FOOD and Touring East of Oaxaca

The food. Wow the food! Oaxacans are famous for their cuisine for a very good reason. It is delicious and unique, and very bragged about here. They don't allow franchise restaurants in the historic part of the city because they prize and protect their culture of food.

Yesterday for the evening meal we went to a restaurant called Los Danzantes. We had been recommended by several people we met in Puerto, plus our B&B had information and some reviews from other guests to back that up. The menu indicated it's selections that were local, which is important to get the most authentic meal. I had the Tortilla soup, Adrian had the Fideo Pasta with Oaxacan chile pastilla y Queso fresco OR what they called Oaxacan dry soup! dry soup? hows that? We followed that with Corn Smuts Cannelloni in 4 cheese sauce (Adrian) and Organic Local Turkey breast in Hibiscus flower Mole (me). The Turkey and the dry soup were the winners! delicious.

Dry Soup

Corn Smuts Cannelloni

Organic Turkey breast in Hibiscus flower Mole

We didn't get much farther after dinner, we were stuffed so we headed to the Casa for the night.

This morning we had a delicious breakfast of a traditional Oaxacan omelet made of eggs, potatoes, chorizo sausage, served with tortillas and salsa. I forgot to take a picture cause it was so good :)

After breakfast we had hired a guide to take us out to Mitla, an archeological site, and to Teotitlan, to see the master weavers of the area. We wanted to see more than one weaver, as last time we only saw the premier weaver, Bulmaro Perez Mendoza, so we saved him for last. The first weaver was wonderful, we chose one to come back to if we didn't see something we liked better. The second weaver wove in a very comtemporary style which we were not interested in. He was highly talented, but not our particular style. We ended our tour back at the premier weaver, and of course within minutes found our new 4 foot by 6 foot baby! We will get it in the morning after they clean it and bind the edges. I can't wait to take it home.

Our final destination MITLA. Mitla is a site of significance as a burial site to many eras. It started as a Mixtec/Zapotec site, moving to Aztec hands, then finally the "conquerers" took it over. The conquerers or Spaniards, tore much of the site apart, wreaking havoc on the site the bishop called "hell" leaving only the center site in tact. They took much of the material they tore apart and built their own Catholic Church on TOP of one of the existing indigenous structures, and built a town from the remnants on top of many of the other structures.

It is small Ruin and very interestingly built. Just one example of the interesting architecture, they did not use mud to glue the structure together, they built with earthquakes in mind and in very small pieces all settled on top of each other.

Our excellent young (25) guide Coco

Main building for burial in Mitla

This is a bill of money slipped in between the building blocks,  proving no mud was used

Each of the very smallest squares and designs is made of single blocks 

Inside a tomb, these are not carvings, they are individual blocks put together as if a puzzle

Catholic church built on top of the ruins

On our way out of the new town, we came across a funeral procession, our cab driver said it would not be disrespectful to take a picture, the little coffin carried on top of someones head is a baby or young child :(

Our tour ended with a meal at a Mezcal factory, we each had Oaxacean Soup, which was squash, squash flower, mushroom, cheese, parsley and cilantro in a green broth, and we shared an order of chili Rellenos. Then we ate a cookie that we had purchased in the market at Mitla. The cookie seemed to be a thin tortilla, cupped then filled with sweetened merange filling my picture is of our driver Antonio finishing his last bite.

Oaxacean Soup, peanuts, special Mezcal drink and tortillas

Until tomorrow mi Amigos