Where tourists flock....
So go the thieves
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Oaxaca is no different than any other tourist mecca: during high season the thieves, robbers and all other modes of scoundrel travel from all points in the country, and converge like fish at a feeding frenzy. While cameras, shorts, and slowly sauntering and gazing are dead giveaways, there are still ways that travelers can protect themselves.
Be extra vigilant while in areas where there is a high volume of pedestrian traffic such as along aisles on town market days (in particular Friday at Ocotlán and Sunday at Tlacolula). Outright avoid Saturday at Oaxaca’s abastos market, and opt for visiting on any other day … it will be just as awe inspiring.
The larger the camera, the more attractive to crooks. Certainly don’t leave home without your Nikon, but keep it in front of you with your hand over the lens, and when you know you won’t be using it for a while, keep it tucked away. It’s better to travel with it in its bag, but put all your equipment in a more non-descript sack. Consider clutching one of the common, large vinyl or potato-sack mesh market bags you’ll see for sale in markeplaces and in other locales.
Never carry your purse simply strung over your shoulder. Once you’ve finished using your wallet, place it deep inside your purse, and never forget to zip up. Once again, remember that the safest place to carry anything, is right in front of you.
While the quality of costume jewelery is ever improving, therefore making it more difficult for robbers to distinguish real from surreal, it’s still always prudent to restrict being flashy, as difficult as it may seem. Save it all for when in the company of friends and relatives you want to impress. Your average working class Oaxacan will already think you’re worth much more than you actually are, so there’s no need for further illustration.
After you’re done using the ATM, while still in front of the machine put the cash in your wallet, purse or pocket. If concerned that you might have been short-changed, count the funds right there in front of the machine, or wait until you’re otherwise in an area or room where others cannot watch those 500’s rolling off your fingers. All the same advice holds true when cashing money at a Casa de Cambio. Counting your money while on the street cannot possibly benefit you.
Alvin Starkman operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ).
12/25/2007
10/31/2007
Day of the Dead
Drawn by the intrigue of all-night vigils in cemeteries and life-size skeletons propped jauntily in shop windows, tourists flock to Oaxaca and other points in Mexico for Day of the Dead.
During the last week in October, voyeurs come to observe and to photograph the “picturesque” practices of “quaint” indigenous Mexicans. The idea of reunions at family gravesites, complete with music, food and gaiety strike foreigners as strange, to say the least. They stare in wonder at shops filled with candy skulls and calaveras (skeletons) made of wood, paper mache, clay, wax and sugar. Dressed as doctors, judges, teachers, tennis players and prostitutes, the calaveras engage in all kinds of activities from dancing and drinking to hair styling and singing. Every conceivable profession and pastime is burlesqued. Their human-like antics draw smiles from passersby. And indeed, Mexicans view skeletons as funny and friendly rather than spooky and scary.
The concept of the Danse Macabre brought from Europe was adopted by the Mexicans and fused with the prehispanic customs and attitudes, resulting in a uniquely Mexican custom especially prevalent in Oaxaca today. According to an anonymous manuscript dated 1553, the Spanish observed: “They used to celebrate the feast of the dead, because they offered in their honor to the devil many turkeys, corn, blankets, clothing, food and other things. In particular, every household celebrated a great feast. They incensed the images they had of their dead parents, kinsmen and priests.”
Today, far from an occasion for curious onlookers, traditions associated with the Day of the Dead reflect the Mexican belief in the duality of life and death. While they mourn and miss their dead loved ones, they also believe that death is just an extension of life. It’s part of a natural progression, not an end. The dead continue to exist and return annually to visit their loved ones. Many of the customs, such as home altars and cemetery vigils, are to help them find their way and to welcome them home.
Just as there are differences in beliefs among the many ethnic groups which make up Oaxaca, so too are there differences in the details of the altars and the celebrations from one family to another. Typically, each family builds and decorates an altar in its home. An altar usually begins with a table on which are placed boxes to represent the tombs and all is covered with a white tablecloth or sheet. Long stalks of sugarcane or carrizo are tied to the front legs of the table and formed into a triumphal arc above the altar. Flowers, candles, images of the saints, and photos or other rembrances of the beloved dead abound, along with favorite foods, drink and other items.
For instance, if the deceased smoked or drank, then cigarettes and mezcal are placed on the altar, together with any other special foods or tributes which were a favorite in life. The markets sell miniature skeletons made of clay or paper mache for this purpose. So, if uncle Pepe liked to fish, the family places a skeleton of a man fishing on the altar. These items tell the returning dead that they have indeed found the right place and are welcome. If the altar is for an "angelito" or dead child, it will also include favorite toys and many white flowers.
Because they will be hungry after their long journey home, special offerings of food may include mole, nicuatole, pumpkin cooked with brown sugar, cane sugar and tejocotes. Beautifully decorated pan de muerto, chocolate, pecans and peanuts. Cooked chayote and fresh fruits - oranges, lemons, bananas, jícama, tejocotes, nísperos and pineapple. Then comes the lamp with oil of higuerilla, the wax candles, white or yellow adorned with black crepe paper. Markets feature the special foods, decorations, and calaveras during the month of October.
In a way, Day of the Dead is a misnomer. The principal celebrations actually take place beginning October 31 and end on November 2. In addition, special categories of deceased are honored on preceding days. On October 28 , those who died in accidents, suicides, homicides and other violent deaths are honored. October 29 is for the unbaptized and October 30 for the lonely soul .
At 3 p.m. on October 31, the angelitos (children who died after being baptized) arrive to visit their families and depart at the same hour on November 1, to permit the adults to visit. From that time, until 2:00 P.M. on November 2, families decorate the tombs in the cemeteries and spend time with family members buried there, sharing offerings of food and drink with friends and relatives.
Oaxacans who live in other parts of the world and who are able to return for only one celebration during the year, try to be with their families at this time. Oaxaca is one of the few places in the world that preserves these customs and traditions, which is why it has become a favorite destination for El Dia de Los Muertos.
Ever caring, ever sharing, and hospitable, Oaxacans each year graciously receive thousands of strangers eager to witness their ceremonies in affirmation of life and what comes after. Visitors who come to learn about a culture different from their own and RESPECTULLY observe and appreciate all of the color and pageantry are welcome to spend time in cemeteries to enjoy the beauty of the decorations and the delicious food of the season. Some of you may even want to create an altar, complete with a calavera for a departed loved one.
The most popular cemeteries to visit in and near Oaxaca are as follows. -
( You may drive, hire a taxi, or take an organized tour offered at many travel agencies. Public transportation is an option also, although buses will undoubtedly be crowded at these times).
October 31 evening - Xoxocotlan, later that night - Santa María Atzompa
November 1 - San Miguel (Panteón General) in the city all day and evening.
November 2 late afternoon - San Antonino (sometimes this date changes depending on day of week - all travel agencies and tourist information centers should know of any changes).
November 2, evening and night - San Felipe del Agua
The City of Oaxaca also arranges events at the San Miguel Cemetery, such as exhibition/competition of altars, music, etc.
Fuente: http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/mdiaz/mdmuertos.html
During the last week in October, voyeurs come to observe and to photograph the “picturesque” practices of “quaint” indigenous Mexicans. The idea of reunions at family gravesites, complete with music, food and gaiety strike foreigners as strange, to say the least. They stare in wonder at shops filled with candy skulls and calaveras (skeletons) made of wood, paper mache, clay, wax and sugar. Dressed as doctors, judges, teachers, tennis players and prostitutes, the calaveras engage in all kinds of activities from dancing and drinking to hair styling and singing. Every conceivable profession and pastime is burlesqued. Their human-like antics draw smiles from passersby. And indeed, Mexicans view skeletons as funny and friendly rather than spooky and scary.
The concept of the Danse Macabre brought from Europe was adopted by the Mexicans and fused with the prehispanic customs and attitudes, resulting in a uniquely Mexican custom especially prevalent in Oaxaca today. According to an anonymous manuscript dated 1553, the Spanish observed: “They used to celebrate the feast of the dead, because they offered in their honor to the devil many turkeys, corn, blankets, clothing, food and other things. In particular, every household celebrated a great feast. They incensed the images they had of their dead parents, kinsmen and priests.”
Today, far from an occasion for curious onlookers, traditions associated with the Day of the Dead reflect the Mexican belief in the duality of life and death. While they mourn and miss their dead loved ones, they also believe that death is just an extension of life. It’s part of a natural progression, not an end. The dead continue to exist and return annually to visit their loved ones. Many of the customs, such as home altars and cemetery vigils, are to help them find their way and to welcome them home.
Just as there are differences in beliefs among the many ethnic groups which make up Oaxaca, so too are there differences in the details of the altars and the celebrations from one family to another. Typically, each family builds and decorates an altar in its home. An altar usually begins with a table on which are placed boxes to represent the tombs and all is covered with a white tablecloth or sheet. Long stalks of sugarcane or carrizo are tied to the front legs of the table and formed into a triumphal arc above the altar. Flowers, candles, images of the saints, and photos or other rembrances of the beloved dead abound, along with favorite foods, drink and other items.
For instance, if the deceased smoked or drank, then cigarettes and mezcal are placed on the altar, together with any other special foods or tributes which were a favorite in life. The markets sell miniature skeletons made of clay or paper mache for this purpose. So, if uncle Pepe liked to fish, the family places a skeleton of a man fishing on the altar. These items tell the returning dead that they have indeed found the right place and are welcome. If the altar is for an "angelito" or dead child, it will also include favorite toys and many white flowers.
Because they will be hungry after their long journey home, special offerings of food may include mole, nicuatole, pumpkin cooked with brown sugar, cane sugar and tejocotes. Beautifully decorated pan de muerto, chocolate, pecans and peanuts. Cooked chayote and fresh fruits - oranges, lemons, bananas, jícama, tejocotes, nísperos and pineapple. Then comes the lamp with oil of higuerilla, the wax candles, white or yellow adorned with black crepe paper. Markets feature the special foods, decorations, and calaveras during the month of October.
In a way, Day of the Dead is a misnomer. The principal celebrations actually take place beginning October 31 and end on November 2. In addition, special categories of deceased are honored on preceding days. On October 28 , those who died in accidents, suicides, homicides and other violent deaths are honored. October 29 is for the unbaptized and October 30 for the lonely soul .
At 3 p.m. on October 31, the angelitos (children who died after being baptized) arrive to visit their families and depart at the same hour on November 1, to permit the adults to visit. From that time, until 2:00 P.M. on November 2, families decorate the tombs in the cemeteries and spend time with family members buried there, sharing offerings of food and drink with friends and relatives.
Oaxacans who live in other parts of the world and who are able to return for only one celebration during the year, try to be with their families at this time. Oaxaca is one of the few places in the world that preserves these customs and traditions, which is why it has become a favorite destination for El Dia de Los Muertos.
Ever caring, ever sharing, and hospitable, Oaxacans each year graciously receive thousands of strangers eager to witness their ceremonies in affirmation of life and what comes after. Visitors who come to learn about a culture different from their own and RESPECTULLY observe and appreciate all of the color and pageantry are welcome to spend time in cemeteries to enjoy the beauty of the decorations and the delicious food of the season. Some of you may even want to create an altar, complete with a calavera for a departed loved one.
The most popular cemeteries to visit in and near Oaxaca are as follows. -
( You may drive, hire a taxi, or take an organized tour offered at many travel agencies. Public transportation is an option also, although buses will undoubtedly be crowded at these times).
October 31 evening - Xoxocotlan, later that night - Santa María Atzompa
November 1 - San Miguel (Panteón General) in the city all day and evening.
November 2 late afternoon - San Antonino (sometimes this date changes depending on day of week - all travel agencies and tourist information centers should know of any changes).
November 2, evening and night - San Felipe del Agua
The City of Oaxaca also arranges events at the San Miguel Cemetery, such as exhibition/competition of altars, music, etc.
Fuente: http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/mdiaz/mdmuertos.html
10/11/2007
MONTE ALBAN, UNA DE LAS 13 MARAVILLAS DE MEXICO
El Monte Albán fue declarado como una de los atractivos turísticos más importantes de la República Mexicana. Luego de 72 días de competencia, en donde se registraron 1.5 millones de votos, el antiguo centro ceremonial zapoteca, Monte Albán, fue electa como una de las 13 maravillas de México.
Este anuncio fue dado a conocer en el Palacio de Minería, certamen que fue convocado por La Secretaría de Turismo Federal a través del Consejo de Promoción Turística de México (CPTM) y la empresa televisiva TV Azteca.Fuente:oloramitierra.com.mx
En el acto 26 de los 32 gobernadores recibieron la estatuilla que los hace ganadores de esta contienda; entre los mandatarios galardonados estuvo el gobernador de Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz por la majestuosa zona arqueológica de Monte Albán.
Dani Baá, Cerro de piedras preciosas o Cerro Verde, nombre antiguo de esta mística zona, es desde 1987 patrimonio cultural de la humanidad por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) y que hoy en día los mexicanos la reconocen como una maravilla digna de ser visitada.
Monte Albán, atractivo turístico de nuestra entidad, es reconocida por ser una de las primeras urbes construidas en mesoamérica, así como sus piedras grabadas y la cerámica gris encontrada en poco más de 190 tumbas, de las cuales destaca la número siete. En ella se encontró la mayor cantidad de obras de orfebrería en oro que se ha descubierto hasta la fecha.
El orden en que fueron nombradas las 13 maravillas creadas por el hombre , fue el siguiente: Campeche - zona Arqueológica kamut (Campeche), calles subterráneas (Guanajuato), Centro Histórico (DF), Chichen Itza (Yucatán), CH P (Chihuahua), Ciudad de Mazatlán (Sinaloa), Monte Albán (Oaxaca), Palenque(Chiapas), Paseo Santa Lucía (Monterrey), Tajín (Veracruz), Teotihuacan (Estado de México), Tulum (Quintana Roo) y la zona Arqueológica Zoxhicalco (Morelos).
Por tal motivo, La Secretaría de Turismo de Oaxaca invita a los turistas próximos a arribar a la entidad a visitar la zona arqueológica de Monte Albán que se encuentra ubicada al poniente de la ciudad de Oaxaca.
Fuente:http://www.oaxacatravel.com.mx/blog/destinos-turisticos-en-mexico-monte-alban-una-de-las-13-maravillas-de-mexico/
Este anuncio fue dado a conocer en el Palacio de Minería, certamen que fue convocado por La Secretaría de Turismo Federal a través del Consejo de Promoción Turística de México (CPTM) y la empresa televisiva TV Azteca.Fuente:oloramitierra.com.mx
En el acto 26 de los 32 gobernadores recibieron la estatuilla que los hace ganadores de esta contienda; entre los mandatarios galardonados estuvo el gobernador de Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz por la majestuosa zona arqueológica de Monte Albán.
Dani Baá, Cerro de piedras preciosas o Cerro Verde, nombre antiguo de esta mística zona, es desde 1987 patrimonio cultural de la humanidad por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) y que hoy en día los mexicanos la reconocen como una maravilla digna de ser visitada.
Monte Albán, atractivo turístico de nuestra entidad, es reconocida por ser una de las primeras urbes construidas en mesoamérica, así como sus piedras grabadas y la cerámica gris encontrada en poco más de 190 tumbas, de las cuales destaca la número siete. En ella se encontró la mayor cantidad de obras de orfebrería en oro que se ha descubierto hasta la fecha.
El orden en que fueron nombradas las 13 maravillas creadas por el hombre , fue el siguiente: Campeche - zona Arqueológica kamut (Campeche), calles subterráneas (Guanajuato), Centro Histórico (DF), Chichen Itza (Yucatán), CH P (Chihuahua), Ciudad de Mazatlán (Sinaloa), Monte Albán (Oaxaca), Palenque(Chiapas), Paseo Santa Lucía (Monterrey), Tajín (Veracruz), Teotihuacan (Estado de México), Tulum (Quintana Roo) y la zona Arqueológica Zoxhicalco (Morelos).
Por tal motivo, La Secretaría de Turismo de Oaxaca invita a los turistas próximos a arribar a la entidad a visitar la zona arqueológica de Monte Albán que se encuentra ubicada al poniente de la ciudad de Oaxaca.
Fuente:http://www.oaxacatravel.com.mx/blog/destinos-turisticos-en-mexico-monte-alban-una-de-las-13-maravillas-de-mexico/
10/08/2007
Oaxaca Back to Normal according to Mercury News reporter
Mexico special section: Return to Oaxaca
CITY GETS BACK TO NORMAL, BUT '06 UNREST TAKES TOLL
By Michael Martinez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 10/07/2007 02:01:11 AM PDT
OAXACA, Mexico - The zócalo of this colonial city looked exactly as I remembered it. Broad, inviting shade trees. Musicians playing mariachi or marimba. Strings of colored bulbs lighting up the night. Women balancing trays of fruit drinks on their heads, looking for thirsty buyers.
And lots of townsfolk and tourists. The last time I visited here, almost five years ago, my afternoons were often spent at the zócalo - the communal center of most Mexican cities - watching people come and go, or children play, or couples snuggle on a park bench. Everyone mingles easily here, filling the square from dawn until well past dusk.
But Oaxaca is still wobbling from a troublesome 2006. Tourism is down. Hotel rooms are empty. Some businesses have closed. The city's tourist-based economy is still struggling from a violent political protest last year that shut down the zócalo and put parts of the town under siege for several months.
Everything is peaceful now, but travelers have been reluctant to return. The Oaxaca Tourism Office reports that the number of visitors fell by 58 percent over the past six months of 2006 compared with the same period for 2005. And although tourism is trickling back, it has yet to return to normal.
"All eyes are on Dia de los Muertos as the holiday that brings visitors back," Ron Mader, a longtime resident of Oaxaca, said of the Day of the Dead celebration that takes place Nov. 1 and 2.
Martha Canseco, director of the Becari Language School, where I attended Spanish classes for three weeks in 2003, said the city has its luster back: "It's beautiful, as always, and there are good prices in the hotels and restaurants."
Indeed, Oaxaca, a city of 258,000 located about an hour's flight southeast of Mexico City, continues to be alluring and pristine - a mix of cultures and colors unlike anywhere else in Mexico. If you listen closely, you can hear dialects spoken by some of the 16 indigenous groups found in the state of Oaxaca (both the city and state share the same name), making it the most ethnically diverse region of the country.
Throughout the center of town, shops are filled with woven rugs, silver and gold jewelry, ceramics and unique folk art such as alebrijes (meticulously carved and painted figurines) and barro negro (shiny black pottery). Many storefronts and homes are painted in bright, lustrous colors.
The public markets are hives of non-stop activity where you can buy fresh meat, shoes, pottery, tamales, baskets and the Oaxacan delicacy known as chapulines - fried grasshoppers seasoned with salt and chili powder and eaten either alone or in a tortilla. Women stand behind counters and wave menus featuring tacos, tamales, chilaquiles and hot soup.
Along the dusty, narrow streets, small stores sell CDs, beaded necklaces, candy and T-shirts. Buses, many headed for beach towns like Puerto Escondido or Puerto Angel, go roaring by every afternoon and evening.
There are no remnants of the civil unrest that shook the city from May until November last year. A protest that began as an annual teachers' strike over wages and working conditions exploded into a clash between police and left-wing activists intent on removing the state governor from office. As many as a dozen people were killed, including one American who was shot while filming a demonstration. Federal police were finally called in to quell the violence.
Walking around the zócalo, with its freshly planted flower beds and gurgling fountains, it was difficult to believe any of this had happened. Police presence was minimal. At night, the city was serene and safe. People were friendly, welcoming.
"In my town, even the dogs wag their tails," said Judith Reyes Lopez, who owns the Ollin Bed and Breakfast, a 10-minute walk from the zócalo, with her husband, American-born Jon McKinley.
Recovery, however, has been slow. McKinley said occupancy at their 11-room B&B is down overall but is showing signs of revival. They enjoyed a good August, their best month in more than a year, and expect to be full for the traditional Day of the Dead celebration that begins later this month.
Other properties are still struggling. Several B&B owners, who formed an association (www.oaxacabedandbreakfast.org) to market themselves in the wake of the protests, say occupancy is less than 10 percent since October 2006. And language schools suffered a large enrollment drop that has yet to return to normal, Canseco said.
One school, Amigos del Sol, was unable to pay its monthly rent and had to relocate to a smaller facility. Becari couldn't pay rent for four months, Canseco said, but the landlord allowed the school to remain at its current location.
She's employing eight instructors instead of the 12 to 15 she usually has teaching classes. And although there were 21 students enrolled during my visit, 18 of them were supposed to attend last year but canceled because of the violence.
"Next year, we're going to see better results," Canseco said. "Even now, people are starting to ask about Oaxaca. But if something else happens, it will take years."
To attract visitors, the B&B association will host a seven-day cooking-school experience in March at a cost of $735 per person. It includes classes, dinners, tours and lectures. Discounts are available at member B&Bs, and some language schools are offering 20 percent discounts for participants who want to come early or extend their stay (www.aseseo.com.mx).
You can find great hotel rates even now. I paid $65 a night at the Ollin B&B and 650 pesos (about $59) at La Reja Hospederia - two small, nicely appointed properties with garden patios and friendly staffs. Breakfast is included at both. Dining at most restaurants is inexpensive, something that hasn't changed since my first trip.
Tourists are showing up - mainly from France and Germany, it appears - although there aren't a lot of them. The few Americans I met, though, seemed undeterred - as long as things stayed calm.
"I wouldn't have come if there was any fighting going on," said Aaron Semer, a graduate student from Seattle who was studying at Amigos del Sol. "But the presence of protesters wouldn't bother me. From everything I heard, things had stabilized."
Still, there are warnings. The U.S. State Department is advising travelers on its Web site (www.travel.state.gov) to check on current conditions before traveling to Oaxaca, although that advice will expire next week. Two German travelers I met, Simon and Christina Kramer of Nuremberg, said they found a similar advisory on their government's travel site.
"It said that we should be careful, that there might be demonstrations and the center of the town might be closed," Simon said.
"We were a little bit afraid," Christina said, "but we felt that it was a Mexican problem, and not a problem for tourists. The atmosphere, the cafes, the zócalo - it has been very easy, like a Mediterranean city."
In fact, some residents maintain that even during the worst of the troubles last year, Oaxaca was always safe to visit.
"I have never advised people not to come down," said Jack Corbett, a professor of public administration at Portland State University in Oregon who lives part time in Oaxaca. "Even at the height of the unrest, it was a matter of being attentive and prudent. At any given time, it was perfectly peaceful."
That's debatable. Gerardo Pinelo, in whose home I stayed during my first visit, said it was "very, very dangerous, especially around the zócalo." Canseco said she closed her school on days when there were large demonstrations.
"At times, I felt like I was living in a movie," she said. "We were sad to see what was happening to our city and our people. We were scared."
Those fears are gone now. Every day, the zócalo was filled with music. Every night, diners sat at outdoor tables drinking and eating. Children played well past dark. Young people filled dance clubs and coffee houses.
It was just as I left it, as if nothing had changed. But Oaxaca longs for tourists.
"Everybody is hungry for business," Jon McKinley said. "The only thing that will help is people."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Michael Martinez at mmartinez@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5503.
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CITY GETS BACK TO NORMAL, BUT '06 UNREST TAKES TOLL
By Michael Martinez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 10/07/2007 02:01:11 AM PDT
OAXACA, Mexico - The zócalo of this colonial city looked exactly as I remembered it. Broad, inviting shade trees. Musicians playing mariachi or marimba. Strings of colored bulbs lighting up the night. Women balancing trays of fruit drinks on their heads, looking for thirsty buyers.
And lots of townsfolk and tourists. The last time I visited here, almost five years ago, my afternoons were often spent at the zócalo - the communal center of most Mexican cities - watching people come and go, or children play, or couples snuggle on a park bench. Everyone mingles easily here, filling the square from dawn until well past dusk.
But Oaxaca is still wobbling from a troublesome 2006. Tourism is down. Hotel rooms are empty. Some businesses have closed. The city's tourist-based economy is still struggling from a violent political protest last year that shut down the zócalo and put parts of the town under siege for several months.
Everything is peaceful now, but travelers have been reluctant to return. The Oaxaca Tourism Office reports that the number of visitors fell by 58 percent over the past six months of 2006 compared with the same period for 2005. And although tourism is trickling back, it has yet to return to normal.
"All eyes are on Dia de los Muertos as the holiday that brings visitors back," Ron Mader, a longtime resident of Oaxaca, said of the Day of the Dead celebration that takes place Nov. 1 and 2.
Martha Canseco, director of the Becari Language School, where I attended Spanish classes for three weeks in 2003, said the city has its luster back: "It's beautiful, as always, and there are good prices in the hotels and restaurants."
Indeed, Oaxaca, a city of 258,000 located about an hour's flight southeast of Mexico City, continues to be alluring and pristine - a mix of cultures and colors unlike anywhere else in Mexico. If you listen closely, you can hear dialects spoken by some of the 16 indigenous groups found in the state of Oaxaca (both the city and state share the same name), making it the most ethnically diverse region of the country.
Throughout the center of town, shops are filled with woven rugs, silver and gold jewelry, ceramics and unique folk art such as alebrijes (meticulously carved and painted figurines) and barro negro (shiny black pottery). Many storefronts and homes are painted in bright, lustrous colors.
The public markets are hives of non-stop activity where you can buy fresh meat, shoes, pottery, tamales, baskets and the Oaxacan delicacy known as chapulines - fried grasshoppers seasoned with salt and chili powder and eaten either alone or in a tortilla. Women stand behind counters and wave menus featuring tacos, tamales, chilaquiles and hot soup.
Along the dusty, narrow streets, small stores sell CDs, beaded necklaces, candy and T-shirts. Buses, many headed for beach towns like Puerto Escondido or Puerto Angel, go roaring by every afternoon and evening.
There are no remnants of the civil unrest that shook the city from May until November last year. A protest that began as an annual teachers' strike over wages and working conditions exploded into a clash between police and left-wing activists intent on removing the state governor from office. As many as a dozen people were killed, including one American who was shot while filming a demonstration. Federal police were finally called in to quell the violence.
Walking around the zócalo, with its freshly planted flower beds and gurgling fountains, it was difficult to believe any of this had happened. Police presence was minimal. At night, the city was serene and safe. People were friendly, welcoming.
"In my town, even the dogs wag their tails," said Judith Reyes Lopez, who owns the Ollin Bed and Breakfast, a 10-minute walk from the zócalo, with her husband, American-born Jon McKinley.
Recovery, however, has been slow. McKinley said occupancy at their 11-room B&B is down overall but is showing signs of revival. They enjoyed a good August, their best month in more than a year, and expect to be full for the traditional Day of the Dead celebration that begins later this month.
Other properties are still struggling. Several B&B owners, who formed an association (www.oaxacabedandbreakfast.org) to market themselves in the wake of the protests, say occupancy is less than 10 percent since October 2006. And language schools suffered a large enrollment drop that has yet to return to normal, Canseco said.
One school, Amigos del Sol, was unable to pay its monthly rent and had to relocate to a smaller facility. Becari couldn't pay rent for four months, Canseco said, but the landlord allowed the school to remain at its current location.
She's employing eight instructors instead of the 12 to 15 she usually has teaching classes. And although there were 21 students enrolled during my visit, 18 of them were supposed to attend last year but canceled because of the violence.
"Next year, we're going to see better results," Canseco said. "Even now, people are starting to ask about Oaxaca. But if something else happens, it will take years."
To attract visitors, the B&B association will host a seven-day cooking-school experience in March at a cost of $735 per person. It includes classes, dinners, tours and lectures. Discounts are available at member B&Bs, and some language schools are offering 20 percent discounts for participants who want to come early or extend their stay (www.aseseo.com.mx).
You can find great hotel rates even now. I paid $65 a night at the Ollin B&B and 650 pesos (about $59) at La Reja Hospederia - two small, nicely appointed properties with garden patios and friendly staffs. Breakfast is included at both. Dining at most restaurants is inexpensive, something that hasn't changed since my first trip.
Tourists are showing up - mainly from France and Germany, it appears - although there aren't a lot of them. The few Americans I met, though, seemed undeterred - as long as things stayed calm.
"I wouldn't have come if there was any fighting going on," said Aaron Semer, a graduate student from Seattle who was studying at Amigos del Sol. "But the presence of protesters wouldn't bother me. From everything I heard, things had stabilized."
Still, there are warnings. The U.S. State Department is advising travelers on its Web site (www.travel.state.gov) to check on current conditions before traveling to Oaxaca, although that advice will expire next week. Two German travelers I met, Simon and Christina Kramer of Nuremberg, said they found a similar advisory on their government's travel site.
"It said that we should be careful, that there might be demonstrations and the center of the town might be closed," Simon said.
"We were a little bit afraid," Christina said, "but we felt that it was a Mexican problem, and not a problem for tourists. The atmosphere, the cafes, the zócalo - it has been very easy, like a Mediterranean city."
In fact, some residents maintain that even during the worst of the troubles last year, Oaxaca was always safe to visit.
"I have never advised people not to come down," said Jack Corbett, a professor of public administration at Portland State University in Oregon who lives part time in Oaxaca. "Even at the height of the unrest, it was a matter of being attentive and prudent. At any given time, it was perfectly peaceful."
That's debatable. Gerardo Pinelo, in whose home I stayed during my first visit, said it was "very, very dangerous, especially around the zócalo." Canseco said she closed her school on days when there were large demonstrations.
"At times, I felt like I was living in a movie," she said. "We were sad to see what was happening to our city and our people. We were scared."
Those fears are gone now. Every day, the zócalo was filled with music. Every night, diners sat at outdoor tables drinking and eating. Children played well past dark. Young people filled dance clubs and coffee houses.
It was just as I left it, as if nothing had changed. But Oaxaca longs for tourists.
"Everybody is hungry for business," Jon McKinley said. "The only thing that will help is people."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Michael Martinez at mmartinez@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5503.
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9/16/2007
Oaxaca - Independence day 2007 - a sign?
INDEPENDENCE DAY NIGHT IN OAXACA, 2007
The evening and night of September 15, 2007, marked a return to normalcy for Oaxaca and its citizenry. Many will recall that there were no festivities, there was no grito, and in fact there was nothing to celebrate the same time last year. This year, last night, was a sight to behold, if nothing else than to remind tourists and Oaxacans alike that this is what Oaxaca is all about, how the city has traditionally been portrayed in the tour books and online, and throughout the world community for decades. Throngs packed the zócalo, alameda, and in fact all downtown streets. Bands played, the governor shouted “viva” on cue, and fireworks lit up the sky. Bars were packed with youths. Cafés lining the zócalo could not accommodate those wanting to sit, watch, revel and wait for the marching bands, float, shiny motorcycles and dignitaries marching around the square. Oaxaca, it would seem, will be one of the beneficiaries of the ongoing talks at the federal level regarding transparencia, or public accountability, until now admittedly woefully lacking here and in other states. And so perhaps last night marked but a sign of better times to come for our State. The populace seemed to have sensed something positive in the air, aside from the passage of another year of independence. Alvin Starkman - Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast
The evening and night of September 15, 2007, marked a return to normalcy for Oaxaca and its citizenry. Many will recall that there were no festivities, there was no grito, and in fact there was nothing to celebrate the same time last year. This year, last night, was a sight to behold, if nothing else than to remind tourists and Oaxacans alike that this is what Oaxaca is all about, how the city has traditionally been portrayed in the tour books and online, and throughout the world community for decades. Throngs packed the zócalo, alameda, and in fact all downtown streets. Bands played, the governor shouted “viva” on cue, and fireworks lit up the sky. Bars were packed with youths. Cafés lining the zócalo could not accommodate those wanting to sit, watch, revel and wait for the marching bands, float, shiny motorcycles and dignitaries marching around the square. Oaxaca, it would seem, will be one of the beneficiaries of the ongoing talks at the federal level regarding transparencia, or public accountability, until now admittedly woefully lacking here and in other states. And so perhaps last night marked but a sign of better times to come for our State. The populace seemed to have sensed something positive in the air, aside from the passage of another year of independence. Alvin Starkman - Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast
Oaxaca Benefit Fine Art Auction
BENEFIT FINE ART AUCTION IN OAXACA, OCTOBER 27
The Oaxaca Lending Library is holding its second art auction, with more than 120 works by renowned Oaxacan masters being offered, including pieces by Ruben Leyva, Maximino Javier, Sergio Hernandez and Juan Alcazar. The silent auction, followed by the live auction, give both novice collectors and art aficionados an opportunity to bid with gallery owners from Mexico City and abroad. The Library supports programs such as Libros Para Pueblos (maintaining over 20 school libraries throughout the state), scholarships for a midwifery program, and memberships, housing and educational support for local students.) Preview: October 26th, 2 – 8 pm and day of sale. Reception and auctions: October 27th, from 6 pm
Online viewing from October 11th at:
http://www.oaxlibrary.com/2007ArtAuction_1.htm
For further information email: library@oaxlibrary.com
The Oaxaca Lending Library is holding its second art auction, with more than 120 works by renowned Oaxacan masters being offered, including pieces by Ruben Leyva, Maximino Javier, Sergio Hernandez and Juan Alcazar. The silent auction, followed by the live auction, give both novice collectors and art aficionados an opportunity to bid with gallery owners from Mexico City and abroad. The Library supports programs such as Libros Para Pueblos (maintaining over 20 school libraries throughout the state), scholarships for a midwifery program, and memberships, housing and educational support for local students.) Preview: October 26th, 2 – 8 pm and day of sale. Reception and auctions: October 27th, from 6 pm
Online viewing from October 11th at:
http://www.oaxlibrary.com/2007ArtAuction_1.htm
For further information email: library@oaxlibrary.com
9/13/2007
8/31/2007
GASTRONOMIC TOUR OF OAXACA, MARCH, 2008
CULINARY SECRETS FROM OAXACA’S KITCHENS
The Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast Association invites you to attend its first annual “Culinary Secrets from Oaxaca’s Kitchens”, a seven-day gastronomic extravaganza and tour, to be held March 1 – 7, 2008. The itinerary, designed for both the novice with a keen interest in Oaxacan cookery, as well as the seasoned chef, includes: 3 days of class at different venues, each lead by a renowned culinary expert; native market tours; exploring important sites contributing to UNESCO’s designation of Oaxaca as a World Heritage Site; keynote speaker; tastings of traditional regional foods, sweets and beverages; and select full-course meals in critically acclaimed restaurants. Visit the OBBA website for further details, cost and scheduling of events: http://www.oaxacabedandbreakfast.org
The Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast Association invites you to attend its first annual “Culinary Secrets from Oaxaca’s Kitchens”, a seven-day gastronomic extravaganza and tour, to be held March 1 – 7, 2008. The itinerary, designed for both the novice with a keen interest in Oaxacan cookery, as well as the seasoned chef, includes: 3 days of class at different venues, each lead by a renowned culinary expert; native market tours; exploring important sites contributing to UNESCO’s designation of Oaxaca as a World Heritage Site; keynote speaker; tastings of traditional regional foods, sweets and beverages; and select full-course meals in critically acclaimed restaurants. Visit the OBBA website for further details, cost and scheduling of events: http://www.oaxacabedandbreakfast.org
MONTE ALBÁN, MARAVILLA DE MÉXICO
Siendo una reliquia del mundo prehispánico y prodigio de la actualidad, Monte
Albán es candidato a ser una de las 13 maravillas de nuestro país.
En medio de un valle místico, los zapotecas construyeron una de las ciudades religiosas y
astronómicas más asombrosas del México antiguo, “Monte Albán”.
Considerado desde 1987 como patrimonio cultural de la humanidad por la Organización
de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO), Monte
Albán es aspirante a convertirse en una de las 13 maravillas de México construidas por la
mano del hombre.
Es por ello que la Secretaría de Turismo de Oaxaca invita a los oaxaqueños, así como a
las demás personas a navegar en el portal www.maravillasdemexico.com
y dar su voto a esta edificación que antiguamente era la capital de los zapotecas, y que
hoy podría convertirse en una de las maravillas de nuestro país.
Monte Albán, atractivo turístico obligatorio para todo visitante de nuestra Verde
Antequera, es reconocido por ser una de las primeras urbes construidas en mesoamérica,
así como por sus piedras grabadas y la cerámica gris encontrada en poco más de 190
tumbas, de las cuales destaca la numero 7. La tumba numero siete contenía la mayor
cantidad de obras de orfebrería en oro que se ha descubierto hasta la fecha.
Dani Baá es el nombre que se cree que recibió estas ruinas durante los años 500 a. C al
1325 d. C. y que actualmente es denominada Monte Albán, el cual se encuentra en un
cerro solitario a ocho kilómetros de la ciudad de Oaxaca.
Monte Albán, lugar de sabiduría milenaria, es digno de ser una de las maravillas que
engrandezcan a la Republica Mexicana, por ello Sectur Oaxaca convoca a los
cibernautas a visitar la página www.maravillasdemexico.com
y dar su voto a esta joya histórica.
Fuente:http://www.oaxaca.travel/
8/28/2007
Five Generations of Mezcaleros: A Family Tradition
Producers of quality mezcal in Matatlán, Oaxaca ...
A FAMILY TRADITION: FIVE GENERATIONS OF MEZCALEROS
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Don Isaac recounts awaking at 4 am, then walking from his village of Matatlán, with his mule, to Oaxaca, arriving some 14 or 15 hours later … just to buy a large cántaro, the traditional clay vessel then used for making and transporting mezcal. Often he would stop en route, at Santa María el Tule, for a drink of refreshing tejate before carrying on. Quenching his thirst, putting his feet up for a short while, and chatting with his favorite tejatero, made the arduous journey accepted custom, just part of the job.
Eighty-eight-year-old Isaac Jiménez Arrazola has been producing mezcal in Matatlán all his life, just like his father and grandfather before him, his sons Enrique and Octavio, and now his grandchildren. The town has a colorful history and pride in being one of the oldest colonial settlements in the country, founded in 1525, only a few years after Cortés arrived in Mexico. But for literally hundreds of years the crowning glory of Matatlán has been its status as world capital for the production of mezcal. In fact by 1980 this dusty one-horse-town had about 360 palenques [the facility where the agave plant (maguey) is processed until mezcal slowly drips out of the still] each producing about 2,800 liters monthly.
“All of my children,” Don Isaac emphasizes, “from when they were very young, the boys and girls alike, learned all the steps … preparing the fields and tending the maguey, watching out for infestations, harvesting, and the process in the palenque. And my wife Juana would be in charge and do everything when I was either on the road selling, or playing in the band. You know I’m a musician as well, just like my grandfather Fidencio. He was a Master violinist.”
Fidencio Jiménez Romero was born in Ejutla de Crespo in 1870. Towards the turn of the century he moved to Matalán, as a young adult, and became the family’s first generation of mezcalero. He and his son both learned to distill mezcal the old fashioned way, using clay pots for receptacles, and carriso (tall river reed, similar in appearance and functionality to bamboo) as the tubing required for the condensation and cooling processes. It wasn’t until grandson Isaac’s generation that copper was introduced into the town. That was in 1935. From then until the early 1940’s, copper revolutionized the means of production, while at the same time modes of transportation also underwent dramatic changes.
The family patriarch recalls that using clay for transporting had its definite downside, being fragile and at times dangerous. So when the opportunity arose to transport in latas de mantequa (large tins in which lard was then sold), he seized the opportunity. And then with the arrival of larger plastic containers, a further change occurred. But by about 1943, with the Pan-American highway by then almost arriving at Oaxaca, imported oak barrels began to appear. Don Isaac saw a chance to transport even larger quantities.
“In those days we never thought about aging. We used the barrels because they were big, and I could fit 12 – 14 of them on my truck, to go on my sales routes to towns and villages on the coast and in the mountains. It would take about a month to sell everything I had, so that was the longest time mezcal would be allowed to age … until I was sold out and could return home with a truckload of empty barrels. But when I realized I was losing a lot of mezcal due to barrel swelling and evaporation, I went back to plastic. I just couldn’t afford to sell from the barrel.”
Throughout the 1950’s business was good, with national markets opening up as a result of improved highways. The family put their modest profits to work by purchasing additional tracts of land for growing agave. In 1957 they moved operations into the family homestead (still occupied today by Isaac, his wife, and son Octavio and his family).
When asked to be town mayor (el presidente municipal) in 1966, Don Isaac of course couldn’t refuse the three year post, even though it was an unpaid position. It was an honor, and considered part of tequio, one’s moral obligation to the community. Finances were strained, but with the assistance of the family, business continued, and in fact thrived.
By the 1980’s, the Jiménez family had begun to barrel-age, bottle and export. The family realized that it could command a higher price in the marketplace by producing a smoother product with a different, and often more pleasing flavor, imparted through barreling. This more than made up for shrinkage.
Isaac’s two sons’ fates had been sealed. Octavio had less of an interest in academics than some of his siblings who went on to complete university and teach. Although he attended high school, he was more interested in working the fields and life in the palenque. Brother Enrique completed his secondary school education, then entered university in Oaxaca, obtaining a degree in industrial chemical engineering. During his college years he would spend the week living in Oaxaca, and then Friday afternoon his father would pick him up and bring him home to Matatlán. There he would work at the family business, from time-to-time putting his newly-learned expertise to work, bringing welcomed innovation to various aspects of production.
Finally, by 1993 the family had its own domestic brand, Mezcal del Maestro (now known as Mezcal del Amigo) which has met with success in both Europe and the US.
Having five well-established types of mezcal in production has given the Jiménez family a measure of security. With Octavio and Enrique now at the helm, the family has recently made a bold decision to move into the 21st century. The brothers are at the cutting edge of a new technique for baking agave which will enhance quality control, while at the same time enable them to preserve the centuries old production methods of stone-crushing the carmelized maguey using horsepower, literally, fermenting in pine vats, and distilling using a clay-brick oven.
Matatlán today remains a small town with the paved Pan-American highway running through it, mezcal factories and outlets (fábricas and expendios) on both sides of the road extending for perhaps a mile. Fields of agave under cultivation blanket the rolling hills in each direction. But turn off the highway and you can still step back into time and venture into the Jiménez homestead and watch mezcal being made as it was in the early 1900’s, when Fidencio Jiménez Romero was teaching everything he knew to his youthful grandson, Isaac. Just ask anyone in town how to get to Don Isaac’s, where you’ll meet Octavio and Enrique Jiménez, and yes, their children, the fifth generation of mezcaleros.
Mezcal del Amigo, the Jiménez family brand, will be producing mezcal at its new facility on the left hand side of the highway, entering Matatlán, effective early 2008. You’ll be able to witness each stage of the production process, and taste a variety of high quality mezcals. And you can also ask one of Don Isaac’s grandchildren to run you by the old homestead to see how it all started.
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and takes guests to the villages, including Matatlán for a visit to Mezcal del Amigo.
A FAMILY TRADITION: FIVE GENERATIONS OF MEZCALEROS
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Don Isaac recounts awaking at 4 am, then walking from his village of Matatlán, with his mule, to Oaxaca, arriving some 14 or 15 hours later … just to buy a large cántaro, the traditional clay vessel then used for making and transporting mezcal. Often he would stop en route, at Santa María el Tule, for a drink of refreshing tejate before carrying on. Quenching his thirst, putting his feet up for a short while, and chatting with his favorite tejatero, made the arduous journey accepted custom, just part of the job.
Eighty-eight-year-old Isaac Jiménez Arrazola has been producing mezcal in Matatlán all his life, just like his father and grandfather before him, his sons Enrique and Octavio, and now his grandchildren. The town has a colorful history and pride in being one of the oldest colonial settlements in the country, founded in 1525, only a few years after Cortés arrived in Mexico. But for literally hundreds of years the crowning glory of Matatlán has been its status as world capital for the production of mezcal. In fact by 1980 this dusty one-horse-town had about 360 palenques [the facility where the agave plant (maguey) is processed until mezcal slowly drips out of the still] each producing about 2,800 liters monthly.
“All of my children,” Don Isaac emphasizes, “from when they were very young, the boys and girls alike, learned all the steps … preparing the fields and tending the maguey, watching out for infestations, harvesting, and the process in the palenque. And my wife Juana would be in charge and do everything when I was either on the road selling, or playing in the band. You know I’m a musician as well, just like my grandfather Fidencio. He was a Master violinist.”
Fidencio Jiménez Romero was born in Ejutla de Crespo in 1870. Towards the turn of the century he moved to Matalán, as a young adult, and became the family’s first generation of mezcalero. He and his son both learned to distill mezcal the old fashioned way, using clay pots for receptacles, and carriso (tall river reed, similar in appearance and functionality to bamboo) as the tubing required for the condensation and cooling processes. It wasn’t until grandson Isaac’s generation that copper was introduced into the town. That was in 1935. From then until the early 1940’s, copper revolutionized the means of production, while at the same time modes of transportation also underwent dramatic changes.
The family patriarch recalls that using clay for transporting had its definite downside, being fragile and at times dangerous. So when the opportunity arose to transport in latas de mantequa (large tins in which lard was then sold), he seized the opportunity. And then with the arrival of larger plastic containers, a further change occurred. But by about 1943, with the Pan-American highway by then almost arriving at Oaxaca, imported oak barrels began to appear. Don Isaac saw a chance to transport even larger quantities.
“In those days we never thought about aging. We used the barrels because they were big, and I could fit 12 – 14 of them on my truck, to go on my sales routes to towns and villages on the coast and in the mountains. It would take about a month to sell everything I had, so that was the longest time mezcal would be allowed to age … until I was sold out and could return home with a truckload of empty barrels. But when I realized I was losing a lot of mezcal due to barrel swelling and evaporation, I went back to plastic. I just couldn’t afford to sell from the barrel.”
Throughout the 1950’s business was good, with national markets opening up as a result of improved highways. The family put their modest profits to work by purchasing additional tracts of land for growing agave. In 1957 they moved operations into the family homestead (still occupied today by Isaac, his wife, and son Octavio and his family).
When asked to be town mayor (el presidente municipal) in 1966, Don Isaac of course couldn’t refuse the three year post, even though it was an unpaid position. It was an honor, and considered part of tequio, one’s moral obligation to the community. Finances were strained, but with the assistance of the family, business continued, and in fact thrived.
By the 1980’s, the Jiménez family had begun to barrel-age, bottle and export. The family realized that it could command a higher price in the marketplace by producing a smoother product with a different, and often more pleasing flavor, imparted through barreling. This more than made up for shrinkage.
Isaac’s two sons’ fates had been sealed. Octavio had less of an interest in academics than some of his siblings who went on to complete university and teach. Although he attended high school, he was more interested in working the fields and life in the palenque. Brother Enrique completed his secondary school education, then entered university in Oaxaca, obtaining a degree in industrial chemical engineering. During his college years he would spend the week living in Oaxaca, and then Friday afternoon his father would pick him up and bring him home to Matatlán. There he would work at the family business, from time-to-time putting his newly-learned expertise to work, bringing welcomed innovation to various aspects of production.
Finally, by 1993 the family had its own domestic brand, Mezcal del Maestro (now known as Mezcal del Amigo) which has met with success in both Europe and the US.
Having five well-established types of mezcal in production has given the Jiménez family a measure of security. With Octavio and Enrique now at the helm, the family has recently made a bold decision to move into the 21st century. The brothers are at the cutting edge of a new technique for baking agave which will enhance quality control, while at the same time enable them to preserve the centuries old production methods of stone-crushing the carmelized maguey using horsepower, literally, fermenting in pine vats, and distilling using a clay-brick oven.
Matatlán today remains a small town with the paved Pan-American highway running through it, mezcal factories and outlets (fábricas and expendios) on both sides of the road extending for perhaps a mile. Fields of agave under cultivation blanket the rolling hills in each direction. But turn off the highway and you can still step back into time and venture into the Jiménez homestead and watch mezcal being made as it was in the early 1900’s, when Fidencio Jiménez Romero was teaching everything he knew to his youthful grandson, Isaac. Just ask anyone in town how to get to Don Isaac’s, where you’ll meet Octavio and Enrique Jiménez, and yes, their children, the fifth generation of mezcaleros.
Mezcal del Amigo, the Jiménez family brand, will be producing mezcal at its new facility on the left hand side of the highway, entering Matatlán, effective early 2008. You’ll be able to witness each stage of the production process, and taste a variety of high quality mezcals. And you can also ask one of Don Isaac’s grandchildren to run you by the old homestead to see how it all started.
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and takes guests to the villages, including Matatlán for a visit to Mezcal del Amigo.
8/18/2007
The drive from Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido and other coastal destinations
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Travelers to the state of Oaxaca frequently inquire about the drive from the City of Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido and other coastal destinations, expressing concerns about the length of the trip, quality of the highways, and the overall advisability of driving versus flying or bussing. This essay speaks to the doubts tourists might have regarding the journey using their own or a rental vehicle.
We’ve driven the three main routes on a number of occasions over the past several years, at different times of the year. I’ve written elsewhere about highway 190 to Huatulco. That road, the easiest to navigate, takes you at least a couple of hours out of your way, south, and is therefore not the most advisable unless of course you plan to visit Salina Cruz or Huatulco anyway. By contrast, highway 175 through Pochutla, and then north on highway 200 to Oaxaca, takes about 6 hours (I tend to drive fast, and stop about 3 times during a trip) and is the most interesting and a relatively easy drive. Highway 131 is the most direct and quickest route, albeit with its downsides.
I will provide details of the 175 route driving to Puerto, and 131 by way of return route, in terms of what to expect regarding landscapes, towns and villages, and highway characteristics. A schedule of times and distances between particular towns appears as an appendix, providing a quick-and-easy summary of road conditions for each segment of the journey. However, for this trip we stopped more than usual along 131, so keep in mind that without any lengthy stops it should take about an hour less.
PREMIMINARY ADVICE
Sixteen years of traveling these routes have been incident free, attributable in part to following four simple rules:
1) Drive only during daytime. While the roads are paved and generally good, and in fact many of the bridges are freshly painted white, lighting is an issue. More importantly, there’s much more of a risk when driving at night of encountering inebriated drivers and pedestrians, and animals.
2) Start out with a full tank of gas. While there are gas stations en route, and signs advertising mechanics and gasoline along the roadways, by not having to make a stop to fill up, you have an opportunity to make other stops along the way, more productive than stopping to simply top up. The trip to the coast takes well less than a tank of gas.
3) While stating the obvious, make sure you’ve had the mechanical fitness, and oil and water levels of the car checked before leaving. Brakes, tires and steering are the most important for negotiating the portions of highway with mountain switchbacks.
4) Regardless of time of year, take a jacket, sweater or sweatshirt since you’ll be climbing to about 9,000 feet on route 175. If you tend to be susceptible to motion sickness, take along anti-nausea medication.
ROUTE 175
Oaxaca to Ocotlan: Takes about 40 minutes, initially with urban sprawl out of the city, and then gently rolling hills with a few strong curves, vegetation predominantly agave and corn under cultivation. Passes by the villages producing black pottery (San Bartolo Coyotepec), alebrijes (San Martin Tilcajete), and cotton textiles (Santo Tomas Jalieza). In Ocotlan, noted for its Friday market, you’ll find clay painted figures of the Aguilar sisters, the workshop of knife maker Angel Aguilar, and tributes to artist Rodolfo Morales…his home and foundation, mural at the municipal offices, and museum featuring his and earlier works.
Ocotlan to Ejutla: Takes about 25 minutes, with long easy straight-aways and occasional curves and gentle hills. Once again agave and some corn, with a number of outcrops of carriso (river reed used for making ceilings, roofs and fences). Known for its Thursday market, with sale of animal skins. You can easily avoid going into Ejutla by taking the well-marked bypass.
Ejutla to Mihuatlan: Takes about 35 minutes, with more pronounced curves and hills, and easy-to-navigate peaks and valleys through similar vegetation and some mixed brush. Good idea to take your Dramamine or Gravol about 15 minutes into this portion of the trip. While there is no specific bypass, it’s not necessary to enter the main downtown section of town. Just keep going straight and the highway takes you out of the city.
Mihuatlan to San Jose del Pacífico: Takes about 50 minutes. Leaving Mihuatlan you’ll see the impressive mountain range in front of you, which you quickly begin to climb. You’ll note the temperature change quite readily, as you witness the dramatic change in vegetation. In addition to deciduous trees including scrub oak, you’ll see an abundance of conifers, mainly pine. The agave changes from espadín under cultivation, to very different and impressive wild varieties along the side of the road, growing from rock outcrops, some reaching an immense size, with stock (chiote) shooting up from its core dwarfing many of the surrounding trees. This segment of the trip, and the next with descent to Pochutla, are characterized predominantly by significant mountain switchbacks. You’ll see roadside eateries, booths with alebrijes for sale, and small cottage-industry lumber and firewood producers. San Jose del Pacífico is noted for the sale of locally harvested hallucinogenic mushrooms, in particular during the rainy season, and therefore you’ll come across roadside workshops selling hand-made wooden mushrooms as well as other hand-crafted products. You can rent a cabin if you wish to break up the trip and spend the night. Clean accommodations, with private bath, start at about 300 pesos. There’s well-marked signage alongside the highway. Some are more modern and advertise satellite TV and other facilities. There are a few restaurants, grocery stores, bakery, etc. It’s a relaxing way to spend a few hours, perhaps hiking up the dirt roads where most residents tend to live.
San Jose del Pacífico to Pochutla: You’ll continue to climb for about another 10 minutes until you reach El Manzanal, then begin the descent. This portion of the trip takes about two hours and 25 minutes. The ride down is initially quite gradual, and then more pronounced once you reach San Miguel Suchixtepec, a picturesque village with large impressive church, and homes strung out along a few hilly mountain roads. You’ll begin to detect another significant temperature change, depending on the facing of the portion of mountain you are descending relative to the sun. At different portions of the stretch you’ll pass by a couple of waterfalls and three or four smaller rivulets spilling across the highway, goats and donkeys, home construction of wood, pine cones on the roadway, brilliant orange flowered bromeliads, wild orchids, large expanses of boston-like ferns, and perhaps one or two patches of fog. For several kilometers you’ll encounter a sweet smell similar to that of maple syrup. Because of the steep descent, you may even detect the smell of burning rubber, but don’t worry, it’s likely a truck up ahead having brake problems. At about four hours into the trip you’ll begin to hear tropical insect and bird sounds and calls, and see bananas and sugar cane under cultivation and for sale, with coffee and honey also offered at roadside stands. On the approach to Pochutla the roadway will then gradually straighten out, with curves much easier to navigate. Tropical grasses predominate the roadside landscapes. An indication that you’re getting closer with be blown sand encroaching part of the roadway, and finally a sign stating “Iguana Hunting Prohibited.” A short while later you’ll see the sign pointing to the right for the Puerto Escondido bypass.
Pochutla to Puerto Escondido: Takes about an hour. Highway 175 ends at a “Y”, so veer to the right and you’re on highway 200, following along the Pacific. However, you won’t be able to see the ocean for about 40 minutes. You’ll pass by the exit to Puerto Ángel, Mazunte and Zipolite. The entire final leg of the trip is basically straight and flat. For the last half hour or so you’ll see mango, papaya and coconut under cultivation.
ROUTE 131
Aside from the fact that this route should be quicker than 175, and is about 50 km shorter, there are other differences to note, in addition to similarities:
1) While 175 is predominantly a single ascent, and then descent, 131 consists of several hills and valleys which must be negotiated, on a couple of occasions arriving in a town at the bottom of a valley, and then again beginning to climb. This may contribute to the roller-coaster effect on your stomach.
2) The road quality is inferior on 131, in particular for about an hour in the approach to San Gabriel Mixtepec and thereafter, with potholes, poor attempts to repave, etc. However, until around the end of 2006 it was far worse. Now there are long stretches of fresh, new tar, and improvements continue.
3) Immediately upon leaving Puerto you begin an ascent, so there is no gradual departure from the tropical climate.
4) Much of the vegetation found on 175 is the same along 131, although it is less defined, in part because you do not climb to same altitude as on 175, and there are really no significant micro-climates which manifest in extremes of vegetation and particular commercial enterprise. Waterfalls are abundant, and landscapes are impressive, perhaps less so than on the other highway. There is much more livestock along the sides of the roadway than on route 175, predominantly donkeys and mules, so be a bit more vigilant.
Puerto Escondido to San Gabriel Mixtepec: Takes about an hour, with switchbacks and the climb commencing almost immediately. Take your meds as you leave the coast. As suggested earlier, there are peaks and valleys along this portion of the route. The patchwork of road repairs becomes apparent rather readily. Roadside coconut stands predominate initially. You’ll then begin to welcome the maple essence, in fact off and on for three or four hours as your journey continues. The village is quaint, with grocery stores, a major pharmacy and several restaurants.
San Gabriel Mixtepec to Cerro del Vidrio: This portion of the trip, just over an hour, is a net incline, not without several ascents and descents of mountain passes. At km 55 you’ll pass the exit to a well-known coffee plantation, Finca Las Nieves. Just before arriving at Cerro del Vidrio you’ll start a gradual descent, arriving in the town after about 10 minutes. This is where traffic turns off to go to Juquila (about a 45 minute detour), famous for the appearance of the Virgin of Juquila. Cerro del Vidrio developed much more rapidly once Oaxacans began making pilgrimages to Juquila. In fact along the entire 131 route you’ll see vehicles with gladioli tacked onto the front on either side of the license plate, along with a framed image of the virgin. Right at the turn-off you’ll encounter several vendors of fruit and memelitas filled with beans.
Cerro del Vidrio to San Pedro Juchatengo: Takes about 40 minutes, and terminates at the bottom of the largest valley you’ll encounter. Switchbacks. Upon arrival you’ll begin to see corn under cultivation, as well as some agave. The town boasts swimming in El Rio de Las Flores, as well as an ecological preserve.
San Pedro Juchatengo to Sola de Vega: You’ll continue negotiating strong switchbacks, initially following along the banks of the river, then deviating, and finally climbing until the pinnacle, “El Mirador,” where a small restaurant, rest stop and mezcal outlet are situate. You will have already begun to notice three different types of agave under cultivation, for mezcal production. You’ll then descend to Sola de Vega, arriving after about an hour and twenty minutes, now encountering some corn, and even banana trees. Sola de Vega is noted for its mezcal, and historically for its occupation by the French during colonial times.
Sola de Vega to Oaxaca: This final leg of the trip takes just under two hours, initially marked by climbing, albeit much easier to navigate, and then again peaks and valleys, much softer than during the first couple of hours of the return route. At km 181 you’ll see the cutoff to San Sebastián de Las Grutas, 13 km off to the left, where there are a series of caves you can hike. By km 190 the road will have straightened out, and for the balance of the trip, another 60 kilometers, there will be rolling straight-aways, the agave fields diminishing in number as corn becomes the predominate crop, with outcrops of carriso, some cactus under cultivation, and roadside stands selling sugar cane. By now the temperature will have risen and stabilized at typical Oaxaca valley climate. Your approach to the city will be marked by the same urban sprawl as when you left.
CONCLUSION
I highly recommend driving these routes. Consider taking an extra day so you can stop at some of the sites and villages, perhaps at a couple of mezcal operations, or just to get out of the car and take a stroll. Spending one overnight will help you to get a feel for rural Oaxaca, and add immeasurably to the totality of your vacation. San Jose del Pacífico gets my vote since it’s seemingly a bit more geared to ecotourism than the other towns and villages en route, although there are other quaint, interesting stopovers, where tourists don’t normally stop for the night, which might lead to even a more interesting sojourn. .
APPENDIX
ROUTE 175
Segment Time (min) Distance (km)
Oaxaca to Octotlán 40 33
Ocotlán to Ejutla 25 25
Ejutla to Mihuatlán 38 40
Mihuatlán to San Jose del Pacífico 50 36
San Jose del Pacífico to Pochutla 145 100
Pochutla to Puerto Escondido 55 69
ROUTE 131
Segment Time (min) Distance (km)
Puerto Escondido to San Gabriel Mixtepec 60 42
San Gabriel Mixtepec to Cerro del Vidrio 70 38
Cerro del Vidrio to San Pedro Juchatengo 40 24
San Pedro Juchatengo to Sola de Vega 80 50
Sola de Vega to Oaxaca 120 93
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
Travelers to the state of Oaxaca frequently inquire about the drive from the City of Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido and other coastal destinations, expressing concerns about the length of the trip, quality of the highways, and the overall advisability of driving versus flying or bussing. This essay speaks to the doubts tourists might have regarding the journey using their own or a rental vehicle.
We’ve driven the three main routes on a number of occasions over the past several years, at different times of the year. I’ve written elsewhere about highway 190 to Huatulco. That road, the easiest to navigate, takes you at least a couple of hours out of your way, south, and is therefore not the most advisable unless of course you plan to visit Salina Cruz or Huatulco anyway. By contrast, highway 175 through Pochutla, and then north on highway 200 to Oaxaca, takes about 6 hours (I tend to drive fast, and stop about 3 times during a trip) and is the most interesting and a relatively easy drive. Highway 131 is the most direct and quickest route, albeit with its downsides.
I will provide details of the 175 route driving to Puerto, and 131 by way of return route, in terms of what to expect regarding landscapes, towns and villages, and highway characteristics. A schedule of times and distances between particular towns appears as an appendix, providing a quick-and-easy summary of road conditions for each segment of the journey. However, for this trip we stopped more than usual along 131, so keep in mind that without any lengthy stops it should take about an hour less.
PREMIMINARY ADVICE
Sixteen years of traveling these routes have been incident free, attributable in part to following four simple rules:
1) Drive only during daytime. While the roads are paved and generally good, and in fact many of the bridges are freshly painted white, lighting is an issue. More importantly, there’s much more of a risk when driving at night of encountering inebriated drivers and pedestrians, and animals.
2) Start out with a full tank of gas. While there are gas stations en route, and signs advertising mechanics and gasoline along the roadways, by not having to make a stop to fill up, you have an opportunity to make other stops along the way, more productive than stopping to simply top up. The trip to the coast takes well less than a tank of gas.
3) While stating the obvious, make sure you’ve had the mechanical fitness, and oil and water levels of the car checked before leaving. Brakes, tires and steering are the most important for negotiating the portions of highway with mountain switchbacks.
4) Regardless of time of year, take a jacket, sweater or sweatshirt since you’ll be climbing to about 9,000 feet on route 175. If you tend to be susceptible to motion sickness, take along anti-nausea medication.
ROUTE 175
Oaxaca to Ocotlan: Takes about 40 minutes, initially with urban sprawl out of the city, and then gently rolling hills with a few strong curves, vegetation predominantly agave and corn under cultivation. Passes by the villages producing black pottery (San Bartolo Coyotepec), alebrijes (San Martin Tilcajete), and cotton textiles (Santo Tomas Jalieza). In Ocotlan, noted for its Friday market, you’ll find clay painted figures of the Aguilar sisters, the workshop of knife maker Angel Aguilar, and tributes to artist Rodolfo Morales…his home and foundation, mural at the municipal offices, and museum featuring his and earlier works.
Ocotlan to Ejutla: Takes about 25 minutes, with long easy straight-aways and occasional curves and gentle hills. Once again agave and some corn, with a number of outcrops of carriso (river reed used for making ceilings, roofs and fences). Known for its Thursday market, with sale of animal skins. You can easily avoid going into Ejutla by taking the well-marked bypass.
Ejutla to Mihuatlan: Takes about 35 minutes, with more pronounced curves and hills, and easy-to-navigate peaks and valleys through similar vegetation and some mixed brush. Good idea to take your Dramamine or Gravol about 15 minutes into this portion of the trip. While there is no specific bypass, it’s not necessary to enter the main downtown section of town. Just keep going straight and the highway takes you out of the city.
Mihuatlan to San Jose del Pacífico: Takes about 50 minutes. Leaving Mihuatlan you’ll see the impressive mountain range in front of you, which you quickly begin to climb. You’ll note the temperature change quite readily, as you witness the dramatic change in vegetation. In addition to deciduous trees including scrub oak, you’ll see an abundance of conifers, mainly pine. The agave changes from espadín under cultivation, to very different and impressive wild varieties along the side of the road, growing from rock outcrops, some reaching an immense size, with stock (chiote) shooting up from its core dwarfing many of the surrounding trees. This segment of the trip, and the next with descent to Pochutla, are characterized predominantly by significant mountain switchbacks. You’ll see roadside eateries, booths with alebrijes for sale, and small cottage-industry lumber and firewood producers. San Jose del Pacífico is noted for the sale of locally harvested hallucinogenic mushrooms, in particular during the rainy season, and therefore you’ll come across roadside workshops selling hand-made wooden mushrooms as well as other hand-crafted products. You can rent a cabin if you wish to break up the trip and spend the night. Clean accommodations, with private bath, start at about 300 pesos. There’s well-marked signage alongside the highway. Some are more modern and advertise satellite TV and other facilities. There are a few restaurants, grocery stores, bakery, etc. It’s a relaxing way to spend a few hours, perhaps hiking up the dirt roads where most residents tend to live.
San Jose del Pacífico to Pochutla: You’ll continue to climb for about another 10 minutes until you reach El Manzanal, then begin the descent. This portion of the trip takes about two hours and 25 minutes. The ride down is initially quite gradual, and then more pronounced once you reach San Miguel Suchixtepec, a picturesque village with large impressive church, and homes strung out along a few hilly mountain roads. You’ll begin to detect another significant temperature change, depending on the facing of the portion of mountain you are descending relative to the sun. At different portions of the stretch you’ll pass by a couple of waterfalls and three or four smaller rivulets spilling across the highway, goats and donkeys, home construction of wood, pine cones on the roadway, brilliant orange flowered bromeliads, wild orchids, large expanses of boston-like ferns, and perhaps one or two patches of fog. For several kilometers you’ll encounter a sweet smell similar to that of maple syrup. Because of the steep descent, you may even detect the smell of burning rubber, but don’t worry, it’s likely a truck up ahead having brake problems. At about four hours into the trip you’ll begin to hear tropical insect and bird sounds and calls, and see bananas and sugar cane under cultivation and for sale, with coffee and honey also offered at roadside stands. On the approach to Pochutla the roadway will then gradually straighten out, with curves much easier to navigate. Tropical grasses predominate the roadside landscapes. An indication that you’re getting closer with be blown sand encroaching part of the roadway, and finally a sign stating “Iguana Hunting Prohibited.” A short while later you’ll see the sign pointing to the right for the Puerto Escondido bypass.
Pochutla to Puerto Escondido: Takes about an hour. Highway 175 ends at a “Y”, so veer to the right and you’re on highway 200, following along the Pacific. However, you won’t be able to see the ocean for about 40 minutes. You’ll pass by the exit to Puerto Ángel, Mazunte and Zipolite. The entire final leg of the trip is basically straight and flat. For the last half hour or so you’ll see mango, papaya and coconut under cultivation.
ROUTE 131
Aside from the fact that this route should be quicker than 175, and is about 50 km shorter, there are other differences to note, in addition to similarities:
1) While 175 is predominantly a single ascent, and then descent, 131 consists of several hills and valleys which must be negotiated, on a couple of occasions arriving in a town at the bottom of a valley, and then again beginning to climb. This may contribute to the roller-coaster effect on your stomach.
2) The road quality is inferior on 131, in particular for about an hour in the approach to San Gabriel Mixtepec and thereafter, with potholes, poor attempts to repave, etc. However, until around the end of 2006 it was far worse. Now there are long stretches of fresh, new tar, and improvements continue.
3) Immediately upon leaving Puerto you begin an ascent, so there is no gradual departure from the tropical climate.
4) Much of the vegetation found on 175 is the same along 131, although it is less defined, in part because you do not climb to same altitude as on 175, and there are really no significant micro-climates which manifest in extremes of vegetation and particular commercial enterprise. Waterfalls are abundant, and landscapes are impressive, perhaps less so than on the other highway. There is much more livestock along the sides of the roadway than on route 175, predominantly donkeys and mules, so be a bit more vigilant.
Puerto Escondido to San Gabriel Mixtepec: Takes about an hour, with switchbacks and the climb commencing almost immediately. Take your meds as you leave the coast. As suggested earlier, there are peaks and valleys along this portion of the route. The patchwork of road repairs becomes apparent rather readily. Roadside coconut stands predominate initially. You’ll then begin to welcome the maple essence, in fact off and on for three or four hours as your journey continues. The village is quaint, with grocery stores, a major pharmacy and several restaurants.
San Gabriel Mixtepec to Cerro del Vidrio: This portion of the trip, just over an hour, is a net incline, not without several ascents and descents of mountain passes. At km 55 you’ll pass the exit to a well-known coffee plantation, Finca Las Nieves. Just before arriving at Cerro del Vidrio you’ll start a gradual descent, arriving in the town after about 10 minutes. This is where traffic turns off to go to Juquila (about a 45 minute detour), famous for the appearance of the Virgin of Juquila. Cerro del Vidrio developed much more rapidly once Oaxacans began making pilgrimages to Juquila. In fact along the entire 131 route you’ll see vehicles with gladioli tacked onto the front on either side of the license plate, along with a framed image of the virgin. Right at the turn-off you’ll encounter several vendors of fruit and memelitas filled with beans.
Cerro del Vidrio to San Pedro Juchatengo: Takes about 40 minutes, and terminates at the bottom of the largest valley you’ll encounter. Switchbacks. Upon arrival you’ll begin to see corn under cultivation, as well as some agave. The town boasts swimming in El Rio de Las Flores, as well as an ecological preserve.
San Pedro Juchatengo to Sola de Vega: You’ll continue negotiating strong switchbacks, initially following along the banks of the river, then deviating, and finally climbing until the pinnacle, “El Mirador,” where a small restaurant, rest stop and mezcal outlet are situate. You will have already begun to notice three different types of agave under cultivation, for mezcal production. You’ll then descend to Sola de Vega, arriving after about an hour and twenty minutes, now encountering some corn, and even banana trees. Sola de Vega is noted for its mezcal, and historically for its occupation by the French during colonial times.
Sola de Vega to Oaxaca: This final leg of the trip takes just under two hours, initially marked by climbing, albeit much easier to navigate, and then again peaks and valleys, much softer than during the first couple of hours of the return route. At km 181 you’ll see the cutoff to San Sebastián de Las Grutas, 13 km off to the left, where there are a series of caves you can hike. By km 190 the road will have straightened out, and for the balance of the trip, another 60 kilometers, there will be rolling straight-aways, the agave fields diminishing in number as corn becomes the predominate crop, with outcrops of carriso, some cactus under cultivation, and roadside stands selling sugar cane. By now the temperature will have risen and stabilized at typical Oaxaca valley climate. Your approach to the city will be marked by the same urban sprawl as when you left.
CONCLUSION
I highly recommend driving these routes. Consider taking an extra day so you can stop at some of the sites and villages, perhaps at a couple of mezcal operations, or just to get out of the car and take a stroll. Spending one overnight will help you to get a feel for rural Oaxaca, and add immeasurably to the totality of your vacation. San Jose del Pacífico gets my vote since it’s seemingly a bit more geared to ecotourism than the other towns and villages en route, although there are other quaint, interesting stopovers, where tourists don’t normally stop for the night, which might lead to even a more interesting sojourn. .
APPENDIX
ROUTE 175
Segment Time (min) Distance (km)
Oaxaca to Octotlán 40 33
Ocotlán to Ejutla 25 25
Ejutla to Mihuatlán 38 40
Mihuatlán to San Jose del Pacífico 50 36
San Jose del Pacífico to Pochutla 145 100
Pochutla to Puerto Escondido 55 69
ROUTE 131
Segment Time (min) Distance (km)
Puerto Escondido to San Gabriel Mixtepec 60 42
San Gabriel Mixtepec to Cerro del Vidrio 70 38
Cerro del Vidrio to San Pedro Juchatengo 40 24
San Pedro Juchatengo to Sola de Vega 80 50
Sola de Vega to Oaxaca 120 93
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
8/14/2007
OAXACA, regreso a la tradición
Juan José Rodríguez
El Universal
Lunes 13 de agosto de 2007
Oaxaca es una explosión de colorido, de lenguas nativas, de bandas de viento que acompañan los bailes y de sincretismos a veces inexplicables. Las turbulencias han sido parte de su historia, y tras ellas, siempre se ha sabido reinventar para ofrecer al visitante lo mejor de su cultura.
Oaxaca.- La capital del estado ha conocido desde tiempos inmemoriales todo tipo de turbulencias. Desde intensa actividad sísmica hasta fuertes conflictos humanos.
Sin embargo, la civilización y la naturaleza florecen y se han brindado siempre a los visitantes de los valles centrales.
Los pueblos mixteco y zapoteco vivieron en lucha continua. Años después fueron dominados por el imperio mexica y finalmente por los españoles. Más allá de lo dañino que resulta a corto plazo, nos han dejado también un legado de las formas de vida que el mestizaje impuesto o voluntario ha marcado en la región.
Huaxayácan, Antequera o Oaxaca –nombres que ha ostentado la ciudad a lo largo de los siglos–, hoy es una mezcla cosmopolita donde distintas lenguas indígenas se oyen en sus mercados.
Italianos, yucatecos, ingleses o regiomontanos pasean por sus calles de estilo colonial, comen chapulines, gusanos de maguey, usan la colorida ropa local y se mezclan con toda la gente que viene de las siete regiones del estado en un crisol que se enriquece con las manifestaciones humanas –a veces no muy pacíficas– y que dan por resultado la siempre apreciada Oaxaca de nuestros tiempos.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulos/41960.html
7/29/2007
La Olla - Oaxaca Restaurant Review
La Olla – Oaxaca Restaurant Review
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Sit down in most small restaurants in Oaxaca, order the comida corrida (full meal, daily special) and as fast as the Flying Burrito Brothers your server arrives with a bowl of tepid soup with miniscule floating grease bubbles, a healthy portion of fried-in-oil-then-boiled white rice flecked with cubed carrot, a small piece of overcooked meat or poultry swimming in a scrumptiously tangy mole, a glass of fruity water-of-the-day (agua del día), and a two-inch slab of flan to finish … on the other hand there’s La Olla.
At popular downtown bistro-style restaurant La Olla, whether patrons indeed order the daily special, or select from the menu, co-owner-chef Pilar Cabrera offers the polar opposite --- a healthy yet flavorful and traditionally herbed alternative. She and husband Luis for years have had a faithful following of tourists and residents alike. This welcoming oasis has managed to thrive without my business, I suppose because while living in Oaxaca I’ve learned to live with lard, pine for Pan Bimbo and bolillos (respectively, the Mexican equivalent to starch-white Wonderbread, and crusty Portuguese-style buns), and search out everything else sugary, processed and refined. The sixties’ all-things-good-for-you mentality had been baked out of mind forever, or so I had thought.
La Olla is a thirty-seat eatery with simple wooden tables and chairs and an adobe-brick and hand-painted tile hearth as focal point, on the main floor. A larger dining room with bar is upstairs. The restaurant is adorned with art by Oaxacan artists who exhibit on a rotating basis.
On this visit, my wife and our daughter Sarah chose from la carta, while I, daring the kitchen to even try to reduce my cholesterol level, opted for the 70 peso complete comida. Almost immediately upon being seated, a small loaf of fresh, hand-sliced whole grain bread, alongside tortilla chips, arrived in a basket, accompanied by butter, salsa and marinated vegetables. Predictably, Arlene gravitated towards the un-husked while I munched on the fried masa (corn).
I hadn’t drank anything green since listening to Deep Purple, Moby Grape and the early years of Pink Floyd, so when tall soda-fountain glasses of what appeared to be murky algae arrived, I was aghast --- pineapple celery juice. I had no choice. I wasn’t even asked if I would prefer Red Bull, or anything else with first ingredient dextrose, fructose or caffeine. It was well-chilled, with just the right combination of fruit and vegetable so as to provide a refreshing naturally sweet nectar, neither ingredient masking the flavor of the other.
The psychedelia continued. Who would ever think of combining peanuts, jícama (yam bean), orange pieces and boiled beet in its juices, and then having the nerve to call it a salad? I was in a purple haze. Definitely not the limp lettuce to which I’d become accustomed, drenched in a sea of joyful oil. Crunch and munch, followed by a sunburst of citrus, then soft legume, with seemingly more flavors, textures, colors and tones than the totality of each individual component.
Thankfully my soup held no surprises, although lima beans are not normally regular restaurant fare in Oaxaca, or elsewhere in this hemisphere. They were complemented by nopal (paddle cactus), onion, tomato with seed, and cheese, chile providing the requisite bite. Once again, attention had been paid to ensuring different degrees of consistency.
The chicken fajitas, on the other hand, were not as expected. But by this time I had reverted to my former self of decades long past, and willingly welcomed a main dish lacking excess grease. The strips of chicken breast were tender. The vegetables had been prepared separately so as to maintain their individual, appropriate degrees of doneness. The liquid was more in the nature of light stew juices than canola á la wok. The seasoning was Italian, yet with the pleasing essence of fresh cilantro predominating.
Sarah’s organic salad mirrored mine in terms of flavor and texture, but was sliced baked apple, watermelon chunks, flax seed and goat cheese. Her sopa azteca was inimitably served. Most Oaxacan restaurants serve all ingredients already combined, or the potage and some ingredients arriving already mixed together with those remaining on the side. At La Olla the tortilla slivers, cubed queso (cheese), avocado and dried chile pasillo strips are presented in a bowl, over which is then poured the tomato-based broth. Unfortunately the rich and distinctive flavor of the chile is not readily apparent due to the way the soup is served, so it’s best to either stir and wait, or add some salsa and fresh lime juice to achieve maximum zestiness … unless you have a cowardly palate.
Arlene ordered the guachinango (snapper), deviating from her general rule of avoiding fish and seafood while in Mexico’s interior. This new menu item is a keeper. Two good-size portions of properly pouched pisces, each wrapped in aromatic yierba santa leaf, were offered on a plate ringed with salsa guajillo. Once again there was a healthy bit of heat, and different textures provided by plaintain, nopal and jícama.
Our only regret was not having had an opportunity to sample some of the other natural fruit and vegetable combination juices and one of the hale and hearty sandwiches, for which La Olla is known. Perhaps next time … with alfalfa sprouts on the side, por favor.
La Olla
Calle Reforma No. 402
Centro Histórico, Oaxaca
Hours: Mon – Sat, 8 am – 10 pm
Live music Fri and Sat night, 8 – 10
T: (951) 516-6668
W: http://www.laolla.com.mx
E: bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Sit down in most small restaurants in Oaxaca, order the comida corrida (full meal, daily special) and as fast as the Flying Burrito Brothers your server arrives with a bowl of tepid soup with miniscule floating grease bubbles, a healthy portion of fried-in-oil-then-boiled white rice flecked with cubed carrot, a small piece of overcooked meat or poultry swimming in a scrumptiously tangy mole, a glass of fruity water-of-the-day (agua del día), and a two-inch slab of flan to finish … on the other hand there’s La Olla.
At popular downtown bistro-style restaurant La Olla, whether patrons indeed order the daily special, or select from the menu, co-owner-chef Pilar Cabrera offers the polar opposite --- a healthy yet flavorful and traditionally herbed alternative. She and husband Luis for years have had a faithful following of tourists and residents alike. This welcoming oasis has managed to thrive without my business, I suppose because while living in Oaxaca I’ve learned to live with lard, pine for Pan Bimbo and bolillos (respectively, the Mexican equivalent to starch-white Wonderbread, and crusty Portuguese-style buns), and search out everything else sugary, processed and refined. The sixties’ all-things-good-for-you mentality had been baked out of mind forever, or so I had thought.
La Olla is a thirty-seat eatery with simple wooden tables and chairs and an adobe-brick and hand-painted tile hearth as focal point, on the main floor. A larger dining room with bar is upstairs. The restaurant is adorned with art by Oaxacan artists who exhibit on a rotating basis.
On this visit, my wife and our daughter Sarah chose from la carta, while I, daring the kitchen to even try to reduce my cholesterol level, opted for the 70 peso complete comida. Almost immediately upon being seated, a small loaf of fresh, hand-sliced whole grain bread, alongside tortilla chips, arrived in a basket, accompanied by butter, salsa and marinated vegetables. Predictably, Arlene gravitated towards the un-husked while I munched on the fried masa (corn).
I hadn’t drank anything green since listening to Deep Purple, Moby Grape and the early years of Pink Floyd, so when tall soda-fountain glasses of what appeared to be murky algae arrived, I was aghast --- pineapple celery juice. I had no choice. I wasn’t even asked if I would prefer Red Bull, or anything else with first ingredient dextrose, fructose or caffeine. It was well-chilled, with just the right combination of fruit and vegetable so as to provide a refreshing naturally sweet nectar, neither ingredient masking the flavor of the other.
The psychedelia continued. Who would ever think of combining peanuts, jícama (yam bean), orange pieces and boiled beet in its juices, and then having the nerve to call it a salad? I was in a purple haze. Definitely not the limp lettuce to which I’d become accustomed, drenched in a sea of joyful oil. Crunch and munch, followed by a sunburst of citrus, then soft legume, with seemingly more flavors, textures, colors and tones than the totality of each individual component.
Thankfully my soup held no surprises, although lima beans are not normally regular restaurant fare in Oaxaca, or elsewhere in this hemisphere. They were complemented by nopal (paddle cactus), onion, tomato with seed, and cheese, chile providing the requisite bite. Once again, attention had been paid to ensuring different degrees of consistency.
The chicken fajitas, on the other hand, were not as expected. But by this time I had reverted to my former self of decades long past, and willingly welcomed a main dish lacking excess grease. The strips of chicken breast were tender. The vegetables had been prepared separately so as to maintain their individual, appropriate degrees of doneness. The liquid was more in the nature of light stew juices than canola á la wok. The seasoning was Italian, yet with the pleasing essence of fresh cilantro predominating.
Sarah’s organic salad mirrored mine in terms of flavor and texture, but was sliced baked apple, watermelon chunks, flax seed and goat cheese. Her sopa azteca was inimitably served. Most Oaxacan restaurants serve all ingredients already combined, or the potage and some ingredients arriving already mixed together with those remaining on the side. At La Olla the tortilla slivers, cubed queso (cheese), avocado and dried chile pasillo strips are presented in a bowl, over which is then poured the tomato-based broth. Unfortunately the rich and distinctive flavor of the chile is not readily apparent due to the way the soup is served, so it’s best to either stir and wait, or add some salsa and fresh lime juice to achieve maximum zestiness … unless you have a cowardly palate.
Arlene ordered the guachinango (snapper), deviating from her general rule of avoiding fish and seafood while in Mexico’s interior. This new menu item is a keeper. Two good-size portions of properly pouched pisces, each wrapped in aromatic yierba santa leaf, were offered on a plate ringed with salsa guajillo. Once again there was a healthy bit of heat, and different textures provided by plaintain, nopal and jícama.
Our only regret was not having had an opportunity to sample some of the other natural fruit and vegetable combination juices and one of the hale and hearty sandwiches, for which La Olla is known. Perhaps next time … with alfalfa sprouts on the side, por favor.
La Olla
Calle Reforma No. 402
Centro Histórico, Oaxaca
Hours: Mon – Sat, 8 am – 10 pm
Live music Fri and Sat night, 8 – 10
T: (951) 516-6668
W: http://www.laolla.com.mx
E: bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
7/25/2007
La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School
La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
If visitors to Oaxacan cooking school La Casa de los Sabores came away with nothing more than great recipes and a gastronomic meal rich in unique herb- and spice-accented flavor combinations that are the hallmark of Oaxacan cuisine, they would leave fully satisfied. But a visit with owner and chef extraordinaire Pilar Cabrera also inspires and sates travelers with a sensual day-long immersion into sights, sounds, smells and, yes, tastes and time-tested recipes of southern Mexico.
As always, a recent culinary odyssey with Pili, as she is known, began at La Casa de los Sabores first thing in the morning – at 9:30 a.m. Over the next few hours, she introduced me and the others in the class to the wisdom and experience of her great matriarchal culinary tradition. Pili learned the basics and the subtleties, including the mysteries of the famed seven moles, from her grandmother, who learned from her grandmother before her. She is a Oaxaca-born master of southern Mexico cookery as well as international epicurean trends, capable of sharing the secrets of preparing the most multifarious meal with novice and expert alike – in English and in Spanish.
Our day began with Pili's informal talk about the menu and the foods she was going to introduce us to in one of Oaxaca’s colorful markets. The extra attention to the key ingredients of Oaxacan cuisine kept us spellbound. “What we will achieve today with the chilis," she told us, "is hot and tropical … with the Chile de agua, you will see we use it not only for flavor but color as well, and I will teach you how we keep this beautiful, brilliant green.”
Once prepared with this knowledge, we all embarked on a shopping trip to the well-known marketplace, Mercado de La Merced, armed with multhued bolsas – market bags – to carry the compras – purchases. Pili had readied a partial shopping list, but, she advised us, she always adds "surprises," such as fresh foodstuffs which peasant women from the mountains sometimes bring down.
“When you have a chance to find something real special or unusual, you buy and incorporate into the comida," she explained. "Today, for instance, we look for mushrooms, because they grow so beautifully in the rainy season. Also, we will see what kind of fresh fruit we can use for the dessert.”
Her insights into the unique stores and small factories enriched the short walk to the market. A rich bouquet drew us into a mill that was making chocolate from scratch. As Pilar told us about the ingredients – cacao, cinnamon, almonds and sugar – the owner welcomed us with, “do you want to taste?”
The lesson began in earnest when Pilar began methodically searching through the indoor and outdoor portions of the marketplace and exchanging pesos for its plethora of fresh produce.
“Look at that lady sitting there, what she has in those bowls," she said. "She just brought those raspberries and blackberries from the Sierra Juarez. We can use them for the dessert. Notice how fresh and beautiful. The mushrooms beside them, see the size, how big and the bright orange color … this is the time of year, but not for our recipe today … Over here, we don’t buy the big green tomatillos. I prefer the little ones grown locally because they are not acidy like the others, and they have much more flavor, perfect for the salsa we are preparing today.”
She encouraged us to smell the herbs as she explained their use in particular Oaxacan dishes. “Today we use this yierba santa for the mole,” she said as she was examining samples of the fragrant leaf until she'd found the best and freshest for storage in one of our bolsas. “But we also use it to wrap fish and make tamales."
Lynet who had been in Puerto Escondido on the Oaxacan coast for six months, expressed the wish of many as she lamented, “I wish I’d been in this class at the beginning of our trip.”
Our enthusiasm and our appetites grew once we returned to Doña Pili’s well-equipped, spacious kitchen. Its wide counters, food preparation island and eight-burner gas stove opening onto the lush courtyard dining area made this cocina into an ideal classroom.
While we were reviewing printed recipe sheets for the dishes we were about to prepare, she displayed our purchases in baskets filled with the components of each recipe to help us learn why we bought what. Then we spent the next two hours preparing a sumptuous four-course meal.
Mary, her sous-chef, did preparatory work such as halving limes, slicing chilies and preparing chicken stock and poultry for the mole, freeing Pili to teach us the rituals and secrets of Oaxacan culinary seduction. Sparks from Pilar’s hearth of experience ignited even the most learned in the class as she pointed, touched, and passed around each item we purchased, telling us how it would be incorporated into the meal.
Once the actual cooking began, she put her bilingualism to good use, giving instructions and asking questions in one language, then repeating it in the other, as required by some of her visitors. “Necesito otro ayudante para quesillo, I need another helper for the cheese.” Pilar might as well be a Maestra de Español, a Spanish teacher to boot.
Everyone learned each task and participated in the preparation of virtually all menu items. And as the group peeled, diced and sautéd, Pili's gems of information flowed on.
We learned much more than how to achieve flavor. Pilar taught us techniques on how to attain desired tones and textures: “A lot of people ask me about cleaning mushrooms,” she said at one point, demonstrating the correct technique. “Now watch to see how we clean and seed this kind of chili,” she pointed out while preparing chile guajillo for the mole. “Once we start cooking these chile de agua, we need to remember to always check them and turn them constantly.”
“Look for the hot part of the comal … now this is when you know when to turn it over,” she said while demonstrating the art and science of making tortillas.
Every once in a while a new recipe rolled off the tip of her tongue as we worked … other dishes we could prepare with this particular mole; different fillings for the quesadillas such as potato, chorizo or huitlacoche, the exotic corn mold ... the texture we would want for the corn masa if we were making tamales rather than tortillas.
Soon, aprons removed, we were ready to feast. But first – “now before we sit down, remember in the market I told you there were two types of gusano worm? Here they are, so who wants to try?" she asked. “Now know about mezcal. Taste this one Alvin brought, and tell us how it seems to you. Here’s another kind. What do you think is different about this one?”
We sat down at a table exquisitely set with local hand-made linens, dishes and stemware. Bottles of Mexican and Chilean red wine were already breathing. The fine music of Oaxacan songstress Lila Downs serenaded us in the background.
Pilar reminded us that her grandmother and other relatives usually prepare their comidas with meat and all vegetables mixed together in the mole, a plate of rice on the side, and a bowl of broth. But our meal, like all the recipes she prepares with visitors at La Casa de los Sabores, would be her modern take on all the elements and flavor combinations of the best that contemporary Oaxacan cookery has to offer.
It was a celebration of every ingredient. We began with wild mushroom, onion, tomato, chili and cheese stuffing in the quesadillas de champiñones (mushroom quesadillas), complemented perfectly by smoky salsa verde asada (green sauce from the grill) served in its molcajete. Then it was time to calm our palates with bright yellow crema de flor de calabaza (cream of squash blossom soup), garnished with a drizzle of real cream, toasted calabaza seeds and indeed fresh squash blossoms. The main course or plato fuerte was mole amarillo – tender slices of chicken breast atop a sea of aromatic deep saffron-colored mole, accompanied by a medley of crunchy-fresh steamed vegetables. To conclude, arroz con leche (rice pudding), speared with a length of wild vanilla bean and crowned with berries that had been picked only the day before.
I left convinced that the grandest chefs at the most trendy Manhattan beaneries would be hard-pressed to compete with this petite Oaxaqueña's ability to marry the region’s complex cooking with post-modern attention to color, texture and flare. For Pilar Cabrera, it comes naturally. For the rest of us, it comes with a visit to her home.
La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School is located at Libres 205, in downtown Oaxaca. Maximum class size is 8, with private lessons available upon request. You can register for Pilar’s classes by calling (951) 516-5704 or e-mailing her at: bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx. ( Website: http://www.laolla.com.mx )
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
If visitors to Oaxacan cooking school La Casa de los Sabores came away with nothing more than great recipes and a gastronomic meal rich in unique herb- and spice-accented flavor combinations that are the hallmark of Oaxacan cuisine, they would leave fully satisfied. But a visit with owner and chef extraordinaire Pilar Cabrera also inspires and sates travelers with a sensual day-long immersion into sights, sounds, smells and, yes, tastes and time-tested recipes of southern Mexico.
As always, a recent culinary odyssey with Pili, as she is known, began at La Casa de los Sabores first thing in the morning – at 9:30 a.m. Over the next few hours, she introduced me and the others in the class to the wisdom and experience of her great matriarchal culinary tradition. Pili learned the basics and the subtleties, including the mysteries of the famed seven moles, from her grandmother, who learned from her grandmother before her. She is a Oaxaca-born master of southern Mexico cookery as well as international epicurean trends, capable of sharing the secrets of preparing the most multifarious meal with novice and expert alike – in English and in Spanish.
Our day began with Pili's informal talk about the menu and the foods she was going to introduce us to in one of Oaxaca’s colorful markets. The extra attention to the key ingredients of Oaxacan cuisine kept us spellbound. “What we will achieve today with the chilis," she told us, "is hot and tropical … with the Chile de agua, you will see we use it not only for flavor but color as well, and I will teach you how we keep this beautiful, brilliant green.”
Once prepared with this knowledge, we all embarked on a shopping trip to the well-known marketplace, Mercado de La Merced, armed with multhued bolsas – market bags – to carry the compras – purchases. Pili had readied a partial shopping list, but, she advised us, she always adds "surprises," such as fresh foodstuffs which peasant women from the mountains sometimes bring down.
“When you have a chance to find something real special or unusual, you buy and incorporate into the comida," she explained. "Today, for instance, we look for mushrooms, because they grow so beautifully in the rainy season. Also, we will see what kind of fresh fruit we can use for the dessert.”
Her insights into the unique stores and small factories enriched the short walk to the market. A rich bouquet drew us into a mill that was making chocolate from scratch. As Pilar told us about the ingredients – cacao, cinnamon, almonds and sugar – the owner welcomed us with, “do you want to taste?”
The lesson began in earnest when Pilar began methodically searching through the indoor and outdoor portions of the marketplace and exchanging pesos for its plethora of fresh produce.
“Look at that lady sitting there, what she has in those bowls," she said. "She just brought those raspberries and blackberries from the Sierra Juarez. We can use them for the dessert. Notice how fresh and beautiful. The mushrooms beside them, see the size, how big and the bright orange color … this is the time of year, but not for our recipe today … Over here, we don’t buy the big green tomatillos. I prefer the little ones grown locally because they are not acidy like the others, and they have much more flavor, perfect for the salsa we are preparing today.”
She encouraged us to smell the herbs as she explained their use in particular Oaxacan dishes. “Today we use this yierba santa for the mole,” she said as she was examining samples of the fragrant leaf until she'd found the best and freshest for storage in one of our bolsas. “But we also use it to wrap fish and make tamales."
Lynet who had been in Puerto Escondido on the Oaxacan coast for six months, expressed the wish of many as she lamented, “I wish I’d been in this class at the beginning of our trip.”
Our enthusiasm and our appetites grew once we returned to Doña Pili’s well-equipped, spacious kitchen. Its wide counters, food preparation island and eight-burner gas stove opening onto the lush courtyard dining area made this cocina into an ideal classroom.
While we were reviewing printed recipe sheets for the dishes we were about to prepare, she displayed our purchases in baskets filled with the components of each recipe to help us learn why we bought what. Then we spent the next two hours preparing a sumptuous four-course meal.
Mary, her sous-chef, did preparatory work such as halving limes, slicing chilies and preparing chicken stock and poultry for the mole, freeing Pili to teach us the rituals and secrets of Oaxacan culinary seduction. Sparks from Pilar’s hearth of experience ignited even the most learned in the class as she pointed, touched, and passed around each item we purchased, telling us how it would be incorporated into the meal.
Once the actual cooking began, she put her bilingualism to good use, giving instructions and asking questions in one language, then repeating it in the other, as required by some of her visitors. “Necesito otro ayudante para quesillo, I need another helper for the cheese.” Pilar might as well be a Maestra de Español, a Spanish teacher to boot.
Everyone learned each task and participated in the preparation of virtually all menu items. And as the group peeled, diced and sautéd, Pili's gems of information flowed on.
We learned much more than how to achieve flavor. Pilar taught us techniques on how to attain desired tones and textures: “A lot of people ask me about cleaning mushrooms,” she said at one point, demonstrating the correct technique. “Now watch to see how we clean and seed this kind of chili,” she pointed out while preparing chile guajillo for the mole. “Once we start cooking these chile de agua, we need to remember to always check them and turn them constantly.”
“Look for the hot part of the comal … now this is when you know when to turn it over,” she said while demonstrating the art and science of making tortillas.
Every once in a while a new recipe rolled off the tip of her tongue as we worked … other dishes we could prepare with this particular mole; different fillings for the quesadillas such as potato, chorizo or huitlacoche, the exotic corn mold ... the texture we would want for the corn masa if we were making tamales rather than tortillas.
Soon, aprons removed, we were ready to feast. But first – “now before we sit down, remember in the market I told you there were two types of gusano worm? Here they are, so who wants to try?" she asked. “Now know about mezcal. Taste this one Alvin brought, and tell us how it seems to you. Here’s another kind. What do you think is different about this one?”
We sat down at a table exquisitely set with local hand-made linens, dishes and stemware. Bottles of Mexican and Chilean red wine were already breathing. The fine music of Oaxacan songstress Lila Downs serenaded us in the background.
Pilar reminded us that her grandmother and other relatives usually prepare their comidas with meat and all vegetables mixed together in the mole, a plate of rice on the side, and a bowl of broth. But our meal, like all the recipes she prepares with visitors at La Casa de los Sabores, would be her modern take on all the elements and flavor combinations of the best that contemporary Oaxacan cookery has to offer.
It was a celebration of every ingredient. We began with wild mushroom, onion, tomato, chili and cheese stuffing in the quesadillas de champiñones (mushroom quesadillas), complemented perfectly by smoky salsa verde asada (green sauce from the grill) served in its molcajete. Then it was time to calm our palates with bright yellow crema de flor de calabaza (cream of squash blossom soup), garnished with a drizzle of real cream, toasted calabaza seeds and indeed fresh squash blossoms. The main course or plato fuerte was mole amarillo – tender slices of chicken breast atop a sea of aromatic deep saffron-colored mole, accompanied by a medley of crunchy-fresh steamed vegetables. To conclude, arroz con leche (rice pudding), speared with a length of wild vanilla bean and crowned with berries that had been picked only the day before.
I left convinced that the grandest chefs at the most trendy Manhattan beaneries would be hard-pressed to compete with this petite Oaxaqueña's ability to marry the region’s complex cooking with post-modern attention to color, texture and flare. For Pilar Cabrera, it comes naturally. For the rest of us, it comes with a visit to her home.
La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School is located at Libres 205, in downtown Oaxaca. Maximum class size is 8, with private lessons available upon request. You can register for Pilar’s classes by calling (951) 516-5704 or e-mailing her at: bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx. ( Website: http://www.laolla.com.mx )
7/08/2007
El Faro: Oaxaca Restaurant Review
First in a series on safe, local eateries for the paranoid yet curious traveler to Oaxaca…
EL FARO: OAXACA RESTAURANT REVIEW
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Swing open the saloon doors, walk down a few steps, and have a seat at one of the ten or so orange arborite tables. Clint Eastwood might have parked himself on a wooden stool, instead of a matching 1960’s vinyl covered stainless steel padded chair, but you get the idea. And yet somehow, the shiny, brand spanking new digital juke box does not seem particularly incongruous.
El Faro is a small bar in Colonia Reforma, about a ten minute taxi ride from Oaxaca’s zócalo, serving nothing but liquor and the finest in typical, filling, and usually fried finger foods and other quickly prepared local fare.
The purpose of this visit was to try the reknowned marinated onions and then have co-owner Marta provide our pre-arranged lesson on how to prepare them. But our hostess was so gracious and accommodating, and more importantly willing to sell the preparation to us in bulk, that the working part of the adventure thankfully fell by the wayside. Now down to indulging…nothing left to do but munch away and imbibe. But be careful with the latter. Liquor is served clearly without any consideration given to portioning, and a couple of drinks will leave you feeling like four.
Los tragos arrive promptly, alongside shelled peanuts, made on the premises with course salt and spices, a Oaxacan staple. Of course quartered limes, sal de gusano, and other accompaniments arrive depending on choice of beverage.
The parade then begins, starting with a burst of smoky flavor and spice constituting our marinated onion slices. While vinegar is the main ingredient, the unique and appealing flavor of chile pasillo, with a mixture of spices, predominates, creating an appealing uniqueness. Certainly it bears some similarity to piedrasos, often sold on street corners in large glass containers and served with marinated vegetables over giant chunks of toasted bread. So encountering this tart treasure in a sit-down environment was indeed a true find.
A tlayuda is set before us in short order, prepared without any excess baggage. The large crunchy oversized baked tortilla is made with requisite asiento (schmaltz, as my grandmother would say, but this fat isn’t from a chicken) and a thin paste of chile de arbol, topped with queso. Forget the vegetables, refried beans and meat typifying most tlayuda toppings. All in due course.
Marinated serrano chiles with onion slices (rajas), additional salsas, and guacamole follow, rounding out the sides.
A plate of fast-fried potato pieces known as bolas de fuego (fire balls) is placed before us. Seasoned with some type of chile, perhaps paprika, and without a doubt garlic, these crisp-on-the-outside golden goodies do not disappoint, being true to their name.
Frijoles con pata consists of black beans served in a bowl with boiled pork foot. It’s a traditional dish, and in fact our Oaxacan friends ate the gelatinous vittles with great gusto. But it’s equally a taste, and texture, which many North Americans take time to acquire. Fifteen years later, we’re still working on it. The salsas do help.
The empanadas de seso (beef brain) are the best we’ve had anywhere, anytime. While fried as is the custom, these little filled turnovers are lacking the customary double dose of oil, making them as close to a baked botana as one can find. Guacamole is the preferred dipping sauce, since there’s already a bit of spice in the stuffing.
We rounded out our experience with two meat dishes combined on a single platter: costillas enchiladas (spare ribs coated with a chile mixture) which were well cooked as I had requested, and had plenty of meat on and off the bone; and tasajo (a thin filet of lightly seasoned beef) which arrived tender and juicy, and not at all over-cooked (often an issue in Oaxacan eateries), already cut into (large) bite sized pieces.
El Faro isn’t for every traveler. But there are many who walk by such establishments, take and quick peek in, are clearly intrigued, and then say “no, we’d better not.” At El Faro, you can.
El Faro. Jasminez 222-B, Colonia Reforma. Mon to Sat, 9am to 10pm
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
EL FARO: OAXACA RESTAURANT REVIEW
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Swing open the saloon doors, walk down a few steps, and have a seat at one of the ten or so orange arborite tables. Clint Eastwood might have parked himself on a wooden stool, instead of a matching 1960’s vinyl covered stainless steel padded chair, but you get the idea. And yet somehow, the shiny, brand spanking new digital juke box does not seem particularly incongruous.
El Faro is a small bar in Colonia Reforma, about a ten minute taxi ride from Oaxaca’s zócalo, serving nothing but liquor and the finest in typical, filling, and usually fried finger foods and other quickly prepared local fare.
The purpose of this visit was to try the reknowned marinated onions and then have co-owner Marta provide our pre-arranged lesson on how to prepare them. But our hostess was so gracious and accommodating, and more importantly willing to sell the preparation to us in bulk, that the working part of the adventure thankfully fell by the wayside. Now down to indulging…nothing left to do but munch away and imbibe. But be careful with the latter. Liquor is served clearly without any consideration given to portioning, and a couple of drinks will leave you feeling like four.
Los tragos arrive promptly, alongside shelled peanuts, made on the premises with course salt and spices, a Oaxacan staple. Of course quartered limes, sal de gusano, and other accompaniments arrive depending on choice of beverage.
The parade then begins, starting with a burst of smoky flavor and spice constituting our marinated onion slices. While vinegar is the main ingredient, the unique and appealing flavor of chile pasillo, with a mixture of spices, predominates, creating an appealing uniqueness. Certainly it bears some similarity to piedrasos, often sold on street corners in large glass containers and served with marinated vegetables over giant chunks of toasted bread. So encountering this tart treasure in a sit-down environment was indeed a true find.
A tlayuda is set before us in short order, prepared without any excess baggage. The large crunchy oversized baked tortilla is made with requisite asiento (schmaltz, as my grandmother would say, but this fat isn’t from a chicken) and a thin paste of chile de arbol, topped with queso. Forget the vegetables, refried beans and meat typifying most tlayuda toppings. All in due course.
Marinated serrano chiles with onion slices (rajas), additional salsas, and guacamole follow, rounding out the sides.
A plate of fast-fried potato pieces known as bolas de fuego (fire balls) is placed before us. Seasoned with some type of chile, perhaps paprika, and without a doubt garlic, these crisp-on-the-outside golden goodies do not disappoint, being true to their name.
Frijoles con pata consists of black beans served in a bowl with boiled pork foot. It’s a traditional dish, and in fact our Oaxacan friends ate the gelatinous vittles with great gusto. But it’s equally a taste, and texture, which many North Americans take time to acquire. Fifteen years later, we’re still working on it. The salsas do help.
The empanadas de seso (beef brain) are the best we’ve had anywhere, anytime. While fried as is the custom, these little filled turnovers are lacking the customary double dose of oil, making them as close to a baked botana as one can find. Guacamole is the preferred dipping sauce, since there’s already a bit of spice in the stuffing.
We rounded out our experience with two meat dishes combined on a single platter: costillas enchiladas (spare ribs coated with a chile mixture) which were well cooked as I had requested, and had plenty of meat on and off the bone; and tasajo (a thin filet of lightly seasoned beef) which arrived tender and juicy, and not at all over-cooked (often an issue in Oaxacan eateries), already cut into (large) bite sized pieces.
El Faro isn’t for every traveler. But there are many who walk by such establishments, take and quick peek in, are clearly intrigued, and then say “no, we’d better not.” At El Faro, you can.
El Faro. Jasminez 222-B, Colonia Reforma. Mon to Sat, 9am to 10pm
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
Temazcal in Oaxaca
TEMAZCAL IN OAXACA
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Curandera Doña Mariana chants while controlling your body with the laying of water over hot rock, as the mysterious meandering of a range of herbal bouquets piques the olfactory sense. Traditional healer, or pleasing dominatrix? She methodically swats almost every inch of your torso, and each limb, with varying degrees of assertiveness and pressure. Yet she is ever so gentle. She reassures you of her command over process and purpose: relaxation, rejuvenation and healing: “Qué salga el mal; qué entre el bien,” she cajoles. Out with the bad; in with the good.
Mariana Emilia Arroyo Cabrera is a temazcalera, expert in the ancient pre-Hispanic science and ceremony of temazcal. The heart of temazcal is entry into a dark chamber filled with steam and select aromatic plants and herbs, and being carefully guided through ritual stages by one who has learned function, effect and procedure through years of training.
Temazcal is akin to the Iroquois sweat lodge of which many of us have heard and read in the course of our childhood education into the disappearing cultures of our First Nations, the original inhabitants of our homeland. Who would have thought that we could ever have such a first-hand experience during modern times? One of the treasures for visitors to, and in my case residents of, Oaxaca.
Doña Mariana’s pedigree dates to the knowledge of curative plants and uses of the temazcal she gained from her Zapoteca grandmother, supplemented by thirty years of training and experience as a nurse in Oaxaca. Zapotec is one of sixteen indigenous cultures still thriving today in the state of Oaxaca. It is one of several which count temazcal as an important method for healing through sweat and herbal medicine.
Historically, many societies have considered sweating as being both therapeutic and healing. Hippocrates based a well-known saying, “give me a fever and I can cure any disease,” on his knowledge that sweating removes toxins. Many viral agents and bacteria cannot survive at much above normal body temperature, so when we sweat we can literally rid ourselves of some illnesses. Important endocrine glands are stimulated by an inner rise in temperature, with impurities in many body organs being flushed out as capillaries dilate and the heart increases its pace to keep up with the demand for blood. And in a sweat bath where rocks are heated and water is poured over them, an abundance of negative ions is released into the air, combating fatigue and tenseness.*
Doña Mariana uses fifteen plants and herbs, predominated by eucalyptus, rosemary and basil, in the course of conducting a temazcal. The grounds of her home are her pharmacy.
On this particular visit my wife and I walk from the entranceway, to the lodge and massage rooms through an impressive garden of bushes, trees, herbs and grasses. We are particularly struck by the flowering plants and butterflies. As I stroll I recall Dorothy awakening in Munchkinland and opening her eyes for the first time.
We are ever so methodically taken through the steps in advance. Doña Mariana explains how she controls the temperature and vapor, and uses fragrant herbs and branches. She tells us what to expect upon exiting the temazcal in preparation for the massage stage of the experience.
Our healer provides us with assurances before, and as she will in the course of the temazcal that she is in careful control of our bodies and minds, allaying any preconceived concerns or stressors one might encounter as levels of temperature and steam increase.
Then it begins…Draped in a cotton sheet, seated with only my partner and the curandera, eyes closed to the blackness of the small, low-roofed thatched hut, quiet words in Spanish and in an indigenous tongue, deliberate chants, as well as sweet song, while my body is being patted and rubbed with leafy twigs. Surges of different herbal scents sweep in front of me, reminiscent of waves of heat I’ve encountered while slowly paddling down a tropical lagoon. “Qué salga el mal; qué entre el bien.”
I’m being cleansed, that welcomed relaxation taking over my soul. As I float into a native past I’m now coming to better understand and appreciate, I hear “En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo” --- “In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit.” It’s one of several incongruities in Oaxaca, as between the pride in, and ongoing cultural traditions of indigenous populations, and then the knowledge of the destruction heaped upon the populace by the conquest, and The Church.
The Spanish tried to destroy the temazcal tradition because of its association with worship of deities. It survives, with most aspects of the purity of its tradition intact.
Doña Mariana leads us out of the lodge, on our knees, a new awakening, with fresh dry sheets enveloped around us as we drop the soaked ones, without inhibition. Her assistant is ever so attentive, directing us to the adjoining massage area with mattresses on the floor, soft, colorful hand-embroidered swaths of cloth embracing the walls … and Jesus and The Virgin watching over us, a focal point of the room. No need, though, for Doña Mariana now joined by her able helper and masseuse, continue to be our sole source of comfort, guidance and reassurance.
Several minutes of calm and quiet follow, lying face down, alone in the room as it should be, with only my life partner, reborn together, as soft relaxation music begins. We’re resting in silence, though my mind slowly returns to the practicalities of life. Will the young Zapoteca massage each of us? Has Doña Mariana finished taking us to a certain point in the journey, now turning over control to her apprentice? With the momentary nakedness in the presence of three women, the experience takes on a subtle undercurrent of healthy sensuality, at least for me, and perhaps for my partner. Not the thought process to which one might normally admit, I would think, but no matter. It would perhaps continue, and build, if no one entered the room for an hour. And it would make no difference if I was to be massaged by the younger masseuse or Doña Mariana. I would be equally satisfied and fulfilled with the 20-year-old Oaxaqueña or the 60-year- old Doña Mariana touching the totality of my body, as Doña Mariana has assured, “from the tips of your toes to the top your head, you will be given a full massage.”
And so beside one another, we partake in the final phase of the process, each of us massaged simultaneously, the continuity of the temazcal in tact as creams and unknown substances are rubbed into our bodies, again producing currents of natural fragrances, although different from before.
The two women leave within a few moments of one another. When the music’s over, quiet and complete serenity return. After several minutes we prop ourselves up with pillows, and a tray with cups of lemongrass tea and glasses of mezcal is placed before us.
“Qué salga el mal; qué entre el bien” … at least until tomorrow, or perhaps until I have an opportunity to experience a vision quest.
You can make an appointment for a 2-hour combined temazcal/massage with Doña Mariana through Las Bugambilias. Email: bugambilias@lasbugambilias.com.
* from Burchac, Joseph. “The Native American Sweat Lodge/History and Legends.” Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1993.
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
Curandera Doña Mariana chants while controlling your body with the laying of water over hot rock, as the mysterious meandering of a range of herbal bouquets piques the olfactory sense. Traditional healer, or pleasing dominatrix? She methodically swats almost every inch of your torso, and each limb, with varying degrees of assertiveness and pressure. Yet she is ever so gentle. She reassures you of her command over process and purpose: relaxation, rejuvenation and healing: “Qué salga el mal; qué entre el bien,” she cajoles. Out with the bad; in with the good.
Mariana Emilia Arroyo Cabrera is a temazcalera, expert in the ancient pre-Hispanic science and ceremony of temazcal. The heart of temazcal is entry into a dark chamber filled with steam and select aromatic plants and herbs, and being carefully guided through ritual stages by one who has learned function, effect and procedure through years of training.
Temazcal is akin to the Iroquois sweat lodge of which many of us have heard and read in the course of our childhood education into the disappearing cultures of our First Nations, the original inhabitants of our homeland. Who would have thought that we could ever have such a first-hand experience during modern times? One of the treasures for visitors to, and in my case residents of, Oaxaca.
Doña Mariana’s pedigree dates to the knowledge of curative plants and uses of the temazcal she gained from her Zapoteca grandmother, supplemented by thirty years of training and experience as a nurse in Oaxaca. Zapotec is one of sixteen indigenous cultures still thriving today in the state of Oaxaca. It is one of several which count temazcal as an important method for healing through sweat and herbal medicine.
Historically, many societies have considered sweating as being both therapeutic and healing. Hippocrates based a well-known saying, “give me a fever and I can cure any disease,” on his knowledge that sweating removes toxins. Many viral agents and bacteria cannot survive at much above normal body temperature, so when we sweat we can literally rid ourselves of some illnesses. Important endocrine glands are stimulated by an inner rise in temperature, with impurities in many body organs being flushed out as capillaries dilate and the heart increases its pace to keep up with the demand for blood. And in a sweat bath where rocks are heated and water is poured over them, an abundance of negative ions is released into the air, combating fatigue and tenseness.*
Doña Mariana uses fifteen plants and herbs, predominated by eucalyptus, rosemary and basil, in the course of conducting a temazcal. The grounds of her home are her pharmacy.
On this particular visit my wife and I walk from the entranceway, to the lodge and massage rooms through an impressive garden of bushes, trees, herbs and grasses. We are particularly struck by the flowering plants and butterflies. As I stroll I recall Dorothy awakening in Munchkinland and opening her eyes for the first time.
We are ever so methodically taken through the steps in advance. Doña Mariana explains how she controls the temperature and vapor, and uses fragrant herbs and branches. She tells us what to expect upon exiting the temazcal in preparation for the massage stage of the experience.
Our healer provides us with assurances before, and as she will in the course of the temazcal that she is in careful control of our bodies and minds, allaying any preconceived concerns or stressors one might encounter as levels of temperature and steam increase.
Then it begins…Draped in a cotton sheet, seated with only my partner and the curandera, eyes closed to the blackness of the small, low-roofed thatched hut, quiet words in Spanish and in an indigenous tongue, deliberate chants, as well as sweet song, while my body is being patted and rubbed with leafy twigs. Surges of different herbal scents sweep in front of me, reminiscent of waves of heat I’ve encountered while slowly paddling down a tropical lagoon. “Qué salga el mal; qué entre el bien.”
I’m being cleansed, that welcomed relaxation taking over my soul. As I float into a native past I’m now coming to better understand and appreciate, I hear “En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo” --- “In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit.” It’s one of several incongruities in Oaxaca, as between the pride in, and ongoing cultural traditions of indigenous populations, and then the knowledge of the destruction heaped upon the populace by the conquest, and The Church.
The Spanish tried to destroy the temazcal tradition because of its association with worship of deities. It survives, with most aspects of the purity of its tradition intact.
Doña Mariana leads us out of the lodge, on our knees, a new awakening, with fresh dry sheets enveloped around us as we drop the soaked ones, without inhibition. Her assistant is ever so attentive, directing us to the adjoining massage area with mattresses on the floor, soft, colorful hand-embroidered swaths of cloth embracing the walls … and Jesus and The Virgin watching over us, a focal point of the room. No need, though, for Doña Mariana now joined by her able helper and masseuse, continue to be our sole source of comfort, guidance and reassurance.
Several minutes of calm and quiet follow, lying face down, alone in the room as it should be, with only my life partner, reborn together, as soft relaxation music begins. We’re resting in silence, though my mind slowly returns to the practicalities of life. Will the young Zapoteca massage each of us? Has Doña Mariana finished taking us to a certain point in the journey, now turning over control to her apprentice? With the momentary nakedness in the presence of three women, the experience takes on a subtle undercurrent of healthy sensuality, at least for me, and perhaps for my partner. Not the thought process to which one might normally admit, I would think, but no matter. It would perhaps continue, and build, if no one entered the room for an hour. And it would make no difference if I was to be massaged by the younger masseuse or Doña Mariana. I would be equally satisfied and fulfilled with the 20-year-old Oaxaqueña or the 60-year- old Doña Mariana touching the totality of my body, as Doña Mariana has assured, “from the tips of your toes to the top your head, you will be given a full massage.”
And so beside one another, we partake in the final phase of the process, each of us massaged simultaneously, the continuity of the temazcal in tact as creams and unknown substances are rubbed into our bodies, again producing currents of natural fragrances, although different from before.
The two women leave within a few moments of one another. When the music’s over, quiet and complete serenity return. After several minutes we prop ourselves up with pillows, and a tray with cups of lemongrass tea and glasses of mezcal is placed before us.
“Qué salga el mal; qué entre el bien” … at least until tomorrow, or perhaps until I have an opportunity to experience a vision quest.
You can make an appointment for a 2-hour combined temazcal/massage with Doña Mariana through Las Bugambilias. Email: bugambilias@lasbugambilias.com.
* from Burchac, Joseph. “The Native American Sweat Lodge/History and Legends.” Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1993.
Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.
7/07/2007
Accommodations in Oaxaca: Ants, Noise and Toilet Paper
ACCOMMODATIONS IN OAXACA:
ANTS, NOISE, AND TOILET PAPER
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
An examination of the occasional tourist review of quality, reputable bed and breakfast accommodations in Oaxaca, reveals commentaries on at least one popular travel website relating to noise, insects, smells and sanitation.
Travelers to a Southern, Third World country, who want at least partial immersion into the host society as an element of their total vacation, must recognize that their choice of accommodation is an integral ingredient of the overall experience. By virtue of not selecting a Holiday Inn, Fiesta Inn or high end hotel in another international chain, you’re making a statement, and it’s not necessarily about how much you can afford or choose to pay.
Tourists who opt to lodge in the quaint, traditional setting of a family-run bed and breakfast, guest house or small hotel in Oaxaca seek a taste of “the real Mexico,” and a personal touch… but such a choice at times comes with night-time noise, unfamiliar insects, the odd unpleasant odor, and house rules which our Western mores, fueled by ethnocentrism, might lead us to mistakenly believe result in unsanitary conditions.
Even opting for the more traditional lodging style is no guarantee that your experience will be any different. Oaxaca is Oaxaca … a UNESCO world heritage site, so it must, and of course does, have something special to offer, including its multiplicity of rich and diverse cultural traditions.
***************
Invite a middle class Oaxacan couple to vacation in your suburban home in Chicago, New York or Toronto. The unaccustomed, every morning before leaving for the day’s activities, will go outside and place a neatly tied plastic bag in the trash … soiled toilet tissue.
The state of Oaxaca, as is the case with many Mexican destinations, does not have the quality of waste removal infrastructure to which you are likely accustomed. Oaxacans have learned that the best way to avoid clogged and backed up drains, minimize the likelihood of unnecessary repair costs, be a considerate neighbor, and act in an ecologically responsible manner, is to not flush paper into either the municipal drainage system or the septic tank.
Although toilet paper has been around since late 14th century China, and the first flush toilet was developed in 1596, it seems as though we’re still struggling with the perfect recipe for excrement disposal … at least here in southern Mexico. But are we unsanitary? You be the judge: your hotel staff removing the bagged Charmin from the hotel every day or two; or running the risk of sewage coming up from the drain either in your lodging or outside on the street.
Your hosts will not ask you to leave for breaching this often unwritten rule, and they’ll probably never know that you’ve done so. But do consider their request. And by all means, when you have Mexican house guests with you in your home town, tell them they can, and should, flush it down.
Unpleasant odors are a fact of life from time to time in most rental accommodations, and in fact in the majority of Oaxacan households regardless of socio-economic rank of their inhabitants. It’s a function of antiquated municipal water delivery and waste removal systems. At certain times of the year our tap water arrives somewhat less than transparent, even though we religiously use and clean our filters---it’s even been known to happen in some major American and Canadian cities from time to time during a hot spell. The water is nevertheless safe without boiling or additional treatment, for bathing, doing dishes and other non-ingesting purposes. A partial solution is to order trucks, known as pipas, to fill our cisterns. The water usually, but not always, arrives crystal clear, sometimes even with a bit of green algae, evidencing its origin from a pure mountain spring, though not Irish.
In the rainy season at times sewers overflow and otherwise manage to create peculiar smells for a short while. We learn to control and eradicate such temporary scents in short order with one or more antiseptic-style formulations.
Noise and the prevalence of insects and small animals is a function of the lodging environment you choose. Certainly if you elect to stay on the top floor of a suburban hotel with hermetically sealed vinyl or aluminum windows facing a pool or alleyway, you’ll reduce the likelihood of encountering late-night noise and harmless tiny lizards.
Many travelers are drawn to downtown lodgings where inevitably there will be noise at night, predominantly from vehicular traffic, and as you get closer to the zócalo, from music and year-round fiestas. As you move out from the centro histórico, the quality of the din begins to change, at times characterized by canine barking, rooster calls and a plethora of other sounds echoing across the valley. Regardless of where travelers elect to stay, there will no doubt be the resonance of horns, bells, whistles and calls of vendors plying their wares, and of late night fireworks. This is part of the culture of southern Mexican society, on the one hand lacking noise bylaws (or at least their enforcement), and on the other evidencing a richness of tradition, albeit different from that within which most tourists to the region have been raised. Many visitors either purchase ear plugs at a local pharmacy or bring along their own, certainly doing the trick, if that’s what you want, that is to reduce the opportunity to enrich your oratory sense late night before retiring, and in the early morning hours.
Selecting a lodging style characterized by rooms with wooden doors and windows opening onto a lush courtyard, or perhaps a guest house with aesthetically pleasing adobe walls assuring tourists of a fresh and comfortable inside temperature no matter how hot it is outside, enables vacationers to enhance their Latin American travel experience. But you will see the odd spider, maybe even little lizards which keep mosquitoes in check, or ants or beetles depending on the time of year. It’s all a trade off, for both guests and their hosts. We fumigate periodically, but have environmental concerns as well. We might try to visually enhance our accommodations by putting art on the adobe walls, although this creates an ideal hiding place for harmless crawling insects. We maintain a rustic look with pine or cedar doors and windows which we might leave open during the day for fresh air circulation, and to welcome the pleasing perfume of flowering bushes in our gardens, but even with screens we cannot keep out every minute courtyard critter.
***************
The rewards of selecting an accommodation-type which fits into the context of the vacation experience you seek are innumerable. There are only two prerequisites: that you seek to understand, get used to and in certain cases welcome, and accept for at least a week or two, the lifestyle, worldview and cultural traditions of others who in fact are not all different from you; and that you remember that your hosts are dedicated to providing you with value-added service which above all will ensure your comfort, safety and security, and enjoyment of the magic of Oaxaca.
Alvin Starkman operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Until a house guest walked off with about 20 pairs of ear plugs from a night table drawer, he was gratuitously supplying them.
ANTS, NOISE, AND TOILET PAPER
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
An examination of the occasional tourist review of quality, reputable bed and breakfast accommodations in Oaxaca, reveals commentaries on at least one popular travel website relating to noise, insects, smells and sanitation.
Travelers to a Southern, Third World country, who want at least partial immersion into the host society as an element of their total vacation, must recognize that their choice of accommodation is an integral ingredient of the overall experience. By virtue of not selecting a Holiday Inn, Fiesta Inn or high end hotel in another international chain, you’re making a statement, and it’s not necessarily about how much you can afford or choose to pay.
Tourists who opt to lodge in the quaint, traditional setting of a family-run bed and breakfast, guest house or small hotel in Oaxaca seek a taste of “the real Mexico,” and a personal touch… but such a choice at times comes with night-time noise, unfamiliar insects, the odd unpleasant odor, and house rules which our Western mores, fueled by ethnocentrism, might lead us to mistakenly believe result in unsanitary conditions.
Even opting for the more traditional lodging style is no guarantee that your experience will be any different. Oaxaca is Oaxaca … a UNESCO world heritage site, so it must, and of course does, have something special to offer, including its multiplicity of rich and diverse cultural traditions.
***************
Invite a middle class Oaxacan couple to vacation in your suburban home in Chicago, New York or Toronto. The unaccustomed, every morning before leaving for the day’s activities, will go outside and place a neatly tied plastic bag in the trash … soiled toilet tissue.
The state of Oaxaca, as is the case with many Mexican destinations, does not have the quality of waste removal infrastructure to which you are likely accustomed. Oaxacans have learned that the best way to avoid clogged and backed up drains, minimize the likelihood of unnecessary repair costs, be a considerate neighbor, and act in an ecologically responsible manner, is to not flush paper into either the municipal drainage system or the septic tank.
Although toilet paper has been around since late 14th century China, and the first flush toilet was developed in 1596, it seems as though we’re still struggling with the perfect recipe for excrement disposal … at least here in southern Mexico. But are we unsanitary? You be the judge: your hotel staff removing the bagged Charmin from the hotel every day or two; or running the risk of sewage coming up from the drain either in your lodging or outside on the street.
Your hosts will not ask you to leave for breaching this often unwritten rule, and they’ll probably never know that you’ve done so. But do consider their request. And by all means, when you have Mexican house guests with you in your home town, tell them they can, and should, flush it down.
Unpleasant odors are a fact of life from time to time in most rental accommodations, and in fact in the majority of Oaxacan households regardless of socio-economic rank of their inhabitants. It’s a function of antiquated municipal water delivery and waste removal systems. At certain times of the year our tap water arrives somewhat less than transparent, even though we religiously use and clean our filters---it’s even been known to happen in some major American and Canadian cities from time to time during a hot spell. The water is nevertheless safe without boiling or additional treatment, for bathing, doing dishes and other non-ingesting purposes. A partial solution is to order trucks, known as pipas, to fill our cisterns. The water usually, but not always, arrives crystal clear, sometimes even with a bit of green algae, evidencing its origin from a pure mountain spring, though not Irish.
In the rainy season at times sewers overflow and otherwise manage to create peculiar smells for a short while. We learn to control and eradicate such temporary scents in short order with one or more antiseptic-style formulations.
Noise and the prevalence of insects and small animals is a function of the lodging environment you choose. Certainly if you elect to stay on the top floor of a suburban hotel with hermetically sealed vinyl or aluminum windows facing a pool or alleyway, you’ll reduce the likelihood of encountering late-night noise and harmless tiny lizards.
Many travelers are drawn to downtown lodgings where inevitably there will be noise at night, predominantly from vehicular traffic, and as you get closer to the zócalo, from music and year-round fiestas. As you move out from the centro histórico, the quality of the din begins to change, at times characterized by canine barking, rooster calls and a plethora of other sounds echoing across the valley. Regardless of where travelers elect to stay, there will no doubt be the resonance of horns, bells, whistles and calls of vendors plying their wares, and of late night fireworks. This is part of the culture of southern Mexican society, on the one hand lacking noise bylaws (or at least their enforcement), and on the other evidencing a richness of tradition, albeit different from that within which most tourists to the region have been raised. Many visitors either purchase ear plugs at a local pharmacy or bring along their own, certainly doing the trick, if that’s what you want, that is to reduce the opportunity to enrich your oratory sense late night before retiring, and in the early morning hours.
Selecting a lodging style characterized by rooms with wooden doors and windows opening onto a lush courtyard, or perhaps a guest house with aesthetically pleasing adobe walls assuring tourists of a fresh and comfortable inside temperature no matter how hot it is outside, enables vacationers to enhance their Latin American travel experience. But you will see the odd spider, maybe even little lizards which keep mosquitoes in check, or ants or beetles depending on the time of year. It’s all a trade off, for both guests and their hosts. We fumigate periodically, but have environmental concerns as well. We might try to visually enhance our accommodations by putting art on the adobe walls, although this creates an ideal hiding place for harmless crawling insects. We maintain a rustic look with pine or cedar doors and windows which we might leave open during the day for fresh air circulation, and to welcome the pleasing perfume of flowering bushes in our gardens, but even with screens we cannot keep out every minute courtyard critter.
***************
The rewards of selecting an accommodation-type which fits into the context of the vacation experience you seek are innumerable. There are only two prerequisites: that you seek to understand, get used to and in certain cases welcome, and accept for at least a week or two, the lifestyle, worldview and cultural traditions of others who in fact are not all different from you; and that you remember that your hosts are dedicated to providing you with value-added service which above all will ensure your comfort, safety and security, and enjoyment of the magic of Oaxaca.
Alvin Starkman operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Until a house guest walked off with about 20 pairs of ear plugs from a night table drawer, he was gratuitously supplying them.
6/27/2007
Wall Street Journal Oaxaca Update
A Treasure's Comeback Bid
After unrest, Oaxaca, city of temples and markets, tries to rebuild; discounts, few crowds
By JOSEPH ROSENBLOOMJune 23, 2007; Page P6
Oaxaca, Mexico
To sip a beer and savor the gentle night air at an outdoor cafe in the Zócalo ranks high on the must-do list of many tourists visiting this ancient city in southern Mexico. On a Monday evening earlier this year, however, workmen were sandblasting graffiti off the facade of the Governor's Palace on the south side of the square. The drone was a jarring reminder that all is not yet back to normal.
Corbis
The Monte Alban archaeological site in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Over some of the past year, Oaxaca, renowned for its colonial architecture and nearby Indian ruins, has been plagued by violence. Beginning last May, teachers' protests virtually shut down the city, with demonstrators occupying the Zócalo and clashing with police. As cafés, restaurants and stores closed, tourism ground to a halt.
Now, calm is slowly returning to Oaxaca, and the city is trying to rebuild its reputation as a safe destination for vacationers. Hotels are discounting rates by as much as 30%, restaurants aren't overrun by crowds, and some local businesses are trying to overcome the drop in tourism by expanding into bed-and-breakfasts and offering traditional cooking classes.
Despite its troubled history and remoteness -- roughly halfway between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico -- Oaxaca has long been a magnet for tourists. Its gracious colonial buildings and pastel-hued houses recall another era. The architecture, along with the city's many gilded churches, universities and museums, earned it a Unesco World Heritage listing in 1987.
TRIP PLANNER
See some tips on how to get to Oaxaca, where to say and what to eat.
The designation extends to the ruins of Monte Albán, a 20-minute drive from the city in the Valley of Oaxaca. The Zapotec Indians lived there from around 500 B.C. to A.D. 800. From the temples, the priests had panoramic views of the smoky-blue Sierra Madre Mountains and the green Valley of Oaxaca. The well-excavated remnants are one of Mexico's most intriguing archaeological sites.
During a recent visit, I also checked out the bustling Sunday market at Tlacolula, 20 miles east of Oaxaca. Copper-skinned Zapotecs from outlying villages, many of the men wearing 10-gallon straw hats and the women in gaily colored pinafores, jam the town's cobblestone streets to buy everything from dried chili peppers to pirated CDs.
The area around Oaxaca has a rich history of weaving, and just south of the Zócalo, a series of covered markets sells textiles, as well as pottery, wood carvings and locally produced foods.
In a sense, this is an ideal time to visit Oaxaca. Just 255,000 tourists came during the second half of last year when most of the violence occurred, down from 615,000 in the same period a year earlier, according to the state Secretariat of Tourism. At least eight protesters were killed and the overhang from the turmoil is still deterring visitors from coming to the area, says Beatriz Rodriguez Casanovas, the head of the Oaxacan state's tourism agency.
Is it safe to travel there now? At least one U.S. State Department official says yes, based on current conditions. The underlying issues concerning teachers' salaries and the state government are still unresolved, but Oaxaca remains calm.
A wood carver displaying his work
Recently, demonstrators have been staging peaceful sit-ins in the Zócalo as a reminder of their cause. Locals say they don't have the stomach for more violent forms of protest -- or the financial resources to withstand another year of sluggish tourism.
One way to check the pulse of Oaxaca's recovery is to turn an ear toward the window of Mark Leyes's second-story office on Alcalá Macedonia, the city's pedestrian north-south artery. Mr. Leyes is the U.S. consular agent in Oaxaca. When I stop by his office one sunny afternoon, he points out his open window. "During normal circumstances, the streets should have hundreds of people milling around out there," he says. "Right now, I don't hear anybody."
Roasted leg of lamb with Oaxacan black mole with spinach
In addition to fewer crowds, adventurous travelers will find plenty of room at hotels and reasonable rates -- as well an easier time finding a table at some of the city's best restaurants.
Oaxaca's distinctive cuisine draws travelers from within Mexico and beyond. Moles -- spicy sauces typically made from chilies and savory chocolate -- are the centerpiece and come in more varieties than found in many Mexican restaurants in the U.S. Though a handful of restaurants remain shuttered, there are still plenty of options. Try La Biznaga for chicken or beef with pungent mole.
The Young Weavers Work Shop and Cooperative now offers cooking classes and has opened a bed-and-breakfast. When I visited, there were no other tourists watching Gaspar Chávez demonstrate the cooperative's traditional rug-making methods, painstakingly produced on foot-pedal looms. "For eight months, we didn't sell anything," Mr. Chávez says of the cooperative's problems following last year's unrest. "We decided that, if we offered other things to the tourists, they'd buy more rugs."
For Hector Ramirez, his solution to the tourism decline is to try to diversify his woodcarving business in his yellow-stucco workshop in San Antonio Arrazola, a town on the western outskirts of Oaxaca. Rather than watch his inventory of alebrijes -- fanciful wooden figures depicting everything from cats to monsters -- gather dust, he has started marketing his product to galleries in San Francisco, Houston and other American cities. The galleries are demanding a steep markdown and getting it. When I tried to bargain with him, he shrugged his shoulders in resignation: "Something is better than nothing."
* * *
Trip Planner
• Where to Stay: Oaxaca's grandest hotel is the Camino Real, with rooms listed at between $280 and $425, but prices have dropped more than 50% at times this year (caminoreal.com/oaxaca_i/main.php). The Hostal Casantica, two blocks from the Zócalo, is a congenial alternative, with rates starting at about $75 (www.hotelcasantica.com). The hospitable Casa de las Bugambilias B&B, well-located a half-dozen blocks from the Zócalo, ranges from $85 to $105 (www.lasbugambilias.com). • Where to Eat: To sample creative versions of Oaxaca's traditional foods, try La Biznaga (Tel:951-516-1800 951-513-4308 951-516-6668
After unrest, Oaxaca, city of temples and markets, tries to rebuild; discounts, few crowds
By JOSEPH ROSENBLOOMJune 23, 2007; Page P6
Oaxaca, Mexico
To sip a beer and savor the gentle night air at an outdoor cafe in the Zócalo ranks high on the must-do list of many tourists visiting this ancient city in southern Mexico. On a Monday evening earlier this year, however, workmen were sandblasting graffiti off the facade of the Governor's Palace on the south side of the square. The drone was a jarring reminder that all is not yet back to normal.
Corbis
The Monte Alban archaeological site in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Over some of the past year, Oaxaca, renowned for its colonial architecture and nearby Indian ruins, has been plagued by violence. Beginning last May, teachers' protests virtually shut down the city, with demonstrators occupying the Zócalo and clashing with police. As cafés, restaurants and stores closed, tourism ground to a halt.
Now, calm is slowly returning to Oaxaca, and the city is trying to rebuild its reputation as a safe destination for vacationers. Hotels are discounting rates by as much as 30%, restaurants aren't overrun by crowds, and some local businesses are trying to overcome the drop in tourism by expanding into bed-and-breakfasts and offering traditional cooking classes.
Despite its troubled history and remoteness -- roughly halfway between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico -- Oaxaca has long been a magnet for tourists. Its gracious colonial buildings and pastel-hued houses recall another era. The architecture, along with the city's many gilded churches, universities and museums, earned it a Unesco World Heritage listing in 1987.
TRIP PLANNER
See some tips on how to get to Oaxaca, where to say and what to eat.
The designation extends to the ruins of Monte Albán, a 20-minute drive from the city in the Valley of Oaxaca. The Zapotec Indians lived there from around 500 B.C. to A.D. 800. From the temples, the priests had panoramic views of the smoky-blue Sierra Madre Mountains and the green Valley of Oaxaca. The well-excavated remnants are one of Mexico's most intriguing archaeological sites.
During a recent visit, I also checked out the bustling Sunday market at Tlacolula, 20 miles east of Oaxaca. Copper-skinned Zapotecs from outlying villages, many of the men wearing 10-gallon straw hats and the women in gaily colored pinafores, jam the town's cobblestone streets to buy everything from dried chili peppers to pirated CDs.
The area around Oaxaca has a rich history of weaving, and just south of the Zócalo, a series of covered markets sells textiles, as well as pottery, wood carvings and locally produced foods.
In a sense, this is an ideal time to visit Oaxaca. Just 255,000 tourists came during the second half of last year when most of the violence occurred, down from 615,000 in the same period a year earlier, according to the state Secretariat of Tourism. At least eight protesters were killed and the overhang from the turmoil is still deterring visitors from coming to the area, says Beatriz Rodriguez Casanovas, the head of the Oaxacan state's tourism agency.
Is it safe to travel there now? At least one U.S. State Department official says yes, based on current conditions. The underlying issues concerning teachers' salaries and the state government are still unresolved, but Oaxaca remains calm.
A wood carver displaying his work
Recently, demonstrators have been staging peaceful sit-ins in the Zócalo as a reminder of their cause. Locals say they don't have the stomach for more violent forms of protest -- or the financial resources to withstand another year of sluggish tourism.
One way to check the pulse of Oaxaca's recovery is to turn an ear toward the window of Mark Leyes's second-story office on Alcalá Macedonia, the city's pedestrian north-south artery. Mr. Leyes is the U.S. consular agent in Oaxaca. When I stop by his office one sunny afternoon, he points out his open window. "During normal circumstances, the streets should have hundreds of people milling around out there," he says. "Right now, I don't hear anybody."
Roasted leg of lamb with Oaxacan black mole with spinach
In addition to fewer crowds, adventurous travelers will find plenty of room at hotels and reasonable rates -- as well an easier time finding a table at some of the city's best restaurants.
Oaxaca's distinctive cuisine draws travelers from within Mexico and beyond. Moles -- spicy sauces typically made from chilies and savory chocolate -- are the centerpiece and come in more varieties than found in many Mexican restaurants in the U.S. Though a handful of restaurants remain shuttered, there are still plenty of options. Try La Biznaga for chicken or beef with pungent mole.
The Young Weavers Work Shop and Cooperative now offers cooking classes and has opened a bed-and-breakfast. When I visited, there were no other tourists watching Gaspar Chávez demonstrate the cooperative's traditional rug-making methods, painstakingly produced on foot-pedal looms. "For eight months, we didn't sell anything," Mr. Chávez says of the cooperative's problems following last year's unrest. "We decided that, if we offered other things to the tourists, they'd buy more rugs."
For Hector Ramirez, his solution to the tourism decline is to try to diversify his woodcarving business in his yellow-stucco workshop in San Antonio Arrazola, a town on the western outskirts of Oaxaca. Rather than watch his inventory of alebrijes -- fanciful wooden figures depicting everything from cats to monsters -- gather dust, he has started marketing his product to galleries in San Francisco, Houston and other American cities. The galleries are demanding a steep markdown and getting it. When I tried to bargain with him, he shrugged his shoulders in resignation: "Something is better than nothing."
* * *
Trip Planner
• Where to Stay: Oaxaca's grandest hotel is the Camino Real, with rooms listed at between $280 and $425, but prices have dropped more than 50% at times this year (caminoreal.com/oaxaca_i/main.php). The Hostal Casantica, two blocks from the Zócalo, is a congenial alternative, with rates starting at about $75 (www.hotelcasantica.com). The hospitable Casa de las Bugambilias B&B, well-located a half-dozen blocks from the Zócalo, ranges from $85 to $105 (www.lasbugambilias.com). • Where to Eat: To sample creative versions of Oaxaca's traditional foods, try La Biznaga (Tel:
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