Oaxaca city

I was a bit slow with the updates because I don’t always find the time to write. In San Cristobal we took an overnight ADO bus of 12h to reach Oaxaca city. The airbnb we booked is in a very cute house with a nice terrace that has an amazing view on the surrounding mountains. Outside it’s 30 degrees, needless to say that we are suffering walking to the center of the city. The colonial center is very cute and colourful, I really like how Mexicans paint their houses with different bright colours. We also notice that all around the city there are many graffiti of skeletons and skull-painted faces. The first day we decide to try the typical oaxacan Tlayudas and Memeles in the market (Mercado de la Merced). Well oaxacan cuisine was praised by everyone I met but I haven’t really found those dishes specials. Basically Tlayudas and Memeles are based on a crispy tortilla with a paste of frijoles (beans) on top and melted cheese, cabbage and meat if you like. Probably the ones we tried on the market were not the best ones in town but we were hungry so it was fine. Later we went to a more fancy bar to try some cocktails with Mezcal, which were very good but the place was quite expensive and not really authentic. We started walking around the town and we noticed lot of music and people dancing. It seemed that there was a parade with people dressed up with different customs, like in a Carnival, but here they are called Calendas. Our host, Mauricio, explains us that lot of people like to marry in Oaxaca and every weekend there is a celebration in the city. It was very funny and there was loud music everywhere and people dancing and drinking. Since we are a bit tired because of the hot weather and the long night trip we go back home and I fall asleep. Well when I wake up I start feeling sick and it doesn’t ends well hahah I guess it was the food in the market.. Harold is fine so maybe it’s just the revenge of Moctezuma on the europeans that dare to visit Mexico. My evening is over and I just stay in bed trying to recover, while Harold goes out and buys something to cook. The day after I am still a bit sick, so I just eat a banana and drink some tea. We decide to not go outside because it’s too warm and I still feel not too well. All my plans to see a distillery of Mezcal and do a tour goes out of the window and at the end I just surrender to the fact that I need to rest and sleep. So basically at the end we didn’t try anything else of the famous oaxacan cuisine because we just took advantage of the kitchen and cooked everyday during our stay there (3 days in total). A reason also is that we were so tired of eating tortillas, meat, frijoles and cheese all the time. On Saturday we decide to go to a cultural center (Jicara) to see the presentation of a book about the life of Gustavo Esteva a “deprofessionalized intellectual” a writer and a professor in Oaxaca University. He was a marxist, anti-colonialist, against the westernisation of latin america and in favour of the campesinos and indigenous. The students who presented the book and knew the professor, were very knowledgable and it was a pleasure to listen to the life of this professor and philosopher. We ended up discussing a bit with them about colonialism in south America and expectations of the white men on this country. It was very interesting and we ended up buying a book written by Gustavo.
On Sunday we decide to go to see the lucha libre, which is usually only performed in the weekends so it was our only chance to see it. Lucha libre has a long history in Mexico culture and it is a performance worth watching. So much drama, interaction with the public, people screaming and the fighters that start fighting among the public. It was a crazy experience but worth it to see it live. We eat some very good tacos from a street vendor (I was feeling better already and since I got sick already no need to worry anymore hahah) and then have a last walk around the town.Read more