Having only ever been to Tijuana, Melissa and I had been feeling the weight of our ignorance of our sister republic to the south for quite some time and decided to do something about it. Prompted by our love of the food from the region (as well as the vibrant art forms and overall staunch political progressiveness we've watched from afar), we decided to make our first real trek into Mexico be made via Oaxaca. After a fierce poop attack in the bus on the way to the airport and nearly making a mess in the only pants I packed for the trip, I was able to find relief in LAX and soon after we were awarded with this view of the wing of our plane foregrounded and this iconic thing (or this one, if that's more your thing) backgrounded. We were soon on the move from those familiar sights, tracing a new line through the sky down to the beautifully unfamiliar ones of southern Mexico
The Palos Verdes Peninsula from on high. As if the treasures awaiting us in southern Mexico weren't enough, we were also treated to this view, looking north to the mountains that hem the basin in, a perspective that we've never had before due to that fact that we'v not flown south before. We were thankful to take it all in from up there (well, I was at least, seeing as I like to bogart the window seat)
Shortly after the view described above, we were given one of the Salton Sea. Not sure why I only have one of the lower half of the Salton Sea, but I suppose it's better than none. I knew that mistake of engineering/water management was huge, but I've never quite grasped the enormity of it (tis the largest lake in California, after all) until we plane vantaged it.
However, it was a bit disconcerting seeing all of those green rectangles to the south of that heavily polluted inland Sea, all butting up against the desert browns they used to be before water transport systems made that patchwork possible
The approach into Mexico City gave a whole new meaning to the term "sprawl". It was almost incomprehensible the extent to which it spread, indeed, unto the horizon from the vantage point of an airplane. We landed down among it to wait for a few hours in the airport as the way into Oaxaca City was prepared for us. With a few hours to kill, we set about exploring the airport, coming upon not only Theodore Tea, but also a Theodore Latte. I went for the Tea, obviously
And here I am, with my namesake
The hol(e)y interiors of Benito Juarez International. Exploring darkness
and light
and somewhere in between
Lunging gatos as well
Also, some weird omni-directional spy bots before our departure for our destination further south
Shortly after our hour flight to Oaxaca City deposited us almost at the very southern end of Mexico, we moved into our lovely secret garden of an Airbnb then set out on foot to connect with some promising sounding vegan goods quite near our housing for the better part of that week, "Restaurante Calabacitas Tiernas."
Although, it was much more than a restaurante, as we soon found out. Calibacitas was an info shop/bookstore/food shop/veggie restaurant a mere ten minute walk away from our place
They achieved this face from Melissa after merely the intro breads, which means we were in the right place and the first of what would turn out to be a flawless week of eats.
and it all
only got better after that
Mind blown a bit dissimilar to this person's we found on the premises, but to each their own
Woke up early the next morning, as per our traveling usual, and quickly found some national colors
Pre-Columbian names on some post-Columbian calles. The street details and colors never ceased to amaze or to get me to point and shoot some photos
See?
De-trunked and almost scissoring scene to consider
Travelling to the south of Mexico to take photos of paint chipping off walls
A wall saint in a sea of orange. These expressions of faith sprinkled all throughout the city also consistently caught my eye, as you will see moving on in this reportage
Spotted a lot of palimpsest (como se dice en Espanol? "Palimpsesto", according to google translate) situations on many of the walls that we passed, situated akin to this one
Some door bling on our way to more food experiences
Guero at la olla
From the nite before and extending unto the very last day we were in Oaxaca, we stumbled into a food perfection streak that looking back upon it now seems unbelievable. Kicked off this meal, like so many others, with Chocolate Oaxaqueno. Quite a large bowl of it as well
Then this mole, eggy cheesy goodness (swoon)
Fully satiated , we then made our way over to the ethnobotanical gardens, and were soon met with this scene in yellows and oranges
There were no more English language tours left for the day, so we jumped on a Spanish only one and absorbed maybe 75% of the content therein. Here, Melissa follows this Spanish only contingent into the heart of the garden/vision of one Francisco Toledo.
In an interesting twist of fate/activism, what used to serve as both a convent as well as military barracks, now surrounds a garden of indigenous plants, all watered by an ingenious system of canal works thought up by Toledo, all fed by rain water
We visited on the cusp of their rainy season (meaning the tail end of the dry one) and so, water features like the one below that fill up with rain water at the appointed time were bone dry, but had a beauty all of their own
Flowers came down to meet us, nonetheless
and we spotted la Biznaga, quite old and quite plump
and quite ready for the spotlight
Balled interiors to be found for those willing to look
This is one of the reservoirs that rainwater gets sent to during the rainy season
A few months after our visit this would have a few feet of water in it
Succulent support network
A hallway of longies, up close
Castles in the sky and the final view of the garden (for the purposes of this blog, at least)
Our city wanderings then took us to a place that felt tailor made for us
Museo Filatelia de Oaxaca (the stamp museum)
Upon entering the museum, we were faced with a large map with stamps from seemingly all of the countries of the world. Here are a selection of just a few that caught my eye because of their (to my eyes, at least) scarcity
Nigerian Manatee!
North Korean stamps. Probably the only time I will see them in real life. Does North Korea have a postal service? If so, who do North Koreans send mail to, and how do they afford it?
Honoring fish drying techniques for Norway (maybe not so scarce, but rad nonetheless)
Then we made stamps of ourselves
Bronze-ish mail portals I would love to see proliferated
Natural resources of that southern state and the celebration thereof
This was just one of about six or seven cabinets jam packed with stamps from various far flung corners of the world. Overwhelming to our snail mail souls
Various Mexican patterns to consider
Fluxus made it's way south, apparently
Courtyard beauty upon our exit from th'museo. This cursory glance at the museum, I feel, does little justice to the majesty and depth of that collection and the curatorial staff that is in charge of presenting it to us. I'm not sure what would do it justice, other than going down there and seeing it yourself (so, consider this a public service announcement encouraging you to do just that)
Hand-painted beaut as we entered another phase of city wanderings
and its cramped, dethy stores
Cafe Brujula pit stop
Before the world of books inside this incredible shop
Spice of life!
Quite confused by this advert, but, like, a stoked confusion
Came across a jokey wall
Then ducked in to see Los Chakras, uno a siete
We returned to our house for the week to wait out the afternoon hear. You will know the place by this donkey painted on the outside
We retired to the secret garden courtyard for a siesta con gatos
Pupper print in the ceiling of our abode
Then, when we were sure we had passed the hottest part of the day in the coolness of our gato courtyard, we came across this neurosis symposium
And a another wall saint. This time, de-headed, embedded and behind bars
Roadside monument on the nite-stroll back home
This succulent rooftop fence became a familiar sight on our walkabouts through the city
A gilded backside, as well
We decided to take a closer look at this place
Church innards in the merciful morning quiet before the thronging masses converge therein
Melissa holy-lit behind some boards for kneeling
A gilded saint-family tree?
Vernacular looking forms tucked into one of the walls of the cathedral
Imposing gilded altar to La Virgen that had us both considering the historically poor inhabitants of that region of Mexico in sharp contrast with the overwhelming opulence of not only this piece, but the cathedral overall
With all of this in mind, we made our exit from the church, but gave it's undeniable beauty one more glance before doing so
Avian cobblestones, just outside the cathedral
Another wall saint sprouted/spotted
We came across these signs and the resolute protesters that come with them (not pictured, mostly), shortly after our early morning cathedral tour. To my understanding, Oaxaca and Chiapas have long been strongholds of political action and engagement for the rights of the indigenous populations that are found in abundance in those areas of Southern Mexico for generations, and this demonstration is just one little facet of that overall long term struggle
Ms. Sabina and market density
Their chapulenes over-floweth
I got a sack of them. Quite salty on their own, that protein of the future
Mail man/superhero
In her dogged interwebby research and planning before this trip, specific to vegan friendly zones, Melissa somehow found this diamond in the rough, which quickly became one of our favorites in a city of favorites
Small but perfect cup of hot chocolate to start things off right
I was already losing it
Then into the feast/works of art themselves. The mole (made from, you guessed it, chilhuacle rojo peppers) on this omelette thing I had remains the best I've ever had in m'life
Salad abstract expressionism, straight from a farm to the table
Then this plant based thing he came up with for Melissa after she explained her limitations
We found our way over to some more art
Bottle forms flowing
Floor horses tambien!
and this large man midfall.
Yet another wall saint. Couldn't get enough of these things architects planned/chopped corners for
Ancestral vision palimpsesto
Crack 'er open, see whats inside
In what would become our daily ritual, we ducked into our secret garden home base to wait out the heat of that day as well. Here's a view of the front door
and a few steps back for context
Post siesta we spotted this lady again, just under some Nahuatl and just above los hongos magicos
Another wall saint, differently formed and mostly looks like the reflection of a tree here
An actual tree, reminding us that nature always wins
Care for the environment, don't contaminate it (especially if we prefer the world on the left to the one on the right). Spotted this as we made our way up into the hills to the west of Oaxaca City, to the top of Cerro Del Fortin
We were surprised to find a planetarium/observatory up there
and investigated forthwith those bricky nobs aimed at the heavens
Kind of hard to believe that it could ever get dark enough there at night to get a good look at the heavens. Maybe that's why they all seemed to be in various stages of disrepair
Lovely forms to traipse around all the same
I won't read it then
Saw this guy at the beginning of our descent of la escaleras del fortin, the main reason we made our way over to that part of town to begin with. What does it mean?
The escaleras themselves (well, the very top of them, at least)
Photographic evidence of us walking down a system of stairs. Fascinating, I know
Is it art?
Spotted this casita for stray pups midway down
It was all much more impressive/beautiful than these photos give it credit for, I promise
The next morning, before we headed out on a bus tour of nearby villages and large trees (well, one really large tree, at least) we made sure to return for some more Chilhuacle based mole magic at this place. I didn't include photos from our fest, because they are very similar indeed to the ones I posted last time. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
First stop of the bus tour, El Arbol Del Tule
Nahuatl, Spanish and English. A tree by any other name would be just as wide
Mas de 2,000 anos!
Quite wide, indeed. M beaming stoke outside the protective fencing, but probably atop its root system
Anywhere, everywhere. The void stares into you
A look up into its quite wide canopy
Then back down upon an impressively gnarled protuberance
It's adjacent church and the color patterns thereof
The way back to Ldua, but we would skirt the edge of town for a few more hours instead
Next stop, a weavery with a faceless man guarding it
This family has been weaving beauty for generations. They let us in on some of their natural dyeing techniques, including scraping that gunk of off cactus and through some sort of alchemical process, turning it's spiderwebby whites into a deep crimson
Miracle workers
Traditional pigmentation raw material
A fuller palette on the right and a minimally gorgeous piece straight ahead
Weaving rhythms got us in a trance
Historical photo showing that not a lot has changed 'round those parts in quite some time. Self assured and a commanding knowledge of intricate patterns
Our third stop for the day brought us to Mitla, the city that the Zapotec moved down into after they abandoned their highland home in Monta Alban (which we didn't go and visit on this trip, unfortunately. Fortunately, this gaping hole in our knowledge of the pre-columbian sites of that state adds another reason to return to the many we now have).
M and some phals on the outside of this ancient city
Corners, patterns and sun muted colors
Domed roofs bearing witness to the catholic takeover that happened in the sixteenth century
Modern intrusions to keep the doorway a doorway
Some more angles on the angles and colors of Mitla
Yet more phals to consider
Inna chamber, considering the low doorway
Steep and narrow stairs leading up to the temple, to ensure that people approaching it were supplicant before it upon the approach. Power is as power does as power always has been.
Somewhere beneath Mitla, Melissa finds an appropriately small space
Yes, yes I am
Fourth stop, and the furthest we would roam from the city on that tour. An hour and a half ourside of Oaxaca City, you can find the geothermically active wonderland known as "Hierve El Agua". I had first heard read about this magical place via this blog heavily stuffed with the adventures of an itinerant family driving their VW bus from California to the tip of Argentina and back. Don't know how I cam across their adventure but I do know that I have lusted heavily after their life on the road while engaging in various wage making activities over the years that they've been footloosing all over central and South America. Anyhow, the pool to the bottom right is fed by a natural (cold) spring that is laden with calcium. This mineral abundance has created quite the fascinating display on that hillside and a nearby one which we will get to soon
Like, now. Mineral deposits, time and the forms thereof
I revealed to the greater world/tour group my gleaming white bod and ducked into the best infinity pool I'll probably ever encounter. The only downside to the tour schedule is one must keep to a schedule. We were not afforded nearly enough time in this eden
Melissa slimed around in the secretions from the infinity pool
Then made her way over to this lookout to take a gander at more springwork/calcium build up
Life bursting forth o'er the valley we were perched and bathing above
Our final stop of the tour brought us to a Mezcaleria, where we came upon this pile o' pinas awaiting burial and eventual fermentation
Heavier than they look
After they've been cooked, but before they've spent the necessary time fermenting. Smoky maple and quite juicy from the core of the Maguey
Partially fermented, spirits not yet extracted
Gracias, Senor Maguey!
Nighttime postcard scribblin accompanied by a gato circle. Paradise.
Another sunrise at the cathedral, I really could've gotten used to that routine
Mexico y Unesco por siempre
Another Brujula stop, different one this time around though
Found this display in a corner of the courtyard behind Brujula
And I wanted to bring special attention to this fellow in particular, on the outside looking in
Great design, mediocre hot drinks
In planning for this trip, it was recommended by a friend that we visit the small mountain town of San Jose Del Pacifico, situated between Oaxaca City and the Pacific. We could not find a way to get there previous to arriving in Mexico, but eventually we were inducted into the low coast world of collectivos and found one going south
Five or so hours later, we arrived
Third eyes coming at us in no time
Another roadside monument, beautifully rendered/situated
Revolutionary wall paper to be found inside the cabin/restaurant
A bigger view of the establishment
Quatro quesos, all made in house. Quite possibly the best plate of pasta of my life
Non queso pasta spread for m'better half
Buscando por Navarro!
Unsurprisingly, another Sabina sighting during our search for our shaman for the rest of that day
We found our way to the man and his Temazcal
Then got down into his zone to discuss Temezcal times and prices
He then scooted off to gather the necessary ingredients for our appointed time later that afternoon
As was his want, Rocco accompanied us back up to los cabanas, where we hoped to find a room for the night
Find one we did (thanks to thee, Rocco, for that, just the beginning of your blessings)
Followed various terraced pathways to our home for the night
outside in
inside out
The "grande" cabana
Drinking it all in
View from the front porch
From mayonesa, succulents springing forth
Back to la zona de Navarro (y Rocco tambien)
The way being prepared before us
A place to sit, a place to sweat, a place to grow succulents
All stretched out on the "lion king" rock just down the hill from Navarro's temezcal zone, feeling a lot closer to the nature around us, indeed, a part of it
A cathedral of trees
The lion king rock herself, jutting out into the cloud forest in full bloom
The way back up to where we began
Some more vernacular forms, all in service to connection
Melissa digs into her left overs, blissing fairly hard. Speaking of the blessings of Rocco the dog, he walked with us up the road from Navarro's zone to our Cabana, fending off snarling feral dogs along the way with just a look
Morning light mountain life the morning after (swoon)
We will/need to be back
We wrangled a collectivo back into la ciudad, and were faced with this scene shortly after we arrived
Men hoisting larger men, a parade of them going...somewhere
The food perfection streak continued/culminated with a visit to the inimitable Itanoni Antojeria y Tortillaeria. This mind blowing eatery makes it their mission to encourage the propagation of the myriad varieties of maiz that the mono-culture corn growing habits of their neighbors to the north insist on staying the course with.
We didn't get too many good photos of the feast because 1: a general disdain for "food porn" and 2: we were mostly too busy eating that upmost delicious meal to stop for photo taking.
Overwhelmed, stuffed, stoked all at once. Not much to do but swoon and plan for another visit
Such modest signage for such an overwhelmingly delicious/unique eatery
Plan for another we visit we did, for the next morning before our flight back to LA.We basically got the same things we got the day before, but supersized our herba buena based drinks
and added an heirloom corn chip chilaquiles to the order
Some of the last of our pesos to support in our little way, the cause of food diversity. Also, I love the fact that a unibrow'd commie artist has found her way onto the 500 peso bill.
On our walk back to our place, we were quite surprised/a lil disturbed by this overly eager lady, but were able to regain our composure and move along. As is usually the case, those moments on the return journey that perhaps would have elicited some interest from m'camera eye, did not on our return to los estados unidos. Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better deep(ish) dive into the cultural, natural wonders and mind blowingly good food of our neighbors to the south. We can't wait to return, to Oaxaca and basically anywhere else in that incredibly beautiful and culturally rich pais.
