Chocolate, Mezcal, Mole, and Chapulines

After successfully riding the 7 hour “vomit comet” through the winding roads from Huatulco to Oaxaca city with the only incidents being a few naps to calm queasy stomachs and a couple spontaneous top of the mountain toque purchases, we arrived safely in the city. Doing what we normally do the moment we arrive to a new area, we wandered around to get a feel for the place.

It was dark when we arrived at our place, but when we awoke, I felt like we had been placed on the set of “Encanto” It’s been close to everything, the people are awesome, but where our room is located, there isn’t a lot of airflow and our particular room doesn’t have aircon. Even the one who “sleeps like the dead” has had a few nights of tossing and turning in and out of sheets!

Oaxaca city is known for its food, art and charm. Y’all know how down we are for the eats, so . . . . here we go . . . .

We started out our time here taking a food tour. Our tour guide, Betsy, grew up in Oaxaca city and has family who owns one of the food stalls in one of the markets (there are MANY markets here, so yes . . . . . Rocky is happy!). She took us around to 3 different markets, between eating we did walk it off a bit, but . . . . still . . . . so . . . . . freaking . . . . stuffed . . . . by the end!

Though Oaxaca doesn’t grow cacao, it was on the ancient trading route and eventually became a chocolate centre. So . . . you can find chocolate everywhere! 😋

Along with drinking hot chocolate or coffee (which is also popular here), Oaxaca is also known for its various traditional beverages. The few we’ve tried so far . . . . .

Of course we’ve been enjoying all of the cornflower tortilla based meals covered in beans, cheeses and meats like tlayudas, garnachitas, memelas, street tacos, etc. and so far the only thing we both can take a pass on are tamales (no matter how much chocolate mole they may be smothered in!)

There have been two surprises I’ve come across with our eats . . .

These grasshoppers (called chapulines) can be found everywhere and are even on menus in restaurants. If you know me, you know I’ll usually try most things (I ordered a dish with them on our first night here), but I was surprised/impressed when B-Rod agreed to sample them on our tour. I actually don’t mind them. B-Rod’s not a fan!

As great as the eats here have been, we find that Mexican food tends to be heavy on the meats and extra light on the veggies. As much as we love corn flour tortillas, we’re feeling like a break from them for a bit would be nice. So, as we will be in this city a bit longer our next mission may be seeing if we can find a few salads, or a few fruitstravaganza meals (ie mangos mangos mangos!!) might be in order.

We had intended to go back to the coast for a few days before making our way back home, but it turns out that B-Rod’s airline ended service to Huatulco until the winter LAST weekend. So . . . . looks like we’ll be in Oaxaca city for a few days longer and flying out of here via alternate means. We’re liking this area, though it’s slightly disappointing to know we won’t be floating in the sea again. Guess it just means extra time soaking in the rooftop jacuzzi admiring the view over the city !