Calle Alcalá = Church Street?

The principal street here in the center of Oaxaca City is Alcalá, and it runs north/south -- just like Church St.  And it's pedestrian only except for the streets that cross it east/west -- just like Church St.  The big difference is that it is much longer - 8 or 9 blocks at least.

Interesting bit of history from the pastBy

One day when Irma and I were walking, we were passing a church and she pointed out a pretty little niche in the wall in front of the church.  She said is the old days, if a woman was not able to keep her baby for some reason, she could leave the baby wrapped up in blankets or in a basket in that little niche, then ring a bell on the gate.  A nun would run out and get the baby and bring it into the church and care for it.  The nuns would keep a list of families that wanted to adopt a baby and soon that baby would have a new home.  Sometimes the mother who left the baby would leave a note with her baby, and I believe the nuns would keep that note, maybe for future reference.  I'll have to check with Irma on that last piece.

(By the way Irma has corrected my spelling:  it's Rábanos not Rabinos and Bacalao not Baccalau.)

Street Food

Street food is ubiquitous here.  Almost every corner and many doorways along the street have people selling something to eat:  fruit, ice cream, tacos, fried potatoes, fresh squeezed orange juice - you name it.  But the thing I've had my eye on for a while to try is " Elote".   Elote is corn on the cob with lots of embellishments.  You choose a cob, grilled or boiled.  Then the vendor pounds a stick in the fat end and slathers on mayonnaise, followed by crumbled cheese, then lime juice and finally chili powder and salsa.  As they say here, it's ricissimo - delicious.

Noche de Rabinos

The Night of Radishes happens every year in the Zocalo on December 23.  It is a BIG deal here.  Platforms for the exhibition are set up all the way around the Zocalo which is quite large.  Different groups and different communities enter their scenes made totally of radishes - huge radishes that are grown especially for this event.  There are also categories of scenes made from flowers or corn husks.  In front of the tables where the scenes are set up is a platform for viewing.  They open the viewing platform at about 4:00 in the afternoon, but a line has been forming for hours.  This line can be several blocks long, and this goes on until around midnight.  I went earlier in the afternoon before they opened the viewing platform, and I could see everything perfectly from the other side of the platform.  I had to pick my way through the crowds who were doing the same, but it was better than waiting in that line.

Desayuno ( breakfast)

  

We went to the market to shop for breakfast.  Irma has a favorite carnicería - meat market - where we took a number and waited for our turn.  As you can see, everything is out in the open and on the sidewalk.  We bought longaniza chorizo (it's the long links of chorizo instead of the little short links), moronga (blood sausage),  and cecina which is very, very thinly sliced pork.  Then we went inside the Mercado and bought a nice stack of tortillas.  We walked home with our bolsas, and Irma worked her magic to produce the breakfast that you see here.  She fried the chorizo and blood sausage with onions (separately) and then quickly blended a salsa cruda with tomato, chili and onion.  My job was to make orange juice with her handy dandy little electric juicer.  Finally we sat down and made spectacular tacos with the meats and cheese (queso canela) and salsa.  I was surprised to find that I loved the blood sausage - my new favorite taco.

Exhibition at CASA

While in Etla, we went to CASA, Centro de Arte de San Agustin.  There was an exhibition of Japanese style dyeing called Shibori and a kind of 3D textile weaving called ikat.  The photos really don't do it justice.  The variety and creativity and artistic imagination and craftsmanship was incredible.  There were things from all over the world particularly Sweden.  We figured that with the long dark winters there the artists would spend long hours working on these very intricate pieces.

After spending time with the exhibit, we walked around the building and found a small workshop where women were needle felting wall hangings.  Some looked like paintings with wool and some like sculptures......way beyond my little needle felted animalitos.  Something to try at home?

LAST week we drove out to a village not too far from Oaxaca city called Etla.  In the Mercado we stopped to buy some tejate.  It's a drink made from flor de cacao, mamey pits,fermented cacao beans, and toasted maize.  They grind the ingredients, make a paste and add water and when it is chilled the flor de cacao, the pasty foam rises to the top.  It doesn't look very appetizing but it is quite refreshing on a hot day.  It a typical drink of The Valley Zapateca de Oaxaca.  I don't think you find it anywhere else.

La Noche Buena

Today we are preparing food for a big family dinner ( which won't start until 9:00 pm) to celebrate Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena in Mexico.  The photo is of Irma's mother cooking Baccalau in a traditional clay pot over a charcoal fire in the patio.  Baccalau is a very traditional Spanish dish for such occasions - it has salt cod, potatos, olives, peppers, onions and lots of other spices etc.  My contribution to the dinner will be a more American tradition: stuffing for the turkey Irma is cooking and the gravy.

This is the patio of Irma's family's home.  All the living quarters are arranged around this central patio, but from the street all you see is a wall with great double doors which are the entry.  When you enter, this is what you see.  My little room, which is one of Irma's Airbnb rooms, is through the iron gate at the archway and down a little exterior corridor.

This place is very near the Zocalo, the center of the city where I took the photos of the Christmas tree and skating rink.  I can walk to everything.

First day in Oaxaca Dec 21, 2016

This is a test to see if I'm doing this right.  I sent an email with pictures about my first day here because I had photos on my phone but not on the pad.  I will try to post a photo, but it won't be of Oaxaca.  It IS of Oaxaca but from a trip in 2009.