Oaxaca Botanical Gardens and Lila Downs’ Humito Cocino.
Rachel has a pretty well defined schedule most days, starting with the gym early each minding, and today had Spanish for a couple of hours in the morning and later a sculpture student.
Jane and Carla planned to visit some textile and print museums, as well as take in more of this lovely town. I’m usually not interested in museums while on trips, and would rather be outside instead, and the three of us started our day by taking a morning walk into Oaxaca, and soon arrived at the botanical gardens, near Santa Domingo.
It’s a walled and closed gardens, housed within the walls of the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo, which later became a military base. It’s open only at certain times during the morning, with admission by tour only, with no English speaking tours.
Well, what the hell, we took a tour anyway. Both Jane and Carla have a little Spanish, and certainly more than me, and Jane was more successful than me in using the Google translation app on her phone to translate the guide as he talked. Mine kept starting to translate and then abruptly stopping, so after a while I gave up and just enjoyed the grounds and plants. Of course, it’s all hot climate plants now, with few flowering plants in bloom, but beautiful.
After leaving the botanical gardens, we continued walking, and just enjoying the city and its buildings, color, and vibrancy, with every street a scene. Lots of people in bad shape, asking for money, or selling local knick knacks to try to earn a living of some sort, and many street vendors of every sort, as well as people everywhere in the cobblestoned or paved streets.
We walked through El Llano Park, which once housed a small zoo, and the Zócalo, and stopped for some lunch along the Zocaja, which is filled with vendors, food sellers, color, and people both visiting and living their lives. The whole town is alive and a scene.
Jane and Carla figured out where they were headed and we parted ways, and I headed off to visit the large indoor central market, Mercado 20 de Noviembre – the 20th November market, named for the date of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.
As if happened, I went way, way off course, and never made it (today, at least). By now, my phone was close to dead and although I always carry a backup up charger for my phone, given its pathetic battery life, I’d left left the charging cable at home, so was very sparingly using my phone, including Apple Maps. Hence, I got further and further away from where the market actually was (which is near the bus station), and wound up on the southern edge of town, by the large car dealerships and auto repair businesses. I knew the market could not be this far from the central region, but, being me, kept going.
I was enjoying the walk, actually, taking me well outside of the central region and seeing businesses and residential areas that had no tourist appeal, and finally reaching a point where the basic organized north-south/east-west grid layout of the city stopped, and roads and side streets headed off in all sorts of random directions. Until now, it was difficult to get lost, even without a map… but this was a different story. So, time to head back. I used the last drops of battery to map my way back to Rachel without simply retracing my steps… but as I did, those last drops of battery life sputtered and gave up the ghost. In other words, my phone died.
Given no organized grid of city streets, and the real possibility of getting lost, I turned back the way I came, maybe 30 minutes later coming back into the now familiar historic central area, plus, I know my north from my south, and the Xochimilco district, where Rachel lives, is north of the city center. I eventually arrived back at Rachel’s, after a pretty hot walk that covered a little over 7 miles that day.
Not as hot as Mazunte, it nonetheless gets pretty hot here, as you would expect, and especially between maybe 11-4. That’s not the best time to be walking (which is why the botanical gardens are closed in the afternoon), but I like it. As long as it’s not past my limit, I like these walks in the heat.
But this is the winter here. It starts to get hotter still past April, true also in Mazunte, of course, followed by a rainy season, so the tourist (and ex-pat) season is the late fall, winter, and early spring.
By now, back at Rachel’s, my feet, just not yet used to once again being bare and wearing sandals (and new sandals at that) are covered in bandaids (curitas), waiting for the skin to toughen.
Maybe an hour or so later, with Jane and Carla back from their day, we took a cab (I don’t think I could have done too much more walking that day, given my sore feet) back to the Panorámica and to Lila Downs’ restaurant, Humito Cocino (Smoke Kitchen), where we joined Rachel’s friends, Marisa and Don. They, too, visit each year and are part of Rachel’s community here. Marisa is Argentinian, and she and Don live in Portland, Oregon. Like everyone, including Rachel, Jane, and Carla (not to mention Anna), Marisa (I didn’t get to learn much about Don’s life) has had an interesting, varied, and well traveled life. They’re a really interesting group.
I loved the restaurant, and really just the idea of being in Lila Downs’ place (although I wish she’d been there, as she sometimes is; in fact, Rachel met and sat with her husband in the restaurants couple of years ago, shortly before he died). Lila is an important figure in Mexico, and has done much to promote social good here, and is very well respected.
I really wanted to try the La Cumbia Del Mole on the menu (a really great Lila Downs’ song), a traditional pork dish, but I was afraid the mole would be too bitter, so I passed. As it was, the food wasn’t too great, but the ambiance was.
After we ate, we went upstairs to the bar and listened to a trio of musicians performing salsa music, with some excellent bongo and percussion. The views from the bar, in the Panorámica district, are beautiful, the lights of the city below.
It wasn’t Lila, but on our way out we met a woman who had come out to help improve the restaurant, who turns out to be a close friend of Lila and also her photographer, with her recent photos of Lila around the restaurant. That was a kick.
We took a taxi back home, and headed to to bed. Also, again, I’m happy to say I’m sleeping more soundly throughout the night until maybe 6 or 7. Muy buena. 😊