Sweet Willie

Anyone been to Oaxaca or Huatulco?

Thoughts, experiences?

El Cochinito

Oaxaca

Oaxaca is a wonderful city to spend a few days absorbing life in Old Mexico. The best way to get a feel for the place is hang out in the zócalo (central square), especially in the late afternoon and early evening. Find an appealing outdoor restaurant, order a plate of "botanas" (snacks) and your favorite libation (try a "Michelada" (say "mitch-ee-lah-dah") a Mexican mixed drink made from fresh squeezed lime juice and cold beer over ice in a tall salted-rim glass - sounds strange but very refreshing). Sit back, relax, and enjoy the atmosphere. Around dusk there is usually a flag-lowering ceremony in the square (good picture taking opportunity) and on several nights the local municipal band plays free concerts in the kiosk in the center of the square. Sometimes there's a marimba band (the marimba is an instrument indigenous to the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca & Chiapas).

Overlooking the square is the city's 16th century cathedral (reconstructed in 1773). It now has a baroque facade in a style typical for the region. The inside of the cathedral isn't as interesting as the outside as the cathedral was ransacked at one point during its history.

Oaxaca is known for its black pottery (some of which is remarkably tacky but you can still find interesting pieces for souvenirs). The nearby town of Mitla is a rug-weaving center.

Side trips from Oaxaca worth taking include visits to the famous ruins of Monte Albán and Mitla. You can easily do these trips yourself via rental car or hiring a taxi for the day (ask at the hotel for a recommendation for a driver). Or of course you can book a tour from your hotel. There are several small towns easily reached from Oaxaca that specialize in arts & crafts; check on arrival with your hotel to find out when market days are held as this is the best time to go visit.

One example is the town of Tlacolula, some 30km outside of Oaxaca on the road to Mitla. Here is the center of the mezcal industry - I like stopping in some of the distilleries to talk to the operators and sample their wares. Mezcal, like tequila, is distilled from agave however different species of agave are used for each. Mezcal sometimes has "the worm" in the bottle; tequila never has worms in the bottles unless it is contaminated! Market day in Tlacolula is Sunday.

Sweet Willie and I love to eat, so I will share my favorite Oaxacan restaurant:
El Naranjo located just a couple of blocks southwest off the zócalo at Trujano 203 (telephone (951) 514-1878). Here is where you will find the specialties of the state of Oaxaca like mole and (one of my favorites) chile pasilla oaxaqueño (chile peppers stuffed with a cheese similar to mozzerella).
Start salivating here: http://www.elnaranjo.com.mx/

Huatulco

You can travel overland between Oaxaca and Huatulco via Mexican Federal Highway 175. It is a curvy, mountainous road - allow 6 hours for the drive. There is first class bus service between the two cities, for instance the Christopher Columbus bus line http://www.cristobalcolon.com.mx

Huatulco is a resort town, so culturally you won't find much of interest here. But sometimes there just isn't anything better than lounging in a beach chair under a thatched palapa with a bucket of icy cervezas and a fresh shrimp cocktail in hand.

Near Huatulco is the village of Crucecita. There are family-run restaurants around the town's zócalo which are much less expensive than you'll find in Huatulco. Try El Sabor de Oaxaca at Avenida Guamuchil 206 in Crucecita; I liked their "try everything sampler plate for two people" which included tamales in the Oaxacan style, mole, chorizo, cheeses, etc. My sister-in-law likes the place for breakfasts but I've never tried them that early in the morning.

Hope this helps!

Sweet Willie

Thank you El Cochinito, that may very well be one of the best responses to a thread I've ever read. VERY complete information! ^ ^ ^

Y_me?

As FTs resident foodie, it’s your cheery duty to check out the chiles rellenos at Casa de Abuela, have a leisurely lunch at El Topil, snack on chapulins, and vaquero up you cojones and have a few drinks at La Casa del Mezcal. Purchases at the chocolate grinders on Calle Mina are obligatory, and buy two-dollar, hard-carved molinillos from a street vendor.

Barbara Hopkins’ Oaxaca: Crafts and Sightseeing is a superb, offbeat guide to Oaxaca, although it appears to be out of print. One daytrip to consider is a jaunt out to Hierve el Agua, a petrified waterfall and hot springs with great views of the Sierra Madres, which includes a bonus outdoor, moonshineresque mezcal operation -- complete with a copper still and a donkey turning a wheel that crushes the maguey “pineapples” -- along the way.

Oaxaca is one of my favorite places. Enjoy!

Sweet Willie

WITH PLEASURE SIR!

Thanks for the tips ^ ^

sargento

I have to agree the report was fantastic..

I was just in Oaxaca this past December and only stayed 2 full days and my gf was hitting for not staying longer...

When I went there I found a fantastic local lady who taught us a few fantastic recipies of "mole" the chicken sauce that is made with chocolate and lots of spices.. (non chocolate options also available as there are over 60 recepies). we paid about $350 pesos ($30) for both of us for the 3 hour class. it was fantastic and well worth it ....
I highly suggest you try as when you make it back home everyone is going to love for it .... If you want, I'll pass you the number as her English was good enough for my gf to understand and she'll give you copy of a couple recipies in English as well..

Oxaca is definetly a place that should not be missed but it should be taken ith time and not rushed!!

elsie

Headed there the first two weeks of August.
Anyone else around then?
Major foodie myself.....can't wait!

grnwayrob

I'll be there in mid September, the 20th to the 24th. I've only allotted 3 days in Oaxaca, and the more I read it seems you could spend 10 days there and not be bored

JayBrian

El Cochinito said

"(try a "Michelada" (say "mitch-ee-lah-dah") a Mexican mixed drink made from fresh squeezed lime juice and cold beer over ice in a tall salted-rim glass - sounds strange but very refreshing)."


My girlfriend has made this drink at my house, I never knew they had a name. She adds Tabasco, but she adds hot sauce to everything.


Jay

chtiet

My favorite drink - I have it at almost every lunch/dinner when I'm in Mexico!! You may want to pass on the ice, if the beer is cold enough - it gets too watery towards the end if you have too much ice.

Normally they'll let you choose what beer you would like, so go ahead and pick your favorite. Very often it is made with Corona, Sol or Pacifico!!! Mmmhh.

Sweet Willie

How was your trip?

richard

Hope anyone who goes here sees Monte Alban, spectacular ruins, as well as Mitla.

JDiver

If you go to Mitla, here's a great full day, though the actual journey down Highway 190 is only 26 miles each way - but add some short deviations. (Hint: you can hire a vehicle and driver, especially a van among four people or more, and make it economical and easy. Your lodging will be able to help arrange this.)

Depart Oaxaca southward, and unless it's Sunday and you want to visit the Tlacolula market, you need to do this first, as the markets will fold up and disappear by the time you return, proceed toward the distant Salina Cruz and Tehuantepec - and Mitla.

On your return, nearby at Km 32, you can stop at Pensamiento Mezcal, and learn how mezcal is made, sample and buy some... (If the distilled alcoholic beverage is from the blue century plant, Agave tequilana, mainly grown in Jalisco, it's tequila; by law, if it is from any other Agave "century plant," it's mezcal - it no, it is not hallucinogenic, nor does it have mescalline.) Some mezcal has a little worm in it, actually the larvae of an insect that lays its eggs in the Agave plant, which is used to demonstrate the legitimacy and origin of the product. By now mummified and quite sterilized in his alcohol bath, his modern use is to see who gets the worm when the bottle is passed around - s/he who gets the worm gets to buy the next round. Be sure you have a designated driver, or other worms will do a dance with you...

Proceed on to Mitla, see the extensive ruins with their intricate "grecas" freizes (actualy representative of the Feathered Serpent, elsewhere in Mexico called Quetzalcoatl or Kukulcan, has nothing to do with Grecian design) while it is still relatively cool. Check out a craft store or two, if you like, and look at the "zócalo" or main square (the word "zócalo" actually means pedestal or base, and in Mexico City, the main square was punctuated by a large monument; people used to say "meet me at the zócalo" - now, we use the term losely to mean any central town square in Mexico,) as you begin back to the main highway.

Stop for lunch at the historic Frissell Museum and La Sorpresa Restaurant (it's just off the Mitla "zócalo;" ask for the Museo Frissell - "moo-say-oh free-sell".) This old colonial style house today is an archaeological museum maintained by the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, and has a wonderful home-style cooking restuarant. As an aperitif, you will first be served a "mezcalito", a fruit-flavored small drink of mezcal. There's quite a collection of Mixtec and Zapotec art and archaeological objects here, originally amassed by American realtor Erwin Frissel, his wife Gertrude, and their associate Howard Leigh. In those days, known as "Posada La Sorpresa," the inn that hosted people like D.H. Lawrence ("Mornings in Mexico" and "Plumed Serpent") and Malcolm Lowry ("Under the Volcano").

You could stop at some of the artisan's shops in Mitla, but I would strongly recommend heading north toward Oaxaca again... the best weavings and crafts are not here, in my opinion.

If you have a long day and want to see more local culture, you can also visit the towns of Tlacochahuaya and Tlacolula (see Sunay market info above) for some examples of Oaxaca's native arts. One author says "The 16th-century church in Tlacochahuaya is renowned for its beautiful plateresque altars and especially for the painting of San Jerónimo by native artist Juan de Arrue. In the church of Nuestro Señor de Tlacolula, which dates from the same era, are Indian interpretations in relief of the deaths of various saints -- one with an ax in his head, a second boiled in oil. Another feature of this church is its antique tubular pipe organ." (Guess siantly behavior didn't always pay off, eh?)

If you love archaeological ruins stop at Yagul and wander about. The views are truly stunning! If you have more time, other sites you can stop at include Dainzú (dine-SUE) with carvings of ancient ballpplayers (every Mexican has a favored theory about who was killed at the end of the game - the losers for losing, or the winners so they could go on to Paradise!) And there's also Lambityeco, with some more nice friezes.

For the hardcore culture vulture, there's even San Lorenzo Albarradas and nearby Hierve El Agua "the water boils",) an amazing place with the remains of Zapotec irrigation system used as long ago as 700 B.C. (You'd ask for "yee-air-vay ell og-wah".)

On your way back north in the village of Santa Maria del Tule to see the famous Tule tree, a giant "ahuehuete" cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) "about 120 feet high and 144 feet around the trunk, estimated over 2,000 years old." You'll see it from the highway, as it dwarfs the church next to it, and it is clearly signed. Some will try to tell you it's really TWO trees, but DNA testing has demonstrated this is one humungous tree, to put it scientifically...

If you feel your holiday is ruined enough , go to the sign and turnoff marked "Teotitlán del Valle." This is a traditional Zapotec village, with many highly skilled and even famous weavers. Most work in wool, many with traditional dyestuffs they refine themselves - the original cochineal (actually a mealy bug that lives on cactus) used to make the brilliant red dyes the British Redcoats used during the US Revolutionary War, indigo, bougainvillea, walnut, even the beautiful "royal purple" dye from marine Murex snails from the coast (the real sutff always has a slight dead sealife odor)... etc. You can buy cheaper, coarser tourist rugs to museum quality weavings here with designs ranging from traditional native American / precolumbian designs to modern art. A visit with these gentle people is unforgettable, and a weaving gently bargained for here will be an heirloom, not a souvenir.

Wow, what a full day! Now it's time to stop at the hotel, clean up and hit the Zócalo for some walking about, dodging grackle cr@p and deciding where to go to eat some Oaxacan specialties! (Yeah, during the right season, the crowds of blackbirds can "drop in" on you... beware!)

BTW, you'll do better pronouncing the refreshing cerveza + limón drink "me-chell-UH-duh", as in Castilian Spanish, which is what we speak thoughout Latin America, we pronounce "a" as in "farther", the "e" like meadow, "i" as "meek", "o" as in "oh" and "U" as in "hoot".)

El Cochinito sabe de lo que habla... he knows what he speaks of, but my pronunciation will probably work better. ¡Salud!

JDiver, from Cuernavaca to Carmichael... in one short lifetime!

Sweet Willie

Just read about: Abastos Market in Oaxaca.
Chocolate with almonds and mescal are two treats to be found at Oaxaca’s open-air mercado. DETAILS: http://www.oaxacaoaxaca.com

Sweet Willie

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