Honey Clover

We're a young family that is learning to do things in a more unconventional way. On our first adventure as a couple, we bought an apartment together, quit our jobs, started a trip around the world, and got married during our journey. Now that we are three, we're on the road again; this time with suitcases rather than backpacks. This blog tells our stories during our travels across the 5 continents and beyond.

[stephandarmel]

Our last days in Mexico

Bahia de Huatulco

We left Oaxaca for Bahia de Huatulco, to be closer to the airport in case of a strike or anything that would delay us from boarding the plane the next day.

We booked a night at Eden Costa - it comes with a pool and AC! The place is nice, but the service leaves something to be desired - they wanted to charge me for tea when juice and coffee are included in the breakfast.

Bahia de Huatulco is very different from Zipolite. It's not the kind of place we prefer, but if you like exclusive beach clubs and resorts, then it might be for you. The beaches are private in a lot of sections and the facilities are a lot more modern. Food is westernized so finding traditional Oaxacan food is more difficult.

We had seafood and ceviche one last time, on the beach, with fresh coconuts :)

[stephandarmel]

Goodbye, Familia Hostal Central

Thanks to Hostal Central for the amazing welcome, your great suggestions for food and places to visit, for your evening events, for your delicious breakfasts, and most importantly for bringing joy to our trip!

We hope to come back to Oaxaca with our kids one day.

[stephandarmel]

Who is Mimi Lopez?

Here is her Instagram or search @mimilopezoaxaquita

Mimi won 2nd place at the Oaxaca cooking competition in 2019 and then she was in the top 10 best amateur chefs in the whole of Mexico with more than 150 challengers. Her stardom continues as she appears in many news articles and magazines such as Vogue.

Mimi gives cooking classes during the week and opens a restaurant during the weekends at her home in Matadamas (interesting town name that means lady killer)

If you are in Oaxaca, stop by her home for a nice lesson in preparing traditional cuisine.

[stephandarmel]

Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca and Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán

[stephandarmel]

Traditional Oaxaca cooking class with Mimi

After eating so much good, traditional Oaxacan food, it was time to learn how to make it. For our last day in Oaxaca, we took a cooking class with Mimi at her home. There we learned how to make Tamales with pork and salsa and Mole negro con Pollo. These are two delicious dishes that we've eaten at different places, and we appreciated learning about the whole process that goes into preparing them.

We even had memelas for breakfast before starting cooking. The whole experience was great.

If you are looking for a cooking class in Oaxaca, go with Mimi. We booked it through Tripadvisor

[stephandarmel]

For our second-to-last dinner in Oaxaca de Juárez, we had more mole - three kinds with chicken, to be specific. And tacos con carne, at Restaurante El Andariego. Traditional Oaxacan food is all we're after.

A great recommendation from Hostal Central for laundry is at Lavanderia Nice & Clean. We paid 105 pesos for 4 kg of laundry. We dropped it at 8 am and picked it up the same day at 8 pm fully washed, dried and folded.

Laundry services are a must when traveling light...and also when you want to save space for bringing home handicrafts!

[stephandarmel]

Have we mentioned that Hostal Central has amazing breakfasts? Look at this dish - they have something different every day, and it's all so tasty, nutritious, and low on sugar!

After our day tour at Monte Alban, we went back to the Mercado 20 de Noviembre for more local food and some fresh blended juice.

Here is a typical menu you can find at most stands in the mercado. In our opinion, basically everything is good there.

For lunch today were tamales (rice +chicken wrapped in banana leaf), mole negro con pollo, and entomatadas con res.

[stephandarmel]

Monte Alban

The city of the indigenous Zapotecas, from 700BC to 1500 AD. This civilization pre-dates the Mayans and Incas, and was the main culture in this part of the country.

Situated amongst 6 mountain peaks within the valley, the architecture and layout of the city indicates that they had knowledge of sophisticated engineering (arched roofs, underground tombs, water cisterns), agriculture (terraced farms, companion planting, nitrogen fixing), and astronomy (a building in the public square that acts as a giant sundial, accurately measuring the equinox and solstices).

The stone pyramids that are still standing, were actually the foundations of buildings and homes built of clay and wood. Because the city was abandoned with the Spanish conquest, most of those top structures were left to deteriorate; only these foundations remain today, giving us clues, but not much detail, about how the city really would've looked inside and out.

[stephandarmel]

Tlacolula de Matamoros and Teotitlán del Valle

The hostal recommended going to Tlacolula for their big Sunday market. It's 30 min away east of town. There is a collectivo - a shared taxi with red and white colours - parked in Mercado Central to take you for 30 pesos. We mostly went to discover new food. There isn't anything particular to buy there.

On our way back, we stopped by Teotitlan del Valle, the village where most wool products (rugs and bags) are made. I wasn't impressed with the town. But it was Sunday, so that's probably the reason it was so quiet. Most shops were selling the same things you could find in Oaxaca, except for a few studios who do commissions or originals. The benefit of this trip was to understand how they handmade their rugs, and to see their workshops. If you visit this village, just avoid Sundays.

A tuk-tuk will take you from the collectivo stop to the center of the village for 10 pesos.

[stephandarmel]

Centro Cultural San Pablo

One of my favorite museums with a series by various female ceramic artists. As a beginner in ceramics (2 years of experience) I really appreciate any table setting that is hand made. Don't judge me when I move a simple cup or plate in all angles to admire the techniques and to understand how they did it themselves.

[stephandarmel]

More strolling around the northern and central part of downtown Oaxaca.

[stephandarmel]

Oaxaca - the capital of mexican cuisine

You can guess our favorite dish is ceviche? We are having it anywhere we can find it! The best we've found so far is at Terraza Los Amantes. The ceviche was bathed in a maracuya + lime sauce that just had a perfect balance of flavours.

Our other favorite dish is the one with mole sauce but honestly we liked all their Mercado homy dishes.

Last night we went to Humito Cocina to listen to a jazz band called Faros quartet. Unfortunately we didn't make a reservation and the whole place was full except for their downstairs section. Food was good though. I highly recommend it, as long as you make a reso for upstairs.

For cheap food, we recommend going to Mercado 20 de Noviembre. They have a lot of options there.

Otherwise El Ceviche Loco in the Benito Juarez mercado has good ceviche but not as good as the one from Terraza Los Amantes.

Our hostel, Hostal Central, has a great list of recommendations for food. You can scan the QR code below to add them in your Google maps.

[stephandarmel]

As we do in most cities that we visit, we took a free walking tour this morning.

Oaxaca FREE WALKING TOUR ¡BOOK YOUR SPOT! (español & english) Explore Oaxaca in a fun and alternative way. We will visit cobblestone streets

Raul, our guide, was such a funny and knowledgeable guy, and gave us a few recommendations for places to check out afterwards.

We started the tour at the Teatro Macedonio Alcalca, built originally as a casino, using french architectural styles under the influence of Portfolio Diaz, one of the presidents with the longest term, originally from Oaxaca. Raul explained some of the good and bad about this president and how the revolution started near the end of his last term, when the Indigenous demanded better treatment from a government that that still had colonial ties.

We went later to Centro Fotografico Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Here we learned about the artist Francisco Toledo. He was famous for his paintings and sculptures but more importantly he was an activist who had a lot of influence on social movements. Raul talked about how, in order to protest McDonald's, he gathered food carts in front of their restaurant for three months until they had to close for not having customers. Or another case where he fought for the indigenous languages to continue to exist, and created a school where students could come study different languages.

We walked north into the Xochimilco neighborhood, which is the oldest part of the city. There, we followed an old aqueduct that has since dried up. Because of earthquakes and climate change, the main water source from the mountain was lost a number of years ago.

Water is now delivered from big trucks to each house. The drought has been a big issue and the city can't continue to sustain tourism with limited water.

Next, we passed by La Cocecha Mercado organico, a very touristy market with only organic produce at an actually reasonable price. We had found Charlie's present there which later became Steph's to keep..... Our last destination for the tour is at the Mercado Sanchez Pasquas. Raul liked the market for their cheaper produce, but it's a small market which might not be worth going to unless you are more conscious about how you spend your money.

[stephandarmel]

In the neighborhood of Jalatlaco, where we found some nice murals, mostly on Calle Miguel Hidalgo and Calle 5 de Mayo.

[stephandarmel]

Today is Good Friday. Locals celebrated with the Procession de silencio to mourn the Passion of Christ and honour Our Lady of Solitude. Here in Oaxaca, they have a long, silent parade with beautiful ornaments and statues of Mary and Jesus. I particularly liked the path they made with colourful rocks.

[stephandarmel]

In the mercado, I found a few things to bring home for myself being diabetic, such as this herb shop that has a special mix for tea, to help increase your insulin.

Chocolate Mayordomo is a chain selling custom-made chocolate, where you get to choose what you want to add to the pure cacao. I plan to ask for a good mix of spices without sugar.

This strange paste is called mole - a mix of chocolate, spices, and tomatillos. It's a good sauce for so many dishes. We might bring some to make at home for our kids.

[stephandarmel]

For lunch we went to the Mercado Benito Juarez. We were hoping to eat at El Ceviche Loco, but they ran out of tostadas for the day, and were crazy busy. No worries though - next door is the Mercado 20 de Novembre, which focuses mostly on food. There we had fried fish and Memelas con carne.

Amongst many local specialties to be found in these two markets, are the local coffee and a particular ceramic shop that we discovered, with all kinds of pieces I want to bring back home.