Wocka Wocka Wocka
Posted on Aug 03, 2008 under halliver's travels | 11 CommentsOaxaca City (pronounced “wah-HOCK-ah”) is located about 325 miles (523 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City, in the Mexican state of the same name. The area is famous for its many regional dishes and artisan crafts. After celebrating my birthday in Mexico City, my mom and I boarded a nearly empty stagecoach, arriving in Oaxaca about six hours later.
I first discovered Oaxacan fare at the farmer’s market in Sunnyvale, California. It was Mexican food so unlike Tex Mex that I was instantly intrigued. The grandmother-mother-daughter operation would serve up fresh-pressed tortillas with black bean puree and radish slices, or eggs smothered in tomato sauce, with ice cold horchata. They also sold a variety of moles, of which there are hundreds of kinds in Oaxaca. I’m not a huge fan of mole - I find the mix of cinnamon and chocolate and spices over enchiladas to be disturbing. Chocolate and cheese? Great as a Ween album, not so great as an entree. There are millions that prefer mole to Ween, however, so don’t take my word for it.
Their famous hot chocolate, made with condensed milk, comes in what could be large soup cups, big enough to dunk the whole piece of egg yolk bread it’s often served with. Mezcal is another typical find. It’s a little stronger than tequila (actually, tequila is a type of mezcal that originated in the town of Tequila in western central Mexico). Some golden mezcals (gusanos) even have the worm in the bottle. It wasn’t until after I had sampled that kind that I realized the tiny bits of worm corpse floating around the bottle are not vegetarian. Grrr.
We brought back all kinds of souvenirs from the giant open-air markets, and even some from the pueblos outside the city. My favorites are by far the alebrijes, wood carvings of animals - often creatures of fantasy painted in bizarre neon patterns. I became slightly obsessed with these little figurines, even returning to one stand I liked in the market a few days after our first visit. After buying an elephant with a periscope-like trunk on top of its head and another monster I can’t even begin to explain, we thanked the owners, parents of the 12-year old boy who sold us the pieces. The mother smiled kindly and handed us two hand-painted wooden bookmarks, then went back to pulling the heads off of something with wings. At first glance, I figured they were chapulines, the popular chile-flavored roasted grasshoppers sold on every corner, but the woman explained they were some kind of ant that only comes out once a year. Workers go out to the fields to collect them and sell them for $20 per pound. “They’re delicious!” the husband ensured us. We’d just have to take his word on that one.
Intricately carved black pottery is another Oaxacan treasure. It’s fired underground or in another oxygen-free environment, turning the grayish-brown clay an inky black. We watched one young girl design a seemingly symmetrical pattern on a pot using nothing but a broken plastic beaded bracelet and a metal carving tool.
The Oaxacan area is an archeological hot bed. Its crowning beauty is Monte Alban, the site of the spectacular Zapotec indian ruins. In person, it really is breathtaking. We took a quick tour of the museum, then headed outside to climb among the ruins. The location of Monte Alban is no coincidence - the same hill that today provides stunning views over the Valley of Oaxaca was once the prefect vantage point from which to spot approaching enemies. The ancient socio-political and economic center was abandoned around 1000 AD after almost a thousand years of rule.
The Santo Domingo Cultural Center is worth visiting. The old Dominican church reminded me a lot of the cathedrals in Italy. The open-ended hallways provide windows onto the botanical gardens behind the church, and the inside houses the jewels of Tomb 7 of Monte Alban, among other interesting artifacts from the region.
We returned a few days later to drizzly Mexico City, worn out and missing the sunshine of the Valley of Oaxaca.