Headed to Oaxaca

Oaxaca, Mexico

October, November 2018

Mole at the grocery store

We’re going to start out with an apology -- not usually a great move on a blog, but gotta ‘fess up. Our last post was in SEPTEMBER about our August trip back NOB. Geez. In our defense, we will blame (in this order) the terrible internet where we were staying at Lake Chapala; Linda being busy with work (yes, still); and packing everything up (again) to move on to our next spot…Oaxaca! (“wah-ha’-kah”) 

Yes, potato salad

We arrived just before the Dias de Muertos (because it’s really multiple days) to Oaxaca City. They really do it big here, lots of events, decorations, celebrations. And tourists!

We went on a tour of 3 cemeteries around the city that night (November 2) – it was really interesting to see the differences in each.  At all of them, though, families were “tailgating” at their family graves – eating, some laughing or playing music, some more somber.

Oaxaca is a hot (as in trendy, though it can also be spicy too) food destination and so we took both a street food introduction and a cooking class to learn about another of the 7 moles – Mole Amarillo. Just prior to our trip, a Mexicana friend taught us how to make a Mole Verde as well, though we had a debate with the cooking class teacher about whether or not pepitas should be included! (ah, regional differences…) We have since had more moles, so that only leaves Chichilo and Manchamantel to go. (The others are Negro, Rojo, and Coloradito for those of you keeping score at home.) 

grilled octopus!

famous chapulines (grasshoppers)

The food is GREAT here. We’ve found fantastic bread, cheese, restaurants and street food. And the Oaxacan hot chocolate -- who needs milk?

Amazing Pan de Madre

Not polynesian tikis! 

There are lots of museums here (historical, textile, modern art, pre-hispanic art, stamps – yes stamps) and we have tried to see them all during our month in this diverse city of 300,000.

Great Textile Museum

Looks Japanese, but it's not! It's Zapotec!

In the state of Oaxaca, more than a million people speak at least one indigenous language, with 48% having some indigenous blood. There are 16 formal indigenous peoples, with the largest being Zapotecs and Mixtecs, who have been here since 2000 BCE. We went to the amazing ruins at Monte Alban, which functioned from 500 BCE 750 ACE.

Sasquatch stalking Monte Alban

We also saw the symphony for free, (thank you, Mexico!) which was really only so we could get in to see the Teatro Macedonio Alcala!

the ceiling art...pin up girls?

For Thanksgiving! Pre-hispanic art

And make no mistake this is nothing like our “villages” by Lake Chapala. There are more tourists, traffic, and noise (the cohetes and bands go around the clock when there is a party here!) And people are just not as likely to say “hola” to you here. There are many fewer gringos here, so we ARE speaking more Spanish!

We are staying in a very budget-friendly apartment which is technically in Oaxaca central, but to get to the main attractions it is almost a mile walk. The good news is that we are getting more exercise this way. If we come back, we would stay closer in, or to the north of centro.

learning about mezcal

Next up: a mezcal tour going to the farms in the mountains, a day tour of small villages in the mountains where there are many artisans, (weaving, pottery, and alejibres, the hand-carved, brightly painted creatures most recently featured in Pixar’s Coco.) At the end of November, we will be moving to the Oaxaca coast for about a month, (Puerto Escondido and Hualtulco,). And we promise we’ll post in a more timely manner!  

(22 noviembre 2018) 

Back in the USSA - August 2018

NOB (North of Border), United States of America

Our youngest son, James (aka Sunny Jim) got married on August 10 to a lovely young lady he has known for 10 years. Her name was Mattie Cardenaz, and is now Mattie Magers (a surprise to us). So Mark will no longer be the only M-Squared in the family!

They had a civil ceremony at the San Luis Obispo County Courthouse, officiated by a nice lady who works for the County. The service was lovely, short and to the point, with a concise and helpful messages, rather than platitudes. The kids also read their own statements to each other, and they were awesome. Many Kleenex were passed about. They were full of sound reasons why they were friends, why they love each other and wanted to get married. And only $149! Wisely, they want to spend money not on flowers, site rentals, and rubber chicken, but instead on travel to broaden their perspectives, and their relationship. We all know that traveling with another person teaches you a lot, and builds memories and bonds that can be lasting. Well played, kids! 





We’ll be writing a separate post on the “doings” during the trip, as we wanted to concentrate on the topic of “compare and contrast.” 

We have now been in Mexico for 10 months, mas o menos, and as we were counting down to the trip, a number of our friends in Mexico were asking us to keep track of our reactions to being back in the USSA (aka NOB or North of Border) after almost a year away. So this is a recounting of those reactions and observations. Our brief peregrination included Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Mountain View, Oakland (all CA) then to Seattle and Othello, WA. 

An easy and obvious observation is that everything was in, duh… English. For the first few days we caught ourselves saying por favor and gracias to almost everyone! We both found that being able to exchange banter in English that was not two steps from the Berlitz “Travel Spanish” booklet was kind of refreshing. It’s not that we don’t speak a lot of English in Mexico, but a goal here is to learn Spanish. So, Mark says "At least speaking for myself...I have no good gift of gab to use there, and since bullsh*tting and bad puns are a key part of my personality, I notice it. Small thing, but there it is."

Now THAT'S a pastrami sandwich!

A bigger deal was food (and drink). We had a list for LA that included pastrami ruebens (is that redundant?), garlic noodles in San Gabriel at Jonathan Gold’s favorite spot (RIP, Jonathan), and visits to the Tiki-Ti and a refurbished tiki bar inside Clifton’s Seven Seas in downtown LA. We had 24 hours to do this, so the reubens (and Tiki-Ti of course) won out, and thank Yahweh for that. We went to the venerable Canter’s, and shared a reuben and a bowl of matzo ball soup. The matzo ball was slightly larger than a baseball, the broth appropriately schmaltzy. Then there was the pastrami. Mark called it a Shark Week experience, as at the first bite his eyes rolled back in his head. Later, on our trip north, we stopped in Ventura and had some excellent wine, clam chowder and sand dabs. Same thing, not much talking, just a lot of “OMG-this-is-awesome” muttering between bites. 

Tiki Ti on Sunset, LA

What else was a surprise? Homeless people were very conspicuous in the US, almost everywhere. Encampments under the highways, street and cardboard sign people at many, not just some, stoplight intersections. Mexico is in general much poorer than the US, of course, but we see much less overall of such situations here. There may be many reasons for this difference, but it was quite a contrast for us.

Morning commute, Highway 24

What else did we notice? Well, driving in 6 lanes each direction at 80 mph came back to Mark pretty easily, but he has “slowed his roll” a lot since moving south. We were just not (generally) in such a hurry. Roads NOB are universally in better condition, though learning to see and avoid potholes in Oakland for 20 years is still a skill rewarded daily in Mexico! The US streets were also cleaner, and little things like curbs, noticeable. Curbs put a crimp in the “Drive Like a Mexican” (sung to the tune of “Walk Like an Egyptian”),  since you can’t easily just pull over, reverse direction, pass on the right, change your mind, etc. People NOB are much more likely to obey signs and lights, stick with rules about when it is safe to pass, while in Mexico these things are considered suggestions. 

Oh, Boy! Oberto!

How about the selection of consumer goods in the retail environment? Geez. We walked into a Target store and were reminded of something daughter Susannah said at age 3, when Aunt Glenda came to visit for a few days and was unpacking – “whoa, look at all this stuff!” We are accustomed to an aisle where the mayo is stocked, even in a large Walmart, with 3 choices, all same brand, 2 plain mayo in 2 sizes plus one more “con limon,” as an example. There may be a couple of 8-foot shelves for it but there is still a limited selection. Not a problem, just different. And that said, we definitely filled our suitcases with stuff we can’t easily get down south, like: chocolate from Divine, Dilettante and Boehms, wine from Turley and New Zealand, meat products from Oberto..... 

The ubiquity of traffic snarls in both California & Washington was not a surprise, but quickly had us wondering how so many people can fit in one town. In Mexico, traffic problems are sometimes caused by too many cars, but as likely it’s a dead animal in the road (from dogs to horses,) or a road repair that will likely be repeated in the same area in another 6-9 months, in part due to budget and in part due to la ley de chamba. [Chamba is a slang term for paying work, and the phrase basically means if something is permanently fixed, there will be no paying work from it in the future. This link provides a great example,  one involving woodpeckers and telephone poles.  (Not intended to be cynical, it's Mexican slang, not ours!)]

Worth the price?

Not so much a surprise, more a reminder that one of our reasons to explore “geo-arbitrage”, was how much things cost in the USSA. Granted, we were generally in some of the most expensive places in the US, but prices felt astronomical after 10 months in Mexico. A martini NOB costs somewhere between $10-14 (we have several data points from this trip). At $12, that is roughly 220 pesos. At Lake Chapala, a martini is somewhere between 45-65 pesos. Granted, Plymouth Gin is superior to Oso Negro, but not 4X better. Exceptions, a McDonald’s cheeseburger (which we did miss, admittedly). At about 30 pesos, you can’t touch that in Mexico, but the alternative here is a couple of good al pastor tacos for under 20 pesos, a fair offset. And yes, when we bought almost anything in the US we converted the price to pesos and asked “is it really worth that many pesos?” 

Warm spirit of Mexico

Another contrast we noticed is the insularity of many Americans, which Mexicans read as being cold and/or unfriendly. This may be a generality or regional thing, but we are accustomed now to saying “hola, buenos dias” to almost everyone we encounter, known to us or not. In restaurants in Mexico when passing a table still eating we often say, and have said to us (though less likely as we are clearly gringos,) buen provecho! (aka bon appetit) Why can’t Americans be as friendly to everyone? 

Seeing family and friends made us both happy and sad, reminding us that it is more infrequent. Being away also reminded us why we chose Mexico, which felt like home when we got back. Viva Mexico!

(25 de agosto de 2018) (Sorry for the delay, tech and work conspired)

Fiesta de San Antonio

San Antonio Tlayacpan, Jalisco, Mexico

The town we live in here on Lake Chapala is called San Antonio Tlayacapan. As we’ve likely said before, many of the towns around here have a compound name – a Spanish / Catholic saint, and a indigenous Nahuatl name associated with the town. Tlayacapan means, more or less, “the limits of the earth” – a lot more interesting than Saint Anthony. There is another Tlayacapan in Morelos state (we are in Jalisco) that is known among other things for being the filming location of Two Mules for Sister Sara. Our town is more known for the Walmart here.

Our hometown Walmart

San Antonio’s saint day is June 13, and like all such days in Mexico, there is a novena (9 days of events) leading up to the main event. It was pretty low key here, marked mostly by the ubiquitous cohetes launched every morning around 6 am. 

Yay, cohetes!

 We decided to take in the events on the final day, and are very glad we did. Along with the cohetes, there was a parade that started about 6 pm. Local lore says that the rainy season starts with an initial shower on the evening of the saint’s day – this time, the shower came earlier in the afternoon, but not bad timing!

The parade started at the east edge of town, and came down the main highway (2 lanes) in town – aka the Carreterra. This road is the main artery between Chapala and Ajijic, and is usually quite busy. But this was a desfile (parade), dang it, and the cars could just wait! And wait they did. 

With baby Aztec Jesus

The parade started with a marching band from Chapala, followed close upon by indigenously-clad dancers. One of the men, in breechclout, gourd-based “bells” on his calves, and headdress with long pheasant feathers danced down the street, carrying – a Baby Jesus with a feather headdress! It was awesome.

Behind the dancers were several pickups with re-enacted scenes from the life of Saint Anthony. One included Nicodemus, which we have not really connected yet to the saint. We have confirmed, however, that he had no connection to Nicoderm, so that helps a little!

Portable Mass 

Rides

What are you looking at?

The parade ended in the town square (where else?), which was clogged with people. There was a big stage for musical acts, a dance stage below it, and the traveling carnival rides that run the saint fiesta circuit. 

One of the dance acts

Food tents closed the street

We bought some 7 peso tacos and 25 peso beers and sat and watched people (and heard lots of drums) for a while. 
 

Beautiful holiday bread

Eventually we toured the rest of the plaza, and got a cantarita for our US friend ("I ain’t no saint") Anthony Russo, the only St Anthony souvenir we could find. Not so bad though, it came full of tequila! (Sorry, Tony, it has been emptied.)

The Blue Door (but green inside) Bar

We visited a couple of new bars with one of our bartenders, Calvin (aka The Calvinator -- we explained later who Lord Kelvin was, and thus his name association with Sears refrigerators), and Dennis (aka Pato since he always wears a California Ducks Unlimited hat), and (Fountains of) Wayne from Canada. Stacey’s mom was not there, however.

Building the castillo (Note the A's jersey!)

The evening ended on the plaza in front of the church, with cohetes and then a very beautiful castillo fireworks tower. 

Viva Mexico!

 (13 de junio de 2018)

A Trip to the Southside of Lago de Chapala

Tapalpa, Sayula, Mazamitla, Petate  in Jalisco / Michoacan Mexico

To celebrate our 24^th anniversary, we decided to make a brief excursion to the south side of the lake over the (US) Memorial Day weekend and see some other parts of Mexico. We are currently the middle of the hottest month here, May, and the destinations we picked were at about 7,000 feet, so slightly cooler. At least at night!

We loaded up Lupita (our 2017 Nissan March) with our maletas (bags), a cooler with rum, Pepsi, and ice, and a small fan for “protection” – from possibly warm evenings and also to provide some white noise. We drove towards Jocotepec, then a little north towards Guadalajara to connect with the toll road “superhighway” southbound. 

Along the road: Fun art in the (for now) dry lake bed

The area we were exploring is known for its alpine weather and “Swiss-German” architecture and decorations…for you Pacific Northwesterners out there, think Leavenworth, WA.

Our first stop was Tapalpa, a small town in the mountains. As we left the main road for the winding road into the hills, we saw many roadside stands where people held up small baskets with some greenery falling over the side, next to signs that said hay pitaya! Pitaya is a fruit that grows on certain cacti. The colors are myriad, bold and beautiful. They are full of little black seeds and covered in spines, that must be removed. We watched kids in the Tapalpa plaza peel them and eat them. We were puzzled about the greenery, given that these frutas come from a cactus…a little research says…alfalfa! Hmm. It turned out that this weekend was also the Fiesta de Pitaya. We wondered if they threw the spiny fruit from the backs of pickups!

Tapalpa is a very quaint town, a Pueblo Mágico (Mexican tourism board designation for cultural and historical sites). It has a red brick church, built in the 1950s after earthquakes damaged the old adobe and stone church built in 1650 (!). Walking through the plaza we saw many wide verandas in front of all the businesses. Building codes (we don’t need no stinking codes!) mandate only red tile roofs and wooden doors. If Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen came walking down the street with Colt 45s we would not have been surprised. What a lovely town. Que Mágico!

On Saturday morning we walked to the plaza in search of breakfast and ended up with a couple of tamales from a street vendor. We ordered one carne and one dulce (sweet), but Mark’s dulce was heard as doce (12), as we figured out, when they put 12 tamales in a bag! Everyone laughed, no harm, no foul. After the (2!) tamales we watched about 50 kids walk into the church for confirmation, the boys in white suits, and girls in beautiful, fancy white dresses. Did we mention we love Mexico?  

Who are you calling a Sisy-phus?

We also stopped to see some large rock formations called Las Piedrotas.

Next stop was Sayula. The local history book says Sayula was a relatively important town of commerce until the early 1900s when the railroad bypassed the town. Sayula is large-ish, but tired. Their plaza is large, but the gazebo is in total disrepair.  Sayula is known for a famous x-rated ghost story, in which if you take the ghost’s gold, it can have its way with you. Yikes. Bright spots? There are 2. One is the Ojeda knife store, where the 4^th generation of messerschmidts is making beautiful, functional, and collectible knives. Sayula is also home to Lugo Cajeta, maker of delicious cajeta (milk caramel), and owner of bragging rights for the largest cajeta ever (according to Guinness) – a whopping 3,162 lbs!!! [By the way, did you know that the Guinness Book of World Records was originally created as a reference for bars (selling Guinness natch) so patrons could have something other than futbol to talk about?]

We ate lunch in Sayula (local specialties…meh) and it turned out that a senate candidate, Pedro Kumamoto (like the Japanese oyster, great grandfather immigrated here, interesting Japanese Mexican history,) was in the bar, out of sight of the dining area. This being election season, and he being a reformer, we would have likely moved on had we known it! It turns out that we missed the life-size rendition of the aforementioned ghost in that bar, which we hope had nothing to do with current day politics.

On to Mazamitla, a Nahuatyl word which means “place with arrows for deer.” Which explains why almost all the souvenirs have the head of a venado (deer) on it. Mazamitla is renowned locally as an amazing and charming town (also a Pueblo Mágico). Its church is very different from most Mexican churches, and has gingerbread (sort of) features, and painted red and white, as is most of the town. Turns out it was built in the 1950s. We were lucky to see a wedding going on, lots of flowers, and mariachis.

This was a weekend, and on Saturday the plaza was literally overrun with “rich Tapatios” (people from Guadalajara). It was loud and a little unnerving. Filter feeders were out when the currents of tourists are in full force. Sunday was quieter, and when we drove out on Monday morning, the place was close to a ghost town (but not like Sayula!).

Our cabin

Mazamitla is known for “cabin” rentals – where city folk can rent a log cabin in the trees and “not-so-rough it.” Ours was packed tightly into a neighborhood of similar houses, but was cozy had a lovely back deck to sit and listen to the wind through the pine trees…reminded us of our home in the Oakland Hills (sigh).

Walk to the waterfall!

We hiked to the famous El Salto waterfall through a lovely residential neighborhood and an impressive switchback trail with fake “log” guardrails. The falls were lovely and peaceful, even with all the people there. 


 One could rent horses for the trip, or for the return there was a John Deere (Juan Venado?) tractor to take you back uphill. Tempting! A family with whom we labored back up the trail offered us a ride out of the neighborhood (uphill)...guess we looked tired?  Again, tempting! We felt righteous after the 2 hour hike, so had some nieve de garrafa ice cream, scooped out of a big bucket.

Maybe if it was an IH?

This cute little girl had the best route back up! 

jugo de zanahoria w/ a view?

Yum, bote

Monday morning we had breakfast at a place call La Troje (The Granary). It was a large, open room, walled with knotty pine. We sat in the “bar” area, delineated only by the back bar with bottles of tequila and the like, all part of the main dining room. On the walls, though, were many large framed posters of actresses in fetching poses, with “gripping” clothes. Ha! Linda had a spicy, meat-filled soup called bote, Mark had the Hot Cakes with a spicy view (and accidentally ordered a CARROT JUICE?)

We returned to San Antonio Tlayacapan via the scenic route, by way of the tiny village of Petatan. This town is known for flocks of pelicans, from US and Canada, that spend most of the winter here. Who knew pelicans migrate? We didn’t. They call them pelicanos borregones, basically meaning “white like sheep or clouds.”

TravelTiki confession

We drove on back towards Jocotepec, and made a quick stop in the small but bustling town of Tizapan El Alto. They had a beautiful church, and the ubiquitous, rainbow-colored “town name sign,” while there we bought a bag of fruit in the local tianguis (street market) for 15 pesos (80 cents). 

Saying "your tax dollars at work for you"

we don't need no stinkin detours

We also spent a number of miles on various dirt road detours, as much of the road is being widened and improved. It was a little unnerving to drive within a few feet of giant earth-moving equipment!

And…We returned in time to get celebratory anniversary martinis at Mama’s!

 (29 de mayo de 2018)