Oaxaca (day 4)

The day started out with blazing sun and finished with an evening downpour of rain. Fortunately I timed my activities to mitigate the two extremes. First thing in the morning I took a tour of the botanical gardens, which were once part of the monastery and Iglesia de Santo Domingo. I most enjoyed learning about the medicinal plants; it"s funny how sometimes the plants that most resemble weeds are the most versatile in function. Then, with a small map of the museums and main attractions of Oaxaca city in hand, I started to go down the list one by one. My two favorites were the Casa de las Pintores, home to paintings by Oaxacan contemporary artists, and the Casa Juarez, the house where former Mexican president Benito Juarez grew up. He is remembered as the first Mexican president to come from an indigenous upbringing, and for having along advocated separation of church and state. Then in the late afternoon I inadvertantly stepped inside one of the public libraries. With my chocolate investigation constantly at the back of my mind, I inquired about any books about Oaxacan gastronomy and, well, you can probably guess how I spent the rest of the afternoon. I stepped out of the library just as it was starting to rain.

Oaxaca (day 3)

Today I ventured outside of Oaxaca City to explore other parts of the Oaxaca region. For less than 200 pesos I went on a full day tour with transport between five major attractions. We began with a visit to Tule, the widest tree in the world. The trunk looks like a forest in itself and the branches sprawl out in the most abstract of patterns. Very typical of Mexico, there"s a church right behind the tree. The next stop was Teotitlan where we visited a rug making workshop run by a zapatista cooperative (we were assured that this cooperative is not politically active). It was fascinating to see how the wool is spun into thread and learn about the different ingredients used for the dyes. Red, for example, is made using crushed insects that grow in the maguey plant (a cactus); blue is made from indigo; green from moss gather off the rocks; and yellow from marigold flowers. Considering the elaborate process of gathering ingredients, then dying and spinning the yarn, it"s understandable how a single run can take up to 7 months to complete. The third morning stop was to a Mezcal factory. Mezcal is the alcoholic beverage produced by small family enterprises throughout the region of Oaxaca. It is produced from fermented maguey leaves, and can age for as few as 6 months to up to 9 years. I found the pure mezcal to be rather strong, but the cremitas (sweet creams) were much more palatable. The afternoon continued with a visit to the ruins of Mitla, construction of either the zapotecas or the Aztecs. An interesting fact that I learned about Mitla: since ancient times people have brought offerings to the temple of Mitla when they want to ask a favor of the heavenly spirits. Namely they bring cacao seeds and flowers. The final stop of the tour was to Hierve el Agua, natural springs of bubbling water about 9,000 feet above sea level. We arrived just as the sun was setting. What a beautiful conclusion to the day to marvel at the natural springs with the austere mountain ridges of Oaxaca in the background!

Oaxaca (day 2)

Chocolate and market day! Oaxaca is filled with markets where vendors sell fruits and vegetables, spices, prepared foods, clothing, shoes, pottery, handicrafts and household items. The 20 de noviembre market was of particular interest to me for its sweet bread and chocolate stalls. I chatted with a few vendors about the Oaxacan tradition of eating pan de yema (an airy bread made with egg yolk) with hot chocolate for breakfast. There are two types of hot chocolate in Mexico, chocolate made from a base of water and chocolate made from a base of milk. Though taking milk with chocolate is an emerging trend of the cities, the traditional chocolate is still "chocolate de agua." There is another chocolate beverage in Oaxaca called tejate, which is a cold drink made from corn meal and chocolate and has foam on top. Unlike hot chocolate which is usually drunk for breakfast, tejate is a refreshing afternoon drink. Both drinks are prepared using molinillos, wooden spoons with rings that are spun to make the chocolate more frothy. I"ve started a small collection of molinillos because they are beautiful pieces of wooden craftsmanship.

Aside from the drink, chocolate is primarily used as an ingredient for mole. There is some debate regarding the official definition of mole, but it is generally known as a stew with chile that can adorn stews or enchiladas. Oaxaca has 7 official types of mole and many subcategories and not all of which carry chocolate. Mole negro, mole rojo and mole colorido are the three moles that are enriched with chocolate. I sampled dozens of types of mole and by this point am very familiar with the complex flavor of chiles, chocolate, peanut, banana and other spices blended together to form this dark paste. Surrounding the 20 de noviembre market are dozens of molinos, machines used to grind together cacao beans, cinnamon and almonds. This paste is blended together with sugar, then ground a second time to produce the bars for drinking chocolate. It"s actually a two step grinding process, the second round of grinding merely serves to make the chocolate texture even finer. There are two famous chocolate producers from Oaxaca: Mayordormo and Chocolate y Mole la Soledad. Both of which I visited, but at Chocolate y Mole la Soledad I had the chance to conduct an informal interview with the owner, Horacio. He and I had been in contact via email a few weeks ago as I was planning my visit, and he was kind enough to chat with me for over an hour today about the culture of hot chocolate and mole in Oaxaca. He even gave me a complimentary hot chocolate drink with pan de yema (egg yolk break) after our chat. To my delight, the bread soaked up the chocolate like a sponge. As if I hadn"t already eaten enough chocolate that day, for lunch I ordered a tamale oxaqueña filled with chicken mole. I think that I actually reached my chocolate limit for one of the few times in my life.

Oaxaca (day 1)

I"m already starting to really like the town of Oaxaca and I"ve hardly been here an afternoon! This is the first week of my spring break and rather than stay in Puebla I decided to travel to Oaxaca City, the capital of the Oaxaca region and a 4 hour bus ride south of Puebla. Oaxaca is most renown for its mole and chocolate, but I also came to experience la Semana Santa, the religious week leading up to Easter. Today outside of the main cathedral of Oaxaca women and children were selling braided palm leaves for Palm Sunday. Adjacent to the cathedral in an ex convent is the museum of Oaxacan culture, spanning from the Olmecs to the conquest. I stayed until closing and will probably return another day to see the rest of the museum. It"s one of the few museums with excellent explanations of not only the artifacts but also of the historical context, well deserving of a second visit. Both the museum and cathedral are along a pedestrian walkway, the only street closed off to cars in Oaxaca. Like any other street in Mexico, it is filled with vendors selling nieves (something between a flavored ice and an ice cream), alote (corn on a stick) and other small bites. I spent the evening browsing craft stalls, eating atole flavored nieve, and enjoying 3 free outdoor music concerts. The first was a spontaneous gathering of Mexican youth wearing luchador (wrestler) masks, beating African drums and dancing in circles with tambourines. Around the corner was a rock concert on a stage then another block down was a contemporary Catholic acapella group. It has been a rich evening of quite a variety of music and I"m excited to see what other unexpected surprises I"ll encounter this week in Oaxaca!

A Weekend of Mexican Hospitality

My four-day weekend can perhaps be best summarized with one word: platicar, or to chat. On Friday my friend Manuel and I attempted to go swimming at a nearby water park. The water was so cold that neither of us lasted more than 5 minutes, but we still make use of the day by snacking on sandwiches, cold drinks and chatting well into the late afternoon. Afterward I went out to coffee with another friend, Nalley, who studies international relations. Since her family is from Oaxaca, she gave me a few recommendations of places to visit during the first week of my spring break.

On Sunday Jaime and I went to los Fuertes, the Cinco de Mayo battle site in Puebla—a must-see during my semester abroad in Puebla. The site itself resembled more of an abandoned convent atop a hill, but at least there was a spectacular view of the city of Puebla. Los Fuertes has potential to be a thriving cultural center; in addition to the battle ruins, there are a few museums (such as the Museum of the History of Puebla), a planetarium and natural reserve spaces. However, over the years los Fuertes has fallen into neglect and the sight of trash on the ground definitely takes away from the overall appreciation of this monument. Supposedly the local government of Puebla will begin a clean-up project shortly, but one can only hope that this project will actually be fulfilled.

Monday was another holiday so my friend Felipe invited me to his house for breakfast. His family exudes Mexican hospitality. When I arrived, his mom, dad and two older brothers all greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and assured me that their home was also “mi casa” from that point onward. Over a large breakfast of hot chocolate, guayaba juice, papaya with honey (from their own honeybees nonetheless!), chilaquilas (tortillas with salsa and chicken) and pancakes, we discussed social entrepreneurship and problems of credit availability in Mexico. This was followed by a tour of the mother’s doll-making workshop across the street. For the past 20 years she has owned a business of handmade dolls that range in size from 5 inches to 3 feet, and wear all sorts of outfits from Cinderella to Mexican abuelitas (grandmothers). She even gave me a doll wearing a traditional Yucatecan dress as a keepsake to bring back to the States. The rest of the evening slipped by chatting until it was time for another meal, la comida (“lunch”), around 4 pm. I gave them a small box of Japanese sweets before leaving, but it seemed insignificant compared to the generosity with which they welcomed me into their home.

La composta mexicana (A very Mexican compost)

One thing that I’m learning about the Mexican education system is that theory and practice don’t always correspond. Both of my Agriculture-Economics classes involve hands-on gardening experiences. In one class I’m on the “equipo de espinaca” (spinach team), though formerly the tomato team. According to the class syllabus, this is more than simply a fun outdoor activity because we are supposed to research ideal soil compositions, complementary plants that can boost the growth of our target crop, and natural pesticides. But when heavy rains hit Puebla two weeks into the semester, we not only abandoned our pitiful tomato seeds but also the notion of specializing growing conditions to different plants. The new planting project treated all seeds equally. We began with a new planting project, this time one that treated all seeds equally (perhaps a telling sign of the pervasiveness of Marxism in studies of economics in Mexico). One day we dedicated an entire class period to sticking our hands in pots of soil, poking holes in which we carefully dropped a few seeds at a time, covering this up with more soil and sprinkling the whole thing with water. It’s great to broaden my (miniscule) knowledge of horticulture, but I’m starting to wonder what happened to the economics.

I also can’t help but chuckle at the compost project in my other class. We spent about two weeks researching different compost mixtures depending on the climate and desired crops. We discussed finding a balance between acid and basic materials such as by adding moderate amounts of citrus peels or coffee grounds. But when it came to constructing the actual compost, all theory was thrown out the window. What was thrown in seemed more like something from the kitchen trash can: tortillas, avocado pits and skins, cabbages, pieces of bread, lemon rinds—basically all the major food groups of Mexican cuisine. This was mixed with an excessive amount of rabbit poop from one of my classmate’s farm (or was it his backyard fallen victim to the Fibonacci sequence of rabbit breeding?). Not surprisingly about a week after we set up the compost our professor announced that the compost had “fallen out of equilibrium.” The telling sign: the stench of the compost that could be detected a number of feet away.