, learning about the processes behind mezcal, a travellers pizza party and even sharing Thanksgiving together the Mexican way.

We woke up in the campsite where we'd re-encountered our friends and decided to have a walk around the town of Cholula, where we were staying close to Puebla. One of the tourist attractions is an indigenous pyramid that, although long buried before the Spanish arrived, when the conquistadors did eventually find it they plopped a massive church right on top. We'd have loved to spend some time getting lost in its supposed maze of underground tunnels and take a peak inside the church however they were both closed to the public. So with our spirits crushed we headed to the market instead where, once more, the colours and smells overwhelmed our senses. Also, as was now becoming customary, we were also overwhelmed by the pursuing waiters frantically waving their menus around and screaming to get us to eat at their stands. Because of these frequent occurrences we've now created a selection criteria to choose a decent place: firstly they mustn't shout at us and secondly they should have a decent amount of content looking folk eating away already. Therefore we ended up buying some blue tortillas called tlayocos filled with refried beans from the most humble of couples in the market. We stocked up the pantry with a variety of pastries for desert that night before arriving back at the RV park early to get up to speed with friends and family on video calls. To finish up we feasted on amazing tamales from Dennis and Liz's favourite place in Puebla. This included sweet custard filled tamales that really were the star dish!

Today was caravan journey day! Getting up early we got our stuff together while sipping a coffee and managed to successfully squeeze all our bits and bobs into the RV. Mid morning we set sail in search of breakfast, so called 'tacos de canasta', or 'tacos in a basket', and it didn't take us long to hunt down a lady selling them. To find these you need to look out for a dude on a bike with a basket lined with a blue plastic on the back, at least that's what we'd learnt from watching the well recommended 'Taco Chronicles' on Netflix. We feasted on bean, chicken and, the stand out winner, potato tacos. So only slightly delayed, the four of us began the journey proper... Well after a quick stop at the shops to stock up on red wine and whisky for the up coming celebration of Thanksgiving! The trip lasted about 5 hours and was great fun, I spent most of the time sprawled out on the sofa watching the road and appreciating every minute of not having to pedal up all the hills. For good reason as the road wound through the most mountainous of areas made unique by the shear quantity of tall, straight cacti plastering the hillsides. We reached the city around dusk and had a few issues getting into the campsite after misunderstanding the instructions the owner had sent; almost destroying the caravan while avoiding the myriad of potholes that slowly became a river after taking the wrong direction in. So after a brief moment that you might call a tad stressful, we finally arrived and met Cali, the man who looked after the place. The chattiest of guys... The Liz and Dennis made us some lovely salad with red wine, tequila and whiskey which we, as was becoming the norm, were up until the early hours enjoying.

At 6am I opened my eyes, disturbed by a melody carried on the wind that I couldn't quite get my head around. The Mexican happy birthday song 'La mañanitas del rey David' drifted into my ears from what seemed to be nearby church bells... This would become our daily alarm clock over the next week. The morning sun also shone through a gap in the trees and we woke up feeling like a couple of roast chickens it was so hot! This got us going for the day and, mid morning, we were on a bus towards Oaxaca city centre where we'd try a grand selection of local delicacies: tlayudas, memelas and ice creams in one of the squares. Liz had a list of recommendations of where to go so we had a nice route through town to follow, although the shouting waiters at the markets were an inevitable stress. The city was all very colonial and really quite colourful. Liz and Dennis had a cooking course to attend so we parted ways for a few hours and Rob and I strolled around enjoying some well needed coffee (after the early awakening). Once the lesson was over we hit a mezcal bar which had live music, nice drinks and a buzzing atmosphere to errmmm... Have a drink or two.

The last Thursday of November is one of the biggest days of the year for our American friends, Thanksgiving! How exciting to spend such a day in the company of our friends Liz and Dennis who also found themselves a long way from home. We started all-American by watching Macy's Thanksgiving day parade through New York, although we cheated a little and watched 2019's version as this year it seemed pretty depressing in comparison. While enjoying the spectacle on TV inside the RV we had a breakfast of pancakes smothered in Nutella and syrup. Then the guys cracked open the bubbly and poured out some mimosas (pretty much a buck's fizzes) and we hit the RV park's swimming pool to see them down to pumping Christmas music. But all too soon we had to start cooking the feast, using the interlude for a quick splash in the shower. Chopping vegetables, making a pumpkin pie, readying the stuffing and even massaging spices in the head of a cauliflower... Thanksgiving vegetarian style without the turkey! Once everything was ready we took all the food over to the picnic tables by the pool and dived right into the mounds of nosh we'd been slaving over. What a feast! With the food and wine taking effect we sunk into the sofa once again to finish up giving thanks to the TV and a good old family film.

Tourism day! But after yesterday we didn't manage to wake up in time... Dennis made us a super breakfast of scrambled egg, red pepper, avocado, peso mayonnaise and Spanish ham. You can't imagine how good it was! A little later than planned we arrived in Oaxaca city hoping to visit some nearby ruins called Monte Albán but by the time we'd sorted our shit out the buses had stopped running. So we had little choice but to postpone the plan and just switched to food tasting mode again. We tried some mole negro, quesillo, meat balls and then, after a failed attempted to get some michealadas in, turned back campsite-ward, as we'd agreed to join in a pizza party later with the other travellers. Filling our bags with ingredients and beers we headed home. The evening disappeared amongst the smokey, wood fired pizza oven as we chatted and drunk away together with some German couples that were camping there in old military vehicles. It was great fun!

Another big day of the week, a mezcal tour awaited us! Alvin, a retired Canadian feller that had lived and visited the local area over the last 30 years, gave these tours in order to raise money for local charities supporting girls through the education system and, of course, to spread the word of the amazing culture surrounding mezcal. It started around 9am and we visited 3 mezcal distilleries (plus a couple more places along the way), each with its own peculiarities and varieties. We tried at least 30 different mezcals, not even having a break in the car between places as Alvin carried a decent selection with him, topping up our 'jícaras' to keep our minds entertained and, as you can imagine, spinning. We learnt a hell of a lot though and met plenty of people but finished up exhausted. Thank goodness Liz had the energy to cook some top notch spaghetti in white wine for dinner once we;d made it crawling back, which brought the day to a peaceful end.

As was becoming customary in the team, our motivation to do stuff was bigger than ... We had hyped up this Sunday as being a big day on the tourist trail: seeing some nearby ruins as well as the neighbouring town. But after both the physical and mental damages that the heavy mezcal drinking of the day before had left us with, along with a bunch of tasks we had all been putting off for far too long, the day turned into one of rest. We even got our chef's hats on and cooked up a very tasty sweet potato Spanish omelette together! It seemed appropriate to warm up our bum cheeks before the return to the bicycles by seeing the day out with a bike ride into town to see a tree which may or may not have the girthiest trunk in the world! (Please post your best sexual innuendos in the comments...). But unfortunately my traditional 'big tree hugging' photo wasn't possible as it was fenced off to protect it and, presumably, us. Even still, I got my mother nature energy fix through grabbing the hanging branches that covered the street like a giant sunshade. Sadly this was to be our last night with Liz and Dennis, which we celebrated by dinning some take away pasties and quesadillas in the caravan together as a little family.