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.
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.
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