Sun and Skin

Thirteen days in the country (where a few clouds constitute a change in the weather), I am pink, D is tanning nicely, and E is turning the color of burnished copper.

Restaurant Journal

Maria Bonita - Casual, authentic appetizers. Will definitely return.
La Catedral - Fancy buffet. Darren says "Really good soup." One block from the Zocalo.
La Olla - Unusual twists on traditional dishes. Fun atmosphere.
La Rustica - Pizza and pasta transliterated. Only if desperate.
Biche Pobre - Neighborhood family restaurant. Only extranjeros in the joint.
Tlamanalli (Teotitlan del Valle) - Stunning food presented by women in traditional dress. Beautiful setting. No surprise the chef was on the cover of the first-ever issue of Saveur magazine.
Los Pacos - Excellent meal, "alta cocina." Mole negro tasted like tar, in a good way.
El Milenario (Tule) - Delicious offerings, like mole and beans.

El Tule

I don't think there would have been any good way to convey exactly how huge the tree at El Tule (said to be the biggest in the world) is without the spiffy panoramic features on our new camera.

Beisbol

We have seen many amazing nativity scenes set up throughout our travels, but I have to admit that this detail in one of them was among my favorite parts. Go Red Devils!

Mission Accomplished

The goals of this sabbatical trip to Oaxaca were (in no particular order, unless you helped fund my trip in which case these are definitely in order):

1) Do math with collaborators here
2) Eat so much mole and so many tacos that my belly hurts
3) See the amazing Night of the Radishes festivities
4) Stalk Rick Bayless, the amazing chef who always blogs and tweets about his traditional family holiday vacation to Oaxaca.

While I have yet to start number (1), I am working hard on number (2) and we accomplished the last two goals in a single night last week. Here is photographic evidence!

A Buffet of Corn

Earlier this evening (as we were waiting for an outdoor performance by the Oaxacan Ballet Folklorico, but thats another post), Kay turned to me and said "This whole country is just one big buffet of corn." The occasion of this sentiment was an elote (sweet corn) ice cream treat that I was devouring (because it was really good. Every time I eat corn ice cream I realize that I had forgotten how much I like it) but it easily could have been said during one of the many tamales, tortillas, or other corn-based entrees that we have been eating. (So there, Michael Pollan.)

E. has been getting into the spirit of this cornapalooza too, as it is on this trip that he has discovered Corn Flakes. Or as he calls them "Flakes". And pretty much every morning in our apartment he inhales two or three bowls of the stuff, each with its own banana. Seems healthy enough to us, even if it feels odd that he has discovered one of the quintessential americana breakfasts just as we begin our time in Mexico.

Different but the same

If we start missing Gettysburg too much, this is just a couple blocks away...

The Basics

We've been picking up necessary items here and there, in the midst of touristing. Here's how our shelf looks now.

Pasta sauce, red wine vinegar, and black tea were all from the shop on the zocalo that obviously cater to extranjeros.

Mountain Climbing

Yesterday we took a tourist bus to Monte Alban. It is such a remarkable archeological site, because it is at the top of a mountain. The vistas are incredible.

We chose the coolest day this week (the only day when the highs weren't 90), so there were clouds and breezes.

Little E loved the site, running all up and down every staircase he could find. While I was nowhere near as quick, I was really proud of my ability to climb quickly without getting too winded.

When we visited 10 years ago, I was in the depths of undiagnosed low thyroid, and I remember just crawling up the pyramid, and crashing at the top, sitting for a long time to recover and feeling wrecked.

Maybe my dream of climbing a mountain is possible!!

Our Neighborhood

Right outside our door, this is what we find. The torta shop smells wonderful, and fresh juice cannot be beat (especially when you're sick).

Yesterday was the first weekday since we've been here and the neighborhood came alive. There were women set up right across the street selling tamales and other delicacies.

Our area is mostly quiet residential, somewhat upscale I think. Doctors offices in a lot of buildings.

Globalization

On Christmas night, before going to the concert blending traditions of Spain and Mexico, we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant where I had a pizza with poblano peppers, sweet corn, and chorizo sausage on it. This was after drinking English-style breakfast tea from Sri Lanka while reading the New York Times and before eating yet another bunuelo.

It really seems like I should be able to cover some diversity curricular requirement with this.

Tuna

In the five days we have spent in Oaxaca so far, we have attended many festivals and performances and celebrations.  Some of these have been Christmas related, and many others have just been connected to the joy of the city as this is a city that loves to celebrate.  One of the best discoveries we have made so far is a type of music I was previously unfamiliar with, called Tuna.  A little googling indicates that it descends from traditional Basque music, but it seems to be quite popular here in Oaxaca, as we stumbled across a group performing in the street the other night, and on Christmas night there were two competing Tuna Christmas Concerts in different churches.   We chose to go to one by Tuna Real Universtaria (http://www.uabjo.mx/dominios/tuna/), a group of nearly two dozen college students playing a variety of guitars, accordians, drums, and tambourines -- one guy even did backflips down the center of the church as he played the tambourine!

Last night they played holiday songs, including such favorites as Santa Claus llego a la Ciudad, Blanca Navidad, and the big crowd pleaser Los Peces En El Rio, long with a choir of children and adults.  The night ended with the entire church singing 'Noche De Paz' together.

There are many reasons why I would encourage you to come to Oaxaca for Christmas, but this type of concert was high on the list.

Christmas in Oaxaca

After a quiet day, the party continued on the zocalo for a third night. Families, vendors of ponche, balloons, scarves, corn, hot cakes.

Unknown Saint

I think these rocks were left for this little painting.

Guadalupe en Arbol

I spotted this blessing in our little local park.

Bunuelos!

One of the Christmas Eve traditions here in Oaxaca is to eat buñuelos, a fried dough that is dipped in a sugary anise sauce. Because we believe in experiencing local traditions, especially if they involve sugary fried things, we bought one on the zocalo tonight. I would be postings photo so you could all live vicariously except:

1) While Kay takes her photos with an iDevice that makes it easy to post them, I use our real camera which makes things more complicated. And

2) We (by which I mostly mean I) ate the thing in roughly 17 seconds and didn't get a photo at all.

Another part of the tradition involves throwing the plate the buñuelo is served on to the ground to break it. Suffice it to say that this part is less interesting when you buy them from street vendors in styrofoam bowls.

Feliz Navidad!

My Favorite

This entry of Tres Virgenes was so different, so artistic. All the energy had gone into carving these beautiful nuanced faces. My iPhone photos don't do justice to the quality.

Más Rábanos

More Radishes

Night of the Radishes

This unique tradition is the whole reason we came to Oaxaca - well, and the hope of seeing Rick Bayless, which happened!

La Montaña

Every street you look down, you see a pristine beautiful mountain. This is the northern mountain from the zocalo, framed by the cathedral.

Sky Blue

The weather here is perfectly glorious. Cool and refreshing in the morning, hot in the midday sun, then cool again in the evenings.

Poinsettias everywhere

I knew these plants were native to Mexico, and they are decorating everything from the zocalo to the churches to the lampposts. Here are the poinsettia trees in the garden of our apartment - as tall as the buildings!

First Morning in Oaxaca

After a brutal trip from DF, we arrived late at night. All we wanted was sleep, but it was hard not to feel that our traditional Mexican apartment looked terrible under harsh neon.

The next morning, I opened the curtains to see these flowers, tops of trees, and a mountain beyond. A hummingbird flitted in, and I knew it would all be okay. They visit these flowers all day long.

Breakfast in Mexico

More figs than I can eat. And I can eat a lot of figs. Unfortunately they didn't prevent all three of us from getting the flu/altitude sick/smog poisoned.

The Rest

This is the pile of stuff that may or may not get stuffed into the checked luggage.

Three bags for three Glasses

This is our checked luggage.