Oaxaca: Milestone

Life gets pretty real the first time you handwash the blood stains out of your white coat.

Oaxaca: Mole 2 – Negro and Chocolate

The story goes that in the state of Puebla (Oaxaqueños will tell you it was in Oaxaca and will literally fight you on this), an archbishop was coming to visit a convent unexpectedly, and the nuns had no food to serve him. In a hasty attempt to welcome him, they killed and cooked an old turkey and made a sauce out of the only things they had on hand: spices, chili peppers, nuts, bits of bread, and chocolate. The archbishop loved it, and a national dish was born: mole.

As I’ve mentioned, I grew up with only one type of mole and it was this one: mole negro. As far as I know, there isn’t another savory dish as well known as mole negro that so effectively incorporates chocolate as a main player. In the US they’ve discovered that chocolate’s bitterness complements red meat nicely; chocolate and espresso rubs on steaks are becoming more common in higher end dining establishments. But it’s still a distant second to mole, both in flavor in accessibility.

Oaxaca is particularly known for its chocolate – a friend of mine claims that Oaxacan chocolate is so distinct that he can recognize it on the street by smell alone. Even without the ingredients added to mole sauce, the chocolate here is spicy and aromatic. Mayordomo, the big chocolatiers in Oaxaca, has chocolate houses all over the city which offer raw cacao, jars of mole sauce, and chocolate paste for making chocolate drinks. The cafes they run are whimisical eateries that serve fluffy and moist pan dulce next to warm, frothy mugs of hot chocolate that they mix and pour in front of you. You can order smooth, silky mole over chicken with rice, or in fluffy tamales (yes, there are tamales of chicken mole here!). It’s a charming place to have a quaint breakfast or lunch.

Stolen from Google, hope they die mad about it

Theobroma cacao, the scientific name for chocolate, translates to “food of the Gods”; accordingly, these folks serve it up in their own little patch of heaven ❤

Anyway, that mole I had was pretty good. It wasn’t at Mayordomo, but I was still v into it.

Oaxaca: Coincidence

Psych 101 – Type B personalities, compared to type A, are more ‘passive’. They tend to have an external locus of control, which means when anything happens to or around them, they’re more likely to consider outside factors (other people, circumstances, and greater powers) more significant than the factors they control (their own actions, motivations, and thoughts). As such, they’re more likely to believe in things like destiny or fate.

You may think (for good reason) there’s no way a type B personality would willingly choose to study medicine, but I’ve always had this instinctive response; when something happens (often good), I think of how the universe must have come together to create such fortunate circumstances. From things as small as a $5 bill found in my pocket when I’m craving ice cream, to my placement in the world at key times in my life, it often seems like the world is looking out for my best interests. So of course that’s where my mind went when my time in Oaxaca was undeniably changed by the release of (and I’m sorry for how ridiculous this is going to sound) by Wizards United, the new Harry Potter mobile game.

Before we get into what exactly changed, let’s take a look at what the game looked like for me when it first came out:

Note: Oaxaca is green but it’s not THIS green.

It was a barren wasteland.

However, in no more than 3 days, Mexico was caught up and the map was full of inns, greenhouses, fortresses, and all the other things that populate this semi-immersive augmented-reality world of magic.

So what’s the big deal? Well, Centro is a part of Oaxaca with incredible sights, but the only way I’ve found to really experience it is to walk through it. But although wandering around here can be exciting the first few times, after a while of living here I’ve found that it’s just not as rewarding to walk up and down every street, many of which look the same, for the sake of seeing the city. But a game that actively encourages (read: outright requires) you to walk gives you an automatic reason to wander those streets: even seeing nothing is still being productive, at least in-game. The placement of the game’s important sites is like a personally designed map of areas of interest in the city, so even the newbiest of visitors (i.e. me) have an idea of where to go.

All this to say that today, with the goal of playing this silly game, I went to some nice places no tourist map would ever tell me to go, talked to some lovely people, and took some good pictures. With that, I would like to introduce you to my new love, the Centro histórico de la ciudada Oaxaca de Juárez:

 

Nicknamed “the Green Antequera” (not for its plant life but for the green volcanic stone from which many of its buildings are made), Oaxaca city is surrounded by villages called by their original indigenous (Nahuatl) names as well as a Spanish Catholic saint: Santo Tomas Xochimilco, for example. Behind that mountain you see on the right is the site of Monte Albán, the ancient capital of the Zapotec people (more on that later when I visit). All in all, Oaxaca’s history is full of culture and political strife: evident as recently as 2005, when the governor ordered the assassination of 36 leaders and activists and banned protests in the town square.

If you have seen the Paris-era posts, you know how much I’m a sucker for street art

Is this not the SADDEST thing you’ve ever seen?

All made possible by this walk through the city of Oaxaca/world of Harry Potter.

All things considered, doesn’t it seem like a crazy coincidence that during my short stay in Oaxaca, a major app gets released pushing me to just go outside and take in the city sights? Maybe that’s just the type-B in me, but nonetheless I am full of gratitude for the encouragement I’m getting to go live my best life in Mexico.

Oaxaca: Mole 1 – Amarillo & My Favorite Restaurant

For the uninitiated, “mole” has two syllables.

I grew up with one type of mole, the kind most people know about in the US – a sauce made of chocolate and chili (and tbh like 25 other ingredients) usually served over chicken. It’s delicious and I thought it was all I needed, but I was proven wrong when I came to Oaxaca and learned there are not 1, not 2, not 5, but 7 (SEVEN) different types of mole for which this state is known for.

S I E T E.

As if my life was designed by an amateur television writer, I am in Oaxaca for exactly seven weeks. One type of mole a week? I think I can handle that.

Not Pictured: The refreshingly delicious cucumber water this meal included

Astute readers have figured out that the first type of mole I tried is mole amarillo. They also have a question: are all Mexicans colorblind or are they well aware that this mole is not amarillo? Indeed, mole amarillo (oftentimes just called ‘amarillo’) has the same red-orange tint of many sauces in Mexican food, but interestingly, it is not named for its color. While it contains many of the same ingredients common to the different types of mole here (which I am realizing more and more is just the Mexican version of the concept of a curry), amarillo is unique in its inclusion of saffron, which gives a distinctive yellow tint to foods that are less pigmented.

Now, did I taste this and think ‘oh wow, what a robust saffron flavor’? Obviously not, I have the tongue of a boxed-wine-drinking plebeian. Was it flavorful and delicious nonetheless? It absolutely was. This meal was in what is now my favorite restaurant in Oaxaca, just two blocks away from where I live, and cost a total of 40 pesos.

40 pesos is just under $2.25. For a little more than two bucks, I had a bowl of nourishing vegetable soup, some spanish rice, chicken mole amarillo, warm handmade tortillas, and a small pitcher of lightly sweetened cucumber water. Unlike many of the small hole-in-the-wall eateries here, the atmosphere was a little less “plastic dishes and homey” and a little more “place mats and square plates”. With the exception of the smooth jazz covers of American music (hearing “Let It Go” on a melancholy saxophone is a confusing experience in any context), the atmosphere was warm but somewhat sophisticated, kind of like a hipster coffee shop but without the irritating pretentiousness. I ate the comida corrida (more on this later) peacefully, reading on my kindle and generally feeling comfortable and content.

In a place that is far from home, where there are definite hints of foreign-ness, finding such comfort and joy is a treasure.

 

Oaxaca: Decisions

Today, instead of writing, I played the Sims and watched Veep.

Oaxaca: Pop Culture

I’ve been lucky enough to go abroad a decent number of times so far and the biggest challenge to creating real relationships with other people in a different country is the lack of familiarity with another person’s media and pop culture. How exactly am I supposed to get to know someone if we can’t fight over which is better: Friends or How I Met Your Mother?

(the correct answer is that it’s a dumb fight and they’re both awful in their own ways but Friends is still better)

It’s hard enough to find common ground with people who grew up in the same place as you, but it’s so much worse when the other person doesn’t get ANY of your references. And you don’t get theirs! And you don’t have time to learn 25 years worth of stuff! And that’s the case for everyone in sight!

That’s why, when a new friend invited me to go out and have some drinks with him and his friends, I took a loooooooooong pause. I was goofing off on the internet, in bed, comfy and warm (although finding warmth is never an issue here). Was I really interested in going to a club where I didn’t know ANY of the songs and talking to people who had years of history and shared experiences because they all grew up in the South of Mexico? Did I want to smile through stories about people I didn’t know, laugh at jokes I didn’t get, and nod at opinions about movies I never watched?

After much deliberation, I decided: I guess I did.

The plot twist is that it was an incredible night. I got back at 5am (and before you start, no this was not a walk of shame situation) and realized three things:

1) I had spent way more money than I intended (which in Mexico is like 15 bucks)

2) Humor is universal. All around the world right now, younger folks are teasing their friends, ribbing each other, and poking fun at themselves; if you can reflect someone’s sense of humor and get them to laugh, then who cares if they don’t know what’s in a Wonder Ball? (remember those?? I was obsessed)

3) I’m not SO removed from the culture here.

I’m gonna tell a story, but first watch this:

If we’re friends on Facebook then you may have already seen this bit. If we’re not friends on Facebook then…how are you here?

Last night there was something on a food menu that had totopos and I asked my friend what that was. He started “Pues, es tortilla…” and immediately I snorted, cutting him off. He raised his eyebrows and I had to explain that I new a comedian who had a bit about Mexican food –

This time he cut ME off. He knew the bit WORD FOR WORD. Verbatim. And that moment of connection, that we had both experienced something separately and could talk about it together, formed an immediate fasttrack to a closer friendship.

I guess ultimately the role of pop culture is undeniable, but not a prerequisite to meeting people from a different background. You can still bond with folks but you might have to do a little homework. Someone told me I need to watch Vecinos (anybody heard of this show? Apparently it’s on Netflix) and I plan to bring it up in every conversation I have over the next 6.5 weeks. Anybody have other ideas for how to ‘catch up’ culturally?