Oaxaca

Arriving in Oaxaca late in the evening, we stayed in a hotel with cute courtyard half an hour’s walk from the old town.  We went for a cooking course the next day in this culinary capital of Mexico.  After we were treated to a breakfast of delicious tamales, cooked inside corn husks, then went to market with Oscar the chef to pick out chilies and other fresh produce to make the menu we had decided on.

After a couple of hours of chopping, peeling, rolling, stuffing, etc. we sat down with our creations with beer and mezcal served by a handsome helper.  We had many courses to our gourmet meal including tacos pastor, chilies rellenos, shrimp soup, three types of moles, and chocolate ice cream.   I’ve done a few cooking course in my travels, I always enjoy them but this one was brilliant!

We rolled away from the garden table a couple of hours after that to check out the old town and its markets.

Back at the hotel we were told that we would not have the opportunity to see more of Oaxaca or the nearby Monte Alban ruins since we were leaving early the next day.

Early the next morning we drove to the town of Tlococlan where we had breakfast at the market, lamb barbacoa (really, lamb for breakfast?  who does that?) and hot chocolate.  The ladies in the market dress traditionally with colourful headscarves.  From there we went to the Zipotec culture ruins of Mitla, with unique stone decorations on the walls of their buildings.

And finally we stopped to see how mezcal is made.  Many different types of agave plants are fermented, ground, and aged to produce the artisanal liquors.  We tasted young, aged, flavoured, and cream types.  (I brought home some cream mezcal to add to coffee – but it’s too good to dilute with coffee.)

Then we had an 8 or 9 hour ride along winding roads through mountains to the coast to the final stop on our tour, Mazunte.