Another trip around the sun, another fun place to mark the occasion. And I get to share it with three of my favorite peeps on the planet. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Lori picked out some fun places for us to go today. It just so happened that it was also our first day getting to explore Oaxaca City (Oaxaca de Juarez), yet another very worthwhile UNESCO-designated Mexican city.
Our day began with brunch at quirky Pannela Panadería de Barrio in the colorful and artsy neighborhood of Jalatlaco, which turned out to be a very good thing, as this is as close to central Oaxaca as buses and colectivos from Tule get.
Our Mexico-USA RV Journey 2024-25
From here, it’s still a 25-minute walk to the Zocalo (main plaza). But that’s ok. The historic center of Oaxaca is made for strolling.
Templo de San Matías Jalatlaco, the neighborhood’s namesake.
This is the first place in Mexico we’ve seen them do the circular papel picado, and there is no shortage of it.
We grabbed our first Oaxacan-grown and roasted coffees (in Oaxaca) at ME Brew Bar and made our way down a long cobblestone walking street (Macedonio Alcala) to the striking 16th-century Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán and its famous agave landscaping.
Lori informed me that we’d return another day for a tour. Apparently, we have more pressing things on the list to do.
Yep, lots of papel picado in Oaxaca de Juarez. It’s a very colorful place.
At this point, Lori thought a climb might be in order, so she led us to the hills.
Seriously, honey? On my birthday?
There’s rumored to be a nice mirador overlooking the city center, so that’s where she’s leading us, I guess. Kind of taking me back to our Guanajuato days.
Not the most amazing view ever (Guanajuato as viewed from El Pipila is pretty spectacular), but a very nice perspective.
Oaxaca State is known throughout Mexico for its strong indigenous culture and heritage, and on our first day in the center of this sprawling city, we’ve already caught glimpses of a handful of family celebrations and observances.
There are very few places in Mexico that we’ve seen this play out where the people weren’t merely dressing up for the tourists.
Just around the corner from the agave church, we ducked into La Mezcalerita to try a couple of (new-to-us types of) their house mescals.
And by ‘we’ I mean, Lori and I, of course. Riley’s still got a few more years, but he’s always happy to jump into a birthday photo.
There was the Tepextate, which is relatively rare with an earthy and peppery thing going on (very smooth and delicious). And their Jabali, which they described as “temperamental, wild, and rare”. Lori and I described it as “interesting.”
After that, we were all ready for some birthday cake. Fortunately, we didn’t have to walk to far to Acascia Repostería, a few doors down, for a slice of delicious carrot cake.
And yes, the boys also had some, which may (or may not) explain this next picture.
Lots of families celebrating this and that around town today. Ours was just slightly more low key than the others.
After a fun first outing in the city, we somewhat figured out the buses back to Tule (they don’t make it easy), and quickly discovered that our RV park isn’t exactly the easiest to access during the rainy season.
It was just a nasty 15-minute walk back from the bus stop to RV—one I wasn’t exactly happy to do in my birthday best. But we did eventually make it back, where the boys were very excited to see me open the creations they had been working on for the occasion.
There was a particular restaurant I had my sights on for dinner, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled about trudging 20 minutes through the rain and mud to get there. Lori checked to see if we could get a taxi, but we couldn’t find a taxi that would agree to come to our swampy area of town to fetch us.
So, another mud bath it is. This time, we all traded our shoes for hiking sandals, which made a big difference.
In the spirit of the evening, I ordered a main entree of chunky mud stew!
Instead, they brought me a plate of the richest chicken mole I’ve ever had. Very tasty.
Casa Embajador de Oaxaca in the center of Tule is over-the-top kitsch made for tourist buses—not usually our style, but seemed appropriate for the occasion (and on this particularly rainy night, was one of only two places open past dark).
Yep, lots of stuff to ponder.
Including this random mini Sistine Chapel.
Our tourist dinner was tasty, but I really just wanted to cap the night off with a mezcal at a more local feeling place. Luckily, Reynita across the street was barely still open. We tried out this place on our first night in town and really liked it, so we had no problem repeating our drink order.
They bring out this plate of deliciousness, even if you order a shot of mezcal.
Some strong stuff, apparently. I couldn’t even read the signs around town afterwards.
