magical jaunt around oax

 I am literally that girl that studied abroad in Barthelona when I talk about my solo days in Oaxaca.

Eric asked me what my favorite trip this year was, and while I enjoyed all of my international jaunts (esp post pandemic lockdown) for different reasons, I loved Oaxaca.

This is about to be an essay:

Minor delay happened from Playa del Carmen to Oaxaca, which wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I was agitated at the lost hour or so of explore-time. Especially since I was landing at night.

My Airbnb was on the edge of the city where it was quieter and less well lit. Spooky if you're a small anxious woman like me. But I needed dinner, so I ventured out in search of my first Oaxacan meal.

An empty tlayuda place caught my nose and attention - Capi Tlayuderia.

I ordered the tasajo - as recommended by the guy. It seemed to be a family affair because as soon as I ordered, a couple teenagers got up from the table and started throwing some beef over the charcoal grill stationed by the entrance. Where is late night snack culture in the Bay. This giant street snack is a big crispy tortilla filled with cabbage, beans, cheese, and the tasajo. Served with more meat, radishes, a deceptively spicy chile, and what I learned were local herbs - chepiche (the grassy thing) and huaje (the beany thing).

excursion day

I wanted to see Hierve el Agua, but I didn't want it to be a big touristy production, so I booked the most direct shuttle service I found. But they still took us through the whole shebang. A wool dying and weaving demo (pretty cool), a quick chocolate demo (where I ended up buying a cube of chocolate) ...

a stop at a pan de cazuela bakery where we sampled bread and I bought a spiced coffee ...

the petrified waterfall! Where we could take a dip in the ice cold water and wander around some forest-y trails ...

a buffet lunch that was actually delicious. I filled up on memelitas and chicken mole and also tried the chapuline salad ...

a mezcal tour where we walked through how it's made, sampled the meaty fermented agave, and closed out the day by trying some mezcal varieties.

I napped almost the entire way back, still full of memelitas and slightly tipsy from several samples.

The sun was still up though, and this was technically going to be my first night in Oaxaca, so I took a shower, put on my black mesh skirt, and headed straight to a mezcal bar - Selva. My favorite place. I may have been largely influenced by the balcony table I sat at while people watching and sipping on my two very interesting cocktails, but also I met two other people later who also recommended Selva, so... you must go.

alfareria - gin infused with avo leaf, avocado chayote, strega, lime juice, mexican leafs bitter

selva - mezcal los danzantes joven, hoja santa, lemon, agave honey, chile poblano liquor, quesillo and basil, juniper bitters

While sipping away, I was looking up late dinner spots which is how I ended up Expendio Tradicion where I couldn't resist another citrusy mezcal cocktail topped with crunchy chapulines - and also where I tried huitlacoche.

aimless wandering day

I had some time to meander around before and after my cooking class.

Starting at this cuteeee coffeeee shoppppp, of course.

The forecast prior to arriving in Oaxaca was rain all week, and it was raining when I landed, but the gods blessed me with the rest of my days.

I was determined to eat another meal after returning from the cooking class, but I could not.

We had two more cocktails for dinner instead at Puro Burro y La Pulquisima. Chosen for the draw of a rooftop, but their rooftop was no more :(

No matter, I sat by the window while listening to a live band set up and play outside on the street.

I tried pulque for the first time and actually liked it more than my mezcal cocktail. It's fermented from the sap of the agave plant vs the hearts for mezcal. It reminded me of makgeolli - tangy, sweet, thick, milky - and then I almost teared up for the 82734234th time on this trip. I guess now I get emotional when I find parallel trends in different cultures.

mercado day

Catch me at the market, any market, all markets. Mercado 20 de Noviembre and Mercado Benito Juarez are right by each other, and I wove through both multiple times during my trip.

One of the times I inadvertently walked through Pasillo de Humo, which was the only place where I had merchants beckoning me to buy their meat - literally. A row of meats on display, clouded in smoke from the grills all going at the same time.

I caved for the tripe really. This is a breakfast platter for carnivores. Tasajo, chorizo, and super salty super tough tripe, so not exactly what I was expecting but I did save it for later anyways. Served with your choice of salsa, avocado, and tortillas.

The rest of the market was your typical market organized chaos. Selections of spices and nuts, chiles, mole pastes, walls of mezcals, agua frescas stands, chocolates, baked goods, fresh fruits where I got a little sampling of familiar and unfamiliar tropical fruits.

I didn't find a tejate stand until I wandered out a bit towards Mercado de la Merced. I spotted this giant bowl of what looks like some sort of split emulsion in a park and had to get a cup because some list told me it was a quintessential Oaxacan beverage. It's made from toasted corn, fermented cacao beans, pixtle (mamey pits), and ground cacao flowers.

And I found more colors while sipping on the tejate.

Until I had to find a bathroom when I wandered into this print shop that led me to the coffee and wine bar of my dreams.

One of Athena's recs was Casa Taviche, which had a fun pastel color theme to match the rest of my day and the most interesting sounding menu.

The waiter was very bubbly and chips and salsa were on the house.

I got the baked cheese, which was legit just a block of cheese in a tomato-y sauce with many veggie garnishes - no complaints. [And also a tamal.]

And of course I closed the evening with more mezcal at a little nondescript bar that I peaked my head into while walking home. I got a citrus-y cocktail with avo leaf oil droplets floating on top that little tadpoles.

And then asked for a recommendation for mezcal to sip on.

last day

I didn't wait until sunset to go for my daily mezcal, but to be fair, this was not the plan. I managed to get myself up early to check out Monte Alban at the recommendation of two women on my Hierve el Agua tour, which found me back in the city in the early afternoon with no defined plans. There was a ceramic studio? shop? gallery? thing on the maps that I walked to only to find it wasn't really open to the public and no one was around. But there was a Cuish distillery a little further down the street, so I guess that's that.

I was the only customer at 2pm, and they weren't serving food yet, so I chatted with the very sweet bartender and ended up sampling five different mezcals. The bartender talked to me about her favorites, the distillery, and the process of making mezcal while I munched on smoked Oaxacan cheese between sips.

The 82734235th time I almost cried on this trip was when she was telling me about their Dia de los Muertos batches. Each year, they go up to the farm to celebrate and set up an ofrenda, and then they distill all the offerings into a special batch of mezcal. She brought out an empty bottle from last year for me to smell the remaining orange and chocolate aroma. The way her face relaxed into a dream-state when she said it's my favorite time of year, was so lovely, I resolved to return to Oaxaca for Dia de los Muertos in 2023.

I wanted to close out my last night with  couple more cocktails at Selva, but I stumbled upon Labo Fermento on the way and decided to have a bite at the attached restaurant.

The kitchen is open to the courtyard seating, opposite a couple closed off rooms where the fermentations were taking place. I ordered a sparkling cocktail and with that, the waiter brought out some complimentary apps - pickled veggies and fruit, and blue corn miso soup.

I couldn't resist trying the mushroom dumpling special in a mushroom broth. Light and savory, but I wish it was more intense. I had a feeling this place was also heavily experimental, and I would love to live down the street and stop in every couple months to see what's bubbling.

leftovers day

This is what my mini fridge looked like by the end of my few days. This is the biggest/only woe of traveling alone. Too many things to try, too little stomach space to try it all. And yet I can't resist packing it to go because it physically hurts me to throw food away.

On the last day, I had until about 11am before leaving for my flight, so I made myself breakfast/early lunch with all my leftovers on the little hotplate in the Airbnb.

In direct contrast to the first meal I had when I got home in the evening and had no prepared food to fall back on - frozen tortillas, slathered with Labo Fermento chili oil, topped with crumbled chicharrones from the mercado.

From start to finish, Oaxaca was the most lovely place to run away for a few days.