Wednesday was taken up with a 5 hour bus ride from Puebla. Oaxaca is fabulous colonial city with a strong Zapotec indigenous culture. Here is our 2014 blog and here is 2011.
Buying Zapotes, a sweet tasting fruit common in Mexico Street artTemple of Santo Domingo, an example of New Spain baroque architecture from 1551Church of the Company of Jesus originally built in 1579 has suffered numerous earthquake damages and rebuilds Temple of Our Lady of the Snows, founded at the end of the 16th century, rebuilt in the 18th centuryOur Lady of Guadalupe dates back to 1644Restaurant inside, street food outsideGrinding the spices for mole
Click the image below to watch the mole grinding video!
Mole grinding videoChocolate fresh out of the grinderReal hot chocolate! Oaxaca market guarded by the tower of San Juan de DiosBBQ inside the marketMeat, tortillas, onions, peppers and nopal (cactus)A stack of TlayudasTlayudas, traditional Oaxacan cuisine consisting of a large, thin, crunchy tortilla covered with refried beans, lettuce, shredded meat, Oaxaca cheese, and salsa declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCOAnother way to eat tlayudas – with mole and fresh cheese, open facedOaxaca cheese, a semihard, low-fat cheese with a texture similar to mozzarellaA selection of chillies each with a unique tasteGuelaguetza, traditional indigenous cultural event, doesn’t officially start for another month but some groups are already celebratingThis group is dressed in multicolored ragsRain doesn’t stop the dancing
Friday 21 June 2024
We organized a cooking class and mescal tasting through Dianzúu Travel. It was in Teotitlán del Valle, a Zapotec village about 40 minutes from Oaxaca.
Shopping for mole ingredients at Teotitlan marketLady selling nopal (cactus) in the marketWe’ll need Oaxaca cheese for our quesadillas Church of the Precious Blood of Christ, a colonial Catholic church built on an ancient Zapotec religious siteMole prepChef Rosaria cooking chillies on the comalAunty making the dough for tortillas, everything by hand from raw ingredients Katie making quesadillas filled with cheese and zucchini flowers Mole bubbling awayRosaria serving up the delicious mole on chicken with rice. It was a wonderful day and a great experience
After cooking and eating we continued to Mezcal Don Agave to learn about the mescal production and to try a few.
Mescal tasting line up
Saturday 22 June 2024
We spent the morning wandering around Barrio Mágico of Jalatlaco admiring the street art.
Walking into the centre in the afternoon we passed a wedding with singing and dancing unlike any we’ve seen outside the church.
Wedding dance features a turkey…… and men on stilts
Then on our way to dinner we happened upon a large crowd of happy people with Giant figures and Fireworks Bulls.
A Giant figure leads the band and the crowdsBull in a shopping trolley filled with mescal and beerFireworks Bull before being lit
Click the image below to watch the Fireworks Bulls video!
Video of the Fireworks BullsFor dinner – mole negro on chicken with rice
Sunday 23 June 2024
Tlacolula Sunday market, 40 minutes east from Oaxaca, is the oldest in Mesoamerica and one of the largest and busiest in the Central Valleys with over 1,000 stalls. Mostly selling food and necessities for the rural people, it’s been an important meeting place for traders and farmers since pre-Hispanic times.
The Market has built up around the 16th-century Dominican churchTlacolula Market BBQGreens have been sold here for centuries……likewise vegetables Made to order quesadillasEnjoying tamales
