#2978, Monday, January 9, 2023: Oaxaca First Impressions.

Post 2978

- 13 years and 9 days since I started this blog -

Journal

(written January 7-8, 2023)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 12 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for food shots when I've eaten something interesting or pretty. And that's where we find ourselves now.

It's been more five days since I arrived in Oaxaca, and I'm just beginning to recover from the trip getting here. Frankly, due to the rigors of the trip, lack of sleep, and the worst jet-lag I've ever experienced (that's saying something), the experience hasn't been all that pleasant.

I'm going to skip over that, and get to my first impressions, with the caveat that, due to all that, I haven't been as active as on my first visit anywhere else in the world (looking at you, Chiang Mai, Lisbon, Cuenca).

The first thing I noticed, as I got out of the cab from the airport, was the light. The sky is deep blue, and the colors, wherever you look, are vibrant.

Most of the Christmas decorations are still up. I was told they will stay up until Epiphany, January 6. Lucky me.

Like Cuenca, Ecuador, Oaxaca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My initial impression is that Cuenca is prettier, architecturally, and better preserved and restored, but it may be a factor of my limited time taking it all in. I've been walking every day, but just exploring the neighborhood around my airBnB, which is in the center of town.

Which isn't to say it isn't pretty. It most definitely is.

This is a little park about a block from my room. It was the first place I went after I dropped off my bags. In Latin America, it is a thing to just grab a bench and sit and let the world go by. So far, the parks I've seen here have been nicer than Cuenca's.

This is the front of the Catedral de Santo Domingo. Behind it is the Jardîn Etnobiologico de Oaxaca, where I spent a few hours on my arrival morning. Behind the gardens, my airBnB.

The Zócolo, or town square, at night. I haven't fully explored it in the daytime, although I did eat in a café on the square, where I was serenaded on marimba, and I've never felt more like a tourist. But in a good way. Reason? It goes back to my earliest images of Mexico. It seemed very travelog-y.

Full moon, lit church.

Unusually, I haven't been meeting people. By now, on other trips, I had connected. I also haven't found any expat hangouts, which is also different from other places I've been. Oaxaca does not have the same expat presence as the other places I've been going to, all of which have large, active expat populations.

That's okay.

When I've gone out at night (it hasn't been every night), I've been surprised by something I came across. The first night, it was the Mercado Artesan that wasn't around the corner from me during the day, and then some street art.

One night I went out and stepped right into a fiesta at Santo Domingo that turned into a parade (that I only have a video of, can't post here), which occurred before and after my first shot of mezcal.

Fiesta on the courtyard of the Santo Domingo. When it turned into a parade, I marched with it to Selva, a gorgeous, upscale mezcal bar-restaurant. The parade continued on without me for about twenty minutes.

At Selva, I sat at one end of a group table and admired my surroundings. That is a beautiful mural opposite, and the service is top-notch and very helpful. It was a great place for my introduction to mezcal, Oaxaca's official adult beverage. Oaxaca is famous for its mezcals, there are hundreds of distillers to choose from. My kind waiter set me up for a little tasting, and I chose the house label. This is it. The octopus ceviche that I had there refused to be photographed, it was too busy being delicious.

Concert at the Zócolo. Good, too. Orchestral jazz, I think it was a high school jazz orchestra.

At a restaurant on the Zócolo, where I happened to eat breakfast the next day, customers could hear the concert at the Zócolo, a rock concert on a stage built off to the side of the park, or these fine gentleman, bravely holding it down to anyone close enough to hear amid all that.

And, street performers.

That's it for now. I will post up again as I accumulate a post's worth of things to show and tell.

Food Comment

First breakfast in Oaxaca:  Burritoes con huevos oaxacana. The eggs are mixed with dried pork. Tasty.

First mole: huevos con mole oaxacana. This was an incredibly delicious, simple as it was (eggs poached in mole oaxacana, which is a slightly hot, slightly sweet molle negro). Do you know what was surprising? The refried black beans (lower left corner) were the best refried beans I've ever had.

This was a delicious savory crepe (mushrooms, veggies (I don't know), and cheese) with a yellow mole. Not a big crepe guy, but this was a special of the day and really good.

I know, I know, why am I only posting breakfasts. Two reasons: 1) the breakfasts have been more photogenic. Look at the mole eggs above. Now imagine that, but without good lighting. If I ate more than two meals a day, you'd see more interesting stuff. As it is, you're looking at a fine breakfast of omelet oaxacana and a right-sized americano doble at a restaurant right off the Zócalo.

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