We were lucky to spend 10 days in Oaxaca City (Oaxaca de Juarez). Oaxaca City is the largest city in the Oaxaca Region but it doesn’t feel overly large. We stayed on the southeastern edge of the city center, and could walk across the main section of the city in about 20 minutes. The biggest trademark as you walk through the city are the streamers that hang across many of the streets – it just makes everything look more cheerful!

One of our favorite places in the city was the Jardin Etnobotánico, a large cultivated garden showcasing Oaxacan plants. We took a 2-hour guided tour that was so interesting, and luckily it was a rare cloudy day so we weren’t miserable and baking in the sun! The coolest facts we learned –

• All cactus used to be much more tree-like, having trunks and branches with spikes. They have evolved into the cactus we see today, most likely as a way to conserve water. Pic below of the closest cactus we still have to that original form!
• Nopale cactus are used for all sorts of products, but their main use back in the day was for the parasitic bugs that attach to the cactus paddles. The bugs suck up the juice, and then when crushed they turn a bright red that was/is a popular natural dye. It was the 2nd largest export in the region.

We also explored Monte Alban, a large archeological site on the top of a hill just outside of Oaxaca City. It was really cool to walk around the old town – plus many of the signs had English translations which was a nice surprise.

The Food

Typically I put this section last, but let’s be honest the main reason we went to Oaxaca was for the food and that is how we spent most of our time. We definitely spoiled ourselves with a few fancy meals – there is no shortage of “expensive” restaurants that cater mostly to tourists. (I say “expensive” because a meal that would have cost us >$175 in Seattle cost us $70 total in Oaxaca). Significantly more than we plan to spend anywhere else – especially considering tacos cost about 75 cents – but definitely worth it.

Our culinary tour highlight was the 7-mole tasting we did at Los Pacos Centro. There are seven different moles that originate in Oaxaca, each specialized in a different region of Oaxaca state. And yes your wish has come true, we took very detailed (somewhat gibberish) tasting notes for each one!

• Colorado Mole – Classic. Tomato? Chocolate. Sweet. Little smokey at the end. Sweet raisin chili.
• Estofado Mole – Bright tasting. Tomatoey. Tartness. V8 juice tomato flavor – in a good way. (John’s favorite).
• Mole Negro – dark. Heavy on the chocolate. Bitter on the nose.
• Amarillo Mole – Salty. Garlicy. Tomato and chicken overtones. Some spice.
• Verde Mole – Herbal. Taste the white beans a lot. Vegetable flavor of peppers when they’re really well cooked. Little spice at the end.
• Chichilo Mole – Chocolate on the nose. Very mild, a little salty. Umami on the mouth. Umami ghost.
• Alcaparrado – Pickles on the nose. Sweet and sour. Pickley, capery, olivey. Would be great on a burger. John says it reminds him of camping, like a damp tent and eucalyptus bug spray – in a good way. (Christine’s favorite).

Hierve el Agua

About a 2 hour drive south of Oaxaca City is an amazing natural “petrified waterfall” called Hierve el Agua. There are plenty of tours that will take you there, but being the budget travelers that we are we decided to take public transportation. And oh boy did we get an experience. We left our place at 6am and flagged down a taxi to take us about 20 minutes to a bus stop. We then proceeded to wait at that bus stop for about 40 minutes until we finally saw the bus we were waiting for (bus schedules and routes are nearly impossible to find, you kind of just have to know). We rode the bus for about an hour, and then with some luck and help from the bus driver we managed to get off at the right stop to catch the next leg. We then waited for about 20 minutes for a collectivo truck – essentially just a pickup truck outfitted with seats in the bed of the truck to transport passengers to a set destination. By this point 6 other people had arrived and were waiting with us, but our driver was in absolutely no rush. We then waited another 40 minutes until enough people had come for us to cram as many people as humanly possible into the truck (in our case 13). We then had a very cozy 45 min ride up a bumpy dirt road before we finally reached our destination. And to top it off, when we got to the top they stopped the truck and someone came around and told us to cover our eyes before spraying what we only can assume was disinfectant over all of us. I can’t say whatever it was would have killed any Covid we had in that truck, but it was entertaining at least. In total it took about 4 hours, and then we reversed it all on the way back down that afternoon. We ended up saving about $70, so definitely a win in that respect. Was it worth it? Maybe. Would we recommend it to anyone that wasn’t trying to make their budget last a year? Probably not.

But once we were there it was truly beautiful! There were several pools you could swim in (or take instagram pictures, the real reason we were all there). The pools were like natural infinity pools, always spilling over the sides. That is what created the “petrified waterfall”, the mineral deposits from the water build up over time and create a rock face that resembles a waterfall. There were also several springs bubbling up from the ground – kind of like if you put Yellowstone on a mountain in Mexico. We also hiked around the petrified waterfall which was quite a sight to see. It was a wonderful and much needed day in nature, and my bug-bite covered legs will remind me of it for many days to come!

Cooking Class

On our last full day in Oaxaca City we took a group cooking class. A group of 8 of us met up with one of our instructors in the middle of the city, and took taxis to their home and outdoor kitchen about 20 minutes south of the city. And let me just say that this outdoor kitchen was a dream, John hasn’t stopped talking about building an outdoor kitchen since. All 8 of us students spoke English (the rest of the students were from Hungary, England, the Netherlands, and Denmark), so our main instructor conducted the class in Spanish and there was a translator who explained in English.

We started by making traditional Mexican hot chocolate, which we learned is always made with water not milk (we’re still partial to milk, don’t tell them). We then got to choose between a tomatillo or tomato based salsa – we chose tomato. We roasted the tomatoes and peppers in their woodfire stove to char them, then grinded them with a mortar and pestle with some garlic and salt. So simple but turned out delicious! We then spent quite a bit of time making tortillas, which anyone that knows John knows this was the portion of the class that John asked about 20 questions about tortilla making advice :). We turned the tortillas into memelas topped with Oaxacan cheese. We then tasted a few different mezcals, all of which I unsurprisingly disliked and John enjoyed. And at last, we created a Mole Verde by grinding the herbs together on a metate.

The entire class was so well done, and we made some friends along the way! For anyone that makes it to Oaxaca in the future it was put on by Gueta Oaxaca and we highly recommend it!

Final Thoughts

One of the main things that will stick with us from our time in Oaxaca (aside from the food of course) is the noise. We were amazed at how loud a small town can be. From the road noise – we think every single truck and bus need new brakes, the squeaking is unreal – to the random fireworks at all hours of the day, it is by no means a quiet city.

We really enjoyed our time here, but we were excited to head out of the City away from the noise, traffic, and pollution. If only we could take the food with us…

Christine