(Post 14 of 189. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr!)

After lunch on Thursday, I returned to my apartment for a nap and to do some work. By around 5PM, I was feeling a tad cooped up, so I decided to move my office to El Llano park and meandered up there.

What a scene! This is the neighbourhood of Jalatlaco, where the streets are not that modern touristy cobblestone, but that ancient cobblestone like I tripped over in Old Plovdiv.

El Llano was so refreshing. Oaxaca has been hot and sunny, but it’s not as humid as Mérida. I was surprised that I cooked myself as badly as I did (no sunburn, though!) on Thursday’s brief excursions because it doesn’t feel that hot to me.

I’ve seen lots of people running with spring-like shoes that look like they’re straight out of cartoon!

I cannot escape Yucatán, LOL. But I bet if I ever move here, such a cart would be welcome!

I read for a bit and then realised that I was seriously behind on jobs due by 11AM the next day and I had to go in for the night and work. But first, dinner!

On the way out of the park, I found a vendor selling ate de guayaba, yum!!!

It was still a little too early to find a cart where I could get tacos or other meal to go, so I decided to try out a dumpling place I’d passed a few times and which was open at 6:30.

I got this plate with my beer. The crunchy things are proper eggroll wrappers! The salad was wonderful, with a sweet and vinegary dressing.

There was a full menu, but I went with the dumplings, of course. I rather want to believe they were made right then and then and there because a) I couldn’t decide if I wanted veggie, pork, shrimp, or chicken and they said that they could make me some with a little of each all mixed together and b) the meal took some time to come out.

Now, I don’t pretend to be an expert on dumplings, having only ever had them frozen or at restaurants that likely serve them frozen (and my one unsuccessful attempt to make them!), but DANG. These were flavour bombs! I mixed super hot chili oil with vinegar and soy sauce to make a dipping sauce for them.

I felt the universe was speaking to me directly through my fortune cookie.

Happy days are definitely ahead; your struggles are over.

I had been unimpressed that morning by the tiny cups that came with the apartment, so I popped into an artisan shop to see if they had big mugs. Yup! And all hand-made, with not one like another. I tried the weight of several and found my favourite.

Before bed, I got a tad peckish and had my croissant from Boulenc. Good thing, too, because despite my precautions, the ants found the other pastry overnight and I was not able to enjoy it.

The rest of Thursday night is a blur. I was exhausted. It was 10:00 before I could call off and I was looking forward to watching the latest episode of Star Trek: Picard on my iPad (thanks, Amazon Prime!). I almost fell asleep twice watching it! So I’d say my second day in Oaxaca was seized!

I’m really glad that I waited to visit Oaxaca in that that Mexico is really home now. I remember my trip to Durango, my first time travelling away from a home base, and finding it hard to get my footing, not knowing if I could trust restaurants or how to find the things I needed. My Spanish language skills are so, so, so much stronger now, and I’m comfortable going into little shops because I can ask for what I’m looking for. It does mean that Oaxaca doesn’t have quite the shine a non-jaded traveller would give it, but that just means I’m making more of an effort to find the city’s soul beyond the shiny wrapper. I’m much more aware, of example, of what is a true souvenir (like my mug!) and what is made in China crap that I could literally buy in any city in the Republic. Two days in and Oaxaca was continuing to prove herself to be just what I’d hoped she would be, a place where I would instantly feel at home and comfortable.

(Post 13 of 189. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr!)

So Thursday for lunch, I decided to try an averagely priced comida corrida/menú del día, and this one had options that appealed to me.

I’ve been in carb overload and needed solid protein, so I went with the milanesa de res, which is thinly sliced meat, in this case beef, that is breaded and pan fried. The pork version is one of my favourite local dishes in Mérida.

I was brought a soup of penne in tomato broth (caldo de tomato) — subtly flavoured, but tasty.

A jug of hibiscus (jamaica) water seems standard for these meals in Oaxaca. I appreciated that it was not sweetened and I drank most of it!

Tortillas, of course. They look different than the ones in Sinaloa and Yucatán — each region has its own version!

The Oaxacan tortillas are made with masa, like in Sinaloa, and they are bigger and thinner.

My main came out quickly. Besides the beef, I got spaghetti in tomato sauce like you get in Yucátan, a few fries (including ketchup!), and a rice that surprised me as it looks so plain but was infused with garlic! The beef was tender and well seasoned — I was worried I’d regret my choice as I’m not a huge fan of beef, but this was great. And, finally, vegetables!

The meal came with a super hot smoky salsa that I enjoyed with the tortillas. I always joke that, as a French speaker, I eat pain (bread!) all day long, but this was PAIN. There’s a difference between food that has bite to it and food that is just plain uncomfortable to eat, like the tacos I had my first night here. I’m going to keep working at getting my tastebuds used to such things as it is opening up a world of flavours to me. I mean, sure, the salsa hurt, but it also had great flavour under the heat. I would never have thought that just a few years ago.

I don’t know what I was expecting for dessert, but a fluffy mini pancake with compote and fruit was not it! So cute and yummy!

All of this for just 55 pesos! I find that my 45-50-peso meals in Mérida are a good to very good deal, but they’re nothing like this. I don’t think I’d cook much if I lived here!

(Post 11 of 189. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr!)

I walked over 11KM my first day in Oaxaca, but unfortunately, I did not sleep well my first night, a combination of a horrible typical Mexican mattress and my not having slept in a bed in a full year. The awful bed was a shame because, otherwise, the room was quite dark and quiet.

I had coffee and breakfast at the apartment and put in several hours of work before heading out for a ramble. I made the decision to keep Thursday and Friday very unstructured, with no museums or organized activities as I had quite a bit of work (proofreading) to do and I didn’t want to go into “vacation mode” just yet.

My first stop Thursday morning was the Alcalá, Oaxaca’s pedestrian street.

I thought a raspado (shaved iced) with pineapple and chamoy would be lovely, but it was sadly too sweet for my new tastebuds and I was unable to finish it (I call them new, but I’ve had them six years now…).

Temple de Santo Domingo

Oaxaca is really interesting from an architectural point of view in that sometimes, I feel like I’m in Europe and other times, I feel like I’m in Arizona.

These remind me of something I saw in Europe, maybe Veliko Tărnovo, Bulgaria?

Lots of stray dogs around time, but they mostly look well kept.

This is the famous Boulenc bakery, at which I bought my first real croissant in years.

My apartment is close enough to everything that I can go in and out. I headed home to put away the baked goods and to do more work.

Then, I set off in search of lunch by the Zócalo. On the way there, I cut across a courtyard with a lovely stone pattern.

The gate was lovely as well.

The plan had been to have my first comida corrida/menu del dia at a more upscale restaurant on the Zocalo… but the special of the day was… Yucatecan cochinita. You can’t make this stuff up! I ended up wandering around and found a more average meal, which is the subject of the next post!

(Post 10 of 189. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr.

I have been up since 2 AM, so this will be a quick one. I was hoping to post a video of my apartment, but I am yet again in a place where YouTube won’t let me upload a video in any sort of reasonable time frame. I know such places exist because people make a living on YouTube, but I have yet to encounter them. At any rate, you may or may not get that tour at some point…

It was an early morning — up without my alarm at 2:59AM to catch a 6:15 flight. I’d pre-scheduled an Uber, and it was right on time.

There was a lot of cloud cover, so when we finally broke free and saw the mountains, it was an amazing sight. It actually rather reminded me of flying over Iceland!

There are several ways to get to Oaxaca centro from the airport. One of the cheapest is to take a collectivo, or shuttle. They collect people going to roughly the same area and then the fare is split by the number of passengers. I paid $95, plus a $10 tip. My understanding (and that of the owner of the apartment) was that I’d be brought to a central location and have to make the rest of my way using city transit options (walking, bus, taxi), but, nope. I got dropped off at my door.

My host arrived quickly and showed me around. My apartment is frankly amazing and perfect and a miracle and I wish I had the video to show you what I mean. I will hold you in suspense. 🙂

My friends D&L from Halifax who are watching B made sure that I could hit the ground running as my time here is short, so I was already orientated! I headed off promptly to find the Oaxaca Lending Library and breakfast, as I’d already been up for seven hours and was just running on a cup of coffee!

Just minutes out from the airport, I knew I was back in the Mexico that I fell in love with. That was further confirmed on my walk this morning. I felt more at home here in the first hour than I’ve felt in Mérida in three years. 🙁

I need to find out what a retaco is. The only reference I’ve found to one wasn’t very illuminating.

This is “El Llano,” a park that is the beating heart of this community. One of Mérida’s biggest deficiencies is that there aren’t more parks like this one. Oh, there are some, but not nearly enough for a city of its size. I have to go way too far to get anything like this.

I wanted a really nice breakfast, multi-course, preferably with green enchiladas. Can you believe I found such a thing with almost zero effort?!

I was promptly offered excellent coffee (but sadly served with powdered creamer).

The server correctly guessed that I had gotten off an early flight, probably hadn’t eaten, and wouldn’t make it to my enchiladas, so she brought me this basket of pastries!

Fresh squeezed orange juice.

Look at this plate of fruit!!!

Then this landed and I realised I should have paced myself, LOL (and, NO, I did not have all those pastries!). Thankfully, the bread wasn’t great. I ended up eating one enchilada and then just the delicious cheese and chicken, with some sauce. The server thought I didn’t like my meal, but I was quick to reassure her that everything was wonderful!

I was done with breakfast by 10:55, just in time to catch the 11AM Oaxaca orientation tour at the lending library around the corner:

Mérida has a similar expat library, but I’ve never been. It was here today that I realised that my initial negative encounters with the super active Mérida expats played a huge role in how little I’ve integrated. 🙁 At any rate, this orientation is a must-do. I learned a lot about the city, some of the things to do, and also a bit about what it’s like to be a resident here.

I then ambled back towards my apartment for a much needed nap and to do some work. My proofreading business is finally take off and I’m going to spend most of tomorrow reading, but I’m sure I can find myself a nice café to go spend a few hours at, or I could even go to El Llano and work outside as the weather is pleasant and not as humid as in Mérida.

At some point (it’s been a loooong day!) I checked out the Mercado de la Merced, the nearest market to my apartment. You could buy all your basic groceries there. If I decide to cook, I will go get everything there. The produce stands were as lovely and fresh as in Mazatlán, but a fresh squeezed grapefruit juice was a whopping 25 pesos (worth it! 🙂 ).

I then… ambled.

I’m not sure I’d want to eat pastries from a bakery called “They Burn”… 🙂

I eventually made it to the zocalo, the main square.

I could not for the life of me find my change purse at home and decided to buy one here, as well as maybe a small bag for just going out for short walks. I’d done my research and knew that the only place I was guaranteed to not find the same mass-produced tchotkes as you see in all the tourist spots in Mexico was La Casa de las artesanías de Oaxaca, so I popped in there on my way back to the apartment. I found these beauties for 307 pesos — way more than I would have paid for similar-ish items in a tourist shop, but these are unique and handmade and I’m supporting local artisans. I will be back to pick up at least one table cloth and maybe some more items — I’ve had a Oaxaca handicrafts shopping list and budget for eons!

Apartment exterior sneak peak. It reminds me of apartment complexes I saw in the Balkans and Spain, several walk up buildings sharing a common courtyard.

I did some more work and went out again, this time in search of almond milk. I found coffee on my way back from the OLL, so I was eager to be able to make my coffee at home this week. My host gave me a few suggestions after I texted her for help, but a lot of the places she recommended were closed by that hour as it was coming on to 6:00. There is what I understand to be a “proper” supermarket nearish me (Pitaco), but it’s across a main thoroughfare and felt like too much work to get to. So I gave up on that and ambled my way back to the zocalo to find something light for dinner and to see the Wednesday night dancers.

I was running on fumes by the time I hit the zocalo, so the first place with tacos and cold beer got my business. I struck tacos campechanos off my long list of tacos to try — these were beef, chorizo sausage, and pork rind. The tortillas were super thin and every single one of those salsas was liquid fire!

I then very easily and quickly found some gelato and settled in for a few minutes to watch the dancers. Maybe one day I’ll be able to share the video. I don’t think it’s anything formal, just couples enjoying the music. We have that in Mérida as well down at Plaza Grande.

I didn’t last long, unfortunately, as I was done. I meandered my way home and tried the last shop my host suggested. They had my brand of almond milk, but sweetened. I accidentally bought one of those recently and couldn’t get through it. The reason I need almond milk is because I don’t digest regular milk well. The shop had a regular milk marked lactose-free and easy to digest, so I’m going to try that. I added a pastry and a couple of bananas from the produce place next door and I’m set for the morning. Oaxaca has “comida corrida,” which is like the menú del día in Spain, a several-course lunch for a very low, fixed cost. So the plan is a light breakfast, comida corrida for lunch, and then something fast foody like tacos for dinner.

So far, Oaxaca is everything it promised it would be — accessible, vibrant, a bit chaotic. I can’t wait to unlock a few more of its secrets!

(Post 9 of 189. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr!)

I travelled for nine months in Europe with just a carry on and a personal item. I got very good at reading all of the budget airlines’ fine print to maximise my carry-on allowance and avoid checking a bag.

Volaris likes to keep things simple. You can travel to Oaxaca with the clothes on your back and a purse or you can pay to bring a carry-on item AND a checked item. So I’m going to Oaxaca for a week with way more than I took to Europe. 😂

I am actually debating bringing my carry-on size suitcase as well as I have pleeeeeenty of room to bring back treasures. But I might not be that petty and ridiculous. I can compress all my packing cubes to give me way more space in this suitcase, plus it expands, so I should have all the room I need. I’ll see once I have my tote packed.

I have to admit it’s great to know I don’t have to worry about liquids at security and that I don’t have to lug heavy things like my foot pedal in my tote bag.

There’s a theme to the clothes I’m bringing…