The Oaxaca Post

People keep asking me how my vacation was, and my only response is "Delicious!" Not only was the food great, but so were the sites, smells (well, sometimes), colors and overall liveliness of the adventure!

Sorry, this is going to be a very picture-heavy blog. It's just, there was so much to see and eat in Oaxaca that bares noting!

First, the beautiful churches...

Then some beautiful food...

Pork ribs, Green Mole, Chayote, Green Beans, Potato Puffs

Shrimp Tacos

We arrived on Easter Day, so there were events going on all over Oaxaca, like these men playing turn-of-the-century marching music in a church yard...

These food vendors set-up along the street outside the church...

This Catrina dressed up in the main square (actually, she probably had nothing to do with Easter, but was still very awesome)...

These decorations on a store front...

The amazing fire-works on Easter night...

This tower,

Became this towering inferno!

This man is running around with fireworks ON HIS HEAD!

These fireworks were the grand finale...

Truly, Oaxaca City itself was all very lovely:

Outside of the city, there were the ruins of Monte Alban, high up on a hill (harrowing bus journey, that) overlooking endless valleys,

And the ruins of Mitla, in the middle of a town (Mitla), but with the only surviving decorative details of the Mayan in the area,

The Tule Tree, reportedly 'the oldest living thing on Earth' and 'the biggest tree on Earth'... I have problems with words like 'oldest' and 'biggest' - especially as there is so much undocumented awesomeness around the world, but I digress, and anyway, here's the tree and the church where the tree stands -

The trip also included (of course) a trip to see a rug-making demonstration (with a, total shocker here, opportunity to buy some rugs) and a mezcal-making demonstration (another shocking opportunity for consumerism).

(Side note: this woman is carding wool. When we were kids, my Mom-Mom and Aunt Millie used to take my brother and I to Rose Hill Manor Children's Museum, which was an old plantation and still a working farm,  and I used to dress up in colonial garb and card wool, and churn butter, and I LOVED it.)

This horse is mashing agave for Mezcal, he's not making rugs.
Thought I would clarify.

Then there was Hievere de Agua, possibly the most beautiful place on the planet, where you can swim in (man made) infinity pools that are filled from the (natural) mineral water that bubbles up from the mountain on a cliff side. You can also view the beautiful stalactites, candle-wax like drippings on a nearby hillside caused by the same mineral water phenomenon:

On the last day I took a cooking class at Casa Crespo in Oaxaca.

First we went to the market to shop for ingredients, let's see,

Garlic? Check!

Chillies, check!

Squash Blossoms, check!

Chicken Feet...um, do we need chicken feet? No? Moving on...

We (my cooking class made up of an international melange of foodies) made Ceviche, Pumpkin Seed Mole, Almond Mole, Guacamole, Squash Blossom & Cricket Quesadillas, Salsa (one with agave worms), Black Bean Soup, Tortillas, Ice Cream...we made a lot, and then got to eat it all which was awesome! I've already made the salsa and the ceviche at home and both turned out really well!

So that was Oaxaca, it was delicious, as you can see.